Couch to 5k: Week 3, Day 3 and 55 POUNDS!

I'm not writing this entry right after I finished the run, as I'd intended, but two days later. But I'm writing it, which is what's most important, I suppose.

My last week 3 run was also uneventful, which is good. I came home late from work, and had plans to meet friends for dinner and the like, so I had to rush, but I never felt tempted to put it off until Saturday, and I didn't dare try to tell myself I'd do it later, because it was cold as hell at 5:45pm and I knew it would only be worse after dinner. I had only exactly 30 minutes, so I just did the program once through normally. I'd intended to add an extra interval or two on the end, like I did on Wednesday, to make sure I was ready for 5 minutes during week 4, but I didn't have time, so I applauded myself for making time for my workout and rushed in to take a quick shower. It wasn't too hard, but it also wasn't too easy, which I guess is the idea.

My sweet tooth got the best of me after dinner on Friday night, so I ate a little more sugar than I felt good about... especially since the night before (Thurs) was cake for my host father's birthday. But I woke up early on Saturday morning, around 7:30, with the brilliant idea to head to the gym and get a nice run on the treadmill in before leaving for the weekend. T's birthday was the Tuesday before, so we were heading out to visit another friend to celebrate, and I knew that pizza and ice cream were in my immediate future, so I wanted to get a good workout in beforehand to help stave off the desire to overeat. And man, I was feeling pretty good about myself... I stretched and put on my runners and was just walking down the stairs, looking forward to a nice hard run in the heated gym, when I realized that the gym doesn't open until 9 on Saturdays. D'oh!

My disappointment was boundless. But I couldn't, of course, strip OFF my workout clothes and climb back into bed, so I had no choice but to go for a nice run... outside. It was cold, and it sucked, but I was glad I did it. I didn't do C25k again. I listened to my own music and just alternated running and walking each song. I figured I still had the whole weekend to recover, so I wasn't too worried about hurting my legs, but I was pretty careful. I didn't have any pain, and I'm feeling fine now, so it was a success.

Eating this weekend, however, was not. It was a lot better than it might have been, something I'm proud of, but it didn't go entirely according to plan. I brought a bottle of orange juice as my snack on the train, because it was my healthiest option at the store, and it helped stave off starvation until we finally sat down to eat around 2pm. I was just going to order the salad bar, but then A's host mother decided to buy the pizza, and I was sort of expected to eat it, so I did. (That's not a good reason, but it's not entirely a lie. Korean people are weird about not eating food they've prepared or procured for you.) So I started off well, with fruit from the salad bar, but then started in on other things... like pasta salad. Ouch. Then I had a little bit of spaghetti. Then I obliged by eating the three (thin, but three) slices of pizza put on my plate, which wasn't a good feeling. Cola, too, although not nearly as much as I used to drink.

I wasn't even aware of how much I'd actually eaten until I didn't get hungry... for the rest of the day. The friends wanted KFC for dinner around 8, but I didn't even want it. I would have liked a chicken burger (it would have been delicious), but I wasn't hungry at all... the only thing I wanted was a fruit or vegetable to make me feel less gross about lunch. But those were nonexistent at Korean KFC, so I just skipped dinner. I'd apparently had plenty of calories at lunch, because I didn't get hungry until this morning. This was an amazing revelation, because I'm so used to eating when everyone else eats that I've never even imagined skipping a meal because I'm not hungry. The old me would have eaten a chicken burger anyway... not paid attention to my stomach saying "Nope, we're good, thanks."

And somehow I did it again this morning. I was really hungry when I woke up, so I had a granola bar. Then, we were planning to go to a bakery for breakfast, where it would have been easy for me to just get something small (or nothing at all), but instead we ended up eating with A's host family. And surprisingly, it was a delicious Korean breakfast... complete with all my favorite foods. So I ate too much. Not way too much, but enough that I wasn't hungry for lunch. I bought an apple before we left, because I knew I'd be on the train at lunchtime, but it's now almost 7 and I still haven't eaten it. I'm getting hungry for dinner, which is a good feeling.

It's been really nice, the past few weeks, packing snacks and eating normal regulated meals, and generally feeling more in control of my eating habits than I ever have, so this weekend was sort of an upheaval. But a good experience. And I didn't binge on sweets, so I feel pretty okay about it. I've already cut up carrots and strawberries for tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to the structure. I do have a three-day conference coming up this Friday, which means more temptation and another break from my system, but I'm hoping I can do better than this weekend.

And the most exciting news... I achieved my March Madness goal! To review, I'd been hovering around a plateau for a couple of months, so on March 1 I decided my goal would be to really kick it into high gear and try to lose 10 pounds before March 31. And at yesterday's weigh-in, I discovered I'd done it, with two days to spare. I now weigh 179.5, which is actually 10.1 pounds less than I weighed on March 1. AWESOME! Even better, I feel like I accomplished it in a sustainable way. It also meant a new HYC badge! (I think maybe I'm inordinately excited about that, but I don't care!)

March 1: 189.64
March 8: 186.8 (-2.8)
March 15: 183.7 (-3.1)
March 22: 182.8 (-0.9)
March 30: 179.5 (-3.3)

I managed to stay off the scale for the past 4 days, since I asked my host mom to hide it, and I think it was good for me. I'm going to try to weigh in only once a week from now on, although I hid the scale myself, so the temptation will be stronger. I'm not going to try to lose another 10 pounds in April... in fact, I'm going to try not to focus on weight loss as much as before, but rather on cementing and building my new healthy habits. I'll admit that I'm still looking forward... and realizing that even if I only lose 5 pounds a month during April, May, and June, I can be in the 160s when I go home! (And hopefully, thanks to the weight training, ready for a bikini.) My muffin top is definitely shrinking, anyway.

Eek! Another long entry. If you're still reading, I have a request... Can anyone out there in blogland recommend some new workout songs? I usually use hip hop and R&B, but I'm willing to expand my horizons as long as it's got a good beat. The TVs on my treadmills only show Korean TV, so I'm very reliant on my iPod, but I'm starting to get a little tired of my current mix. What do you bop to? Thanks! :)