I've reduced the amount of time for each burst of running. I can do more actual running, this way. Before, I would get deflated, after two runs. Now I'm alternating 90 sec walking and 30 sec running. I'll do this, until it seems easy, then I'll up the ante.
After today's session, I found myself grinning at vaguely funny things and laughing out loud at something I remembered from a month ago. Is this a runner's high? LOL It's kinda nice. Like having one moderately strong drink.
Weight Loss Ticker
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Revolution
So, I've been doing Couch to 5k for a couple weeks, and it's going well. I have actually been enjoying it. This is mostly due to the slow pace that the Cto5k program uses. I think, in the past, I have always tried to move too fast with these things. It comes of having a massive amount of weight to lose, in order to reach the socially acceptable level. I would go through cycles of (1) getting disgusted with my own flabbiness, (2) resolving to change, (3) working my butt off at the gym, (4) getting exhausted, (5) getting frustrated with the lack of weight loss, and (6) giving up. Then, after a period of sulking and overeating, I would return to (1).
But, the Cto5k plan is so gradual that I'm not getting exhausted. I am enjoying the quiet time for reflection and prayer, as I wander around the neighborhood. Even though I have been doing the program for two weeks, I am only on "week one," according to the chart. I added a week of just walking to the beginning, because of my (previously) extremely sedentary lifestyle.
Week one of Cto5k involves alternating 60 sec's of jogging with 90 sec's of walking for a total workout of 20 min's. But, even 60 seconds is a pretty intense run for me. After my first 20-min session, I felt nauseous all morning. It got a little better, after I ate, but it didn't go away until mid-day. I drank water before, during, and after exercising, so it shouldn't have been dehydration that caused the problem. I followed the instructions for warming up and stretching that I read on the Cto5k website. My conclusion is that it was because I hadn't eaten enough (or anything) beforehand.
I missed my last session, but I tried to make up for it by doing some squats and jogging in place. It wasn't nearly as intense as the running session, but it was something. Today will be my second session of running. Hopefully, if I eat a small but healthy meal about an hour before exercising, I won't get nauseous again.
While I am taking part in this revolutionary concept of physical activity, I am also trying to get my diet under control. Previously, my eating was much like my exercising - all or nothing. Cycles of intense trying, followed by total burn-out. Between diets, my attitude was one of fatalistic hedonism: "Eat whatever you want, whenever you want, as much as you want. You're going to be fat anyway, so what difference does it make?"
In the past, I have had temporary success with various diets. I think the most I ever lost at one go was 32 lbs. Lifetime total, I have lost well over 100 lbs, but each time I gained back more than I lost. I was weirded out by the way people started talking to and about me, and my natural laziness eventually overcame my desire to be skinny. I've been over 200 lbs since forever, but I came close to going into the 100's around 1999. I got down to 212, before giving up. Someone actually told me not to get too svelte or "else." I didn't question what the "else" might be. I just gave up. If you don't try, you haven't failed, right?
But, I am tired of all this deadly apathy! I don't want diabetes. I don't want high blood pressure. I don't want heart disease. I don't want to be so afraid of failing that I don't try.
I want to run.
But, the Cto5k plan is so gradual that I'm not getting exhausted. I am enjoying the quiet time for reflection and prayer, as I wander around the neighborhood. Even though I have been doing the program for two weeks, I am only on "week one," according to the chart. I added a week of just walking to the beginning, because of my (previously) extremely sedentary lifestyle.
Week one of Cto5k involves alternating 60 sec's of jogging with 90 sec's of walking for a total workout of 20 min's. But, even 60 seconds is a pretty intense run for me. After my first 20-min session, I felt nauseous all morning. It got a little better, after I ate, but it didn't go away until mid-day. I drank water before, during, and after exercising, so it shouldn't have been dehydration that caused the problem. I followed the instructions for warming up and stretching that I read on the Cto5k website. My conclusion is that it was because I hadn't eaten enough (or anything) beforehand.
I missed my last session, but I tried to make up for it by doing some squats and jogging in place. It wasn't nearly as intense as the running session, but it was something. Today will be my second session of running. Hopefully, if I eat a small but healthy meal about an hour before exercising, I won't get nauseous again.
While I am taking part in this revolutionary concept of physical activity, I am also trying to get my diet under control. Previously, my eating was much like my exercising - all or nothing. Cycles of intense trying, followed by total burn-out. Between diets, my attitude was one of fatalistic hedonism: "Eat whatever you want, whenever you want, as much as you want. You're going to be fat anyway, so what difference does it make?"
In the past, I have had temporary success with various diets. I think the most I ever lost at one go was 32 lbs. Lifetime total, I have lost well over 100 lbs, but each time I gained back more than I lost. I was weirded out by the way people started talking to and about me, and my natural laziness eventually overcame my desire to be skinny. I've been over 200 lbs since forever, but I came close to going into the 100's around 1999. I got down to 212, before giving up. Someone actually told me not to get too svelte or "else." I didn't question what the "else" might be. I just gave up. If you don't try, you haven't failed, right?
But, I am tired of all this deadly apathy! I don't want diabetes. I don't want high blood pressure. I don't want heart disease. I don't want to be so afraid of failing that I don't try.
I want to run.
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