Today was long, but I made some good progress at work, though a lot more difficult work ahead of me. The best part of the day? I finished Week 1, Day 3 of C25K. :) Technically I am now officially done with Week 1, but I am going to repeat the workout Thursday and Friday. See my previous post for my after-workout analysis.

Here's what my day looked like:

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Sooo I'm learning (well, admitting) that I am a bit of a carb addict! Not gonna lie though, that Steamed Alfredo & Veggie pasta was seriously delicious. I didn't really realize just how many carbs were in that! Also, my Fiber One cereal has a lot, but I love me some fiber. Regardless, I'm still in range for everything, and did better with my protein today. I can't wait to go grocery shopping again and start making simple recipes! Sadly I have another week or so to go until I do.

Other than finishing my workout, my favorite part of my day is entering it into Sparkpeople. I am really close to my goal of 800 calories burned this week. I'm off to study some and play WoW. I hope everyone had a nice day :)

Hi everyone. I made another post further down that isn't related to fitness (mostly), but it got too long so I'm writing my progress journal here. I found a bit of an easier way to track my food here:

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This is taken directly from Sparkpeople. As you can see, I made some good progress today I think. I'm still not where I want to be with protein (I went with the peanut butter, but it actually didn't have as much as I had thought). I'm going to do the veggie burgers more (SO delicious), the cheese is a great source of protein, and I am still looking for some recipes for the future. I found what looks to be an amazingly delicious egg "McMuffin" homemade recipe that I can make on the weekend, freeze, and take throughout the week. The eggs will be a big boost is protein. Check it out here. I will probably make them with the turkey sausage and mix some veggies in the eggs before cooking. This recipe has a whopping 21g of protein! And only 258 calories altogether - perfect for breakfast.

As for the carbs, well, I'm still within my range, but I want to lower that intake as well. Unfortunately I will have to live with it until I run out of my bread and make my next grocery store run next week for some better meal options. My calories are also on the low end of the scale today which is good. By the way, I didn't eat my serving of pretzels I brought for a snack today. I just wasn't hungry for it. I think the peanut butter kept me fuller today.

I just love adding my exercises to Sparkpeople. Look at me go! I am well on my way to beginning week 2 next week (90 seconds jogging and 2 minutes walking). By the way, just to give a run down of this program in case you are interested, the gist is to go from the couch to running a 5K (3.1 miles) in 9 weeks. Three times a week you do the same workout, and the next you move on. Here are the steps, numbered by week:

1. Brisk 5 minutes warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. 
2. Brisk 5 minutes warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds jogging and 2 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. 
3. Brisk 5 minutes warmup walk. Then do two repetitions of the following: 
1. Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
2. Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
3. Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
4. Walk 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
4. Brisk 5 minute warmup walk, then:
1. Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
2. Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
3. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
4. Walk 1/4 mile (or 2.5 minutes)
5. Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
6. Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
7. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
5. Brisk 5 minute warmup walk, then:
1. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
2. Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
3. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
4. Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
5. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
6. Brisk 5 minute warmup walk, then:
1. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
2. Walk 1/3 mile (or 3 minutes)
3. Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
4. Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
5. Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
7. Brisk 5 minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes)
8. Brisk 5 minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes)
9. Brisk 5 minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes)

My app I am using for this is pretty cool. I figured out how to listen to music with it on. My "coach" talks over the music and tells me when to walk or jog. I have it set to just doing by time right now, but you can change it to track distance as well. I will likely have to repeat some of these weeks, but I'm hoping not to until at least Week 4.

Well, I'm off to study some GRE Math (Substitution!). Have a great evening everyone, and look for my blog tomorrow!

Hey Guys! So let's get right down to it.

Monday Sept. 30, 2013

Food

Breakfast:

• 1 serving Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal
• 1 serving reduced fat milk

Lunch:

• 2 slices Nature's Own honey wheat bread
• 1  serving (I think, I still don't own a food scale), honey ham
• 1 serving Publix 2% provolone cheese
• 1 serving (20 minis) Snyder's mini pretzels

Dinner:

• 2 servings Bird's Eye Steamed Rigatoni & Vegetables  

Snack:

• 1 serving Snyder's mini pretzels
• 2 servings Weight Watchers string cheese (50 cal each)

Comments: I did great today! I still need to focus on lowering my carbs and increasing my protein. As you can see I'm in the high end of carbs and low end of protein. I'm still within the range though at least. One of the bigger reasons that I want to do this (besides it's just better for you), is that I really struggled today with hunger. In fact I'm still pretty hungry! Carbs make you hungrier faster and protein keeps you fuller longer. 

Starting at my next grocery store trip, I want to make some of my own recipes (maybe freeze them and eat them through the week). I also want to eat more complex carbs (veggies) and maybe even avoid bread altogether (maybe...). I'm going to work this week to make a list of simple recipes I can make with ingredients that won't break the bank. 

Fitness

So I know I wrote a post this morning about this, but I'll reiterate. This morning I woke up at 5:45am (!!!) and did the first day, first week of the Couch to 5K program. Th first week consists of a 5 minute brisk warmup walk, then 1 minute of jogging, and 1.5 minutes of walking (repeat for 20 minutes), then a 5 minute cool down walk. It was hard, but I felt pretty proud at the end. I almost gave up, but I didn't. Tomorrow I am going to wake up at 5:30am so I have a few more minutes to sit and recover after! This morning I had to jump right into the shower when I got back and I was super dead! 

Anyway, the waking up part itself isn't that fun but I got over it quickly. The program itself is for 3 days a week, but I am going to aim for 5 days a week, with weekends being a break if I want. Hopefully it won't be a problem and next week I'll be able to move onto week 2 of the program and not have to repeat week one. I had some trouble finding how many calories were burned using this, but I found a pretty cool spreadsheet. And without further ado, the numbers don't lie! 

Already halfway to my weekly goal and everything over that will be icing on the cake. :) 

Thanks for reading!