First Race ever: "Spring Forward 5K" 30:39

Just want to have a place where I can track my race progress. I look chubby in the photos.. haha.


Can't figure out how to post my photos since I basically am trying to steal them from Shutterfly.

Easy Does It

On Monday, I began my first efforts toward becoming a runner. The strategy for week one was:

Run 2 min, walk 3 min; repeat 6 times

Due to my exercise and more active lifestyle over the past few months, this routine was a piece of cake. The obvious choice may be to skip to week 2, however, as I explained to my personal health guru Anela, if I skip to the next week, I feel more likely that I would abandon the goal.

So today is Wednesday and I am going to do my second round of running today. The mental state that I achieved while doing this routine was awesome. I felt like a bad ass because I wasn't dying from it. It sort of empowered me, yet allowed me to be relaxed and not feel like I need to leap into the 30 minute jog in the next couple of days.

So, I maintain the thought that "Easy Does It". I am going to follow the routine and allow myself to think "Wow this is so easy, I am such a badass!" while also, taking it easy and not getting any injuries or just plain getting burnt out before I can make sufficient head way.

Note to self... get new running tunes, because the old ones don't help!

New Journey

So it's been a while since I've been on here.... I obviously let my busy schedule get the best of me while I was doing the Weight Loss Challenge and ended up abandoning my blog. oops.

A quick recap of the challenge:

Starting weight: 117.4 pounds.... June 3, 2009

Goal weight: 110 pounds

Finishing weight: 108.4 pounds ...July 15, 2009 (9 pound loss... 7.66% of body weight)

I actually ended up being the 3rd Place Winner (woot woot!) which was $50! At the end of the challenge I had also lost 12 inches off my whole body, 6 inches of which were straight from my waist!!

Today is September 14th which is a little over 3 months since the 6 week challenge began and I have continued to lose even after the challenge. My weight this morning was 106.6 pounds and I seem to fluctuate weekly between 106-109 pounds.

My new "main" goal is to become a runner, with a side goal of trying to love strength training. Right now my favorite exercise is anything cardio... and while this keeps the pounds off and keeps my heart healthy, it does nothing for my skinny bum. I am hoping with the new goal of running, and the attempt to adopt more strength training into my workouts, I can build some more muscle. I would like to add on about 3-4 pounds of muscle weight.

To try and achieve these goals, I will follow this 7 week running program that I found on WomensHealthmag.com:

Week 1: Run 2 min, walk 3 min; repeat 6 times
Week 2: Run 3 min, walk 3 min; repeat 5 times
Week 3: Run 5 min, walk 2 min; repeat 4 times
Week 4: Run 7 min, walk 3 min; repeat 3 times
Week 5: Run 8 min, walk 2 min; repeat 3 times
Week 6: Run 9 min, walk 1 min; repeat 3 times
Week 7: Run 30 minutes

full article here:

I will start Week 1 this afternoon, and as the article suggests, I will do each set 3 times a week. I am hoping to follow up this week with runs on Wednesday and Friday. I also plan to take my regular aerobics classes in hopes to benefit from the strength training included.

Wish me luck! Hopefully I will stick with the blog this time!

Week 3, Day 1

Breakfast:
Banana, Grapefruit, Cinnamon Raisin bread w/Almond Butter

Lunch:
Assorted raw veg w/Hummus and whole wheat pita

Snack:
Orange

Exercise:
Body Sculpting class

Snack:
Rice cake w/Strawberry Jalapeno jam, dozen almonds

Dinner:
Veggie burger w/whole wheat bun, green bean casserole, egg/potato salad (Miley's BBQ)

Snack:
Dark chocolate square

xxx,
Bre

Week 2, Day 7: Weigh-in

Today I weighed in at 112.2. I don't feel like I am over-doing it so please don't be concerned. My whole life I've never eaten my 5 fruits/veg a day or exercised. I think my body is happy and I am feeling great.

*It is actually Friday for me, so I can't remember what times I ate.. so I will just leave them out. My iPhone has this awesome application that allows me to log my food and exercise, so that's why I have been kinda lazy with the blogging.

Breakfast:
Coffee, Oatmeal

Snack:
Special K Cereal bar

Lunch:
Slice Cinnamon Raisin bread w/tbsp. Almond Butter. Pomegranate Apple Sauce

Snack:
Powerbar, Apple

Exercise:
Buns-n-abs

Weigh-in day Herbalife tester snack:
Root beer float (powdery and has a Pepto aftertaste. Did keep my full for the trip to Walmart after class.)

Dinner:
Veggie Burger on Whole Wheat bun, baby carrots, steamed squash and zucchini

xxx,
B

Week 2, Day 6

9:30 am: DanActive (2g protein), Special K Cereal Vanilla and Almonds (4g protein), 1/2 cup skim milk (4g protein)

11:30 pm: Rice Cake (1g protein) w/ 1 tbls Almond butter (4g protein), Light string cheese( 8g protein), orange (1g protein), Bing cherries (1g protein)

3:00 pm: 2 Fig Newmans (2g protein), 1/3 Powerbar (2g protein)

4-5:00 pm: Simply Step class

6:30 pm: 1 cup carrots (1g protein), 3 tbls Hummus (3g protein)

8:00 pm: Chicken breast grilled w/Cajun seasoning (27g protein), Zucchini and squash - steamed (2g protein), 1/2cup Mashed potatoes (2g protein)

9:00 pm: 2 Dove dark choloate squares w/almonds (1g protein)

9:30-11:00 pm: 2 cops coffee

Total protein: 63 grams

Week 2: Day 5: Protein Monday

Since one of my very loyal and loving readers seems to be a bit concerned about my protein intake, I have decided to detail how many grams of protein are in each food consumed. A very common misconception is that people think protein can only be found in meat products etc. That is not the case. Protein is present in the majority of the foods you eat.

This is how I have calculated how many grams of protein my body needs each day:

How to Calculate Your Protein Needs:

1. Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kg
2. Weight in kg x (a number between 0.8-1.8 gm/kg) = protein gm.

Use a lower number if you are in good health and are sedentary. Use a higher number (between 1 and 1.8) if you are under stress, are pregnant, are recovering from an illness, or if you are involved in consistent and intense weight or endurance training.

Bre's Protein needs:
115 lb female who is trying to lead a consistent life of exercise (at least 4-5 times a week)
115 lbs/2.2 = 52.27 kg
52.27kg x 1.2 = 62.73 grams protein/day

site: www.exercise.about.com


With that said... I think I do a fairly decent job of choosing the right things to eat and will of course try to eat more meaty proteins, but I'm not stressed about it. (I have detailed the protein consumption through the last few posts as well.)

9:30 am: 1 Banana (1g protein), DanActive drink (2g protein)

11:30 am: Yogurt (4g protein), 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (8g protein)

2:30 pm: Slice of cinnamon raisin bread (4g protein), 2 tbls. Almond butter (8g protein), 1 nectarine (1g protein)

6:30 pm: 2 tbls. Artichoke and Garlic hummus (2g protein), 1/2 cup of baby carrots (1g protein)

7:30 pm: Steamed Salmon (22g protein), Couscous (5g protein), steamed zucchini and summer squash (2g protein)

9:30 pm: 2 pieces of Dove dark chocolate squares w/almonds (1g protein)


Total protein: 60 grams

xxx,
B