First Challenge! A place to celebrate and grizzle

missyyclaire

Today's the day I'm starting my very first challenge. I give all credit to Elana for starting this. If you're interested in joining, today is the first day and you can sign up at:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/340706-halloween-challenge-sign-up-challenge-will-start-9-19

I appreciate her organization of this, she's done a great job! It's a gentle challenge, yet I know it'll push me to do things just a little more intensely. Being that part of the challenge is to walk, run or bike 100miles, I know my doggy'll appreciate this. She loves to go for her walkies!

It felt right to start a thread where I could come and log my thoughts about this new push. This morning I woke excited to start. I did a couple of 'test drives' last week to see if I could push myself to walk the daily goal of 2.38 miles....yep, I can! It's a pretty good ways for me and I like the challenge.

My juicer finally made its way out of the cabinet for the first time in 2 years! I'd tried to make Dr Oz' green drink with my Vitamix and as good as that machine is, it just came out too pulpy, like green soup. Healthy green soup, but not juice. My Samson blender was up to the challenge...after I managed to get ALL the parts back on in order...I was just making a mess before that and laughing at myself. The first bit looked like ground up disposal matter! But, I got 'er back in order and it worked great and really tastes good! And it's not soupy!

Join me and all our other friends if you're wanting a little push, and feel free to come here and celebrate or whine if you'd like! I'll be supportive as I feel this is such a safe place to write our thoughts.

Now, off to get in my walk before it gets too hot out there!

trelm249

Go for it Missy. What a way to grow and learn what you can do. Incremental improvements get us there.

missyyclaire

Thanks so much!

Today was the first time since college, some 30 years ago, that I officially ran. When I say run, I mean barely more than a walk, but still it was a run. There's an App called "Get Running". It costs $1.99 and I used it for the first time today as part of this Halloween challenge. It starts you from nothing, no running experience needed. It's part of this movement called Couch to 5K. There's a number of Apps that can do this, I liked the way this one looked so I got it. The nice thing is I can run "iMapMyWalk" and iTunes both in the background while using Get Running.

It starts you out walking 5 minutes to warm up, run for a minute, walk for 1/12 minutes, run a minute, walk 11/2 minutes til you've done 8 minutes of running. Then you warm down for 5 minutes. All you do is push the little start button and this British lady guides you through your workout. The music you're playing on iTunes drops in volume while she talks, then automatically goes back up when she's quiet. I LOVE IT already.

Using iMapMyWalk in the background lets me see the route I've gone, how many miles and how long I've traveled. Cool!

I still need to take a walk tonight to get in my last little bit to make it up to (and past) my daily goal of 2.38 miles. My walk/run tallied in at 2.25 for the three laps I took at the Park. The run/walk was only about 1.5 miles or so, I walked the remainder. I'll double check it Wednesday when I do my next "Get Runnning" session.

missyyclaire

A brief report from sleepy head here. Saw my Doc today. Blood pressure was down from last visit at 130/80, cholesterol down to 187 w/ much lower tryglycerides than before, blood sugar lower. A1c is something to work on. It was down, but still at 7.2. I'd like to see it 6 or below.

VERY tired today for whatever reason. Maybe I'm not sleeping enough. Or maybe my body is going through changes with the weight loss and was having a tough day. Who knows. I wanted a much longer nap than I got.

Still got my goal in, 2.47 miles today walking. Tomorrow is another gentle C25K run.

missyyclaire

While my phone is charging up, I'm catching up on the forums today. One of the gals here posted this link to 100 calorie quick foods, healthy ones. What a great idea!

https://sites.google.com/site/wwcheatsheets/home/filling-foods-100-calories-list

The reason I'm waiting on la phone is cuz I've gotten so dependent on it for my fitness apps. I won't go without out them! iMapMyWalk and GetRunning are my 2 favorites. If anyone is reading this, I'd love to know if you have a favorite fitness app.

missyyclaire

Did my second Get Running run/walk today. It was too hot for me out there! I'm so ready for some 60 and 70º weather, arggghhhh! We had our hottest summer on record and I'm sick of it. I get overheated very easily, today being no exception. Yet, I made it through my workout. Still need to log another 1/2 mile to reach my daily goal. That'll happen with Mr Sun goes down.

Tried my first Astaxanthin today. If it helps my eyesight like I'm hoping, I'll post about it. I have really lost my near vision as I've gotten older. Used to could see like a hawk, but now more like an owl!

2.05 miles so far. More to come this evening.

missyyclaire

21.1 miles logged! It's been a mix of walking, slow jogging, trikking and recumbent bike, There's a free pass online for 24 Hour Fitness, it's good for 3 days. I went this evening and did an hour of weight training and recumbent bike. Oddly, on my calories allotted, the bike counted towards calories burned, but not the weigh training...hmmm. If anybody knows why, I'd love to know.

trelm249

Missy, If you look in the cardio category there is a strength and weight training. Use it to log the calorie burn. The strength section is used to track the exercises themselves for you to track progress, such as increasing reps or weights.

Great job on your progress. The blood sugar will come down in time. Great to hear about the improvement in blood pressure.

missyyclaire

Oh, thank you for that! I learn something new about this website every day. And thanks for the support. I find that everyone here is helping push each other along...and that really makes a difference than just punching in calories and exercise.

missyyclaire

A late night here, not sleepy, so I was looking around MFP. What seems like such a long time since joining really is not long at all...only 30 days. It was 30 days ago, or Sept 1 2011, that I joined and started logging my food/calories and exercise. What seems so natural now, paying ATTENTION to what I'm eating, has really only been one little month of time. It's hard to sum up words other than a big one, grateful, to describe how I feel after this month. To have time to concentrate on good foods, consistent exercise and appreciate the support offered here is truly life changing.

I must go to bed now. I have to meet a friend for a weigh in in the the morning. Here's prayers on her behalf that she'll find her path as well. I don't want to push my enthusiasm on her, just want to be there to be her friend and support her like she's always done for me.

Nite nite

missyyclaire

Lately I've been pulling out some long neglected shorts from the bottom drawer of my old Maple dresser. These are the ones that haven't seen the light of day in years. I'd truly forgotten how many pair were in there....maybe 12 or more. Seeing as how my clothing of choice for the past year has been black leggings, I had not visited the woven clothing drawer since maybe 4 or 5 years. In it were pairs of shorts that my friend Brenda had given me. So far I've worn 3 pair this week. The sweet thing is, 2 months ago I was wearing size 24 pants/shorts (that is, when I wasn't wearing my leggings). And now....the 3 pairs Ive worn this week have all been size 20. Size 20!!!! It's such a silent, yet potent victory to absorb. I really give this website an enormous amount of credit for this. This is the first time in my life that I've ever gone a day of counting calories, much less a whole month doing it. It is really changing my life. I know I've written that same thing before and I'll probably write it again. If I gush a little, it's cuz I'm so grateful for this.

missyyclaire

This week I have not done as much exercise as twice I've had tummy issues. Feeling much better now, so tomorrow I'll be on the trail or at the Mall for my walk (between the 3 Dr visits!)

Clothes are starting to get looser. I started in size 24 pants back in August and now my 22's are loose AND I'm able to wear my 20's. Back into a cute brown top I always liked but was too big for. This is starting to feel really good.