Welcome to the Group

Welcome! We would love get to know you, so please tell us a little bit about yourself. You can choose any format you'd like, but most of us here share some or all of the following details:

1. History with weight loss:
2. History with Calorie Count:
3. Reason for joining this group:
4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:

And now just go ahead and make that first post!

Couch to 5k information starting point: http://c25k.com/

Hi, glad to see this group started. I have had a treadmill at home for months but just got on it yesterday. I am walked a little and jogged a little. I felt really good and today my body feels great! I work out about 5-6 times a week, usually at the gym taking classes like step aerobics, kickboxing and weight training. I am trying to start running so that I can challenge myself and eventually take it outside.

Now about myself. I am working towards my masters in education. My specialty is ESL. Right now I am a service coordinator. I work with people with various developmental disabilities, advocating for them and making sure they receive all their services. I have an 11 year old son named Christian who is the love of my life and a pain in my behind all at the same time! My weight loss journey began in 2004 when I couldn't walk up a flight of steps without getting winded. I went to WW and started at the gym. When I first started I couldn't do more than 5-10 minutes of a class and now I can do 2 at a time. It took me 1 year to lose 60 lbs. 10 of it's friends came back but I'm working on dumping them! I've been using CC for a year sporadically.

I'm glad this group is around. It'll be good to have the support and I do well when I am accountable to something.

Welcome to the group!

For me, weightloss has always seemed out of my reach, once i hit puberty i started slowly gaining weight and when i was in highschool i was a tad overweight (5'5" - 150ish).  My Senior year we finally got a girls soccer team, so i was thrilled to play - running 3 miles a day before practice and then running non stop during practice really cut of some weight. I went from a size 13 to an 8 that year.  Then i went to college and the weight started coming back. When i started with CC in January of this year, i was 174lbs.

So, i started slowly -Focusing on my diet and the lbs started coming off. Then i started doing workout videos at home running C25k outside and the lbs kept coming off. I hit a plateau in june after i had lost about 20lbs. I joined the gym, but my eating was stuck in a rut. I finally pulled myself out of it this month and have now lost 23.4 lbs. I restarted the C25k program and I'm currently on week 4. I love working with the free weights at the gym, and try to do that 2 times a week. I also enjoy riding the bike after i finish c25k - i usually ride between 4-8 miles.

It also helps me to be held accountable for what i am doing - so i hope this group will be helpful to many people.

Hi There

I'm glad I found this group as I'm also on week four of C25K.  I've been tracking my weight since February - mainly using Fitday - and have done better than I could ever have predicted.  I've lost almost 40 pounds, have gone from BMI 27 to BMI 20 and its now time to try and take steps to start looking to a future of staying slim and that means exercising!  I'm not really used to exercising other than walking the dog, but I am very lucky to live a 2 minute walk from a biggish park in London which has a 2 mile perimeter path so I don't have to go very far to be out running in nice open green space. I'm taking things very slow and easy and have repeated a couple of the earlier weeks, just because I've not run in sooooooo many years that I don't want to scare myself by how unfit I am!

Looking forward to getting fitter and faster with you!

Hi there. I just finished week 5 of the Couch to 5k. Wow! I can't believe I did it! Never thought I had it in me. I haven't lost alot of weight so far, I actually lost four the first week, then gained it back! I am wondering if it was muscle or something, because I have been working harder than ever and eating better.

Here is some info about me..... I need to lose fifty pounds. That is my ultimate goal. However, I am taking it one day at a time and just trying to stay in control of my life. I have four children. My oldest son is 4, the twins (boy/girl) just turned 3, and the baby is five months. Needless to say, I am pretty much just a mom and not much of anything else. That is why this couch to 5k program (and running) was so important to me. I want to feel as if I have completed something, and also be proud of myself for doing it. So far so good. I can't believe that I start week 6 on Monday. I really doubted that I would be able to do it at all!

