Sunday, April 5, 2009

Sunday Exercise Roundup

It seems that the only really interesting thing I've been doing lately is exercising. :) Hubby and I have been exercising almost every day for the past five weeks. Here was the run down for last week:

Sunday
Week 5, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push ups program. I can't do full push ups, so I've been doing girls push ups for this program.
Running - Week 1, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. Not too difficult, but feeling it. First time running in awhile. I can tell I've trained before, but it's still hard.

Monday
Week 5, Day 1 of the Two Hundred Sit ups program.

Tuesday
Week 5, Day 2 of the One Hundred Push ups program.
Running - Week 1, Day 2 of the Couch to 5K program.

Wednesday
Week 5, Day 2 of the Two Hundred Sit ups program. I almost died during this training day. I don't know why it was so hard today. I barely finished the workout and I was crying during the last set.

Thursday
Week 5, Day 3 of the One Hundred Push ups program. I have to say, I was really pushing out these push ups. On my last set, I did 40 of them without stopping. I've never done so many in my life!
Running - Week 1, Day 3 of the Couch to 5K program.

Sabbath
Rest Day

I weighed myself on New Years - 187.2 pounds. This is my heaviest weight ever. Since New Years, I have tried to get involved in various exercise plans, portioned eating, etc. But I kept failing. My weight would go down 3 or 4 pounds and then go back up to where I started. Thankfully, I never exceeded 187.2 pounds.

For the past 6 weeks, hubby and I have been actively following the 200 sit ups and 100 push up plans. Unfortunately, that's not enough exercise to lose weight. Last week, I decided it was time to run again. In one week, I lost 3.8 pounds. I'm praying it's not a fluke. But as noted above, I exercised 5 days last week. I've been drinking lots of water, exercising, and attempting portion control. It looks like it might be paying off.

My goal is to lose 40 pounds and run a 5K without stopping for a walk break. I know I can accomplish my goals. I just need to stick with the plan. Lots of water, adequate rest, plenty of exercise, and eating fewer calories than I burn. I can do this.

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength
(Philippians 4:13, NLT)

1 comment:

Lynsye Louise said...

I'm no expert, but I will share with you some of what's worked for me in addition to the running. I didn't have much faith that I would actually lose the weight I wanted to, but somehow it's happening and I'm on a roll.

I no longer reward myself with food. Ever. I am spending more money as a result, but I need new clothes to fit my shrinking frame anyway, so in all it's rather pragmatic. Every few pounds is a new work shirt or getting a pair of pants tailored. Tailoring is cheaper than new pants, but I still make myself work for it.

I eat oatmeal for breakfast as often as possible. I add walnuts, brown sugar, maple syrup, dried fruit, granola...whatever I'm interested in that morning, but almost always oatmeal. The Quaker's weight-loss one is actually pretty good, in that it starts out with 8g fiber and 6g protein, which is a pretty good first step for the day.

I eat as much fresh fruit as possible. I know veggies are good too, but I like fruit better. I consider it free fiber. And if I ever eat anything fatty, I combine it with at least twice as many grams of fiber as it has grams of fat, as fiber binds to fat and keeps it from metabolizing.

And best for me has been to only weigh myself every other week at most. I hide the scale way under the bed so I have to work to find it. That way I'm much more focused on noticing my muscle tone or smaller waist rather than a number, which in the end doesn't mean much anyway when you're replacing fat with muscle, which is what I'm hoping to do.

It sounds like you guys are off to a great start with your exercise. Keep up the positive self-talk! Weeks can go by without noticing progress, but it IS being made behind the scenes. Your heart is getting stronger and your muscles are slowly building, and will one day surprise you with your newfound endurance. When is your 5K?