Over 200 Club New Year New Body Part 6

Positively_Me

Monday check-in 2/8/10

Calories: way under, i will eat more calories that does not have much carbs and fat
exercise: yup! 28 minutes running, 13 minutes walking, 20 minutes elliptical...not bad for being off track for a while
water: 64 oz, up until now, but i will get more in by the end of the day
proud: I did not talk myself out of working out...I am hopefully and finally back on track
week 6 challenge: Cardio; done it and some

Have a wonderful day everyone :-)

lstpaul

wow what a busy weekend ... I hate when I miss that many days tracking on MFP, but today is back on track. This week's challenge will be good for me - I usually get no exercise in on the days I don't get to the Y - starting with today ... so I will HAVE to get myself moving today for the challenge, I'll go right now for a short walk to start.

HeatherMN

Good morning:

Awstfall: I don't know if this will help at all, but when I had MFP calculate my calories, I gained weight. When I did some more research, I found other sites that gave me a higher calorie requirement. As an experiment, I manually set MFP using the calories given to me by dailyburn.com and started losing consistently again. I love MFP, but I don't think the calorie goals are realistic for some people (such as me). MFP wanted me to eat 1200 per day, but I actually eat closer to 2000 per day, based on Dailyburn.com and it's working for me. Overall, I think you may want to do a bit of experimenting to find out what best works for your body.

Jlb: I love the challenge of 30 min. cardio each day. Lord knows I need it and I actually love cardio!

Okay, now checking in for the weekend:
Friday 2/5/2010:
Calories: 104 left over
Water: 32 oz.
Sodium: Over by 4000
Exercise: None
Proud: I didn't make the Dairy Queen trip that I wanted to, even though I was having a tough day emotionally.

Saturday 2/6/2010:
Calories: 976 over
Water: 40 oz.
Sodium: 3600 over
Exercise: Snowshoeing for an hour with friends.
Proud: That I logged all of my food even when I knew I wouldn't like the numbers!

Sunday 2/7/2010:
Calories: 416 left over
Water: 32 oz.
Sodium: Over by 1418
Exercise: Snowshoeing 3.5 miles with my boyfriend.
Proud: That I didn't go over my calories even with the food available during the Super Bowl party.

I'm only up .6 lbs. from the weekend, according to my scale this morning which isn't bad. Again, I think it's mostly from sodium intake and as every Monday, am working on flushing it out with extra water this morning. Why can't I keep the food and sodium in check over the weekends??

I don't know if I'll be able to do much of a workout tonight since my boots rubbed huge blisters on both of my heels during snowshoeing yesterday, but I'll certainly try!

Have a great day, ladies!
Heather

Thanks !!! Do you eat 2000 calories even when you exercise or do you eat more when you exercise?I am just trying to get an idea of how to do things the best for me.I checked out that website and it said I should be eating 1886-2136 calories daily but is this without exercise or with ?

That should be your number without exercise and then if you exercise, you would have that many more calories to eat if you want to. I eat mine if I'm hungry only.

awestfall

Good morning:

Awstfall: I don't know if this will help at all, but when I had MFP calculate my calories, I gained weight. When I did some more research, I found other sites that gave me a higher calorie requirement. As an experiment, I manually set MFP using the calories given to me by dailyburn.com and started losing consistently again. I love MFP, but I don't think the calorie goals are realistic for some people (such as me). MFP wanted me to eat 1200 per day, but I actually eat closer to 2000 per day, based on Dailyburn.com and it's working for me. Overall, I think you may want to do a bit of experimenting to find out what best works for your body.

Jlb: I love the challenge of 30 min. cardio each day. Lord knows I need it and I actually love cardio!

Okay, now checking in for the weekend:
Friday 2/5/2010:
Calories: 104 left over
Water: 32 oz.
Sodium: Over by 4000
Exercise: None
Proud: I didn't make the Dairy Queen trip that I wanted to, even though I was having a tough day emotionally.

Saturday 2/6/2010:
Calories: 976 over
Water: 40 oz.
Sodium: 3600 over
Exercise: Snowshoeing for an hour with friends.
Proud: That I logged all of my food even when I knew I wouldn't like the numbers!

Sunday 2/7/2010:
Calories: 416 left over
Water: 32 oz.
Sodium: Over by 1418
Exercise: Snowshoeing 3.5 miles with my boyfriend.
Proud: That I didn't go over my calories even with the food available during the Super Bowl party.

