Getting Healthy

I kept trying to put this in a Facebook post, but there were too many details and I couldn't keep it succinct. I like my Facebook posts to be short enough that people actually want to read them. So blog post it is!

Eight weeks ago, I decided that it was time to get healthy. It was time to take more control of my eating, and to exercise, and basically to take better care of my body. For eating, I'm just trying to eat less. No more extra helpings, no more late-night snacks, no more binge sessions. Just moderation.

For exercise, I chose a couch-to-5k program. Technically, it more of a couch-to-30-minute program, but that doesn't sound nearly as catchy. Basically, it takes someone with a fitness level of pretty much zero, and has them running for thirty minutes at a time by week 9.

I just finished my last workout of week 8, running for 28 minutes.

There are three workouts each week, and I do them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On the days when I don't run, I do other exercises. I enjoy Pilates, aerobic dance, and Tae-Bo. 

And I'm not going to stop after week 9. I'll keep adding a little bit to my time each week, until I actually can run the full 5k. At my speed, that will probably be somewhere around 45 minutes. After that I'll either slowly work my way to 10k or some other distance goal, or I'll work on my speed - doing the 5k in less time. Anyway, I'm in this for the long haul - I'm committed to running as a way to get healthy and fit, and then as a way to maintain that health and fitness.

People talk about a "runner's high" that they get when they go for a run. I think I have experienced something like this, except that I don't like running. I look forward to my run days, I'm excited to lace up my super-pricey running shoes, and after my run I feel great! But while I'm on the treadmill, man, I just really don't like running, and I never have. So really it's kind of ridiculous that I chose running to get healthy. But it just seemed to make sense.

But whether I like running or not, I like the fact that I do run, and I like what it is doing to my body. As far as weight goes, I've lost about 6-7 pounds in the last eight weeks. Not as much as I would have liked, but I'll take it. I've lost an inch off my hips, and two inches off my waist. I've dropped a ring size. I'm getting tone and definition in my thighs. Zaylee and Jeff have both pointed out several times that I'm getting skinnier.

Anyway, if nothing else, it gets me to take a shower 4 times a week, which, I'll be honest, I haven't always been good about...