It's been awhile...

I'm horrible at updating this blog. I know it's been awhile, but no one commented to me that I haven't updated in weeks, which leads me to believe that I'm the only one reading this. Or, writing this I guess.

That's okay. I just need to be better at keeping records. I'm usually not one to follow through on physical activity goals, unless it's soccer, and since I'm not really a fan of running usually...it's easy to want to quit.

But despite the fact I haven't updated this in weeks, I have not quit. I'm pretty determined. I'll admit, my motivation isn't so much to become a runner, it's because I think running is a great form of exercise. Something you can do anywhere at any time. I am excited to compete in a 5k, I just hope to finish without embarrassing myself too badly. But I'd be lying if I said that losing weight wasn't a motivator. Because it is. It's been years since anyone could reasonably call me 'skinny', and I've struggled a bit. But right before I got pregnant, I was in a pretty good spot, I think. I was almost fitting into the size I wanted, and felt pretty good when I looked in the mirror. For the first time since getting them I liked my curves (it doesn't hurt that Matt has always loved my curves and told me so regularly).

People always told me that once you have a baby, your body doesn't go back to the same shape. And boy, that's the truth. I probably weigh close to what I did before I got pregnant, and to be honest, I didn't even gain that much weight when I was pregnant, but my body has definitely changed.

I've never had many problems with having a belly, my issues have always been in the butt/thighs area. But for the first time, I've got a belly. And I hate it. I feel like I look like I'm 5 months pregnant. I'm fitting into jeans and whatnot from before, but I have this belly that hangs over. Yuck.

So to get this body back to some kind of order, I started running. So far, I'm not seeing much of a difference. So to help it along, I've given up sugar. Not for forever, my goal right now is to go without any for a month. After that, I'll be sure to do it in moderation. I don't eat a ton, but every now and then I crave it and eat too much. Other than that, my diet is fairly healthy(ish), I have cheerios in the morning, a sandwich for lunch and a variety of things for dinner...sometimes more healthy than others.

But lately I've been having fun experimenting with different sweet items, like various ice cream flavors and cakes (I just made a crock pot cake earlier this month which was so yummy), and when it's just Matt and myself to eat them, well, let's just say I could do without.

So no sugar+running=smaller belly (hopefully). I know I can do it, women do it all the time. There are people in London who have more than one kid who look great.

Okay, enough whinging and on to the running portion.

This morning I just finished day 2 of Week 5. This week is different than the others because you actually do something different each day. Day 1 is warm up 5 min, run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 5 min, walk 3 min, run 5 and a 5 min cool down.

I found day one pretty easy, not exactly sailing through it, but I never felt like I was going to die at any point. So that was Tuesday.

Today it was 5 warm up/8 run/5 walk/8 run/5 cool down.

I was pleasantly surprised at how I did. It wasn't easy, but again I didn't feel like my legs were going to fall off or that I was going to die. Maybe this couch to 5k thing really works. I'm not sure I could've gone 8 minutes running without stopping before this.

I'm a little nervous for day 3 though. In fact, I've got a huge mental block about it. It is running for 20 minutes, without any walking breaks. Plus the 5 min warm up/cool down. I know I can run for 20 minutes, I've done it in earlier runs, but it was always broken up. So I'm honestly not sure if I can go for 20 minutes without stopping. I'm worried that I won't be able to do it and then feel like a failure.

I guess if that's the case, I'll incorporate a Week 5 and a half, where I'll spend the next week running trying to get the 20 minutes. So we'll see.

I do feel that if I can get over this mental block, I'll be well on my way. From then on, it's just adding more minutes to the run, though I think week 6 goes back to intervals.

Okay, that's it. Hopefully this long post makes up for my lack of updating.

I'll check back in on Saturday and update how I did.