jessradtke Member

Now, those are some fabulous responses! I'm still laughing at vegavangelist. LOL I second all of this! There's no need to try to change other people's minds. It's your body and it will tell you what is best for it if you listen. It has nothing to do with anyone else. It's just between you and your body. If you feel pulled…

If I looked like that in a bikini I'd totally be at the pool in it every freaking day. LOL Your hard work REALLY paid off! Congratulations!

I had a long reply typed out and lost it. Basically, it said "They work for me" :-) I have green smoothies pretty much every day, usually for lunch, but I don't put yogurt in mine. Just fruits and veggies. I get bloated when I eat dairy products and fruits together, but just fruits and veggies and I feel fantastic!

If I had to choose between only those two, I'd say physique, but neither one of those are how I gauge my personal progress. After I had several injuries in one year and had to work to gain back the mobility, flexibility, and stamina that I once took for granted, how my body feels and how well it functions became most…

If I didn't log foods like salad and vegetables there wouldn't be much point in me logging my food since that's mostly what I eat. Besides, there are more reasons to track what I eat than just to count calories.

Rodney Yee's A.M. yoga is probably my favorite "easy" yoga DVD. It has nice short sessions for each weekday. There are plenty of good reminders about where to lengthen and relax in each pose. The music doesn't annoy me like some. And the scenery is beautiful. Patricia Walden's Yoga for Beginners is also very good.

You most definitely can lose weight by just running, but, as others have already pointed out, doing just one form of exercise is a good way to get injured. You would become especially prone to repetitive stress injuries. Adding some strength training and some exercises to for flexibility would improve your overall health…

For me, the most important result from finishing C25K is the fact that I now LOVE to run. I don't just force myself to do it because I need the exercise or because I have to (like I did in high school track). I seriously LOVE it! I could never say that before. That, in and of itself, is still amazing to me. Every time I go…

Ditto what several others have already said. SLOW DOWN. I slowed the treadmill down until I didn't feel like I can go any slower without walking, then I bumped the speed up just a tiny bit so I was on a slow but comfortable run. Once you find your slow run pace you can start doing intervals to increase the amount of time…

I used to hate running. HATE it. But since I did C25K I love it! I ran my first race last year and was hooked. Now I've got my husband and kids joining me on 5K's and we've joined a running club together :-)

Yeah...you're probably way overdue for shoes. Everybody has different shoe needs, so you'll have to figure out what shoes work for you. I didn't find the people at the running store near me to be much help personally, so hopefully you'll have better luck. I tried several shoes other runners gushed over and just wasn't…

I sweat a LOT more from running than from just about anything else. It makes me feel like I burn more calories too, but I don't know if that's true. I don't use a hrm either, so I'm not really much help, am I? lol As for your shins, lots of things can cause that. You may be increasing your running time too fast or you…

Wow, what a difference already! Your half way picture looks like your before picture's younger sister!

I second both Daiya and Amy's. I can eat some cheese now as long as it's raw milk cheese, but I still love Amy's products, especially the dairy free mac and cheese and the no cheese pizza!

I'm from Indiana too. Feel free to add me if you like. I've been kind of hit or miss on logging in lately, but I'm working on it.

All your hard work has really paid off. You look fantastic!

Congratulations! And thanks for sharing your story. I did C25K last year and have been happy doing 5k's but lately I've been getting the bug to maybe try a half marathon next year. Then other days I come to my senses. LOL I think your story may have just pushed me back toward the half marathon idea though.

I was going to share Arthur's inspirational transformation video with you, but it looks like several people beat me to it. It's my favorite motivation and I have started watching it whenever I'm having an "I don't feel like moving" kind of day. You are definitely NOT in the wrong place! MFP is a wonderful source of support…

I am seriously thinking about getting this. I just saw the video of Arthur's testimonial yesterday and was BLOWN AWAY!

Whether you get a good calorie burn or not depends on the type of yoga. I've really worked up a sweat from Power Yoga and hear great things about Bikram too, though I've not tried it myself. I love yoga, but have only recently gotten back to doing it on a regular basis. Right now I'm doing Kundalini and Yin yoga several…

This makes sense to me. I never had pf until I had a back injury and was forced to wear shoes with a lift in one heel ALL the time. When my back was healed, I went back to going barefoot like I had always done before. I started doing yoga, massage, and stretches several times a day (basically any time I sit down) and the…

My teenage son is totally Sheldon. I even have people say to me "Do you know who Sheldon reminds me of?" LOL Can't decide whether I'm more like Bernadette or Amy (though Amy is my favorite character).

I totally agree with the C25K recommendations! I used to hate to run, but it was actually enjoyable. It turned me into a runner at 40 years old! I may be a slow runner, but I'm still a runner :-)

Vegan Boca burgers are what I take to cook outs because they're easy to find and hold up to the grill, but out of all the pre-made veggie burgers we've eaten over the years my family prefers just about any of the Amy's burgers and Wildwood sprouted tofu burgers. I also make homemade mushroom burgers and black bean burgers…

That's awesome!! Congratulations!

I generally like hairy guys, especially legs, chest and arms. But bald heads are sexy too!

Oh, how exciting! I wish I could go back and feel that first race excitement again. They're all exciting of course, but that first is special. I don't always know ahead of time what the parking situation will be, how far I will need to walk to the check in or starting line (sometime you may even have to wait for a…

I actually like 5k's for all the reasons you mentioned. At the starting line I can just be part of the pack and once I'm running I kind of zone out and don't notice the other people. I don't need to train hard for a 5k. If you can already run 3 miles you can definitely do it! And walking breaks are pretty common in 5k's.…

My chiro warned me against them too. Said they can really mess up your natural body motion and lead to injury. Besides, most of them are pretty darned ugly. lol

I absolutely love your after pic!! Congratulations!