Recap of Week 2 on WeightWatchers and the Spring Thaw Run

Friday's Weigh In - 183

Monday 23rd - 4.8k in 40 min (8:20/km)
Sunday 29th - Spring Thaw Run 5k in 39:04 min (7:50/km)

I didn't have a great week on WeightWatchers, kept on eating junk.  Need to really work on that and also need to plan ahead for the evening snacks.  I was somewhat happy to see that I didn't gain any weight with all the junk I ate but was not happy to see I didn't loose any weight either.  I totally understand why I didn't loose any weight with the lack of exercise and bad eating habits though.

I had my first ever 5k race this weekend, the Spring Thaw Run.  I woke up around 6am and got ready.  Didn't have to be there until 8:30 when the 5k started but I couldn't sleep and wanted to make sure I ate something (ate a banana) and had everything ready.  I got my D-tag put on my shoe and my racing bib put on my shirt.  I had gone out on Saturday and picked up a pair of running shorts and a jacket.  I had planned to wear the shorts but when I woke up noticed it wasn't very pleasant outside so wore running pants instead.  Was also glad I picked up the jacket since it helped keep me warm before and during the first part of the race.

My parents, husband and daughter came to the race with me which was nice.  Mom took a picture of me before going off with my Dad and daughter to McDonald's (my daughter was hungry).  I hate getting my picture taken but I humored her. LOL  My husband stayed with me until the start of the race and saw me off.  I started off a bit fast, got carried away with the excitement of the crowd.  Shortly after starting the path went across a bridge and halfway across I felt like I was going to pass out and than realized it was just the bridge moving as we ran across. LOL  The race was in the river valley so just before the 1km mark the path started an pretty steep incline.  Was not prepared for this and ended up walking up the incline.  It was an out and back route and through most of the first half I was beating myself up about starting to fast and trying to settle myself into a comfortable pace.  I was not happy with a lot of people passing me but I told myself this race it about doing the best I could and not comparing myself to others running.  I tried to concentrate on the music planning on my iPod and not on the other runners.  The second half of the race was a lot better although running back down the incline was a challenge, not as bad as going up though.

My Mom and husband were waiting with their cameras at the finish line and got pictures of me finishing.  Arghhh I look horrible.  Maybe one of these days I won't hate looking at pictures of myself.  My Mom and Dad gave me a hug, congratulated me. and told me how proud they were of me.

After the race I spent most of the day just relaxing and eating way to much again.  Sigh really need to get this eating thing under control.

I have signed up for my next race, the Loops for the Troops race, and I will be running the 10km this time.  The race is on June 3rd so that gives me just over a month to train to run a 10km.

I follow Running with Spatulas on twitter and noticed she posted a few fitness challenges for May.  I have decided to follow these challenges to get my body back in shape and stronger.  The challenges are posted below.

My Exercise Plan for the Week:
Monday - Biggest Loser DVD
Tuesday - 4.8km run, May Challenges
Wednesday - Biggest Loser DVD, May Challenges
Thursday - 3.2km, May Challenges
Friday - May Challenges

My plan is to at least post each Friday with my weekly weigh in, check in for the week and plans for the coming week.  This will start this coming Friday.

Weigh In and Update

Thursday - 3.4k in 26:40 mins (7:51/km)
Friday - Rest Day
Saturday - 55 mins of walking with my husband and daughter
Sunday - 40 mins of walking with husband and daughter

Hello everyone.  I had my first weigh in on Friday since starting WeightWatchers.  I am happy to report that the scale showed a 4 pound loss for the week! I am pretty happy with that.  I had been a bit worried at the beginning of the week since we had Chinese food but I did pretty good the rest of the week.

Friday at work and Saturday weren't very good food days unfortunately.  At work we put out various candies for people who come by the shipping department and on Friday a co-worker decided to put out a couple of different chocolates.  Than in the afternoon she was offering up Pot of Gold chocolates and I ended up giving in and having a few.   Saturday's bad food choices were my own fault.  I had found a recipe for Slutty Brownies during the week and I decided I had to make them.  OMG they were delicious but soooo high in WW points and I ended up eating 4 of them.  Most of my extra weekly points are gone so I will need to behave the rest of the week in hopes of having a good weigh in on Friday.

I got out for a couple of walks this weekend with my husband and daughter though.  I did plan on a 4.8k run yesterday but unfortunately didn't get motivated got get out so I plan to do the run today instead.  I am posting this from work so will post a couple of pictures from the walks when I get home.

Exercise Plan for the Week
Monday - 4.8k run
Tuesday - 4k run
Wednesday - Biggest Loser DVD
Thursday - 3.2k run
Friday - Biggest Loser DVD
Saturday - Walk
Sunday - 2nd Annual Spring Thaw Run Off (5k)

Day 6 on WW

Monday - 4km in 34 min (8:30/km)
Tuesday - 55 min of Biggest Loser Workout Video

So I don't know what it is about being on WeightWatchers that helps me but I seem to be doing better with it than just counting calories.  Maybe I just like the structure of the program.  I haven't had my first official weigh in on the program yet but I sneak peeks at the scale each morning and it seems to be going in the right direction.  We'll see what it says on my actual weigh in day on Friday.  Was a bit worried about the scale because we ended up ordering out Chinese food on Sunday and than had leftover Chinese food on Monday.  Not a great idea for losing weight but it doesn't seem to be hurting the scale.

