Get Running

On Wednesday I did day two of the Get Running challenge.  I did it again!!! I felt better than the first day that I did it.  I'm sure that the more and more I do it the easier it will be for me.  Tomorrow Friday will be day three and I plan on doing it with flying colors :)

The Pedometer that I got and started using is working great.  Did I mention I got one for my husband?  Yup, I am pushing him and pushing him to join me in this healthier transformation I am embarking on, or should I say "we" are embarking on.  Well, last post I mentioned that I was aiming for 10K steps a day just on the house alone.  Well.... Yesterday that I did my 30 minutes of jog/walk exercise with my "Get Running" app I only managed to put in 6400 steps.  WOW!! I thought easily I was going to hit the 10K.  Thats not mentioning that I also went grocery shopping and I stopped by Target to get some pencils and paper for my daughter.  Hadn't really realized that 10K is a lot.  The RD at the nutrition class told us that 10K daily steps was recommended to loose weight.  Anywhere between 6-8K steps a day was recommended to maintain current weight.  I guess I have to bump it up a notch to hit the 10K steps each day.

Today I am not feeling all that motivated.  My house feels like a circus.  I have men taking out the pavement on my driveway, another man cutting down a yucca tree in my back yard and putting in through the "chipper" (that totally reminded me of friends when Joey was working at the Christmas tree lot) and another man working inside my kitchen on the dishwasher.  Oh, and that's not mentioning my 81 year grandma and two cousins I am looking after this week.  Blah!! That is exactly how I feel.  Can't go into my kitchen to cook my food and all I've eating is cereal with a banana and some chex mix.  I'm hoping I can fit in at least 20 minutes of walking later in the afternoon.  Blah!!

Nutrition Class

My sister in law gave me the number to a dietitian she went to to help her lose weight and make better food choices.  Well I attended a group class they had both last Tuesday and today.  I must say it was helpful however it was nothing out of this world.  Eat better, exercise regularly and voila, you lose the weight.  It's easier said than done isn't it?  There is no magic trick or not miracle diet out there; just the old fashioned and most successful way, eat better and exercise regularly.   They did however show us what to look for to make better food choices.  What and how to read the nutrition labels and to remind us to be "active" daily.  The dietitian was very particular not to use the work "exercise" but to be "active".  She gave us examples on little things we can do to improve our activity levels like doing some gardening, park further than usual, take back the grocery cart to it's proper location instead of placing it in the parking spot next to us and the one that I like the most was to unload the grocery bags one at a time, this way we walk more steps getting the bags instead of wanting to unload them on one trip.  It was insightful information, now I just have to actually do them.

I will admit that I envy all those who can run at a steady pace and for long distances without looking like they are about to die, like me.  I've never been a runner, even when I was at my fittest.  I found this great app on my iPhone called "Get Running" that helps you train to become a runner.  I tried it out for the first time yesterday and I just have to brag a little and say that I actually did it.  It's a big accomplishment for me since I haven't done any type of exercise in almost two years.  Anyway, the app tells you step by step on what to do. It tells you to warm up for five minutes then run for one, walk for a minute and a half then run again for another minute.  It reminds you of your progress every half a minute and ten seconds so you could be prepared for the next action.  You do this one day, rest the next, do it again the following day and rest the next.  After the first week is done the next week you run for a minute and a half following the same process as the first week.  After each week is done you run more and more and rest less and less in hopes of running without having to stop.  You can also choose to stay within a certain week if you feel you aren't ready to advance to the next one.  I will admit that I was dying by the time I finished.  It didn't seem like much when I fist saw what it consisted of but when I finally tried it, it was harder than I thought.  I also bought myself a pedometer just to see how much walking I do on an average day.  5280 steps is equivalent to a mile.  I'm aiming for 10K steps just around the house alone doing daily chores.  I'll see how I do with that too.  

In other news, some of my husbands family invited us camping to Yosemite this past weekend and you can only imagine that bad eating choices we had there.  Even though there was a lot of walking, the eating wasn't that great.  I will post pictures of our trip maybe tonight.  It was amazing!  Our first trip as a family of four :)

Oh man!

I've been wanting to restart a blog for quite a while now, 7 months maybe.  I had one but my account expired and I haven't renewed it yet.  In the meantime I am going to start yet another blog.  Let's see, a little recap;  My daughter will be 5 in October.  She is starting kinder in August and right now we are doing summer school at the new school she will be attending.  We decided to put her in summer school so when the school year comes around it would make it easier for her to adapt to new friends, new teachers and overall a new school.  My son was born on April 28th 2011 at 5:52 am.  He is almost 3 months old.  Man how time goes by before your eyes.  I'm going back to work the first week of September and I am just dreading the day.  Life with two kids has been a little challenging but overall an amazing experience.  It's been challenging because our routine was set everyday being just the 3 of us and my daughter already being able to change herself, feed herself, potty trained and sleeping through the night.  Baby came along and we had to reorganize ourselves.  All in all it has been great.  My son is  super easy, easier than my daughter was actually.  She loves him though and he just made my little family that more special.

Some other exciting news... We are homeowners!!! Wooohooo!!!!  We got keys to our house June 1st and even though we are completely moved in we still have lots to do in this house.  It's a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house with a 2 car detached garage.  We are so happy and feel so blessed to finally have it.  Our little one bedroom duplex we were in was just too small for us.  Also we had to get rid of our dog Pongo,  he was just too much for us.  I looked online for some family shelter rescue places that specialized in Great Danes.  I doubt we will have a dog or a family pet for that matter anytime soon.

So another reason why I wanted to restart my blog was to start documenting my weight loss progress.  After having the baby I have hit the highest I've ever been on the scale.  I am too embarrassed to publicize my current weight, I know I know I sound pathetic, but I feel so uncomfortable with myself that I'd rather wait.  Hopefully by the time that I have lost it or have made some progress I will bluntly admit to it.  For now, I am just hoping to lose a bit at a time.  Wish me luck cause I will need it :)