Beyond Willpower

Well, last night I finished week 1 of Couch to 5k !!!! I'm very proud of myself. :D Also, I loved it. I am terrified about starting week 2 though! ;) I also went to the gym today to take a tour and sign up for a free 3 day pass. I start that tomorrow, they are closed Wednesday and then I go Thursday and Friday and if I think it's something I want I can join that day. Joey won't be joining as other humans make him panic. I mean I'm really nervous myself, but I see those people there just going at it and not giving a damn and getting/being fit and I want to be that person too. I'm on my way. :) I'm on my way to a goal I set here a long time ago, and that is to be this: Instead of this:

So, for the next 2-4 weeks I'll be trying to post daily pics of what meals I can for you guys, for anyone who is interested in how to go about eating a mostly whole foods no oil/added sugar diet.   I had another successful day I think. For breakfast I had: Scrambled mexican tofu with spinach, oven baked potato slices and raisins. Yes, I like pepper! For lunch I had some gluten free pasta with homemade sauce:   For a snack I did have a protein shake with flax meal and a gf chewy bar thing, low cal but not the best option. I only had two left, I figure when they are gone I just won't buy more. I also had celery with a smidge of peanut butter. I plan to grind my own next time I'm at whole foods but using up the last of what we had. Need to get some avocados too, without oil I'll still need healthy fats for the fat soluble vitamins. Then for dinner I had an awesome chickpea, walnut, flax burger that I invented, on homemade whole grain gluten free bread with mexican ...

I had a rough night last night. It involved a really bad familiar pain flare that left me feeling like this: all night. Then, I ate a taco salad after my calories for the day had already been used up. I was having insane cravings. I required salty crunchiness. Augh. That is the second time this week I slipped up. The first time was due to eating too early one day so I ended up eating extra that day cuz my schedule was a mess. I haven't been exercising much this week either. Pain was creeping up on me and I've spent my days off in bed just trying to prepare for what hit last night. I wanted to do the cardio max dvd but that was not happening because my hips and joints were on fire. I slept a lot last night, and I woke up feeling quite a bit better. I think I'll be doing c25k today, MAYBE cardio max, depending. I do have a very long day tomorrow and don't want to kill myself the day before it. Yeah, I think c25k will be all I do. and LOTS of pt today. Lots and lots...

Lately I've been told by several people how positive I am. I find this to be refreshing, since I used to be such a 'debbie downer'. I used to be angry at the world and was the very angsty-est of teens. Does it get more angsty than this!?  So much in my life is changing right now. I'm becoming more independent, more responsible, more organized, more capable at work, everything seems to be falling into place. My bf and I are making a 5 year plan, we're focusing on the future, which I'm proud of joey for, because he NEVER has interest in what 'will be' or 'someday' or anything like that. In other news, I hit 237 today. When I hit 229 lbs I will officially have lost more than I ever have before in my life. (previous record = 70 lbs, in a totally unhealthy fashion). I'm feeling great. I do 10 miles on my bike 2-3 days a week, I am also doing interval training on the other days, c25k only on a stationary recumbent. Food is getting easier an...

This is a repost from one of my reader's blogs: Amanda, @ Diary of a mad fat woman Win a FREE registration for the UPMC Sports Medicine Pittsburgh 5k Run Alright guys, great news...  I have a 100%  FREE registration available  for the  UPMC Health Plan - UPMC Sports Medicine Pittsburgh 5k Run on Saturday May, 14th.  in partnership with the What you get: A FREE registration for you or a friend or a family member along with a Nike UPMC Sports Medicine Pittsburgh 5k t-shirt and any other goodies included in your race packet. That's right, you don't even have to use the registration yourself, you can give it away - just as long as whoever registers is the person who intends to run. The bib itself is not transferable. Thats a $30-$35 value! Race Info:  The UPMC Health Plan/ UPMCSports Medicine Pittsburgh 5k will be held on Saturday May 14th at 8am, with the Toyota Pittsburgh Kids run set to begin at 10am. The race course travels through the P...

So, I wanted to start c25k but my doc is worried about my joints and said that she would prefer if I waited until I'd lost a little more weight so as not to cause more stress on my joints than necessary. I recently got a recumbent bike.  This is the one I got: So, to prevent stress on my joints, but to help build my stamina and endurance for when I am able to start c25k (hopefully June 19th, that's when my second four month goal time allotment ends) I'm doing it on my bike. I mean it's really just interval training, and it will prepare me for 'the real thing' in June. I do a speed of about 10-12 on the bike on low resistance for the 'walking' portion, and then I up it to 15-16 for the "running" portion.  I'm pretty excited about this. Tomorrow is week 1, "run" 2. Tonight I did 10 miles on the bike at a consistent speed of about 11-12 and I feel great. :) I never trust what the machines say for 'calories burned' but...

I think I've mentioned on here that exercise is difficult for me because I have fibromyalgia . Anyhow, for about a month I did really well with exercise. I went from doing about 5 mins a day of lifting very light weights and doing wall push ups to doing 45 mins of dancing and Your Shape Fitness cardio and yoga. For awhile, I felt like this:  This month has been difficult pain wise and it's hard to say, but I think now that I'm gluten free and not due for my monthly visitor for awhile (low estrogen can cause flares), I might be okay for at least a month. I want to take advantage of that. I am seeing my pain doc in February to discuss my lady time pain flares. I have heard  progesterone cream  can help. I also need to get on  seasonique  so it comes less often and lasts a little less time.  After all that I felt a little more like this: Within a matter of days. I had to stop exercising entirely, which undid any progress I had made ...