I'm only up .6 lbs. from the weekend, according to my scale this morning which isn't bad. Again, I think it's mostly from sodium intake and as every Monday, am working on flushing it out with extra water this morning. Why can't I keep the food and sodium in check over the weekends??

I don't know if I'll be able to do much of a workout tonight since my boots rubbed huge blisters on both of my heels during snowshoeing yesterday, but I'll certainly try!

Have a great day, ladies!
Heather

Thanks !!! Do you eat 2000 calories even when you exercise or do you eat more when you exercise?I am just trying to get an idea of how to do things the best for me.I checked out that website and it said I should be eating 1886-2136 calories daily but is this without exercise or with ?

That should be your number without exercise and then if you exercise, you would have that many more calories to eat if you want to. I eat mine if I'm hungry only.

To me that seems like an awful lot of calories to begin with and then eating your exercise calories on top of that.I don't know for sure but I am going to say this is with exercise.Thanks for the site it wasa good source of information.

LittleSpy

To me that seems like an awful lot of calories to begin with and then eating your exercise calories on top of that.I don't know for sure but I am going to say this is with exercise.Thanks for the site it wasa good source of information.

I gotta gree with awestfall here. When I went to dailyburn, it asked me how often I exercised. I'm really sure that was factored into the calories they recommended I eat everyday. Eating 2100 calories + exercise calories sounds like maintenance for me. That's a lot of food.

For example, if I went through MFP and answered that I was moderately or very active based on how often I exercise now, I WOULD NOT enter my exercise and eat those additional calories because my exercise calories would've already been factored in.

So, instead, I entered that I was "sedentary" despite all the exercising I do, and then I enter in my exercise when I complete it. Then, MFP gives me those extra calories to eat.

You can go at it from either angle, but factoring exercise calories in *before* I do the exercise makes me nervous (I can't be trusted :laugh:).

awestfall

I get what your saying JBL!! You put your calories to the lowest setting that MFP gives you and whaever you earm from exercise calories you eat anywhere from 150-200 of those depending on what you burn.YOu don't eat all of them though right?I checked your food diary and it looks alot like mine lol.Thanks for the info I think I figured it out!!

tiger12gal

I want to make some mini goals for myself... Im just not sure how much weight you should lose at a time. :huh: would anyone like to help me?

snowflakes

Bump

LittleSpy

I get what your saying JBL!! You put your calories to the lowest setting that MFP gives you and whaever you earm from exercise calories you eat anywhere from 150-200 of those depending on what you burn.YOu don't eat all of them though right?I checked your food diary and it looks alot like mine lol.Thanks for the info I think I figured it out!!

Yeah. I always eat what MFP tells me to eat based on me being "sedentary" (which has gone down to 1200 now that I've lost weight) and then I try to eat some of my exercise calories -- I guess roughly 25% right now. I was almost never eating any of them before.

I had figured I would have to start eating more & expecting my weight loss to slow down the closer I get to my goal and it looks like I was right. It's funny to me that I have to make a conscious effort to try to get in closer to 1400 calories on days I exercise more (sometimes I don't even make it -- even with peanut butter help!). That's such a small amount!

HeatherMN

Jlb: I see what you're saying. I guess I've had both sites calculating based on sedentary, which would be without taking my exercise into account. That still gives me 2000 calories plus exercise calories should I decide to eat them. I realize that seems like a lot of food, but apparently it's right because I'm losing weight; granted, it's not real fast, but that's mostly because I need to find more motivation on the exercise side of things!

LittleSpy

Jlb: I see what you're saying. I guess I've had both sites calculating based on sedentary, which would be without taking my exercise into account. That still gives me 2000 calories plus exercise calories should I decide to eat them. I realize that seems like a lot of food, but apparently it's right because I'm losing weight; granted, it's not real fast, but that's mostly because I need to find more motivation on the exercise side of things!

Right! I'd probably be losing at 2000 calories, too since I supposedly about 2200 a day just with my lifestyle + any I burned with exercise. You're doing a great job! I was just saying if I ate 2100 calories + my exercise calories (another 400-800 calories most days), for a total of 2500-2900 calories a day, I wouldn't be losing weight anymore. Those would be my maintenance calories, so I'd stay at my current weight.

awestfall

Jlb: I see what you're saying. I guess I've had both sites calculating based on sedentary, which would be without taking my exercise into account. That still gives me 2000 calories plus exercise calories should I decide to eat them. I realize that seems like a lot of food, but apparently it's right because I'm losing weight; granted, it's not real fast, but that's mostly because I need to find more motivation on the exercise side of things!

