A New Mode of Transportation

I’ve come to a decision….. I’m just not quite cut out for running (at least not yet). As much as I try, it just never gets any easier. Running is the hardest thing ever.

So I wanted to try something new. Take a break from beating myself up over my lack of running ability and try something completely different. And so… I bought this:

 

Isn’t she beautiful?! My house is only a couple of miles from where I work, so I thought it would be a fun new exercise idea to try commuting by bicycle. I bought my bike today and went for a ride to see how long it will take to get to work. It took me right around 15 minutes to get there, which is perfect! If I ride to and from work, that automatically gets me 30 minutes of some great cardio! Plus, the weather is GORGEOUS this time of year! I’m so excited about this practical, fun, and new work out plan! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Man, my legs are already a little sore from that ride earlier… this is going to be an adventure!

Megan

Getting Back On The Horse

It has been a LONG time since I’ve posted here. And so much has happened…. so here’s a quick de-brief for you!

 

The biggest news is that I GRADUATED!!!! It’s the weirdest feeling in the world and the coolest feeling in the world all at the same time to finally have accomplished such a huge goal. I’m still adjusting to the whole never-taking-classes-again thing, but absolutely reveling in the fact that I never have to worry about homework!

After graduation, I moved out of my house and back home for the summer. I nannied for the cutest 4 year old ever, and we had a blast together. I miss her like crazy! Earlier this month, I moved into a new house with my roommate and started my job. I’m working with a Campus Ministry, and I am LOVING it. We are still trying to get settled into our house, but it’s slowly becoming a home for us.

I will be honest, though. My getting-healthy plans went down the drain for the past few months. With finishing capstone, moving twice, and all of the big transitions in my life, this blog and the goals that went with it got pushed to the back burner. It’s not something that I am proud of, but it’s the truth and I wanted to be honest here. 

This doesn’t mean that I’ve given up. I may not make it to the 50 pound goal that I set at the beginning of all of this, but I’m determined to take back control of my weight loss situation and make these last few months really count.

For the next few weeks, I will be doing some workout DVDs to get back to where I was before the summer. I don’t feel like I’m quite up to running yet, but after a couple of weeks of doing videos at home, I’ll be picking it up again. We live pretty close to a park that has a great running track, so I’m looking forward to putting that to good use this year! 

Thank you to each and every one of you for all of your encouragement and support. I know that I have not been very successful so far in really committing to getting in shape and losing weight thus far, but I’m determined to turn that around beginning now!

What tips do you have for getting back on the horse?

Megan

Two Months Later: My So-Called Blog

So I’m a crappy blogger. Really, I should have realized this a long time ago. I completed a photo-a-day blog for a year, but most days it was only by the skin of my teeth and my awesome picture-improvising skills. I posted something I was thankful for every day in November, but half of the time I forgot and had to double post when I remembered. And now I’ve skipped two whole months of blogging here….. Oops!

I guess a lot of this stems from the fact that it’s my last semester of college and that this last semester is flying by at a rate that I can’t possibly understand. Seriously, where did the last five years go?! But I couldn’t be more excited about graduation and what the next year has in store for me! It’s just giving me an impressive case of senioritis that I’m sure my professors are just LOVING. haha

But just because I’m a slacker when it comes to posting doesn’t mean I’m sitting on my butt checking Pinterest all day (even though I check Pinterest a lot… don’t judge me and my recipe-trying self!). I actually completed my first ever 5k on Sunday, and it was quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself!

Before the race

I had been training for this 5k for about 10 weeks, so I was really excited to finally reach the culmination of all of that hard work. I knew I wouldn’t be able to run the whole thing (or even most of it!), but I knew that I could still make myself proud. The only goals I had were to be under an hour, which would have been my time had I just walked the whole thing, and to just finish the dang thing. Both of which I succeeded in!

My roommate Melody and I walk/jogged through our 5 kilometers, I coined the term “wogging” (for walk/jogging), and we proceeded to include the term “wog” into as many pop songs as we could- all while meeting new people, seeing the beautiful city of Ardmore, and soaking up some Vitamin D. It was fantastic!

My roommate and I

We ended up finishing in 49 minutes, so I’m going to call the entire event a success! Afterward, we indulged ourselves with some carbs at Ihop (along with everyone else from the race since it was right down the street) and drove back to Norman, where we promptly passed out for a good chunk of the afternoon. I was sore the whole rest of the day, and I broke up with my running shoes for a couple of days, but I felt strong and accomplished and proud of myself.

My finisher's medal!

I’ve decided that even if I’m not losing weight at the rate that I’d like to, I’m still working hard and achieving goals, so I’m plenty successful in my opinion. I’m excited to continue on this journey, and I promise it won’t be two months before you hear from me again!

What accomplishments are you proud of today?

Megan

Day 78: My shiny new toy

I finally manned up and went to the doctor! For some reason, I just don’t like going to the doctor. Even when I’m sick, I’d rather just battle it out at home. But I knew I needed to go because I knew it was going to be helpful.

He couldn’t be absolutely sure, but it looks like I was right in my thoughts that I might have Exercise Induced Asthma. The doctor gave me an inhaler to try for a while to see if it helps. I’ve used it before my runs today and on Wednesday, and it helps so much! I can catch my breath more easily, I don’t cough afterward, and I’m a lot less winded after my workouts. I’m still not the greatest runner yet, but I think this change will help enable me to continue to improve.

