Category: Fitness

Okay guys, I’m trying to be held accountable here… so I’m sharing my wins and my losses.

As I told you all in my Working on my Fitness… Again post, I was going to go for a one-two punch of eating healthy and working out more. Specifically running outside and working out on the elliptical that lives in our playroom.

I kicked butt the first two weeks, I really did. I started each day with a BeachBody shake, ate mostly healthy for the rest of my meals and added in a bunch of elliptical sessions and a few runs. I also ran the Baltimore Crab 5k on June 13^th , which was pretty awesome and followed by a beer festival (okay, not so healthy… but certainly pretty great!).

Here I am with my sister and brother in our crab hats:

By the end of the first 10 days, I was down 7 ½ pounds. This is MAJOR for me… because even 2 pounds is difficult for me to lose. I was super happy with myself and confident that I could keep it off/under control on vacation.

But I didn’t.

I totally fell off the wagon when we went to the beach for a week. In fact, it’s been almost a week since we’ve RETURNED from the beach… and I still haven’t clawed my way back onto that damn wagon.

I did run the Baltimore Women’s Classic 5k over the weekend, with Jack cheering me on. So that counts for something, right?*

Other than that race, I’ve been pretty darn lazy and totally gained a few pounds back.

To be honest, I’m kind of beating myself up about it. I’m just so annoyed at myself that I work super hard and then self-sabotage and let that hard work go down the drain. This is usually the part where I say f#@k it and eat donuts… which I did yesterday morning.

However, this time I’m trying so hard not to give up. This morning I woke up early, jumped on the elliptical and had my BeachBody shake for breakfast. Which is a good start… now I just have to keep it up. Again.

How do you stay motivated?

 

*By the way, there were literally 2,972 women running the Baltimore Women’s Classic 5k… and I came in 1,265^th. So yeah, I beat 1,707 other ladies, which is pretty darn cool! Not quite as cool as my sister who came in 4^th, but still pretty cool!

 

I have a love/hate relationship with fitness. I mean, I KNOW it’s good for me to eat healthily and exercise regularly… it’s just my default position is reclined on the couch with my Kindle and some marshmallows.

I did an awesome job last year (sparked by a DietBet) where I lost about 15 pounds and was super-dooper proud of myself. However, I kind of hibernated over the winter and gained back some of that weight.

Remember this old post, My 11 Steps for Restarting an Exercise Program, it was THAT.

Now that the weather is warm again, I’ve started running a bit more. And by “a bit more” I really mean, at all. For the past couple months I’ve been going to a nearby park and running 2 -3 miles each weekend. And I actually enjoy it, too.

So, I’ve decided (again) that I’m going to make a plan to get fit. And I’m hoping that by posting it, I can hold myself accountable.

Here’s my plan:

Eat better.
In order to stick with something that works for me long-term, I’m planning on just a few little changes. More veggies, less crap. A friend of mine is a Beachbody coach, so I’ve decided to try replacing my typical breakfast with one of their shakes in the morning. I’m trying out their variety pack this week so I can figure out which flavor to order and then I’ll commit to 30 days of morning shakes. I’ll let you know how that goes!

Move more.
I like to run, so I’m going to do more of it. Seems pretty simple, but finding the time can be pretty difficult. I’ve gotten pretty good at running once each weekend, so now I need to add in one morning that I can do a run before work.

I really like running 5k’s so I signed up for a few that sound fun: the Baltimore Crab 5k, the Baltimore Women’s Classic, and The Diva 5k Run. I’m also planning to pack my running clothes the next time we go to the beach and do a little boardwalk running.

My BIG goal is that my siblings and I have decided to do the Baltimore Relay Marathon in October and registered for the event last night. Since there are four of us, it works out perfectly that the marathon is divided in to four parts. I’ll be running the first leg of the relay, which is 5.7 miles. So yeah, I’d better start running more often so I can get that far without passing out!

This past weekend I accomplished a mini-goal of running four miles, which is the longest distance I’ve run in 6+ years!

A photo posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Jun 7, 2015 at 7:41am PDT

That’s it. My one-two punch of getting fit. I plan to keep myself motivated with cute running clothes and great running mixes on my iPod. Wish me luck

How do you keep motivated when starting a new fitness program? Do you have any awesome dance-songs that I should add to my running mix?

I’m thinking it’s time for me to do another DietBet.

After a week at the beach and a few weeks (ahem… months) of eating pretty much whatever I want, I feel a bit… um, fluffy. I was thinking that this back-to-school season would be a good nudge to get back into eating healthy and working out.

If you’re a newer reader and you’re not quite sure what this DietBet brewhaha is all about, here’s the short & sweet version:

A DietBet is an online game where you bet money that you will lose a certain amount of weight within a certain amount of time. I am a fan of the DietBet 4, which means you try to lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks.

If you’d like the longer version, please check out my first DietBet post with the follow ups here. I also tried running a DietBet with a couple blogger friends, but it didn’t go so well and I ended up losing. BOO! HISS!

I finally feel like I’m back in the right frame of mind where I’m ready to PUMP IT UP though. I’m just trying to decide whether to join a Bet that will be starting soon or whether I should try running another one myself for you all to join. I’m also considering adding on one of those 30 day Ab Challenges on top of the DietBet so that I have a daily task to complete.

What do you think, are you interested in doing a DietBet with me?

8/19/14 Update: Okay guys, let’s DO IT! Teri from Snarkfest has already set up a DietBet that starts on Monday… so let’s all go and jump over there to join her. I just signed up this morning! Here’s the link if you want to join us: Teri’s DietBet.