On the exercise front I did a 4km run on Monday after supper and it felt great.  For the first time in a while I felt like maybe I can actually do this running thing and not to do bad in my first race on the 29th.  Last night my training schedule called for strength and stretching so I decided to do my Biggest Loser workout video, there are stretches and toning exercises in it.  I had to drag myself off the couch to do it, for some reason I have been a bit tired the last few days.

Today my training plan calls for some cross training so I had planned to either go for a walk or take a ride on the bike but I wasn't feeling great after work.  I ended up eating supper and falling asleep on the couch for a couple of hours.

On the way home from work I stopped at the store and was finally able to find Larabars.  I have been looking for them for a couple of weeks since reading a couple of bloggers rave about them.  I also picked up a Luna bar to try them out as well.

WeightWatchers and Bleh Weather

Hello everyone!  How have you all been doing?

I have been struggling with my weight loss and have been losing and gaining the same 3 pounds or so since January.  I decided I needed a bit more structure than just paying attention to what I eat and counting calories so I joined WeightWatchers Online last night.  I did WeightWatchers 5-6 years ago and did pretty well with it while I stayed on plan so I am hoping it will help again this time.

I haven't run since Wednesday night.  I was going to run on Thursday night because I knew the weather was going to turn bad (rain and chance of snow) but I couldn't get motivated to get out and my boys had been home sick the last couple of days.  I totally regret not going for that run because according to my training plan I need 1 more run in this week and the weather isn't looking good.  It rained all day yesterday and I woke up this morning to snow.  Not a lot of snow just a dusting but I really hate the cold.

Taking a peek at the weather forecast for tomorrow shows that it is suppose to be cloudy with sunny breaks, no rain or snow, and a high of -1C.  Maybe I can get my run in tomorrow so I can stick to my training plan.  *Fingers crossed*  Looking at the weather they have forecasted for next week I might switch my running days around, we'll see as the days get closer.

It is funny before I started running I never really paid attention to the weather forecasts I just looked outside to see what it was like.  Now I look at the weekly forecast to figure out which days will be better for running outside and rearrange the schedule as the week goes by and the forecast changes.

Questions:
How has the weather been for you?
Do you change your running schedule according to what the weekly weather forecast is predicting?
If you have tried losing weight, what has worked for you?

The Week in Review

Arghhh! I did it again, I haven't posted since last Wednesday. I am going to try to make posting a before bed routine.

Running Breakdown:
Good Friday - 2.4km in 21 min. (8:45/km) - Didn't feel great during this run. I had just gotten back from eating at Joey's Only.
Saturday - 3.4km in 30 min (8:50/km) - Felt pretty good during this run and saw a couple of geese at the lake I run by/around on my running routes.
Easter Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - 3.6km in 30 min (8:20/km) - Felt great during this run and felt I could have run further but wanted to stick to my program and not push it.
Wednesday - 2.4km in 19 min (7:55/km) - Woot! First time I got under 8/km =)

Went to Joey's Only on Good Friday after church and learned a good lesson. Don't go to Joey's Only right after church on Good Friday, wait about an hour or so. We ended up waiting almost an hour and a half for our food. It was a mad house in there. The waitress was very apologetic and brought an activity pack, a cookie, and a fruit up for my daughter to help keep her entertained while we waited. What really annoyed me was that people who came in and ordered take out got their food before us.

Saturday morning the whole family, all 12 of us went to Ricki's restaurant for breakfast. Was starting to wonder about our waiter because he kept on messed up my drink order and it was like my husband was invisible when he took the drink orders. Twice the waiter tried to give me the wrong drink, first water, than pop, I ordered an orange juice. The food order came in a timely manner without any mistakes that I heard about. It was great fun.

Sunday the easter bunny came and it was pretty much just a relaxing day. We had turkey dinner with my parents and my boys. Picked up my boys from their Dad's today and they are back with me for 2 weeks.
As of today, Thursday, I am 17 days away from running my first race. I am enjoying running so much that I have a list of races I would like to run this year, I have planned out running schedules for the next few months, and I am hoping to be able to do the Disneyland Half Marathon Next Year.

Questions:
How was your holiday weekend?
Did you run a race this past weekend?
Any upcoming races your are excited about?
Ever run or want to run a Disney race?

Playing Catch Up

Well I definitely mean to post more often than I have. Will try to get caught up with this post so I am sure it will be a long post.

Thursday
We had an executive breakfast at work and even though my department wasn't a part of it we were able to taste what was offered. My plate consisted of 2 mini quiches, a ham and cheese sandwich on a mini croissant, and another pastry of some sort. Along with the breakfast there was a cupcake fundraiser for MS in the lobby of the building. ARGHHH! Today was not the day to be counting calories. I managed to resist the cupcakes until lunch and bought 6 to bring home for the family. They were very tempting sitting on my desk all afternoon but I managed to get them all home. Unfortunately I ended up eating 3 of them that evening. Needless to say I went over my calories for the day.

