Think Healthy Thoughts

A true story.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Yael who decided to learn how to run. The first five weeks went fairly well. One day, she had to make an emergency trip out of state to assist her mother after a major surgery.

Yael’s parents lived in a large housing developement, and she was slightly paranoid of getting lost if she ran its trails. So, her mother was kind enough to give her access to the community center, where she could use the treadmill!

Yael could barely contain her excitement as she climbed on the treadmill, iPod in hand. It was on this day that she completed her first ever 20-minute run! During the cooldown, Yael felt confident to let her mind wander, as she had so many times on her outdoor runs at home. Suddenly, something was wrong. She lost her footing for a fraction of a second, and the next thing she knew she was on the floor in front of the treadmill, and her knees were in pain. Deciding that she wasn’t too badly injured, she completed her cooldown and walked back to her parents’ house.

The next day, Yael rested.

The day after, she attacked the treadmill for a second time. See, up until this point she had only used a treadmill for walking in her old apartment complex while watching Smallville. Her only running experience had come from the park near her home. Today, her intervals started out nicely, and pretty soon she was giving her last 5 minute run all she had. Then, with seconds to go until cooldown, she was on the floor again. This time, it was her ankle that had given in. Yael watched in horror as it swelled to the size of a golfball, and her knees turned a deeper shade of purple.

After a few moments, Yael was able to get back up. Suddenly, the treadmill didn’t look so cool anymore.

“Screw this,” she said, leaving the community center. She then swore never to use a treadmill again.

And she never did.

The moral of the story is this: Treadmills are stupid, ugly, and expensive. Running outdoors is way more fun anyway.

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If it ain’t hunger, food won’t fix it. 

Dear Reader,

Today marks one year since I joined Weight Watchers Online. This is the longest I’ve ever stuck with anything fitness or weight loss related.

 One year ago, I weighed around 230 lbs, I was busting out of a size 20, had a BMI of 39, and could never find a good reason to exercise. Today, I have lost 54 lbs all together, and I wear a comfortable size 14. My BMI is down to 30. While this number still considers me to be medically obese, I don’t feel obese. In my opinion, I don’t look obese. In fact, physically, this is the smallest I’ve been in about 10 years. I’m even smaller than the last time I was at this weight. Above all, I am fit. I am in the best shape of my life. I exercise no less than four times a week. I feel more confident in myself and in my appearance.

While I am proud of my accomplishments, I know I could be doing better. I could eat less junk food, I could make fewer excuses for why I exercise four times a week instead of the six I know I could use. I can make better choices when I go out to eat, I can stop making up “special occasions” in which I do not track my food intake.

I started this blog as a way of holding myself accountable, but I have not been using this as a proper outlet. I have not been honest with myself, therefore I have not been honest with you. I have been very stressed out lately, and that has translated into emotional eating all over again. As easily as I have lost this weight, I know it could come back on even faster.

That’s why, today, April 6, 2008, I am starting over. A year ago I had nothing but enthusiasm toward this new plan to a new me. I want that enthusiasm back. After all, nothing good can come out of quitting, right? I have dealt with setback after setback, but the only true failure would be if I quit. I don’t ever want to be over 200 lbs again, and I am the only one who can keep that from happening.

I don’t expect to lose much in the next couple of months, as I am currently up to my eyeballs in wedding plans. For now, I want to concentrate on maintaining at the very least. Anything I do happen to lose will be a bonus. Speaking of losing, I have decided to set up a new reward system for myself. A Nintendo Wii. I. Want. One.Tonight I saw a commercial for the new Wii Fit that comes out next month. I am lusting after that like no one’s business. So! From now on, for every pound I lose, I am going to set aside $10.00, as long as circumstances will allow. When I have lost and saved enough, I will buy myself that Wii. And I shall rejoice.

If you are reading this, I want to hear from you. I want to know your story. I want to know if you are in the middle of your weight loss journey, if you have maintained a loss, if you are having trouble getting started on the path to health, I want to know. If you do not feel comfortable sharing in a public comment, please feel free to e-mail me at: Pyrategrlyoho@aol.com. Everyone can use a little bit (or a lot) of support when changing his or her lifestyle, and maybe we can help each other out!

One year down, only the rest of my life to go.

Take a deep breath, Yael. Jump in. Eventually, you will run out of air, and there will be nothing left but to poke your head out, take in more cleansing oxygen, and start again.

Thanks for listening

- Yael

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If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Today I attempted my first 20 minute run. I got about halfway through it, going at a comfortable pace, and I suddenly got this shooting pain in my upper left back. I slowed down and walked for a few minutes, then tried to pick it up again, but it hurt too much Finally I gave up and walked home.

 I’ve never felt anything like that before while working out. I don’t understand what happened. Even now, at rest, it’s still a little sore.

When I first started C25K, I was confident that I could go the whole 9 weeks without stopping, repeating, etc. Bleh. Now I can’t go into week 6 on Wednesday, like I planned. I have to keep trying this darn 20 minutes until I can get all the way through without stopping. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be any rain in the forecast this week.

Wish me luck!

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 ”I’m not there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday.”

