Monday, March 26, 2012

Week 8

I have started blog posts the last 2 weeks, but never got them completed, so this will have to serve as a recap for the past two weeks.  Today is the start of week 8 and I am down 15 pounds, a total of 33 from my pregnancy weight!  Back in February I had made a goal to be down 20 pounds by my birthday, my birthday is 2 weeks away and I have 5 pounds left to lose... I can do it!!

I had some issues the beginning of March with horrible shin and calf pain, so I took a few days off from running to rest.  On the 7th I went to the Running Room to get fitted for new running shoes and I found out I need stability shoes.  It was amazing how much different walking around the store felt in these shoes compared to my old running shoes.  The following Friday morning I tried out my running shoes and quickly realized they were way too narrow and short for my feet!  My feet felt completely squished and my toes were hitting the front of the shoe as I tried to run, and again my shins and calves were killing me, so this wasn't exactly a successful trip to the gym.  Over the weekend I went back to the running room hoping to exchange for a size up and a wide width.  They had either a wide width in the same size, or a size up but not wide... so I opted to go for the size up.

I read a lot about shin splints and one thing I kept reading over and over was to slower your pace if you are new to running.  With the combination of my new shoes and a slower pace, I am happy to report that my shins have no longer been causing me pain. I slowed my walking pace to a 3.0 and my running pace to 5.0.  With these slower paces I have been able to run all my intervals of the C25K program without wanting to die.  Speaking of C25K, I have completed week 5, day 2.  Every time the running intervals get longer I think that I won't be able to do it, but every time I have completed every single interval without stopping!!  The real test will be tomorrow when I have to run 20 mins straight!  I know it's all in my mind, so if I think I can do it, I will be able to do it!

Joe went back to work last Monday, which means that Macy had her first day of daycare, and both girls are in daycare full-time now.  The reality of how broke we are is going to be setting in pretty quick.  Macy has just started crying, more like screaming bloody murder, when anyone other than Mom or Dad are holding her, so we were a little nervous about how she would do at daycare.  But she did great, didn't have too many crying episodes, and even smiled for them a bit!  Kara also had a great week at daycare last week.  She is normally full of meltdowns - meltdowns over anything and everything.  She had one rough day, other than that she did great - was even pretty great at home! 

Macy wiped out after her first day of daycare:


This week was a big week for Kara too, we went and looked at a preschool for her to start at next fall.  The preschool is through Beth's (our daycare provider) church.  Beth will transport the kids to and from preschool, so it's really our only option as most preschool schedules are not accommodating to working parent's schedules.  Kara was very excited, and loved the room she would be in. We have signed her up for a 4-day a week class that is a kindergarten readiness program.  It's hard to believe that she will be old enough for preschool this fall and kindergarten next fall!!

And a shot of Kara riding her bike, her favorite thing to do:


We have also been working on re-decorating our bedroom.  We have had the same red and grey walls, comforter, everything for about 7 years.  It was time for a change.  I really wanted to brighten up our room, and I think I accomplished it!

Here is a before shot:


Primer on the walls:



And a couple of after shots - the color we chose is called Extra Virgin Olive Oil - it's really hard to capture the color accurately in a photo:



And here is our amazing new bedding in our room:


We also bought a funky little Ikea chair to put in the corner to have a little reading nook.  I don't have any pics of that yet though.

That's all for now, I better post this before it never gets posted!  Hopefully I'll be back soon with an update on how I do with my 20 minute run!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Week 5: Getting Frustrated

I wish the results of all my hard work were reflected immediately on the scale and in the way my clothes fit me.  I have been busting my ass these last two weeks and the scale has barely moved.  I seem to be losing and then gaining the same 2-3 pounds over and over and over...ugh!  It's so much easier to keep motivated when you are seeing results, not so much when you get stuck and in a rut.

These past two weeks I have not gone over my daily calories, except for the day we had a brownie mountain for Jayla's birthday.  I have been doing the C25K running program, which is 3 workouts a week, today I finished week 3 day 2 of the program - this is the longest I have ever stuck with the program!  Unfortunately my shins and calves are killing me, which I blame 100% on my running shoes.  I am going to allow myself to invest in a good pair of running shoes - I plan on going to a running store nearby to get fitted for shoes in the near future, I'm hoping new shoes will help with my shin/calf pain.  Along with the C25K program I have also been doing 2-3 workout at home - all are by The Biggest Loser, I alternate between CardioMax, Power Sculpt and Last Chance Workout - yesterday I remembered how much I HATE the Last Chance Workout, it's serious business.  I'm hoping that one of these weeks my body will catch up to me and I'll have a big loss.

I will leave this post with a positive note.  I had to go buy smaller jeans today!! The jeans that I just bought 4 weeks ago, right before I went back to work, were falling off of me!!  So I guess even if I am not seeing the pounds fall off, I do know that I am losing inches!  Overall, I am done 11 pounds in 5 weeks and am very happy with that!  Here's to another week of exercise and eating healthy!