Back in action

My friend Michelle recently started a fitness blog. I told her I had this one but didn't update it, and she told me I should. So I am. I cave easily to peer pressure, what can I say. Let's not talk about how that affected me during college. Ahem. Anyway...

I think the last time I was really posting was when I did the South Beach Diet. I loved it! I ended up losing 20 pounds which is pretty freakin' awesome. Ideally I'd like to lose about seven more to get me down around 160, but I'm pretty content where I am. I'm hoping that by sticking with the South Beach way of eating (lean proteins, good carbs, minimal alcohol and junk) and working out that I can get there.

The downside of dropping 20 pounds? None of my clothes fit me. :| Even that isn't really a downside...just means I need to go shopping. At one point I had no pairs of pants that fit me. They were comically large. Now I have one nice pair of jeans and a couple pairs of "these will do for now" jeans. I hadn't cleaned out my closet in years and have been holding on to a lot of shirts for "when I was skinny again" but now that they fit, I don't like them or they look funny. I guess that's what happens when things have sat in your closet for 5+ years...

I've decided that 2011 is the year I become a runner. I tried to start running last year, and I hated it. I started out doing the Couch to 5K program but decided I could just run instead of working up to it. Didn't work out so well for me. So this year I've started the program again. There's even an app for it that I downloaded to my phone. It chimes when it's time to switch from walking to running, and it imported my music that's already on my phone. Sweet! I'm on Week 2 of it, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I struggled some last week--90 seconds of walking then 60 seconds of running--with my heart rate getting up to high, hitting the anaerobic threshold. I had to pause a couple times and walk to get my heart rate down before I could keep running. Today was my first day of Week 2--two minutes walking then 90 seconds running--and I didn't have to stop at all. My heart rate (according to the treadmill...must invest in my own heart rate monitor!) would get up near 170 (my anaerobic threshold) when I was done with the running segments, but it would be low again when I was done with the walking portions. And the running was much easier today! My BFF Jen and I are looking for a 5K race we can do together in March or April. The Couch to 5K program is nine weeks long, so I figured that timeframe would be good. I'm excited to be able to call myself a runner! And be able to run without wanting to die!

So far this year I've been going to the gym at least three days a week. It works out great...I drop my oldest off at preschool at 8:15, then the younger boy and I head to the gym. Several of our friends are there at the same time which makes it easy, and honestly that motivates me to go the other two days because my oldest has friends there that want to see him and he wants to see them. My kids get to play with their friends while I get fit--perfect!

At the recommendation of my friend Danielle I downloaded a fitness app on my phone that has weight routines in it. I haven't used it yet, but I'm anxious to play around with it and work on increasing my strength and muscle tone. She created an awesome plyometrics workout for us and our friends at the gym yesterday. I'm lucky to have so many fitness minded friends to 1) share their knowledge with me, and 2) encourage me to stick with the gym and exercising!

So, on my quest to become a runner and be more fit, I think I'll take Michelle's advice and dust off this ol' blog and start using it. I figure I'll kind of use it as a fitness journal to monitor what I'm eating, how running is going, etc.