Since we were both stuck working on the day itself, my beloved and I planned ahead of time to take a trip. This particular getaway served an important purpose: Get things done. Wedding things, that is. I booked a cheap place to stay for the night, made appointments up the yin-yang, and bright and early last Sunday morning, we hit the ground running.

I confess that for 2 days, I did not track points. At all. In between cake-tastings and scouting out rehearsal dinner locations, my thoughts were geared more toward “Wedding” than “Weight Loss”.  At least we did lots of walking, anyway.

I further confess that I enjoyed every bite I took, with the exception of the motel’s continental breakfast, in which we partook to save a couple of bucks (Note to self: Next time, come prepared with cereal or something).

When taking a weight loss journey, it’s important to understand that it’s okay to take a “vacation” from the program every once in awhile. In fact, research shows that admitting you are human and not following a plan 100% of the time can help you out in the long run. I like to think of Hungry Girl’s 80% on/20% off ratio. This way, you won’t feel like you’re depriving yourself.

This week my eating is still kind of… meh. Not too proud to admit that I seem to be on the “See-Food” diet, lately. I need to go grocery shopping and refill stock of fruits and veggies.

The good news is I’m still running. I ordered Leslie Sansone’s 5 Mile walk DVD. I think that might help ease me into training for Susan G. Komen For The Cure 3-Day. I’m wondering if I should finish C25K first, so that way I can concentrate on one program. Hmm… well, I’ll give both a try and see what happens!

Enough randomness for one day. Hope you’re having a good weekend

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Unless you have something valid to say, please do not comment my blog. I receive lots of spammy comments. All comments have to go through me before appearing publicly, and if a comment is irrelevant/illegible, it goes straight into the Spam folder. This is not a place for you to advertise or leave random links that go nowhere. Thanks.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

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If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.

 I started week 4 of C25K today. I have to admit, I was scared at first. This week incorporates intervals of *GASP* 5 minute runs! Last week was 3 minute intervals, and I didn’t feel like I was ready for the next challenge. So, my plan was to do week 3 over again.

When I woke up this morning, however, I changed my mind. I’m not sure why, but I decided to give week 4 a shot. So I did. That last 5 minute interval was killer. No less than 4 times I thought of slowing down.

Guess what? I made it all the way through, and I survived! I felt kind of lightheaded afterwards, so I walked an extra cool-down lap at the park before heading home. It’s ok though, the weather was gorgeous.

Just goes to show, you don’t know what you can’t do until you try.

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I’ve been wanting to try something new, and I’ve found it. I have registered to participate in the SF Bay Area Breast Cancer 3-Day. On September 5-7th this year, I will walk 60 miles to help raise awareness about breast cancer. I’m very excited for the new experience, and about the wonderful cause. I’ve never known anybody personally with breast cancer, but I know it affects millions.

In addition to my training, I need to raise at least $2,200 in order to participate. Any and all donations are appreciated. If you would like to support me and help find a cure for breast cancer, please go to my personal site.

Thank you in advance!

-Yael

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“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’” - George Bernard Shaw

I reset my goal weight today. I did it very reluctantly. I heard about the Happy Weight calculator at self.com. Mine came to 119.6 lbs. While I can’t begin to imagine myself THAT small…. ever, I’m beginning to think that 150 lbs may not be a healthy weight for me. Hell, I’m still considered “overweight” until 145 lbs, according to my BMI. By the way, it is currently 30.4. Three more pounds and I’m officially out of the “Obese” category!

I also found out I have a small frame. I’m 5′4″ with a small body under all of this padding. I guess I’m not too surprised. The only thing that has ever stood out as “small” are my wrists. Oh, and I have very narrow shoulders.

 So, as of right now, the new magic number is 135 lbs.

Will I lose all hope if I find out I’m not meant to be that size? Absolutely not.

Truly, I don’t think I’ll know my happy weight until I get there. I’ll know when I can look in the mirror and be confident enough to say,

“I am comfortable. This is what my body is supposed to look like.”

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 ”Tough times don’t last but tough people do.”   - A.C. Green

Today marks day 2 of Couch To 5K. I made my first run on Sunday. It felt really weird to be “going for a run”. I haven’t run anymore than I’ve had to since high school.

Anyway, there’s this great park around the corner from my apartment. I had no idea it was there until after about 5 months of living in that neighborhood. During the summer, I took a few outdoor walks over there. Since I don’t belong to a gym or own a treadmill, this park is the perfect place to complete my runs. I warm up on the way, run around the path a few times, then cool down on the way home.

The best part of C25K is the podcast! I don’t think I’d be able to do it without “Robert, the 43 year old guy from Northern CA” cheering me on. By the 4th interval I was ready to say “screw this,” but he kept saying “You’re almost there, keep going!” It’s all very motivating, and goes by so quickly.

Afterwards, I felt… different. All day long, my body just felt different! Not in a bad way, just differently than I normally feel after working out. I felt really good though. I was a bit sore yesterday, but that passed. Today I ventured out again. This one was a little harder to get through, but it’s all mind over matter, right?

My next run is on Friday, and will complete my first week of C25K. 

So far, so good!

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