In other news, this morning as I was leaving my wife in her half sleep looked at me and told me my stomach doesn't stick out as far as it used to.  She promptly went back to sleep.  Considering my wife has never made a comment about my weight etc, this must mean that there has been a noticeable change in my appearance.

Everybody getting their races in is really making me want to get to my 5k!  13 more days today.  Training runs this week are up to 3 miles - looking forward to tomorrow morning's run as I have now taken 3 days off from running.  I'm a lot less tired now though, so it was worth it.

@bbl - I used the Ullrey podcasts when I did week 5.  It wasn't bad for the 20 minute run.  The way the podcast is structured, I didn't think about running 20 minutes straight.  I ran a 5 minute interval, then a three minute interval, etc.  I used the prompts to break the time down in my mind so that I wasn't focused on this huge number of 20 minutes.    After that though, I decided to treat myself to an ipod touch and didn't use the podcasts anymore.  Also - great job on the kudos from the wife.  Our loved ones always seem to be the last ones to notice because they see us all the time and the change is gradual.  You must be rockin' it .

@moonie - definitely check out what your BMR is (there are some online tools that are pretty good) and figure out what your net calories need to be.  When I first started working out last year, I set my calorie target at 1700 calories figuring that's what it would take for me to lose weight.  Bad idea.  I had metabolic testing done last November to figure out where I needed to be, and my BMR came in at 2086 calories - that being the amount of calories I would need to take in every day if I was laying in bed in a coma.  Obviously, 1700 wasn't nearly enough.  I boosted up to a net of approximately 2400 per day (read net as total calories in less calories burned in exercise) and started losing weight again.  I'm down 40lbs now from where I was that day.  The livestrong site is pretty good at helping track to net calories if you're interested in recording your food intake for a while.  Bottom line, not eating enough is not going to help you lose weight.

@wideguy - glad to hear your foot is better.  You'll be out there again before you know it!  Sounds like it was a great hike.

@rev - that run sounds like fun.  There's one in my town on Halloween called the Merrell Down & Dirty (isn't that a great name?) that I would love to do, but I don't think I'm capable of the obstacles at this point.  I'm debating about volunteering this year and then running it next year.  You were awesomely dirty!  It looks like you had a great time.

@travis - thanks for sharing your story with us - definitely good to see someone whose made such great progress.

Off to work (sigh).  I'd much rather be going for a run than going to sit in an office and taking privacy and security training this morning (ick).

 

@moonie - definitely check out what your BMR is (there are some online tools that are pretty good) and figure out what your net calories need to be.  When I first started working out last year, I set my calorie target at 1700 calories figuring that's what it would take for me to lose weight.  Bad idea.  I had metabolic testing done last November to figure out where I needed to be, and my BMR came in at 2086 calories - that being the amount of calories I would need to take in every day if I was laying in bed in a coma.  Obviously, 1700 wasn't nearly enough.  I boosted up to a net of approximately 2400 per day (read net as total calories in less calories burned in exercise) and started losing weight again.  I'm down 40lbs now from where I was that day.  The livestrong site is pretty good at helping track to net calories if you're interested in recording your food intake for a while.  Bottom line, not eating enough is not going to help you lose weight.

 

Thanks!  I remember back when I was working with a trainer and she had me eating 2100 cals.  I think I'm going to try bumping to that.  I'm on Sparkpeople, but I might try livestrong too.  See if that's different.  I think what I'm really having a hard time with is recognizing that, well, that I'm an athlete.  It's a hard thing to reconcile that suddenly, I've gone from being the "fat girl" to being a "fat burner".   Again with the mental hurdles!  But it happens to me everytime--as soon as I hit a plateau, I eat more and the weight falls off.  I've been at around 1900 cals, but then considering I'm running 25-40 minutes 3 times a week, plus some walking and resistance training and yoga here and there...oh, yeah, I guess I AM an active girl now. *sheepish grin*

Hello everyone~

My name is Jennifer. I am new here and new to running. I am hoping to start W1D1 this evening, and can forsee myself needing LOTS of help and encouragement!!

moonieQ wrote:

 

 

@moonie - definitely check out what your BMR is (there are some online tools that are pretty good) and figure out what your net calories need to be.  When I first started working out last year, I set my calorie target at 1700 calories figuring that's what it would take for me to lose weight.  Bad idea.  I had metabolic testing done last November to figure out where I needed to be, and my BMR came in at 2086 calories - that being the amount of calories I would need to take in every day if I was laying in bed in a coma.  Obviously, 1700 wasn't nearly enough.  I boosted up to a net of approximately 2400 per day (read net as total calories in less calories burned in exercise) and started losing weight again.  I'm down 40lbs now from where I was that day.  The livestrong site is pretty good at helping track to net calories if you're interested in recording your food intake for a while.  Bottom line, not eating enough is not going to help you lose weight.

 

Thanks!  I remember back when I was working with a trainer and she had me eating 2100 cals.  I think I'm going to try bumping to that.  I'm on Sparkpeople, but I might try livestrong too.  See if that's different.  I think what I'm really having a hard time with is recognizing that, well, that I'm an athlete.  It's a hard thing to reconcile that suddenly, I've gone from being the "fat girl" to being a "fat burner".   Again with the mental hurdles!  But it happens to me everytime--as soon as I hit a plateau, I eat more and the weight falls off.  I've been at around 1900 cals, but then considering I'm running 25-40 minutes 3 times a week, plus some walking and resistance training and yoga here and there...oh, yeah, I guess I AM an active girl now. *sheepish grin*

Just checked on livestrong...  for a moderately active person (before even considering my exercise levels), to lose 2 pounds a week I should be eating over 2200 cals...  wow, I'm totally doing it wrong! LOL

@ BBL  Sounds like you are doing great!!! I hate my scale and so want to throw it away but I can't seem to stay away from it.  I completed week 5 yesterday. The infamous 20 minute monster, that actually became the 21 min monster because I was almost to the end of a route I do and figured I'd gone that far a few more steps was worth it!  After w5d1 with Ullrey's podcast, I decided that I didn't want to hear him in the middle of my 8 saying that day 1 people could stop, etc. For day 2 and 3 I set the intervals on my watch and just listened to my ipod.  You are so right, on day 1 you're thinking OMG, how can I do 20 mins when I'm only doing 5 now when you hear him talking to the other days....but I promise just as the program worked in the weeks past, it won't fail you on w5d3! (now I'm just nervous about what week 6 has in store)

@divarunning - I ran on the treadmill a few times when I first started my running program and it was fine, but after running outside, I don't want to go back. I do when it I am busy and don't have time to get to the park, but (now that I can run hills and not be afraid of them) I'd rather see the scenery.

Garnet