Wayne's "Couch to 5K" Journey

dwwise83

dwwise83

New member
Hello Everyone. I've been lurking around this website for about two weeks now and have finally decided my course of action for weight loss and healthiness!

Over the past two weeks I have completely overhauled my food intake. I am 13 pounds lighter and have more energy than ever. I feel comfortable with the 'food' part of my weight-loss and decided to use this diary to document my exercise. Yes, the dreaded EXERCISE!!!! *Insert horror music*

I would like to start off by saying that I hate gyms...

When I lost weight the first time I worked out in the gym everyday. While it worked, I didn't necessarily like it... so, when I lost the weight I stopped going and gained everything back. Sad, I know! I had lost 52 pounds, and ended up gaining 62 of that back ;)

After reading some inspiring stories on this website I decided to try the Couch the 5K program. I am excited to announce that I have signed up for a 5K in November! AHHHHHHH. I'm already nervous! The program is 9 weeks, and I completed day 1 of week 1 this morning...

...AND NEARLY DIED! Good Lord I'm out of shape. I was huffing and puffing up the road and felt SO exhausted. So tired. This extra weight has got to go. It not only weighs down my body, but the very essence of my self confidence.

I kept going this morning and I finished my two mile journey in 30 minutes :) I will run again on Thursday and Saturday (3x/week). I'm excited about his process and I can't wait to finish week 9, look back at this entry and think "how did I ever let it get so bad?"
 
I'm doing the couch to 5k too! I did day 1 of week 6 today, and it wasn't bad! It starts tough but then it gets easier as the weeks go by. Nice to meet you!

V
 
*V* that is great! Congrats on making it so far into the program... I'm determined to stick it out too!

The Couch to 5K program is a 9 week running schedule designed to help a couch potato / beginner run a 5K. The first week starts with:

5 minute warm-up
60 secs of running / 90 secs of walking for 20 minutes
5 minute cool-down
 
Hey!

I did couch to 5k last year, and it really worked! Although I haven't maintained it, and every session was tough, you really do improve so quickly that you can cope with it... good luck and I look forward to reading your diary!
 
Thanks Kezzypear! It's nice to know that people have made it through the program. I hope to say the same thing in 9 weeks! :)
 
hmmm, running is like a root canal for me, but you almost have me convinced to at least look at the program. Good luck with it, I'll be checking in on you to see how you are doing. I'm interested...
 
I have a problem. I am a constant and chronic weigh-er. I weigh every single morning and record my weight in a notebook... but I also weigh at night. I don't know what it is but I can NOT stop! Every time I walk by the scale I have to jump on.

Sometimes I love weighing in daily. When I see the numbers going down it is a huge motivator for me to eat healthier and exercise harder. I feel like I am making progress and I know that what I ate the day before really helped my body.

Other times I hate weighing in daily. The scale will just jump up for no reason by several pounds. I know this is more than likely water weight and a completely normal fluctuation, but when I see it I immediately feel discouraged. I ask myself over and over "what did I do wrong, what is wrong with my body," and "should I just give up?"

How do I accept the good with the bad?
 
Oh, I am a chronic weigher also so I can only offer you solutions, whether you chose to use them is your choice. I would say limit your access to a scale maybe. Like, put it somewhere inconvenient, like the top of a messy closet so when you take it out once a week its a hassel. Or get rid of the home scale all together and only weigh at the gym (although I've noticed gym scales are notoriously uncallobrated). Unfortunalty I can't tell you if either of these "solutions" work because I don't use them. I have a scale in my office constantly tempting me because I work at a medical clinic and everytime I walk to the breakroom or one of the exam rooms there it is, calling my name. I hope something works, I know your hell! I weigh almost every morning and sometimes at night too. I am constantly disappointed.
 
Thank you Iwan naloseit! I have tried everything... I even had my wife hide the scale from me, which ended with me on all 4s looking under to bed! I love it when it's going down - a HUGE motivator... but when it goes up, WATCH OUT - I instantly become Mr. Pissy-pants, lol!

I guess we have a love-hate relationship.

Did you decide if you wanted to give running a try?
 
I did and I am going to start on Sunday. I may get stuck on week one for nine weeks, but I'm going to give it that ol' college try!
 
dwwise83 said:
*V* that is great! Congrats on making it so far into the program... I'm determined to stick it out too!

The Couch to 5K program is a 9 week running schedule designed to help a couch potato / beginner run a 5K. The first week starts with:

5 minute warm-up
60 secs of running / 90 secs of walking for 20 minutes
5 minute cool-down
Click to expand...

Thank you, I shall try it. I have been counting calories and I know my BMR and I eat less calories than I burn. But I just dont seem to get the scale to budge. :angelsad2:

Liz
 
W1d2

Let me preface the description of my run with: I stayed up WAYYY too late last night and had to get up wayyyyy too early. I was helping a friend move and didn't get home until 1:30am.

