Operation Skinny Mama

I'm finally almost 6 weeks post-partum! Woot woot! For those of you that don't know that means I have the ok to start exercising finally. I'm super excited about it. My legs have been itching to run for weeks now.

I went on my first run last Tuesday. I decided to set a time goal rather than speed or distance. So Tuesday I jogged for 30 minutes. According to my crappy treadmill I ran 2.25 miles so roughly 4.5 mph pace. Jeff and I both believe it is really off. Probably by about .7mph. Point in case- at my best shape I was running on our treadmill at 6.5 mph; I went to our local gym one day and ran on theirs and found that my "normal" pace was actually around 8mph. Anyway, for the purpose of my blogging about my weightloss journey I'll just go with the readings from my crappy treadmill.

So then last night (Friday) I decided to run again. This time I went 2.6 miles. I'm super excited! It looks like I'm finally seeing the benefits of having exercised throughout my entire pregnancy, The weight may not have come off instantly, but I'm still clearly in great shape. When I first started running it took weeks to build up to continuously running that long. I can't wait to see how long it takes to get back up to 5 miles 5x a week!

Now for the plan: Operation Skinny Mama

Goal: to be 130lbs by May 2012
Current: 156lbs
Bigger goal: run the colfax 1/2 marathon in May 2012
Smaller goal: 150lbs by January

Now I'm flexible on the exact number for my goal weight. 130 would be awesome, but I'd rather be in shape and heavier than not exercising to the extent I want and thinner. We shall see!

The plan is to watch my calories but more importantly fuel my body with good foods. After all not all calories are created equal. Sugar does not fuel the body in the same way vegetables do. So I plan to eat more God made foods than man-made foods. I'm using MyFitnessPal to track my foods and calories. It's been very helpful and enlightening. Apparently I have been eating quite a bit more than I really need which is probably why I haven't seen much of a weightloss yet.

The tricky part about dieting is that I am breastfeeding Luke. I cannot really cut down the number of calories I'm eating without hurting my milk supply. The benefit of nursing is that it burns roughly 500 calories a day, but I still need to make sure I'm eating enough to produce milk. Hence the emphasis on eating RIGHT rather than eating less.

In addition to eating better I am going to continue to exercise. The plan for December is to go on a run every other day and do strength training on my off days. Strength training will consist of light weight lifting, lunges, burpees, push-ups, etc. I need to rebuild some lost muscles so I can run harder and faster. I really want to run the 1/2 in May so I've got to start training for it in January. 13 miles doesn't seem like much but it's a ton when you haven't run at all in 16 weeks.

So that's the plan! Anyone who wants to join me can look me up on MFP, username: Cyrena0825
Mostly I just want to get back to my hot, athletic self again. I like being in shape and healthy. I want my skinny jeans to fit again.

Today I bid goodbye to my beloved scones, m&m's, cookies and other sugary desserts. It's time for a new beginning. This is the only body I am ever going to have and I need to treat it right for the long run.

"No matter how slow you run, you are still lapping the person on the couch."