I run on the treadmill, and I don't go any faster than 4.5 mph. I walk at 3.5.  For this week, the big 20 minute run, I stayed at 4.2-4.4 mph. I wanted to pace myself. And yes, it was sheer will that got me thru.

This is an exciting program, and I hope to learn from the experience of others. For example, anyone else having problems with the knees? Mine don't hurt when I run, but they do start to hurt that evening or the next day. Any advice? Good luck to everyone!

I find my knees only hurt if i run more than one day in a row outside. If you are sticking to the 3 days a week, you might want to take a look at your shoes. My shoes were the best investment i could have ever made for my weight loss journey. Don't just go to a store and pick out the prettiest pair, go to a running store (I went to Fleet Feet) and they will listen to your story, aches, pains, check your foot shape, watch you jog and you will end up with a shoe that fits you like a dream!

Good luck on you journey, as for the weight gain/loss it really could be a variety of factors - too much sodium, not enough water, not enough protein etc.

Don't forget to add in some weight training eventually with your training. Its very important to keeping your existing muscles from being depleted by the cardio training. 

I start week 5 on Monday, so I'm excited to be moving through the program much easier than i originally thought i was.  Keep us posted on how week six goes for you! You can do it!!!

Just did the first day of week 5 and it was hard, but what made it harder was listening to how much more difficult its going to get on days 2 and 3!! I'm full of admiration, Lulufit, that you managed to pull off the whole 20 minutes - WOW! That must feel good.  Waiting to hear what week 6 is like: it feels like you are the intrepid pioneer up ahead to let us know what the terrain is like!!  Keep up the good work!

The weight training sounds like a promising next step but being a total novice to all this exercise I wouldn't have a clue where to begin. I haven't even bought any gear for running in - just using old trainers and a t-shirt and they've been okay for me so far.  Its all a huge life change given that I'm now 44 and haven't run since I was 18 - it was only losing weight that gave me the confidence to start - and even that was only going out at 6.30am so no-one would see me!!  I still have hardly told anyone I'm doing it (not sure why - fear of failure?!).   About the weight training, I was just planning on going to a sports shop and buying a set of those little dumbells - is this the right way to start and do you know what sort of weights I should start on?  Any advice gratefully accepted!

Well good luck everyone on this endeavour - its a real accomplishment to be able to run this far - I look forward with trepidation to the next installments of Week 5 and week 6 up ahead and also look forward to hearing how everyone is doing.

Sarah

p.s. your little picture, Msmeg1984, of the running shoes on the wall is driving me nuts, it looks so familiar.  Its got to be somewhere out in the West of England like Bath or Bradford-on-Avon - I'd love to know.

Weight training is wonderful!

I started in january doing Jillian Michaels Videos. I just bought some 5 and 8 lb weights from target to start. I also bought a tae bo box set that came with weighted bands.

Now that i've advanced, i'm up to 10 and 15 lbs dumbells and 30-50lb barbells (depending on the exercise.)

There's lots of good total body workouts on the exercise tab of the CC homepage.

Sarah- Honestly I don't know where the photo was taken, i found it online :)

Week 6 run 1 went well. Believe it or not, I find that it was EASIER to just run the 20 minutes, instead of walking in between. Crazy, I know! But when they have you run for five, then stop and walk, then run again, it is harder to stay in the groove. I never thought I would ever say anything like that.

Once I finish the couch to 5k program, I will be adding the weight training. Plus, I hope to be running three days a week. Maybe I can finally lose this weight. Slowly but surely.

***EDIT***Ok so a few days have passed and I had to do week six run 2. I FAILED to complete it. I just couldn't will myself thru it. I don't understand what happened because last week I did twenty minutes no problem, and this week I could hardly make it thru the first ten. Then I could only run for two minutes out of the last ten and had to walk the rest. I just don't know! I am discouraged.

Ok, I pulled myself together and managed to finish week six run 3. I was going super slow, but I was still jogging (kind of in slow motion) and I finished. It was tough.