The good / great news is I STILL got up this morning to go running!!! GO ME! I wanted to sleep in so badly. The bad news is I nearly died... again. I think it was harder this time, no joke. Maybe it will be better on Saturday before I move to week two, I hope so!
 
Well, I had a complete epiphany today regarding my weight. Starting on Monday evening / Tuesday morning I notice that my weight jumped up 2 -3 pounds. Regardless of how well I've done with diet or exercise this number has not changed... AT ALL. I was so frustrated last night (after going for a run in the morning and kayaking in the evening and the weight was still up) that I flung the scale from the bathroom into the closet.

Then I thought "what has changed about my diet this week that could be affecting my weight... PEANUTS." I bought these delicious peanuts at the grocery store on Sunday and started packing them with my lunch. I only ate a small portion each day, but they are very high in sodium... meaning that I am retaining water weight. This was confirmed when I realized I could NOT remove my wedding ring which is usually lose! YAY. I am going to eat a low sodium diet from now til Sunday (my weigh-in day) and see if it helps... I have hope!
 
Hope failed! (see above) I weighed in this morning and the scale was higher than anytime in the last 8 days! I was so frustrated that it almost prevented me from going on my run this morning. But, I realized I couldn't give up so I got in the car and drove down to the place where I run. I was on the 2nd interval when I decided to walk back to my car and go home... this is just too hard!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I can't stop now! I pushed through and pushed through and before I knew it I was on my last interval feeling great. This run was definitely the best of the first week, which is good since I move to week 2 on Tuesday... YAY! The scale is going away. It almost prevented me pushing forward and I can NOT accept that. I am going to have my wife hide the scale (battery and unit in different places) so that I can only weigh every two weeks. I have a week by week goal sheet (down 2 pounds each week) that I will use to guage where I should be at weigh-in time.

I'm sorry if this entry is a poorly written... my toddler woke up at 5am and decided she wanted to play with Mommy and Daddy :) Needless to say... I'M TIRED!!!
 
Don't let the numbers get you down. I have the same issues. I work and work and the numbers don't move. Two things I started doing that has really helped. First get a free account at Fitday.com. I enter everything religiously so that I can see exactly what I am eating. I also have it track my sodium as a special report because I am bad about eating too much. Also start taking meaurements. I take measurements every Saturday and enter them in my journal in Fitday. Usually I can see on the weeks that I don't lose any weight I can still see a difference in my measurements. It is not weight that you are wanting to lose, it is fat. And if you have started exercising I am sure you want to gain some muscle. You can't have both everytime you hop on the scale. I also love to look at the report in Fitday where it shows me the graph of my weight on the down trend. Even if it is barely heading down as long as it is trending down, I feel better. Good luck and hang in there!!
 
Thanks SwampBillies, that is wonderful advice. I will have to check out that website, it sounds really good! I use to track all of my food at a different website but it was really hard for me to keep up with so the information was never accurate. I guess it's time to give it another go!

I was also thinking about the measurement thing, I think that will work much better!
 
I would like to say that I lost weight this week, but the truth of the matter is I don't know. My wife successfully hid the scale and I will now be weighing in every other Sunday. I am so excited about this! I am now judging my weight loss based on how my clothes fit and how I look in the mirror... not some number on a scale each day. It feels like a big weight (no pun intended) has been lifted from my shoulders.

The ONLY thing I'm worried about is this: without the constant fear of the scale going up how will I prevent myself from over eating and splurging?
 
W2D1 a Success

I must admit that I was slightly nervous going into my second week of the C25K program. Week one was very hard for me and I had many doubts that I wouldn't be able to increase my running time. I dragged myself out of bed this morning, put on my new workout clothes :), and headed to my walking area.

The 90 seconds intervals of running felt like an eternity, yet they seemed to go by very quickly! By the last interval I was barely able to catch my breath, BUT I MADE IT! I felt great too. I can really tell that my endurance has increased b/c there is no WAY I could have done this a week ago.

*Happy Dance*

I started keeping track of my food and exercise at fitday.com and that has been very helpful... it's nice to see everything listed out all together. I have also been doing other activities, such as kayaking. I have been out on the water twice and it is a great shoulder exercise! It is so nice to be out in nature AND be exercising!
 
Okay, I need some major motivation to go running in the morning. I have to leave my house earlier than normal, meaning I have to get up way early in order to go running... ick! Sadly, going at night is not an option because it is SOOO hot and humid in NC right now.

Time to get up: 6:00am (early for me!)
Time and distance to run: 30 minutes ~2 miles

I CAN DO IT! :biggrinjester: I won't be able to post until tomorrow night... wish me luck!
 
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