It's a New Week

Admittedly, my weight loss chart for the week would have looked a lot more impressive if I did it mid-week instead of waiting until Sunday. My net loss for the week ended up being a big fat zero (no pun intended).

I started down that slippery slope of losing motivation; and although I didn't go crazy off my diet, I didn't stick to my workout regimen either. So, I gained the weight back at the end of the week I had worked so hard to lose at the beginning of the week.

Well, this is a new week. I've decided I need to add more cardio to my regimen to try to burn a few more calories and jump start the weight loss. So today after I did my C25K, I walked an additional 20 minutes. I'll keep doing this for a while and see what kind of results I get.

I read a great post by my friend Laura today. Laura is preparing for a half marathon to usher in her 35th birthday this year. Over the weekend she went for a nine mile run. She blogged about her run and how the first eight went great, then the last mile she really mentally had to push herself to complete. I don't want to sumarize her story because she'll tell it in a much more inspiring way than I'll retell it. So go read about her run here. Then the next time you're running for 60 seconds or for 20 miles and you just don't think you can do it, think about Laura's post.

It seems like it will be an eternity before I'm running nine miles, but I'll get there. In four weeks I've gone from being out of breath after running for 15 seconds, to struggling to run for 60, to wishing I could run for 90, and to today successfully running for three minutes nonstop. Three minutes is nothing compared to the marathon I have before me in October, but it's nearly infinitely longer than than where I started.

Great workout

Yesterday was day er, five of my week two workout on C25K. For the first time since I started exercising, I did the workout and I did it well. It still wasn't easy, but I kept my pace and completed all of the running intervals without too much trouble. I even sped up my pace on my last interval. Then, when I was done, instead of being exhausted and jelly legged, I was perfectly fine. I think I'm finally getting somewhere!

I also did my first Bowflex workout. It took me a bit to figure out some of the exercises, what weight is best, and what routine I'm going to do. But it will compliment the running nicely.

I did some research and yesterday I also started taking two supplements--HMB and L-Glutamine. HMB is supposed to promote fat loss, build of lean muscle mass, provide greater endurance during workouts, and help keep your immune system healthy. It helps reduce atrophy, or the eating away of your muscles. L-Glutamine helps restore glycogen levels which restores your energy. It also helps you heal faster so your recovery time is less. We'll see if these make any difference. Neither have any reported negative side effects so I figure it can't hurt to try them.

Finally, I picked my first race. It will be a 5K on May 2. Bill is training to run it with me. I'm really looking forward to it!

C25K, Week 2 Day 4

Yes, I did week two four times last week. On the last attempt I actually completed the entire workout as prescribed. But it was so ugly and barely there that I plan to do week two again this week.

So let's see where we are here as we start week 4:
Running:
C25K- week 2, again

Weight loss:
Week 1: -6 lbs
Week 2: +3 lbs (kidney stone fun week)
Week 3: -2 lbs
So starting out week 4, I'm still not quite where I was at the end of week one. Net loss in three weeks -5 lbs.

I feel like I'm doing a lot of the two steps forward, one step back kind of thing. To add insult to injury, Bill started working out with me this week. Not only was he able to do the C25K, Week 1 program all three days without a problem, he lost more than five pounds during the week without even really trying. Hrmph!

But I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I'm keeping it up. I want to believe I'm adding muscle mass and that's why I'm not seeing a lot of weight drop off right away. Who knows what the truth is but sooner or later things have to catch up to me and I'm going to start seeing a smaller me. My end goals remain the same.

Over the weekend we went out and bought a Bowflex off of Craigslist. The lady got it for Mother's Day two years ago and used it five times. It is in absolutely pristine condition and we got it for 1/3 of the original price. We spent three hours setting it up last night and it's all ready for primetime. I'm really excited to start incorporating that into our workout routine along with the running. There is one downside though, it reeks of cigarette smoke. Bill says he can't smell it. It about gags me. I have a super sensitive nose and I can smell it in the seat and even in the metal. It didn't occur to me that I should ask about a nonsmoking home for something like a Bowflex. I really didn't expect it would have any residual smell. But it does. Any suggestions for getting it out?

C25K, Week 2 Day 1

Finally moved on to week 2. It sucked. I only needed for run for 90 seconds at a time followed by two minute walk intervals. I couldn't run the full 90 seconds each time.

I tried another running store yesterday. I am now on shoes #3. They felt good in the store. After 30 minutes at home they were feeling not so good. I've decided that all shoes are going to hurt. They really should publish a maximum weight limit on those things. I'm pretty sure I've exceeded shock absorption capacity. But I'm ok with that.

Finally, someone told me they are having trouble commenting on this blog recently. Is that widespread? Feel free to leave a comment as a test. This could be just a ploy to get you to comment, I'm ok with that too.

Lorcaserin Study and other info

Remember Fen-Phen? This drug combo swept the nation many years ago and helped a lot of people lose weight. Unfortunately, it had a nasty side effect. In 2-5% of people, they developed incurable heart valve problems and the drug was recalled. Twelve years later, they are in the final stages of a new "Fen-Phen" but one that supposedly doesn't cause the heart problems. It's a drug called Lorcaserin.

I found a local Lorcaserin one-year weight loss study. You have to be a certain amount overweight, Type II diabetic, and on oral medication for blood sugar control. They sent me all of the paperwork and disclosures and I read through it. There was something about male lab rats developing brain tumors at 1000% times the recommended dose, blah, blah, blah. I figured since I wasn't a male lab rat, sign me up.

Today I went in for my testing. I am a perfect candidate in every way. Except one. My blood sugars are in too good of control. It seems they want people that have been neglecting their diabetes to show that in diabetic patients you can not only lose weight, but it can improve your blood sugars as well. I got a free ECG out of it. My ticker is in great shape (good to know since I've been testing it a bit lately). The good news is my diabetes is completely under control. The bad news is I'll have to loose the next 97 pounds the good old fashioned way. That's ok, with my luck I would have gotten the placebo sugar pill assigned to me anyway.

In other updates, I got a new pair of shoes over the weekend. I don't think they'll work out either. I've decided the arches are too far back in the shoe. But if a got a smaller shoe to fit the arches they'd be too small in the toe. I think this was the problem with the last shoe too. So, I'll be looking for another pair...AGAIN. I talked to my Dad today. He's run eight marathons and informs me I inherited my lovely hooves from him and the only shoes he can run in are Asics Gel Nimbus. So, I'll try those soon and see how they work.

The running store also lets you try running socks with the shoes so I tried out several and decided on some think cushion Thurlos socks. Those I'm happy with. If only shoes were so easy.

Well, I'm off to go do Week 2, Day 1. Wish me luck!