Good husbands hide bathroom scales

This isn’t supposed to be about weight loss.

Every year, shoot, even multiple times a year I make a resolution to lose weight. It always starts out great. For about 72 hours.

Then I just get over it. It’s not interesting anymore. Even when I try for a week or two, I get discouraged REALLY easily. And I blame it all on the scale.

In college I was able to workout 3-4 times a week, kinda watch what I ate, and the weight came off like magic. This time around? No magic.

So when I made this resolution, while my main goal was to run a 5K sub 30 minutes, my indirect goal was to stop focusing on my weight. But I just couldn’t help it. Once a week I’d stand on the scale, just to see the same number from the week before. And feel defeated. Once again.

I swear I was trying my hardest. Ok ok, maybe I shouldn’t be eating all that ice cream. But still…. I’m working out more than ever! I made slight changes to my diet… and not a single ounce was lost?

Maybe it was a muscle gain? But how much muscle could one person gain in a week? Enough to offset any weight loss? I doubt it.

So when I woke up yesterday morning, my bathroom scale has disappeared. My husband has hidden it from me. I don’t know why I was annoyed, since I had ask him to do it, but the request was more out of desperation, “oooohhhh woe is me… this despicable scale must be broken….all my hard work for nothing….this isn’t going to work….woe is me…..2lbs lost just to gain it all back…just take the scale away already!”

I didn’t think he would really do it.

But I’m glad he did. Now I can focus on increasing my endurance and speed. Not on some stupid number.

Even though the number on the scale isn’t budging, I’m running for almost 2 minutes at a time now. Remember day 1? Struggling just to run for a minute?? Now I can run for 2 minutes!!

I’m not running long enough for the endorphins to kick in, but the day after feeling feels pretty good too. My legs are tight, but not sore. My upper obliques feel like they got a good workout too. It may all be in my head but that tightness in my muscles is making me appear a bit skinnier in my bathroom mirror.

Bathroom scale be damned!

Walk. Run. Walk. Run. Walk. Rinse and Repeat...

I HATED running.

Which may have you thinking, "Then why the heck are you doing this?"

Well... my logic goes like this: If you aren't familiar with something, better get familiar with it (as long as it's not life threatening. I do not recommend you get familiar with alligators or cliff jumping).


Like most people, I wanted to have a resolution this year to lose weight. I've gained a lot since my college graduation and it just sucks.

But it seems that since being out of college, my tried and true techniques to lose weight have not been working. I don't have a college campus to trek across multiple times a day. Instead, I sit at a desk. For 40 hours a week. And in a car for 7.5 hours a week. And I get so tired during the week that I'd rather sip some wine than go workout. No bueno.

So, instead of focusing on dropping some pounds, I decided to set a goal based on athletic ability:

Running a 5K , sub 30. Not just participate, but RUN.

These past 9 days have been interesting. My training has gotten harder but I need to keep pushing.

I've pushed through a 10 min/mile this week. Not as bad as I thought it would be (running at a 12 min/mile previously). But I can do it now!

I have yet to run a mile straight, but I'm working on it. I get bummed out because I thought I could easily run for 3 minutes at least. But alas, I'm not the exerciser I was in college.

To get through my beginner stages, I'm running intervals this week. I'm supposed to be running for 2 minutes, resting for 3, but can't run 2 minutes yet without my legs threatening to go on strike. Instead, I'm doing a walk/run/walk/run/walk interval for a minute each.

Last night, I pushed myself again. I told myself to run as long as I can. Then, when I feel like quitting, give it one more try. Then one more try. Then one more try. Turns out, after a few more tries, I was able to run for 1.5 minutes. And it felt GOOD.

I'll keep pushing myself until I can do a walk/run/run/walk/run interval without stopping. As long as I keep talking to myself ("one more try, one more try"... "pain is temporary"), I know I can do this. One baby interval at a time.

Running isn't as bad as I thought it was.

Just as bad as Day 1. Seriously?!

Straight up. I struggled with my workout today!!

I planned to do a 3.5/1.5 walk/jog interval for 30 minutes but my legs were burning!! Especially in the calves... oh my!!

So I struggled. I walked REALLLYYYY slow (like a 30 minute mile pace... snail like) and struggled with my running.

Not gonna lie, some intervals I didn't even run the full 90 seconds (gasp!)

I wonder if it's because I took a break yesterday? I have no idea.

I hope it's not this bad tomorrow!

but at least I completed it. I stuck with it and completed 30 minutes, collapsed over the hand rails, but I finished it nonetheless!

A Few Surprises Along the Way

So I've only been "training" for 5 days but I feel pretty great.

However, I have caught a cold and am afraid of pushing myself at the risk of staying sick which would make training even MORE difficult...


Since today I'm scheduled to walk as part of my training (I'll pick up running tomorrow) I chose tonight to stay on the couch, go to bed early, and read some runners' blogs. One in particular I read for a LONG time: RUN FASTER MOMMY!

Now granted, I don't have kids. But her blog was pretty inspirational. She runs marathons. Yup, more than one!! And here I am struggling with my "Walk 3.5 minutes, Run 1.5 minutes, for 30 minutes" intervals. Seriously?!

And I don't know about you, but I thought a 10 min/mile was GOOD. But apparently in the Runner's World (imaginative, not the magazine), some runners have a leisurely pace or "in the zone" at around 7 min/ mile! Are you kidding me?

So I came to the conclusion that she's CRAZY. Inspirational. But CRAZY. Until I came across other runners' blogs. They are RUNNING MACHINES!!

As I read more and more about training and long runs (11 miles? YIKES!!) and shoes and arm warmers (seriously?) and stopped to catch my breath I realized...

I want to be a runner so fricken bad. Win all these race medals I've never had. I want to be on the cover of a Runner's magazine.... OK, maybe not quite.

But I got determined. I was surprised to find that a lot of people run faster than a 10 min/mile. Surprised that there are more to running shoes than "cushiony" and "cute". and that there are these cool looking things called arm warmers...


I'm inspired. Ready to go. I can only hope there are a few more pleasant surprises along the way.

Day 2... Not as bad as yesterday!

So yesterday was the first day of training. I am no runner so I'm working on interval training, then work up to running. For the first 10 days I'll be walking for 4 minutes and jogging for 1.

Yesterday I only completed 20 minutes. My legs got sooooo tight! Specifically my shins and calves. I had to stop. The good thing though is that I wasn't huffing and puffing! The only reason I stopped was the pain in my legs.

And the training begins...

This year, instead of making my usual resolution to lose weight, I've decided to try a different approach.

I'm going to run in a 5K race.

Not just participate. But run. And have a time sub 30 minutes.