Right! I'd probably be losing at 2000 calories, too since I supposedly about 2200 a day just with my lifestyle + any I burned with exercise. You're doing a great job! I was just saying if I ate 2100 calories + my exercise calories (another 400-800 calories most days), for a total of 2500-2900 calories a day, I wouldn't be losing weight anymore. Those would be my maintenance calories, so I'd stay at my current weight.

I completely understand it now and I am going to aim to eat at least 25% of my exercise calories daily and see if this helps my weight loss any.MFP set my food at 1200 daily and I usually burn around 600 calories in 45 minutes on my elliptical depending on the resistance I use but I am using that as a basis for most days.I am only going to eat about 200-300 of those calories back and we shall see what happens with it.Thanks so much Jbl for your wisdom my friend..... I knew this before when I was losing but I forgot it and needed someone to refresh my memory.

awestfall

Checking in
Calories-I went over by 200 but I already planned out my day for tomorrow so I know I won't go over again.
Water-yes
Exercise 45 minutes of running on my elliptical
Proud that I have wonderful people like you gals to support me and help me figure things out.

LittleSpy

I hope it works for you, awestfall, as well as it has for me so far! I don't feel nearly as puny when I eat more. :flowerforyou: Thanks, Heather, for the information & that link. It's hard to remember that I'm eating at such a huge deficit right now. When I think about eating 2000 healthy calories, my eyes kind of bug out of my head. :laugh:

02.08.10
Calories: 1381 -- right on
Exercise: 25 minutes stationary bike, c25k week 9 day 1 (30 minute run, 10 minutes walking -- warmup/cooldown) = 65 minutes cardio
Water: 96oz
Proud: I'm so glad I've stuck with running. It's so hard, but no other exercise gets me so sweaty. :laugh:

HonestOmnivore

Hi! Checking in!

Tiger- I think 1.5 lbs/week is a good guide - remember you're lose more at first. I need to lose around 70 lbs- I'd like to lose 50 by July/August and then the last 20 I am planning to take much longer - probably another six months.

I found out today that I job i really wanted, but thought wasn't going to open for a year or so, was opened and filled with a co-worker. i honestly thought it was mine for the asking and now i feel a mix of grief, shame, and embarrassment. It turns out the pay level didn't get approved to have it at my pay level and the VP knew I was already down a pay level from my market price. I know I shouldn't have taken it, but it's with another hospital system that's only ten minutes from my home (rather than the hour i commute now) and the VP is the guy that convinced me to take my current job... I probably would have. On the upside i got a call back for an interview that is a pay level up, and slightly above where i was when I took my current job. The new job would be for a manufacturer and have some international travel! The lord giveth and the Lord taketh away... just not always in that order!

Calories- under but still have an hour of evening ahead!
Water - under but only by a little
Exercise - 40 minutes on the treadmill in my target heart range (and yes- very sweaty!)

Proud - i was able to congratulate my co-worker and joke about the situation and keep my horror masked. Then when people stopped by with the "wasn't that going to be your job?" questions I didn't cry! And when the VP called to tell me why he went with my co-worker i was able to joke about it. I'm sure he heard my crushed heart in my voice but I'm OK with that. He's the kind of boss you love to work for...but he's right- I'll be better off!

OK - those of us in the Eastern time zone only have about 30 minutes before it's LIGHTS OUT!

GOOD NIGHT SWEET HEARTS!

(yeah it's time to go....)

snowflakes

Hi girls,

awestfall: You will find the right combination that works for you. Way to stick with this and be determined.

mstahl: What ever happens will be for your best. As good as this job seemed, something better will come along. I have seen this happen many times, but I never recognize it until later and the hind sight is much clearer to me. What a charming nighttime ritual of sitting by a lovely fire and reading aloud.

