We're Back!!!

Hello! It's good to be back on the blog again. I'm terribly sorry for the negligence we've had towards the blog. I've been so busy working I feel like I don't have a second to sit down! (This may be a good thing.) Anyway, I'm really happy to be writing a new post again. As Grace explained last time, we weren't making very good choices. As everyone whose ever tried to lose weight, or start a new exercise program knows you're bound to have a few setbacks. If you're smart you prepare for them mentally and try to make these setbacks less damaging than they would have been had you not prepared. However, no amount of preparation can prepare you for a week alone in the house with sugar cookies and brownies.

"Ya'll better not let those go to waste now ya hear?"

So needless to say, we ate pretty badly, and coupled with the fact we didn't do much running because of certain people who can't share their little league park, we were on a fast track to giving up.
Luckily, Grace and I are good partners because when one of us wants to sit around the other one is likely to take up the role of motivator/drill sergeant and get us going again. So a couple days ago we started Week 4 of The Couch to 5K Program! Let me be honest here. The first day was absolute hell.

At one point I actually thought I might die. 

 I'm not sure if any of you have this, but when you don't exercise often (soon to be old me), and then you start doing a lot of activity (starting to be new me), you might notice your calves start itching. This is because after you're inactive for so long your capillaries actually sort of cave in on themselves, and then when you run, or become active they start to open up again, causing an itching sensation. For me it normally starts in my calves or thighs and slowly works it's way up to my torso. I try really hard not to itch it, because if you itch it then it just spreads faster and becomes more intense. However, sometimes just your clothes rubbing the itch can do this, so basically you feel like a million mosquitoes are eating you alive no matter what you do.

This is kind of how it makes me feel.

The good thing is that the more active you are, the more the itch goes away, and since we've been running a couple of times now this week I'm feeling pretty good. In fact, I'm feeling amazing. I can't believe I'm running for 17 minutes (not straight through) per workout! It feels good to be back on track and to have all the temptations out of the house, even if we did get rid of them by consumption.
If you've ever been blindsided, or sidetracked from your diet or exercise program by temptation how did you work through it? Tell us below!

Some Minor Setbacks...

Well, as you probably have guessed from our lack of blogging over the past few days, we've had a few minor setbacks.

A few nights ago, Becky and I went out to the Little League Baseball park again and started our 5 minute warmup. Part way through, we noticed a man in the bleachers gesturing for us to come over to him. Reluctantly, we did, and he scolded us for using the Baseball park as part of our routine, and even threatened to get the Park Ranger involved!

Park rangers are good for moving dangerous animals off the road, not for telling fat lesbians they can't run the bases.


Needless, to say, we haven't been back.

In fact, we haven't even been running at all since the incident as we cannot find a good area to run when it's dark out. (Our neighborhood is a little shady for midnight workouts.) Not only have we not been running for almost a week now, we've also made some pretty poor eating choices.

Oops.

If you have any suggestions on where to go running during the late hours without having to buy a gym membership, or what to do when you're surrounded by deliciously awful food, please leave us a comment below. Thank you!

-Grace

We Run The Night

As the title implies, Grace and I are moving on to week 3 day two tonight. I've come to really enjoy running the bases at night. Our dog Sally loves to run in the outfield while we run, and since she normally just sits there and looks at us like we're crazy when we try to play with her this is a big deal. She doesn't just "run" either. We expected her to just  run beside us. But when we went the other night she was so excited and didn't stop being excited I thought someone had taken our super chill dog and replaced her with a puppy.

This is kind of what she looked like.

I've also started to enjoy, as well as look forward to running (shocker!). I've realized that keeping a steady pace is key to keep yourself from tiring out to quickly, and the fact that Grace and Sally are enjoying the runs as well is just adding to those good feelings. Running three minutes in a row was a HUGE accomplishment for me. I was in track in middle school, but I don't think it counts when I walked the entire mile we would run, as well as occasionally stray from the trail and stop at my house for a popsicle. (I was hot and tired okay?) I was actually in about every activity you could be in back then, but I was a huge slacker in all of them.

