I woke up this morning hoping to see a big drop on the scale, thanks to TOM's departure yesterday, and while it wasn't as big as I'd hoped, at least it went down. What I'd really like is to not get on the scale again until March 31st, but it's so hard for me... I can try putting it away somewhere inconvenient, but if it's sitting there I'm going to step on it... sometimes three times a day! I'm not scale-obsessed... I don't think I have an unhealthy relationship with it. I'd just like to try being away from it for 7 days (OMG 7 days until the end of March Madness!) and see how it works. I think weighing daily is best for me--it keeps me accountable on a daily basis, whereas when I tried weighing weekly I'd eat poorly one day and tell myself I'd make it up before Saturday... which as you can imagine, just didn't work. But I think I'm really focused on the number now, which is bad, and I'd like to take a step back. Maybe I'll carry it upstairs and put it in my suitcase in my host parents' bedroom. Then I can't access it anytime I want, and I'll hopefully stay away for a week. It might be best for my mental health.
Today I successfully completed my first Week 3 C25k run, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. The longest interval was 3 minutes, two times, and I was nervous about it, but I did both of them. I'm not sure why it was so hard--I used to pretty routinely do 6 and 9 minutes. But I think I'm running faster nowadays than I was then, although I have no real way to test that theory. I ran to the local university, and then further than I usually do. It was a beautiful day--sunny and just a little too windy, and even when I started to get queasy towards the end of the three minutes, I was genuinely happy to be doing it.
I guess I really do want to be a runner. My Dad's been a runner for about twenty years. (He was painfully chubby, from what I hear, all through school.) But then he discovered running, and it's his pet exercise. All my life he's wanted me to be a runner, but I just thought there was no way I could do it. I had zero endurance, even when I played softball, and my chest was so big, even in high school, that I had to wear two sports bras to avoid knocking myself out. It just didn't seem very conducive to my being a runner.
But somehow I became one. I guess before I discovered my local gym, and when I wanted to exercise and explore at the same time, jogging was the best way to do it, so that's what I did. I'm amazed now at how ballsy I was... it was so hot in Korea in August that I flounced around in my spaghetti strap tank tops (over my two sports bras), drawing stares all around my small town. I've lost weight since, but I don't think I'd dress that way now! I just really liked being out of my homestay and having a lot of time to think. I was going through a lot, emotionally, during those first few months of adjusting, and the jalking (jogging and walking, but mostly walking) was just what I needed.
And now I guess it really is a habit. I was honestly looking forward to the challenge of a new C25k week today, and I'm excited to see how much better I can do on Wednesday. Today I was still quite a ways from home when I finished, so I did one more set of the interval (90 seconds running and 3 minutes running), to bring the total running time to 13.5 minutes. It was hard, but felt good when it was finished, and I figure any little bit of endurance-building will help, especially once I get to the middle weeks. The fact that I'm now training for something, and following a plan, has helped immensely. I'm running less, actually, that I probably was when I would go out and just wing it every day, but I feel better about it. It feels better to do three focused runs with specific goals in a week than forcing myself to go out 6 times and just sort of doing my thing.
Plus, I'm soooo excited to surprise my Dad this summer with my ability to run a 5k. He's been understated about my weight loss, probably out of a desire to be tactful and not say the wrong thing. And he's just not a very effusive guy. But I think he'll be really impressed about this, and I'm really happy about that! It's one of the many things I think about while panting and trying not to think about the time.
7 comments:
Okay -- from one busty chick to another, let me just say this: Enell Sports Bra. Go there and order one of these puppies. ELIMINATES THE BOUNCE. I absolutely love mine -- yes, it's a little expensive, but I can't imagine trying to jog or do aerobics without it. No, it's not pretty but damn, does it do it's job. :) I call it "My Straighjacket For The Girls", and I recommend it to everyone. :)
Good job on the run!
I weigh myself every day, but I don't have any words of wisdom about how not to obsess.
I guess one thing that helps me is that I've stopped setting timelines to my weight loss. Saying I'll lose x lbs by y date ... THAT was making me INSANE. If I stay on plan and make good choices the weight will come off, but I can't set a timeline for my body. There are times I lose 0.2 and times lose 1.2, and I don't do anything different (that I can determine, anyway).
I try to set behavior goals, and the scale takes care of itself.
Congratulations on your running progress! I really envision myself as a runner too. Before moving abroad, jogging on the treadmill at my gym was something I did regularly- I even got up to jogging for long intervals. Now that I'm living abroad, nearly a year has gone by since I've stepped on a treadmill. I don't have a gym membership here and I know that running on pavement is totally different, but at this point that would be my only option. Do you know of any recommendations for getting started with running outside?
I'm replying to your comment on my blog here, in case you don't go back and check comments.
I can imagine that it would be hard at times to be in a place where English speakers are few and far between. I feel for you. Hopefully most days the "wow, this is great!" outweighs the bad.
My friend who taught in korea made friends with many many Americans and Canadians at a bar ... I'm not suggesting that you take up drinking as a hobby, but every so often might not be bad, right? I wonder if there's something similar near where you live. I have no concept of if your area is rural or urban. She was in Bupyeong, I do know that.
I'm waay impressed with your mad jogging skillz! Seriously, I know how hard it is to jog for a "normally busted" person, but for girls like us, it's downright dangerous. GOOD on bikinime for suggesting the "straightjacket" cos I nearly fell off my chair laughing and now I want one!!
Every time you talk about your Dad I think of what he said that time about the earthquake and how funny it was.
Yaaaay for you!!
Very impressive you are doing so well. Your dad is going to be so excited for you.
I weigh weekly because i find if i get on the scales daily they start to slowly do my head in. It would start to dictate my mood for the day. You could start by limiting yourself to once a day and if you find yourself back on them a second or third time you have to give something up for a pre determined period of time. Either way do what is best for yourself and you are the best judge of that.
Man... I envy the motivation you have for running! Its so great to have that extra oomph cause its not easy!
I had a giggle at the bit in your post about going for a run outside in Korea... I did that in Thailand ONCE... never again. I was the big fat forang huffing and puffing with a bright red face! Needless to say the stare factor was sky high!
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