MLK Day--3rd Week

Today is Martin Luther King day, the beginning of the 3rd week of my program. No work today, so I ran late morning. This will be a tough week. I started an online Weight Watchers diet 1 week ago, and this week the running increases and the walking decreases in a fairly drastic way. This week will be really important, and I hope to turn a couple of big corners.

Frustrated with my slow weight loss, I joined Weight Watchers online one week ago. I started to journal what I ate and was amazed at the amount of calories I was eating. I really like to have a Jumbo Jack and fries at Jack in the Box for a quick lunch, but at about 690 calories for the burger and another 450 calories for the fries, or 1140 calories for lunch, it is no wonder that I wasn't doing very well with the belly fat thing.

That week also began 3 minutes running and 3 minutes walking. The 3 minutes walking was not hard--but three straight minutes running really made me gasp for air. Very hard. And I felt weak from the new diet. I read a few blogs online and they all said don't try to start running and dieting at the same time--too many things to worry about, you will feel weak, and will not keep it up.

Good advice, but for me (again, type A), if I don't do it all at once I won't do any of it anyway. So the advice was not helpful. I started to become a bit discouraged. I can't run long distances at this weight, but I can't lose the weight without a big goal staring me in the face.

After surfing around, I came across The Runner's Diet, Runner's World publication. After browsing through it for about 15 minutes at the book store last Saturday, I bought it, read through it, and am trying to incorporate it into my Weight Watcher's diet. I think it is compatible, and will help me better balance carbs and protein. I think I was not getting the right balance. I was losing weight but was feeling like I couldn't move about 15 minutes into my run. I think this will help.

(Note that the book is heavily panned on Amazon, but the negative comments are all by running snobs, like this one:

I was looking for a book to help me make better choices with my diet that would help me tone up and energize my runs. This book is geared toward people who used to run and would like to get back to it or people who want to run. I am currently pulling down 30+ miles per week and most of the examples were running 16 miles per week.

Right . Whatever. It is my experience that most people who say publicly and gratuitously that they do 30+ miles per week need a better calendar, a better way to measure miles, and/or a better calculator. They are like fishermen--"you should have seen the one that got away!!") But I digress.

Yesterday was my once-a-week weigh day. I have a love-hate relationship with the scale. Really, it is all about me. If the scale tells me what I want, it is my best friend. We really haven't gotten along too well
for the past few years. Anyway, yesterday morning, with finger's crossed (because that has proven to be an effective tactic) I stepped on the scale. 211.4--a 2.6 pound loss! Wahoo! I love the scale this week. BMI=29.5 YES! I am out of the ranks of the obese. Now, I am just "overweight."

Now, if I can only figure out the diet so that I can run without feeling like I am going to keel over. But I am making progress. This morning, the beginning running program, week three, calls for 5 minutes of straight running, with only 2.5 minutes of walking. That is a huge jump from last week's 3 min. running, 3 min. walking. Very tough, but this morning I did it. I went 4 miles in about 49 minutes, a huge achievement for someone who couldn't run one minute without stopping a few weeks ago. I did not hit a wall, which tells me that after only one day of trying to incorporate the principles from The Runner's Diet, I have found a better balance.

I forgot to take my blood pressure before the run, but after my 10 minute cool-down, my BP was a much improved 112/76, and my heart rate had already slowed to 106.

I feel great!