Way to go Lulu! I know its really hard sometimes but the main thing is that you went right back and carried on.  PERSEVERANCE is the key and you did it.  It doesn't matter how slow you went, just the fact that you went back to it is great.  There will be other days when you feel more energised - don't be hard on yourself.

Week Seven Run 1 complete. (Had to delay it till Wednesday due to power outage). I went super slow but got it done. By the way, at the pace I am able to go, I will not actually be running 5k when this program is done. So I will have to continue to work on speeding up and actually covering that distance in thirty minutes. (once I get there, that is!)

Way to go Lulu - I've been slacking on the program, but a friend and I are getting ready to go run a 5k route for a race that i put on, so this will be interesting!!!

Just got home and ate dinner - we ended up running 4 miles today and i feel great! It was definately hard, but great!

1. History with weight loss:  Lost 30 pounds prior to having my daughter, gained it all back with her, then added 20 more pounds on top of that after I had my son.

2. History with Calorie Count:  Started last Christmas, but quit in March.

3. Reason for joining this group:  I started the C25k program -- tomorrow's W3D3!

4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:  Not much to say here.  I'm stressed out, depressed, fat, and have no support.  Yay.

Week six has slid a bit.  Did the first day and felt like sleeping the whole day afterwards.  Don't know why it depletes my energy so much but it does.

Now have had some awful news of my partner's new german pointer puppy that was crushed under the wheel of a fork-lift truck yesterday and we are hoping his leg can be saved.  Its very upsetting and has sent me straight to the cookie jar for comfort...

Bellaxenia, sorry to hear about your pup! :(

I completed week 8 run 1 today. I only run at 3.7 mph. I need to go slow or else I won't be able to keep it up for 28 minutes. I am actually only running about 1.75 miles in the 28 minutes. My goal is to just make the time and then later I will work on speed and distance.

Keep it up ladies!

Original Post by msmeg1984:

1. History with weight loss:
2. History with Calorie Count:
3. Reason for joining this group:
4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:

And now just go ahead and make that first post!

1. My history with weight loss is up again, down again. Not just a few pounds, but over a hundred at a time. Very very annoying. Was up to over 300 at my heaviest, so now I can't really go lower than 160 (even though I'm 5'7") because I look skeletal; I guess the weight comes from extra skin?

2. I only recently got into it, so not much history there.

3. I recently joined a health club, which has treadmills and bicycles with a 5k option - my goal is to get to 5k eventually. Been going to the gym regularly for about a month or so now, and seeing a personal trainer twice a week for three weeks now. I also started the other day literally writing down every single thing I put in my mouth (even water) - and it's amazing how much you realize how much crap you eat after awhile!! I also tend to keep a list of nutrients (specific ones anyway) in addition to cals, fat, sodium, the usual. I really want to lose 30 pounds by next April.

4. Not much to say. I have pets and love them to death. I currently have a bad cold/about-to-be flu (probably) and this makes me worry about my exercise. Like, how am I going to do it? lol. I can barely breathe as it is from the cold and I'm supposed to have a training session tomorrow. I really don't like the idea of canceling but don't know if I can do it at this point. I just really hate skipping right now because then it's even harder to get back on track.

Anyway, that's it for now. Glad to be here!

I am still working on week 8. Due to no babysitter and sick kids I wasn't able to do week 8 run 2 or 3. I will have to do it Monday, although I am going to try to do week 9 (30 min). I figure since I was able to do 28 minutes on Monday, I should be able to handle two more minutes. As long as I take it slow! As I mentioned before, slow and steady is the only way I can do it right now. I'll work on speed and distance later.

Finished up week 4 this morning.

Anyone else feel like they can walk faster than they can jog?  I feel so sloooooow!

I'm terrified to start week 5.  Maybe I'll just do week 4 over again!

I totally walk faster than I can jog. However, if you just keep it slow and steady, you get through. You can do it! I start week 9 tomorrow. I go super slow, because the one time I tried to speed up, that was the one time that I couldn't make it thru a run. I had to stop. Now I keep it slow and steady till the end. Good luck with week 5.