Calories: 2 over - I ate every last exercise calorie today.
Water: yes
Exercise: yes
30 min cardio: yes
Proud: I looked back from New Years and I weigh .6 more than it said I would in five weeks. I have been very consistant. (Patting myself on the back)

bluenote

It's been snowing here and I could not drive up my steep driveway after my rehearsal tonight. It was very frightening - I kept sliding backwards with no control, foot on the brake but still going backwards! I finally made it up after about 20 tries. I was so frazzled that when I came in I went straight for the fridge - but I closed the door! Whew! Close call, but I did it! I did, however, choose to eat two handfuls of lightly salted nuts an hour after I calmed down (I needed more calories). I was so scared when I kept rolling backwards onto the street, honking my horn furiously so that the occasional driver would see I had no control. Boy am I glad that is over! I am praying for a snow day! :noway:

check in:
calories: much higher than usual (I chose not to exercise today - sorry, challenge! My knee is killing me.)
water: 64
exercise: rest day for my arthritic knee
proud: that I didn't workout even though I wanted to BADLY. My knee will thank me in the morning! Gotta take care of myself, right?

tiger12gal

check in for yesterday:
Cals: like 75 under
water: not as good as I would like
exercise: none bc I had amigraine and went to bed as soon as I put my oldest child to bed
Proud: that I didnt drink a dr pepper last night even though I really wanted one

I made some goals out... Im not sure if they are reasonable so if you dont mind looking at them and letting me know I would appreciate it!

awestfall

ok so my new goal is to lose 16pounds by April 4 which is Easter this year ,my first big goal is to lose 50 pounds by my birthday July the 13th this yearI am going to focus hard and meet this goal.I will stop putting myself last and put me needs first when it comes to these goals.This is my year to be fit and healthy and I will be.WISH ME LUCK!!

Good Luck girl :- ) I KNOW you can do it...

Thanks I know you can do it too!!We will help each other get to that 50 pound mark by our birthdays.

awestfall

I hope it works for you, awestfall, as well as it has for me so far! I don't feel nearly as puny when I eat more. :flowerforyou: Thanks, Heather, for the information & that link. It's hard to remember that I'm eating at such a huge deficit right now. When I think about eating 2000 healthy calories, my eyes kind of bug out of my head. :laugh:

02.08.10
Calories: 1381 -- right on
Exercise: 25 minutes stationary bike, c25k week 9 day 1 (30 minute run, 10 minutes walking -- warmup/cooldown) = 65 minutes cardio
Water: 96oz
Proud: I'm so glad I've stuck with running. It's so hard, but no other exercise gets me so sweaty. :laugh:

Reluctantly so far it is working.I don't know exactly if me eating more is the reason but yesterday morning I was at 235 and this morning after eating all my calories yesterday.I weighed in at 233.Its hard to tell if me eating more was the reason behind this loss but I am going to keep it up to find out.Thanks for your support and advice everyone.We will see what happens in the next few weeks

awestfall

check in for yesterday:
Cals: like 75 under
water: not as good as I would like
exercise: none bc I had amigraine and went to bed as soon as I put my oldest child to bed
Proud: that I didnt drink a dr pepper last night even though I really wanted one

I made some goals out... Im not sure if they are reasonable so if you dont mind looking at them and letting me know I would appreciate it!

Those are great goals to have Tiger.

HonestOmnivore

Tiger - great goals!

I didn't get to bed until 11!!! (toasting marshmallows was involved *hangs head in shame*) So I checked out today's work calendar and decided to go in a little late. I set my alarm for 6am instead of 5 am and still got in my 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, stretching and crunches - and now I'm showered, finishing breakfast, and about to head out the door.

In my office people come in between 7-9 I've always been an early person but I usually end up staying until 6 or so. My boss comes in between 9 - 9:30 and stays until 5:30. Anyone who leaves before he does is a slacker... I figure I might as well prioritize my exercise above my mental time clock~ I like getting into work early but it's more important to take care of myself.

BTW- I'm currently in love with FiberOne Caramel something - delights? Little squares of wholegrain goodness! I usually avoid cereal because it's not worth the calories to me, but I've been mixing half a cup with a half cup vanilla lowfat yogurt and OH MY is it tasty! I'm currently out of pumpkin

awestfall

Wow, I went on Dailyburn.com just to check it out and they're recommending I go for 1.1 pounds per week instead of 2. And eat 2193 calories a day. Seems accurate enough to me because I've been losing 2.4 pounds per week and I've been eating about about 750 calories less (than the minimum on their recommended range for me) per day. So, that math works out pretty well. Only problem is I want to lose more than 1.1 pounds a week for a while longer!

Awestfall -- I'm 99% sure this is WITH exercise -- however much you told it you exercised a week. I said I exercise moderately 3-5 times a week. So, they're telling me, based on my doing that, I hsould eat 2193 calories a day.

