Toot Toot!

That's me tooting my own horn!

I was suuuper nervous about starting Week 3 of C25K today because of the 3-minute runs. Going from 90 seconds to 3 minutes was a little intimidating to me. But just let me say...I rocked it! I sometimes think we underestimate what our bodies can do, and are our own worse enemies. Somewhere around the 90 second/2 minute mark during my runs, something just seemed to click and my body wanted to keep going. Maybe not quite a runner's high, but maybe a C25k high! :)

I'm not saying it was all easy, I was tired after the last 3 minute run, but that's what I love about C25k: it pushes just enough for what you can do. Next week when I complete Week 3, I'm getting more confident that I'll be able to easily move on to Week 4.

As always, stats from Runkeeper:

Lazy Sunday...

Today was a pretty relaxing Sunday. I was determined to bounce back after my unexpected gain yesterday, so I concentrated on drinking lots of water and controlling my sodium intake. For dinner, I made this YUMMY, YUMMY dish, found on the Campbell's Kitchen website:


(Sorry again for my less than stellar photography skills, but this dish is GOOD!)

Link to the recipe on Campbell's website: http://bit.ly/bfZLCr

Broccoli and Noodles Supreme

3 cups uncooked medium egg noodles
2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli florets
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

5 POINTS for 1/5 of the recipe

1. Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Add the broccoli for the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Drain the noodle mixture well in a colander. Return the noodle mixture to the saucepan.
2. Stir the soup, sour cream, cheese and black pepper in the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring often.

THIS WAS DELCIOUS! Creamy, cheesy and broccoli-y...what more can you ask for? It's 5 points for 1/5th of the recipe, but I added some cubed chicken and that brought the serving up to 6 points. I used the 98% FF Cream of Chicken Soup. I also used regular sour cream because the points for this dish were relatively low, but I'm sure you could lower the points even more by using fat free sour cream. Not sure how the taste would be though. To me, this was perfect! In fact, a little too perfect because I had two servings. Good thing I had a lot of points for dinner tonight!

What???

Went to my meeting this morning, got on the scale and looked at the number...

[Insert SUPER loud record stop sound effect here]

I gained! 0.8! And what's worse, I can't even tell you why. Even despite Labor Day, I didn't go over my points this week, worked out 4 times, and got in all my good health guidelines. (No, and not that TOM either). Usually if I gain, I know why. Went over my points, made bad choices, etc. And if I lose, I also know why. But for the life of me, I don't know what happened this week.

Surprisingly, however, I'm not mad at myself. Because I know I did everything I was supposed to this week. Worked out, stayed within my points, and drank lots of water. I just feel like this gain isn't a result of anything I did wrong, and maybe my body is just being weird on me this week. Now if something like this happens again next week, then I know I have to study my week carefully and pinpoint something I may be doing wrong.

Until next week!

Week 2, Day 3 of C25K

Today was my last run on Week 2 of C25K. I am doing each week twice, and so far this has been working out, but I'm a little nervous about moving on to Week 3 on Monday. I did start running outside this week, which may explain the change in how my body feels, but I did more huffing and puffing this week than last week (when I was running inside). I have asthma and can't run outside when the humidity point is high, but it has cooled off considerably in Chicago and the mornings are nice, cool and crisp.

Next week, I have to do two 3-minute runs. That's double what I've been doing, so I'm a little apprehensive about whether I can do it or not. Obviously, I'm going to give it my all and see if I can complete it. I don't want to have to repeat Week 3 more than twice, but I'm feeling that I may have to. Let's hope I'm just psyching myself out a little!

Anyway, here are my stats from my run today from Runkeeper:



It says my pace was little slower, but some of that could be explained by getting held up for a long time at a stoplight, something that didn't happen when I ran on Monday.

Oh, and last night, I went to a "Tighten N Tone" class at the YMCA. I thought it was a weight lifting class, but it was mostly cardio, crunches, etc and it kicked my butt! It was 45 minutes long, but I couldn't do all of the sit-ups, crunches and stretches and was pooped after 30 minutes. I want to continue doing the class, but don't want to zap all my energy for doing C25K. Next class is on Tuesday, we'll see!

Have a great weekend!

Bouncin' Back (Week 2, Day 2 of C25K)

"You ain't seen bouncin' back!"

Sorry, if anyone ever listened to Mystikal, you know the title is the name of one of his old songs. Lol for the hip-hop references...