After eating supper I changed into my running gear and went out for a 2.4k run. I ran it in 20 min for a pace of 8:20/km, which is average for me on this route.

Friday
Friday was the last day for a lady in the office and she brought in donuts for everyone. When they were offered to me I politely declined but they kept pressuring me to take one. "Come on one donut won't hurt you" I was able to fend them off and they asked me to bring one back to my co-worker. I wasn't sure which she would want so I went back to ask her. She wanted anything chocolate so I went back to get her a donut. Big mistake! They insisted I take one for myself. "Take this one it doesn't look so bad"

Once I got back to my desk I looked up the donuts on my Timmy's app on my phone to see the nutritional information on the donuts. My co-worker got a double chocolate and I got a honey cruller. Which do you think had more calories and fat? Yup! The damn honey cruller!

Double Chocolate Donut
Calories: 250
Total Fat: 10g
Saturate Fat: 4.5g
Trans Fat: 0.1g
Cholesterol: 5mg
Sodium: 290mg
Carbohydrate: 36g
Dietary Fibre: 2g
Sugar: 16g
Protein: 4g

Honey Cruller Donut
Calories: 320
Total Fat: 19g
Saturate Fat: 9g
Trans Fat: 0.4g
Cholesterol: 50mg
Sodium: 220mg
Carbohydrate: 37g
Dietary Fibre: 0g
Sugar: 23g
Protein: 1g

I decided to eat the cruller but I spread it out over two breaks during the day. Not ideal but better than what I would have done in the past.

Saturday
Saturday was a beautiful day. My husband went out first thing in the morning and returned bottles. He goes once a month or so and this month got $50. Woohoo!

After he got back I went out for a 3k run. It took me 29 minutes for a 9:40/km pace, which again is average for me on this route. I really want to get a Garmin so I can get a more accurate idea on how I am doing.

Once I got back and had a shower we went out to do a bit of shopping. I needed new headphones for my iPod Nano. Ones that I didn't have to adjust constantly while running. I also wanted to look at a new printer. We have been without a printer since we moved because we somehow lost the power cord. It wasn't that great a printer anyway.

Off to Best Buy we went. I found a printer that I liked but we wanted to see what Future Shop had. Before leaving Best Buy I picked up some pink Skull Candy headphones and a yellow Angry Bird plush for my daughter.

We went over to Future Shop to see their selection of printers but there wasn't anything that caught our eye. We went back to Best Buy to pick up the one we liked there, a Brother 7065DN.

My daughter was so excited about the new printer. She couldn't wait to get to the Treehouse TV website and print off some stuff. LOL.

Sunday
I woke up on Sunday morning, looked outside, and WTF is this? Snow? Arghhh! Not a funny April Fools joke Mother Nature!

I didn't do much of anything today, just relaxed and watched some movies on TV. My husband and parents went to a couple of my nephews hockey games while I stayed home with my daughter. Had been planning on going for a walk but with the snow I decided to pass.

Sunday night my daughter didn't sleep well. For some reason she has been coughing at night the last little bit. She is fine during the day but at night she has coughing fits. She came into our bed in the middle of the night and started her coughing. We gave her some cough syrup and I decided to take her back to her room and lay down with her so at least my husband could get some sleep. We finally fell asleep and than she woke up again. "My cough is gone we can go back to your room" Sigh, fine off we went back to my room. She was pretty chatty when we got there but eventually calmed down. Of course she was up bright and early Monday morning in a great mood.

Monday to Wednesday (today)
This work week started off crazy. We had a bunch of new hires and we had a rush of people come get temporary badges and pictures taken for their permanent badges through out the day. Tuesday and today wasn't so bad we set out certain times the new hires could come to get badges and pictures and it seems to be working a lot better.

I haven't been doing great with my eating habits. I do pretty good during the day while I am at work but I break down in the evenings. This is definitely something I need to work on, snacking at night. I seem to eat when I am bored, while watching TV, or playing around on the computer. I am not actually hungry in the evenings just feel like I need to eat for some reason. I am also an emotional eater so when I am stressed or upset I eat. This came into play today when my husband found out on Monday that the office he works in is closing down so he will be out of a job at the end of the month. He has been talking with some contacts and he does have the month to find something so I guess it isn't so bad but I worry.

I had planned to go for a run yesterday but I just couldn't motivate myself to get out. I did drag my butt out the door for a run tonight after supper though and did 3.4k in 30 minutes for a 8:50/km pace. I am happy with that. I got to test out my new pink Skull Candy headphones and I love them! It is so nice to not have to adjust my headphones while I run, they stay in place.

We are suppose to get snow overnight and through tomorrow so no run tomorrow but I am hoping that we don't get much and it clears up by Friday. At the moment I am planning on a 2.4k run on Friday and a 3.2k run on Saturday.

Okay I think I am all caught up now, sorry for the extra long post.