Jbl- I was looking over your daily food diary and I noticed it says you earned 286 calories from exercise.Is that the same amount you burn everyday and do you try to eat most of those calories?Reason I am asking is I started fresh this morning with your idea of eating more to see if it works for me and I want to make sure I understood you right.I set my MFP calories (guided) at 1200.I exercised this morning for 1 hour and burnt 820 calories according to my elliptical on level 10 resistance.I calculated to eat 25-30% of those calories back which would be around 205-250.I figured those in and I still have 498 left over.Should I eat more or just leave it at this and see if this works for me.I will eat more only if I am hungry but I would like to teach myself to control it.My BMR for my goal weight is 1345 so I am eating at least that and a bit above so this is good right?Sorry so many questions I am trying to reteach myself the stuff I new before when I was losing last year.Thanks in advance!! Also I am trying to eat every 3-4 hours to control hunger.I also noticed you don't give up any certain types of foods you just make better choices.GREAT JOB!!

HeatherMN

Good morning!

Checking in for yesterday 2/8/2010:
Calories: 572 left over
Water: 32 oz.
Sodium: 901 over (boo!)
Exercise: None, as my blistered heels are still sore.
Proud: That I didn't stop for Chinese like I really wanted to. I reminded myself about the horrendous amount of sodium and was able to resist. I also resisted the Lunchable I wanted because the small one has 1100 mg of sodium! Yikes.

Last night's officially weigh in wasn't great, but I was up less than a pound so I didn't have to pay. (If you gain from the previous week, you have to pay $1 to the kitty for each pound). I was bummed, but when the leader mentioned that in our five weeks of the challenge, I have lost 5.8 lbs., I realized I should be happy that I'm averaging a pound a week. Sure, I'd like more, but I'm happy with the balance I've found in eating and exercising; because of that, I'm more likely to keep the weight off this time. Yay!

I've already logged the food I plan on eating tonight, so I should be good. I'll probably have to add food because I plan on getting some type of workout done tonight since it's Biggest Loser night.

Have a great day,
Heather

Positively_Me

I hope it works for you, awestfall, as well as it has for me so far! I don't feel nearly as puny when I eat more. :flowerforyou: Thanks, Heather, for the information & that link. It's hard to remember that I'm eating at such a huge deficit right now. When I think about eating 2000 healthy calories, my eyes kind of bug out of my head. :laugh:

02.08.10
Calories: 1381 -- right on
Exercise: 25 minutes stationary bike, c25k week 9 day 1 (30 minute run, 10 minutes walking -- warmup/cooldown) = 65 minutes cardio
Water: 96oz
Proud: I'm so glad I've stuck with running. It's so hard, but no other exercise gets me so sweaty. :laugh:

Congratulations JIB:flowerforyou: ! Your about to graduate C25K..this will be you last week...so what are your next plans? Are you going to start another plan? Did you sign up for a 5k in the near future?

I am still on week8, but that is ok i will finish the program some time...:laugh:

Positively_Me

I made some goals out... Im not sure if they are reasonable so if you dont mind looking at them and letting me know I would appreciate it!

Tiger, the goals you made sound realistic and can be accomplished. Best success to you on your journey

awestfall

I hope it works for you, awestfall, as well as it has for me so far! I don't feel nearly as puny when I eat more. :flowerforyou: Thanks, Heather, for the information & that link. It's hard to remember that I'm eating at such a huge deficit right now. When I think about eating 2000 healthy calories, my eyes kind of bug out of my head. :laugh:

02.08.10
Calories: 1381 -- right on
Exercise: 25 minutes stationary bike, c25k week 9 day 1 (30 minute run, 10 minutes walking -- warmup/cooldown) = 65 minutes cardio
Water: 96oz
Proud: I'm so glad I've stuck with running. It's so hard, but no other exercise gets me so sweaty. :laugh:

Congratulations JIB:flowerforyou: ! Your about to graduate C25K..this will be you last week...so what are your next plans? Are you going to start another plan? Did you sign up for a 5k in the near future?

I am still on week8, but that is ok i will finish the program some time...:laugh:

I was doing couch 25k but I have started running on my own.It still is sort of the couch25k program but altered a bit.I love it.So glad to see you continuing the program.I know you will complete it.You are strong!!!

LittleSpy

Wow, I went on Dailyburn.com just to check it out and they're recommending I go for 1.1 pounds per week instead of 2. And eat 2193 calories a day. Seems accurate enough to me because I've been losing 2.4 pounds per week and I've been eating about about 750 calories less (than the minimum on their recommended range for me) per day. So, that math works out pretty well. Only problem is I want to lose more than 1.1 pounds a week for a while longer!