Anyway...I was feeling down yesterday about still not having a job and I was wallowing a little bit in self-pity. I got up early this morning and decided to run outside. If anyone is familiar with Chicago, then you know we have beautiful biking and running paths that run right alongside Lake Michigan. I stopped running outside the last couple of weeks because I thought running on the pavement was giving me a little knee pain, but I felt like a little morning sunshine is exactly what I needed. And I was right! I think it is nearly impossible to feel depressed after a good workout, a beautiful sunny morning and a great fall breeze along the lake.

Another pro about doing C25K outside is that I can use Runkeeper to track my distance, pacing and calories burned. Runkeeper is a website and iPhone app that uses GPS to track your progress during physical activities. You just start it up on your iPhone or Android phone and continue with your activity (I use my iPhone for the music and my C25K app when I workout and it's also nice having a phone on you, just in case, when you're outside).

Here's my completed workout stats according to Runkeeper (I'm still on Week 2 of C25K):



I actually burned 317 calories, I forgot to link this run to my Runkeeper.com account that has my updated weight. But I don't think 1.68 miles is too bad! I feel like I've almost got the 90-second runs down, and I'm excited (and a little nervous) about the 3-minute runs coming in Week 3.

Feeling a little down today...

So today is the first day of school for Chicago Public Schools. And I still don't have a job.

I finished my masters degree in Secondary Education back in June and have been job hunting actively since March. The schools here in Chicago are really struggling, with no money to go around. I know we are in a bad economy, but it is so disheartening to put in years of hard work (6 for undergrad and grad school) and getting in debt up to my eyeballs in students loans, just to be unemployed.

I feel like I've been told since I was a small child that education is the way to better your life. You get good grades in high school so you can get into a good college, you bust your ass for four years in college so you can either enter the work force or go to grad school, then spend another two years getting an advanced degree--just knowing it will all pay off.

Everyone I've talked to says "It's not you, it's the economy" etc, etc, but I can't help but feel like I will never get a reward for all of my hard work and diligence. All I want to do is teach. I love working with youth, I have a passion for teaching literature (I'm certified to teach grades 6-12), but I am still sitting here on my couch...

I guess you don't know how much a job means until you're left without one.

Good Labor Day Weekend!

So this has been a pretty good Labor Day Weekend! Yesterday I resisted temptation at the Cheesecake Factory, and this morning I started my second round of Week 2 of C25k.

I wanted to run outside, but the heavens decided to open and thunderstorm. I was in Milwaukee visiting family for the holiday, so my sister (who volunteered to go with me) and I went to a local YMCA to run on the indoor track. I hadn't worked out in 3 days, so I felt like I huffed and puffed a little more than usual, but overall it felt pretty good. After my workout was over, I looked over at my 120-pound, 16 year old athlete of a sister, and she hadn't even broken a sweat! Talk about motivation...

I'm excited to finish Week 2 and move on to Week 3, but I'm also nervous. Right now, I'm only running in 90-second intervals, and next week it ups to 3 minutes. I'm really hoping I'll be able to finish the workout!

After saying goodbye to family, I returned to Chicago and was really craving something comfy and home-cooked for dinner, and I discovered this recipe for Cheeseburger Pasta on the Campbell's Kitchen website. I mean, who can resist something cheesy?



Cheeseburger Pasta

1 pound ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup (Regular or Healthy Request®)
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups uncooked medium shell-shaped pasta

1. Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
2. Stir the soups, water and pasta in the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender, stirring often.

It's a little like Hamburger Helper, but it actually tastes a little more yummy and homemade. It's so simple and takes about 20 minutes to make.

My photography skills aren't the greatest, but trust me: it tastes better than it looks! It's 7 points for 1/5th of the recipe, which isn't a huge portion, but it really is yummy and kind of reminded me of being a kid and watching my mom cook dinner.

Curse you Cheesecake Factory!

The Labor Day weekend temptations begin...

My great-aunt is in town from California (only comes to visit maybe once a year) and she wanted to take all her nieces out for lunch. The restaurant she picks: The Cheesecake Factory. Pretty much every WWer's nightmare. Considering their 1500 calorie-a-slice pieces of cheesecake, I don't think there is anything healthy served here--so the freaking out began immediately.