It just makes me really glad to be getting fit, and not letting myself make excuses as to why I can't do it. I CAN do it. I can, and will train for a 5k, because Grace is doing it, because there was a double amputee in the London Olympics (if this guy can make it to the Olympics, I can train for a 5k and not die), and because frankly I've run out of excuses. I've made excuses my whole life, but I've come to a turning point where I can either stop trying and not enjoy life to the fullest, or I can finally suck it up and just do it. It doesn't help that Grace and I went to do a health screening today, and while many of the results were good my BMI and Body Fat Percentage wasn't so thrilling to see.

I have to admit I wasn't expecting stellar, or even good results. I know that I'm unfit. I know that I haven't taken care of my body like I should. However, the results were cold hard evidence that I need to stop putting convenience over my health. Mcdonalds will not go out of business if I don't stop there for lunch, they most likely (and hopefully) won't be saying,

Why didn't Becky show up today?

I cannot stress how important it was for me to realize this. It seems so obvious to some people, but growing up I was taught food (especially artery clogging food) was used as a reward for me. I was conditioned up until my high school years that if you got all A's you went to Mcdonalds or DQ. We ordered pizza on my birthday, and topped it all off with a huge piece of cake, and two scoops of ice cream. These things wouldn't be bad if they weren't habit, but they were, and the day after my birthday I would eat cake for breakfast. This habit of using food as a reward has been so hard for me to shake. Occasionally I'll have this same realization that I need to change my ways, however my whole family (minus my dad)  has almost always discouraged me from any diet or exercise program I've been on. Not to mention the food they served at home was always pretty bad for you, it was really hard to get healthy. Now that I've moved away from all of that and had a chance to spread my wings, I realize I don't just want to eat healthy, I love it!

It's my second true love.

In the end the more information I get about my fast food vice, the more I want to leave it all in the past. I think that with all things holding you back, they hide under the facade they aren't actually holding you back, you just don't want to do whatever it is you're trying to do. However, the truth does come out and you realize you have to shed your vices to move forward. What are some of your vices and what are you doing to break free from them? Let us know below!

Week 3 Day 1

Oooouuuuuuuch.

Just finished Day 1 of Week 3 and my legs HURT! For the first time in my entire life, I just ran 3 minutes without walking in between. (9 minutes of running total.) Again, 3 minutes may not seem like much, but to me, it felt like a marathon. I'm so lucky to have Becky out there running with me, high-fiving me every time we cross each other's paths around the baseball field. This has been an awesome experience so far - we're only in the 3rd week, and I've already pushed my body past further than I thought it could go.

I can't wait to be one of those people who say, "Oh, I just went out and ran a few miles." Even though my calves are throbbing and my ankles are aching, it feels so good knowing that I just did something that I would not have been able to do just 2 weeks ago.

 

-Grace

Motivation is What Gets You Started

As Grace wrote last night, we finished our 2nd week of the Couch to 5K Plan, and I felt pretty good afterwards. I've never been much of a runner. I've always been the type to do Yoga, or sit on the couch and think A LOT about Yoga, but never actually follow through.

Me if I were a cat.

When I was a kid I remember going to the track with my dad and doing everything but exercise while he ran laps. I don't know what it is, but I've always had an issue with getting motivated to be active. I've been struggling with my weight my entire life, I've been on Weight Watchers and starvation diets. I know how to lose the weight, but for some reason I always find an excuse. "I'll start tomorrow.", "Well, Thanksgiving is coming up. I'll start after the holidays.", "But, it's my birthday month!", "I've worked so hard, I deserve this.".

I've probably made this excuse before too.

 Granted, I have lost a lot of weight since High School, (my peak weight was 227 lbs.) and I lost 50 lbs last summer. However, I've come to find out my summer weight loss was due to medication, and since I've stopped the medication I've gained 40 lbs. When I started gaining I remember telling myself that if I just started eating better and exercising I could lose the 5lbs I gained. If I'd forced myself to change my habits, I probably wouldn't have gained the weight I have.

