Check!

Ashley's To Do List for Week of 04/19/09:

• Hurt my knee running: Check!
• Get in major fight with future in-laws about wedding: Check!
• Gain a few pounds: Check!

Ashley's To Do List for Week of 04/27/09:

• Run 3X's/week
• Track what I eat
• Re-introduce strength training at least 2X's/week (Aim for 3X's)
• Stay on in-laws good sides
• Do something fun for the wedding to remind myself that this is supposed to be fun

Scale Sabotage!

Awhile back I blogged about living with the future in-laws. Well, last week they were home on vacation (how fun!). Mostly they worked around the house and went on short outings to NYC, the beach, etc. My future mother-in-law, however, found the time to break my scale. I was at work when this went down so I didn't know the extent of the damages.

This was not just any scale though. This was a Tanita Body Fat/Body Water Scale that made suggests on caloric intake based on your body composition and stores your previous measurements for comparison. It is one sexy scale. Needless to say it cost my a pretty penny, but I'm worth it. I was devastated to think that the scale I have been using for the past 3 years was broken. The idea of starting all over with a new scale freaked me out.

Of course, she offered to replace the scale, but I knew once she found out how much it cost, the judgement would begin- You spent WHAT on a scale?!

To my surprise, I got home to find my scale safe! Cracked on the plastic covering the digital display, but SAFE!

I am ecstatic that I will be reporting to you from said scale after tonight's weigh in. Wish me luck!

Weigh In Update

So, I weighed myself after work today, which is my usual time for weighing. It said 184 (-2.6lbs)!! Yeeeehaw!

I'm definitely going with this weigh in number so that I keep pushing myself hard this week. I've been known to go with the higher weight and slack off because I already have a "loss" for the week.

Yeah, that's right, I've been a little cheater before by spreading out my weight loss. Hope you all love me anyway!

Weigh In

Scale says I'm down a pound this week after last week's gain. Yesterday morning it had me down 2 lbs, but I guess with the extra Easter calories I waived goodbye to 2lbs.

I'll be moving on to Week 5 of the C25K, each week brings anticipation for the new running schedule:
Can I do it?
Will I wimp out?
I can't believe I'm going to run continuously for that long!

Exercise has definitely kept my enagaged lately, but I wish my eating would pick up the slack.

I'm Angry

I'm really angry. The anger is building up, boiling over, and spilling into all aspects of my life. I don't think that the causes of my anger is the significant aspect, so I won't go there (especially because the reasons I am angry has become quite a list).

It's difficult for me to be angry. I am not angry person.

I get upset- a lot
Annoyed- all day long
But angry- rarely

I think it's mostly because I don't know how to direct angry energy. I'm great at directing nervous or worrisome energy- I clean and clean and clean. But what do I do with this angry energy? Exercise can't even rid me of it.

I'm getting a handle on my over-eating from the past week, but I am still eating too much. I think I'm starting to see a correlation between the amount of my anger and the amount of my eating. Now that I see this pattern, what do I do about it?

Can I get a 170, anyone??

So, I weighed in on Sunday (one day early) to gauge the damages done by the binge-fest of a week I just had. To my surprise, I weighed in at 185.0 (-0.8lbs). I ate pretty light on Sunday, even though I was tempted with loads of Italian pastries a la Palm Sunday at the future grandma-in-law's house.
I also did an okay job on Monday, but I had some serious bloating going on. I weighed in last night to find myself at 186.6 (+0.8)- not cool!
I'm so tempted to pretend like I didn't see that number, but I have to come clean, and you can all hold me accountable for my gain.
I'm really tired of the 180's....

Epic Fail

Wow- my eating this week has been horrendous. I have made poor choices and my portion control has been off. Let's recap this week:

Monday: Chicken Parmesan

Tuesday: Chicken cordon bleu, 3 servings of kettle popcorn

Wednesday: I had a work event. Usually, I forgo the appetizers and just get a sensible dinner and one drink, but this time was quite different
Dirty martini, 2 potato skins, 1 buffalo wing, 5 chips in queso dip

Thursday: Date night in our favorite place- Hoboken, NJ. I've been doing okay with date nights, but this time I ordered "the usual"
Thai spring roll, General Tso's Chicken

Friday: 3 servings of cereal

Yikes! I did weigh myself this morning to gauge the damages. I was exactly the same as Monday (185.8) so I can still salvage this week if I snap out of it. I'm not too sure what's prompting this behavior, but I'm really disappointed in myself.

C25K Week 3

I started Week 3 this week. It was much more challenging than Week's 1 or 2, but still doable. There are no moments that I feel like quitting, but I am certainly not running as much as I am jogging. Right now, it isn't about my pace; it is about completing the program.

I am by no means someone that takes to running naturally, and that is why I would recommend this program to anyone, but there are certainly some things that can make the experience more enjoyable.

My very first day of running I got runner's toe (a build up of fluid or blood under the toenail, which can cause the nail to fall off). The toe is healing, but it sure looks ugly. Here are a few things I should have done to avoid this injury:
-Get fitted for running shoes
-Wear socks that aren't too thick or thin
-Make sure your toenails are neatly trimmed

Some other lessons that I learned by doing:
-Map your run ahead of time at http://www.mapmyrun.com/
-Download a nifty podcast for the C25K program for every week at http://www.c25k.com/
-Buy yourself some running clothes- they don't have to be expensive (I bought mine at Walmart and Sport's Authority). Running pants/shorts will prevent your pants from falling down as you run (a big problem for me). I specifically like the spandex kind with the drawstring for extra staying power.
-Don't be so self conscious! I probably can't convince you of this without you actually trying for yourself, but you aren't running for other people- you are running for yourself, so forget about everyone else and do your thing!

Happy trails!