What CF is also known for is that they don't publicize their NI! There are several independent websites that have caloric information, but I really don't know how accurate they all are. I scoured the web for a good 30 mintues trying to find anything at the restuarant that wouldn't take up all my points for the day, until I finally came across these two Hungry Girl postings:

http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1057

http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1997

Thank you Hungry Girl! Even these options were calorie and fat laden, but I ending up going with the Weight Management Grilled Chicken, which HG has listed as 11-16 points. Not really knowing how many points to count it for, I opted for the 16...I'll just have a light dinner tonight!

Btw: the chicken I had wasn't all that great. Not terrible, but not worth 16 points.

I had a great time with my aunts, sister and cousins and was able to not blow ALL of my points for the day. If this were my last time around on WW, I would have either completely blown off lunch, or just said "eff it" and ate what I wanted. I am glad this time around that I am able to meet in the middle.

Tomorrow we are having a family bbq, and I went out and bought baked chips, veggie burgers and 1-point buns to bring to the event. Hopefully I will be able to resist the rest of the good ol' southern cooking from my aunt and grandmother...we'll see!

Weigh-In Day!

Saturday is my weigh-in day on Weight Watchers. Two good weeks in a row! Today I weighed in at 272.2, down 2.4! That brings me 7.8 pounds in 2 weeks. Having done WW before, I know that the first two weeks can post bigger losses because your body is still adjusting. But, I want to think my new running program is also contributing!

Now that the Labor Day Weekend is upon us, I'm a little nervous about staying OP (on plan) this weekend. Of course, my family is having a barbecue, so my plan was to bring a few WW friendly items to the BBQ, so I can still feel like I'm participating and not left out. I'll also be doing Week 2 of C25k for the second time starting on Monday, so I'll hopefully be posting about it.

Have a great holiday everyone!

My Goals

Like mentioned in my welcome post, I am both on Weight Watchers and doing the Couch to 5k program. I do have a weight goal, but at this point I don't want to put all my concentration on one ending number. My goal is to follow the WW plan week after week, but since I am confident that I can successfully do WW, my real goal is to become a runner.

So, I've always wanted to run. In the mornings on the way to work, I would watch individuals running and think: "I would love to be able to do that!" However, I've always had this mental block when it came to exercise. I never thought I could stick to it, never knew where to start, so I just came up with excuse after excuse to not get off of the couch. I also thought I could never run--I always felt like I was way too heavy and would never be able to do it.

Finally, I pushed all my lame excuses aside and decided to get going on Couch to 5k. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a running program that gradually steps you up over the course of 9 weeks, until you'll be able to run a 5k without stopping or walking. The focus isn't on how fast you can run--it's mostly about endurance. Which is good for me, because believe me: I run SLOWLY.

I'm on Week 2 of C25k, but I haven't been doing it for two weeks. I was so out of shape that I probably did Week 1 over and over again for a few months. Finally, after re-committing to WW, I stepped up to Week 2 this past week and surprised myself by being able to complete it: and without all the huffing and puffing and feeling like I was about to die. PROUD! :) Anyway, my plan is to repeat each week twice. So on this schedule, my last week will be the week of December 12th.

So those are my goals! I plan on posting about my WW journey as well and how I'm doing following the plan. I also plan to update everyone on how my Couch to 5k is going: pacing, mileage, etc (if I can get the apps on my iphone to work!) Speaking of iphone apps, I use a C25K app for iPhone and I would definitely recommend!

Welcome!

Hey all,

My name is Ashley and welcome to my blog! I thought it would be a good idea to start writing down my weight loss and exercise journey--so I have a "log" of sorts and I can share with other people. I am currently on Weight Watchers and trying to become a runner with the Couch to 5k program. I guess I should start out with a little background about myself:

This is my second time around on WW. The first time, I lost about 70 pounds in 8-9 months, without ever getting off my couch. I think I thought I was beating the system, being able to drop all the weight without exercising (something I wasn't fond off). Call me a diva, but I hated to sweat, hated to puff and pant--the whole process just didn't appeal to me.

So...no surprise, the weight came back on. I started teaching and with this new stressor in my life and without any exercise, over time I gained back 50 of those 70 pounds. So, eventually I started going back to my weight watchers meetings and knew I needed to do something diferent this time around. Through the WW message boards and other blogs, I discovered the Couch to 5K program, which sounded perfect to me!

So here I am, on Week 2 of C25k and Week 2 back on WW, so let the run begin!