Thankfully, I have Grace. She is helping kick me in the ass and remind me there is no quick and easy way to lose weight. It is a lifestyle change, plain and simple. The good thing about Grace and I is that we bring a lot of good, different ideas to the table. So, when we sat down and started discussing a plan to get fit we ended up with  comprehensive and diverse ideas that suited us both. Take for example that I don't believe in completely denying yourself anything. I've been told and read that completely denying yourself something you want just leads to a binge-fest later, and nobody wants that. The key to living healthy and still being able to indulge is portion control, and planning. If you know you're going to want dessert when you go out, ask your friends or family if they'll share something with you. This way, you get to eat that dessert you wanted, but you aren't eating 4 portions to yourself. I also am a big fan of the shot desserts.

Everyone gets what they want without the guilt. :)

I've also been trying really hard to cook meals at home, and saving going out for special occasions. I've become a huge fan of Skinny Taste. This lady is a freaking genius! She lists the portions, weight watchers points, calories and fat on all of her recipes. Did I mention they're to die for, and easy to customize? Last night I made Cilantro Lime Tilapia Tacos and Fiesta Lime Rice for dinner. (I know, a lesbian making fish tacos...haha.)  They were amazing, quick, and super easy! The best part is that it was entirely guilt free. I can't tell you how glad I am that found her blog.

Kind of how happy I am in this picture.

 
 Basically, awesome, guilt free food, and how amazing I feel after running has become my motivation. Not to mention Grace and I are in this together, and if I quit then that wouldn't be very supportive of me. I still need to get into the hang of healthy over convenience when I'm busy working, and start learning how to plan my meals and snacks around my work schedule, but I'm glad I've found some motivation to keep me going when I slip up. So what I want to know now is: What gets you motivated? Let us know below!

End of Week 2

Becky and I just finished the last workout of Week 2 for the Couch to 5k running plan. We took off running down the road tonight when we passed by a Little League baseball park. Becky suggested we hop the fence and run laps around the bases. Not really looking forward to running up the steep hill we were quickly approaching, I scooped our dog Sally up and we climbed over the fence.

Running at night, along with the thrill of doing something we weren't supposed to be doing made today's workout the funnest one yet. I think the baseball park is going to be our new running spot, at least when it's dark out, or until we get caught.

Week 2 consists of alternating between 90 seconds of running and 2 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. This might not sound hard for some of you, but for us, this is a huge accomplishment and we can't wait for Week 3!

 -Grace

The Beginning

Hi, I'm Grace.                             And I'm Becky.

We've been together since November 24^th 2010.

Before we were together we were both at our goal weights.

But soon after we got together, something happened that we like to refer to as “The Love Chub.”

We began to eat out (at resturants) nearly every day. Portion sizes never crossed our minds. A half a glass of wine would quickly turn into the whole bottle. Even though we both had gym memberships, our attendance dwindled and every day became a "cuddle day."

We tried starvation diets such as the "Master Cleanse," which is essentially drinking nothing but spicy lemonade for as many days as you can. We tried limiting how many times we could eat out (at restaurants) a week, which of course never worked, because we would feed off of eachother's cravings and convince ourselves that “just this time” wouldn't hurt anything. We tried the “Slow Carb Diet,” which we actually saw results from, but after 30 days we reverted back to our old habits.

While the Slow Carb Diet did not get us back to our goal weights by any means, it did give us the kick in the butt we needed. It was during that month that we realized just how badly we were eating and that no matter how well we ate, we were not going to see the results we wanted unless we got off the couch.

That's why we started the “Couch to 5k” running plan. This blog will be used primarily to document our journey to a healthier lifestyle. Our hope is that we can encourage you to reach your goals and that you can keep us motivated to follow through with ours.

So what are our goals?

Short term: In 9 weeks we will be running a 5k. Previous to two weeks ago, neither of us we runners and our most strenuous activity was climbing the stairs to change the laundry.

Medium term: (Yes, that is a term.) In 2 years (or whenever we graduate) we will be hiking the entire Appalachian trail. This has been a dream of Becky's since reading "Halfway to the Sky" when she was in middle school, and Grace has been itching to go on a life changing, leave everything behind, live off the land adventure.

Long term: For the rest of our lives, we will not be treating our stomachs like trash cans and we will continue to lead active lifestyles.

What are your goals?

-Grace and Becky-