It looks like I’m going to repeat Ease Into 5k Week 3. I haven’t had to repeat anything yet, but I’ve had a lot of trouble keeping up with the running sections this week. I think this is going to be the big hurdle of my training… once I master the next couple of weeks, it should be pretty smooth sailing (relatively speaking… haha) from there! It’s 51 days until my 5k, and I’m determined to work my butt off until I succeed.

I need to really start focusing on what I’m eating. Once I get better control over all of that, I think that will really flip the weight-loss switch to “on”. So that’s my next goal!

Oh, and I forgot some good news! When I was at the doctor, I found out that my blood pressure is 120/80! I was super psyched, because both of my parents are on high blood pressure medications. High blood pressure is one of my fears. So to find out that my exercise is helping lower that already (and that mine is “textbook normal” as my mom the nurse said) was a HUGE accomplishment! Woohoo!

Hope you’ve all had a great week! What has been your greatest success these last 7 days? Let’s celebrate together!

Megan

My inhaler... haha, I'm a nerd for posting this picture.

Day 74: Doing the Dang Thing!

So, you all know I’ve been working on this Couch to 5k thing. Dude, it’s TOUGH! I’ve been doing a great job of not skipping a single running day (sometimes I skip workouts on the off days, but I always run 3 X a week!). I moved up to Week 3 today, and it was the hardest workout I’ve had in a while. I felt like my brain was yelling at me to stop the entire time, but I persevered. I admit that I skipped 30 seconds of the last run, but overall I felt pretty okay about the whole thing. I’m excited about seeing an improvement on Wednesday. Every day is a little bit better than the day before, and that’s really all I can ask for. I’m doing the dang thing! haha!

I’m a little bit nervous, because I’m going to the doctor tomorrow. All summer when I was working out and now that I’ve started working out again, I keep having a lot of issues breathing. Especially when I’m running, and especially when it’s cold. I can’t catch my breath, my chest feels too tight, and I cough for a good 30 minutes once I’m finished working out. It has become a real problem, especially since I REALLY want to succeed with this Couch to 5k thing. My mom (who is a nurse and is brilliant) thinks that I have Exercise Induced Asthma, which wouldn’t really surprise anyone with my family’s asthmatic background. So I’m going in tomorrow to see what the doctor thinks and to see if there’s any way to manage my breathing troubles so I can be successful.

So I’ll let you know how that goes! I don’t like going to the doctor, even when I’m sick. But I think it will be worth it if they can help me even a little bit. Hoping for good results!!

Have a wonderful week!

Megan

Day 63: I’m Alive!

I know. I’m a slacker. I haven’t posted on this thing in FOREVER.

It’s so easy to hide when I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing my goals that I’ve made so public on this blog. But I’ve been working, even though I haven’t been posting!

I signed up for my very first 5k! In 66 days (on April 1st), I will be accomplishing a goal that I’ve had for a really long time. I’m in training right now: I restarted the Couch to 5k program, which I’m doing 3 times a week, and I’ve been doing Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred on some of the off days. I want to get to the point where I’m working out every day, but the fact that I’m working out more than 3 times a week is already an improvement! I’ll be honest…. I’m really intimidated by this 5k. Every time I’ve tried the Couch to 5k program, I’ve hit a wall where I feel like I just can’t improve any more. So I’m really hoping that I’m able to push myself through the mental blocks that I’ve created for myself over the years. Only time will tell! I’m going to keep pushing!

My weight loss hasn’t been stellar. But right now, I’m really focusing on training up for this 5k instead of stressing over the numbers on the scale. Hopefully they will show all the work I’m putting in!

Weirdly enough, I’ve found that the best thing for my nutrition is actually exercise. Whenever I get done with a workout, I tend to crave healthy things rather than junk food. My most common cravings for my post-workout-meal are eggs, chocolate milk, and apples with peanut butter. And sometimes broccoli, but let’s be honest- I always want broccoli, haha! So I think getting myself into this workout rhythm is really going to help with my nutrition as time goes on, and that is really exciting to me!

I apologize for my lack of posts recently. I will make more of an effort to post more often, I promise! Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Megan

Day 45: Christmas Break Update

You guys. My life has been so crazy the last couple of weeks!!

I mentioned that I had a trip last weekend. I went to Dallas, TX with my campus ministry for a conference, and it was so fun! We came back on the 1st and then I drove the extra two hours to my hometown.

The next afternoon, I left for Joplin, MO with my hometown church for a short mission trip. We were there for three days, and for the two days that we were on-site, we spent the days demolishing a house. Yeah… DEMOLISHING A HOUSE. It was crazy! We were able to salvage things like windows and doors, but most of the rest had to be torn down. I’d never torn down dry wall before, and that was really cool. Of course, my arms were SUPER sore for the next few days! It was quite a workout!

After that, I went back home to my roommates, who I had definitely been missing! I worked Friday and Saturday, then drove back to my hometown last night. Those of us that went to Joplin were presenting pictures on stories to the senior high youth this morning at church, so I wanted to be here for that. And now I’m at home for the next few days before I drive back later this week. I have work this weekend and classes start next week, so my life will be settling back down soon!

I’m looking forward to getting back into the gym at school. And I just found out that Just Dance 3 has a sweat mode, so I will definitely be trying that out! Thanks for all of your encouragement over the break…. I know my weight loss hasn’t been stellar so far, but I’m glad that I’ve made it through the holidays pretty much unscathed!

Also… when I went to church this morning, I was told that I looked great! After losing 10 pounds this summer and my current weight loss efforts, that was really great to hear! I was excited about that!!

Megan