GOOAALL!!!!!! and Running tips from a Newbie

I can't wait so here goes: I weighed 211.2 this am! That's a loss of 2.4 pounds, 38.8 total pounds! AND, that means I've finally reached my first goal of 212 pounds, surpassed it actually. This is the lowest weight I've been in at least 12 years. The lowest number on my scale that I can remember in recent history was 213 and now I'm under it!

I knew I had to show a loss this week after none last week, but I was pleasantly surprised by 2.4 pounds. Then I looked at my spreadsheet and realized I have a small gain or maintain week exactly every 6th week. Isn't that weirdo? And guess what week last week was? I am so proud and astounded at the fact that I'm almost to the 40 pound mark. I've never lost this much weight at one time before. I've lost 20 pounds at least 10 times in my life, but never 40 at once. It feels Grrrrrr-eat! (Channeling Tony the Tiger, but you young 'uns probably never heard of him)

Yesterday was a great day. I had Cheerios and milk for 224 cal for breakfast. I don't have cereal very often because I'm still learning to show it who's boss, but it sounded good. I ALWAYS measure cereal, even though I use my kid's small bowl and I KNOW it only holds 1 cup. I am making my brain learn what a NORMAL portion is by measuring, so I do.

Lunch was a weight watchers frozen dinner and a piece of the pumpernickel bread we picked up at the German bakery on the way home from Oklahoma. YES I went in there and didn't have strudel. Didn't buy it even. Bought one piece for the kids none for me. We did get the pumpernickel and a loaf of Rye bread which I'll eat sparingly,but enjoy when I do. Lunch was 320 cal.

Dinner was YUMMY! My Nanny made hummus. The only great part of all 3 kids in school is that she can cook more often or at least start dinner for me. She had made hummus and spaghetti and meatballs. I ate hummus w/ pita chips, green peas, green beans and 1 cup spaghetti and one meatball. Dinner was 671 cal.

BTW-Do you guys like me posting what I eat? Or is it too much info, boring, etc?

Exercise was great yesterday as I went to my second TKD class. I love love love it. It's so much fun and HARD, but fun. WOW you have to have good balance and core strength. The only down side is the uniform which is soooo hot. BUT, I guess I burn more calories that way. I wore my Polar this time, but it kept beeping and I didn't want to stop and figure out how to stop it so I turned it off. I still don't know the exact calories I'm burning, but based on past experience I'd say it's about 650-700.

As most of you who've read my blog a while know, I am a newbie runner. I'm coming to love it, truly love it. I don't know if I totally love running itself or how it makes me feel that I CAN run for the first time in my life. I remember struggling with running in elementary school. I was one of the only kids bummed when we got to go outside and have field day all day in school. Oh how I wish I'd figured this out earlier, but that's a topic for another day.

Today I want to share a few things I've learned about running so far. I am by NO means whatsoever an expert on running. I've only been doing it for about 10 weeks now. But maybe my ideas and thoughts will help encourage those of you just starting of thinking about starting. Here goes:

1) Always eat a small snack before you run a long run. Last week, I ran before I ate lunch and hadn't had a snack. I was tired and lethargic by the end of the run. Plus dizzy. Not good.

2) Always hydrate prior to a long run. When I'm behind on my water before my runs, I have less energy and more muscle pain. Running never helps that deficit. Who knew?

3) Always pee before a long run. Maybe it doesn't affect you fellas the way it does us gals, but running and full bladder don't mix. After 3 kids and years of obesity, my bladder is shot. Usually I do just fine, but when my bladder is full all I think about is, "I need to pee, I need to pee" On the bright side, all I think about is , "I need to pee, I need to pee." I guess that's better than, "My legs hurt. My legs hurt."

4) When you run, you sweat places you never thought you'd sweat. When I run I sweat EVERYWHERE. It is gross. And in places I never dreamed. By this I mean, my ears sweat. My ears sweat and my ear buds fall out. Weird. I have to come up w/ a better solution. I have a BondiBand thing and it helps, but still. Ewww.

5) When they say to "stay loose", they mean it. It is much easier for me to find a comfortable pace if my upper body, hands, arms, and neck are relaxed. When I'm tensed and gritting my teeth, It is so much harder. So now, I tell myself, "Relax INTO the run. Don't fight it." And it helps soooooo much.

6) Breathing is important. Yeah, I know this is not shocking news. But, I find that if I'm feeling like quitting or slowing down, taking a few slower and deeper breaths helps. I imagine oxygen flowing all the way through my body and into what ever area is feeling tired. It helps, it really does. The breathing and the relaxation imagery help me to keep going and stay loose. (See #5)

7) What you are wearing matters. About 2 weeks into C25K, I decided I was going to heed the advice I'd been seeing about going to a running store and getting fitted for shoes. While there the very nice and friendly skinny girl who was supportive of fat chick wanting to run, recommended I buy special socks and not wear cotton socks or clothing. She said beginning runners get overheated really easily and cotton can cause friction leading to blisters and such.

My gut reaction was, "yeah right." But, I have come to realize she is right. The socks she recommended are sooooooo much better than the ones I've bought at Target. And those were athletic socks. When I wear them, my feet sweat less and feel less tired and sore. Well worth the money. And last week I wore new shorts I got for cheapo at Wal-Mart which are going to be great workout shorts, but NOT running shorts. They are cotton and fat chick thighs with cotton shorts while running is not good. I didn't get blisters, but I was uncomfortable for the entire 2.6 miles and I will now be spending a little extra dough for the better clothes. (My old ones are too too big.)

8) Try mini-intervals. Lately I've gotten far enough into C25K that I'm doing longer runs, 28minutes today. GRIN. I've learned that running at the same speed on the treadmill feels hard after a while. If I shake things up by varying the incline or increasing the speed just a little for a short time, it makes going back to my usual pace feel so much easier. So now when my legs are getting tired, I actually speed up for 1-2 min, then slow back down and I find that it helps me keep going.

I hope that helps anyone out there new to running or thinking about running. Don't be afraid to try new things, even if you think it might be too hard. Sometimes you find something you really like that you never dreamed you would. That's how running has been for me.

And so I'll close today with announcing my new goal weight: 199 pounds. Being under 200 seemed like a fantasy a few months ago, now it is just a reality waiting to happen.

How about you? Have you recently reached a goal? Is it time to set a new one? Do you set small goals or are you an end of the line only goal person? Have you discovered something new in your workouts that you thought you couldn't do, but did and liked it?

Just Keep going.....