Thanks, y'all. It's been a terrific year full of hard work and interesting lessons.

GalgoMomAnita wrote: »

Are you still running? I'm doing strength training with a personal trainer 3x a week and running 1-2x/week and am always torn between running more vs. doing too much cardio and negating some of the muscle building/fat loss efforts. What is your exercise routine now that you're at such a great point?

I am still running. I can't say running and I are always going to be best buddies, but it is a surefire way for my body to drop weight so I keep plugging away. I ran my first 5K at the beginning of November, and I ran a second one on Thanksgiving Day and have another one coming up in March. I've set a goal to do a 10K by the March race of next year (that race has a 10K, 5K and fun run option). I've been running on a treadmill recently (losing daylight was a big blow to my walking/running routine), but I don't really have a set regimen as far as the running goes.

My normal routine is mostly class-based as I do better in group environments vs. solo training. On Mondays, I do a cardio kickboxing class. On Tuesdays, I have a weightlifting class that uses bars and hand weights in conjunction with squats and lunges as well as arms stuff. On Wednesdays, I do a combo cardio kickboxing-fit camp class. I also try to walk as much as I can during the day at work (I'll eat lunch at my desk and take 30 minutes to walk a mile and a half around campus). My daily step count is set for 12,000 on my fitbit, so whatever I am lacking after my classes gets made up on the treadmill after class. I usually set it for the 5K setting and then, when I hit my step goal, if I'm feeling good, I'll keep running. If I'm not feeling it so much, I'll try to make it at least 2 miles before stopping. And, in instances like last night's class, I hit my step goal early on in class and was just running out of gas after Tuesday (weightlighting and ran 5K after) just wore me out. On Thursday and Friday, I usually take a break (except for the walking) and then I just walk in the park for a couple of hours on Friday and Saturday depending on what I have going on that weekend.

So I'm probably not the world's best example. My routine is inconsistent but listening to my body has helped a lot throughout the journey so I'm not keen to second-guess it at this point.