Awestfall -- I'm 99% sure this is WITH exercise -- however much you told it you exercised a week. I said I exercise moderately 3-5 times a week. So, they're telling me, based on my doing that, I hsould eat 2193 calories a day.

Jbl- I was looking over your daily food diary and I noticed it says you earned 286 calories from exercise.Is that the same amount you burn everyday and do you try to eat most of those calories?Reason I am asking is I started fresh this morning with your idea of eating more to see if it works for me and I want to make sure I understood you right.I set my MFP calories (guided) at 1200.I exercised this morning for 1 hour and burnt 820 calories according to my elliptical on level 10 resistance.I calculated to eat 25-30% of those calories back which would be around 205-250.I figured those in and I still have 498 left over.Should I eat more or just leave it at this and see if this works for me.I will eat more only if I am hungry but I would like to teach myself to control it.My BMR for my goal weight is 1345 so I am eating at least that and a bit above so this is good right?Sorry so many questions I am trying to reteach myself the stuff I new before when I was losing last year.Thanks in advance!! Also I am trying to eat every 3-4 hours to control hunger.I also noticed you don't give up any certain types of foods you just make better choices.GREAT JOB!!

Today is one of my light exercise days. I only got in 25 minutes on my stationary bike this morning so that's the 286 calories. But, because of the challenge, I'll have to put in at least 5 more tonight and since that's rather pointless, I'll probably go for at least another 15. Anyway, on my light exercise days, I don't worry so much about eating so many exercise calories.

Yesterday, I earned 741 extra calories. I ate 181 of them which is almost exactly 25%. I don't think there's any magic about the 25% really, I just noticed I feel a lot better being closer to 1400 calories than 1200 calories on days I workout hard. I think the eating 25% of my exercise calories is just kind of a coincidence for me. I kind of just noticed the consistency in the percentage after the fact.

I feel like you maybe overthinking this. :laugh: Start by eating a little more -- whatever percentage or number you decide because I don't think there's specific percentage that will automatically work better than all others -- and then stick with it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, then increase it again. Like everyone always says, our bodies are all different and are going to respond to different things in different ways. What works for me may or may not work for you but if what you were doing before wasn't working for you, all you can do is try different things until something works. I know you'll figure out what works for you.

Positively_Me

[/quote]

I was doing couch 25k but I have started running on my own.It still is sort of the couch25k program but altered a bit.I love it.So glad to see you continuing the program.I know you will complete it.You are strong!!!

[/quote]




Awestfall: When I started the C25k with in the first few weeks i wanted to give up because it became hard for me. The reason was i was doing more than what i was suppose to, you are suppose to do the program every other day...as anxious as i was...i did week 1 (all three days) and week2 ( all three days) all in one week...my knees were so sore because my body was not use to so much at one time... I stopped and let my body heal then i redid week one..alternating days...and from then on i was on the right track...there were times i hit a wall because the running was too dificult for me but i took it nice and slow...it wasn't about speed, this time around, it was about accuracy.

Yes WE are strong and if we put our minds to it WE CAN DO IT!! More power to all of us:laugh:

Good luck on your journey and you will find what works for you...it might take time, but look on the bright side, you are still in this to win the battle:flowerforyou:

LittleSpy

Congratulations JIB:flowerforyou: ! Your about to graduate C25K..this will be you last week...so what are your next plans? Are you going to start another plan? Did you sign up for a 5k in the near future?

I am still on week8, but that is ok i will finish the program some time...:laugh:

Thanks. I really can't believe I actually made it through the whole program. And I really still can't believe I can run so long. :laugh: I haven't signed up for a 5K yet because I want to work on my speed. So, that's my next step -- sprint intervals. Yay! My plan right now is pretty much go back through C25K running 5mph and jogging 4mph until I can complete and entire 5K at 5mph. I hope to do this by May & enter Race for the Cure. I know I'll come in at the back of the milddle of the pack with a 36 minute 5K and I'm 100% okay with that. If I ran a 5K right now my time would probably be close to 45 minutes. I plan to make this Saturday's run a full 5K no matter how long it takes me. I'm running just over 2 miles in 30 minutes right now. :ohwell: Whenever I get irritated at myself for being so slow, I just remember where I came from -- being so out of shape (AFTER 2.5 months of regular exercise) that I couldn't even come close to completing w1d1!

I know you'll finish. Week 8 isn't really any different than week 9! I didn't struggle at all adding the additional 2 minutes. My struggle comes with speed.