Been Sick

I started getting sick LAST Thursday and I'm just now starting to mend. Somehow this is a mix of an upper respiratory infection along with an intestinal component. I ran a low grade fever on and off for the last 10 days as well. Yesterday, I must have been sweating it out because my t-shirt was damp for about half the shift. I'm hoping today will be better.

Anyway, despite lack of calorie counting and exercise, I'm still down nearly a pound. As long as I continue to improve, I plan on walking this week and then start running next week. I'm re instituting the star program starting today. Perfect will be 26 stars. Calorie goal this week is less than 1800 per day. 23 stars gets me a new pair of jeans March 7th.

I'm finding this to be a very slow journey. When I finally seem to be getting on track, that's when Mother Nature reminds me that she's in charge. I realize I still have more than a year and a half before the Volkslauf, but I really thought I'd be way closer to my fitness goals than I am. I'm hoping this glitch is just that and that I'll be in a forward motion for a while. I want to run my first 5K this fall and that only gives me about 8 months to get it all in gear. For a girl who hasn't done any competitive athletics for over 10 years, it sounds both too short and too long.

Mother Nature is in a mood...

...and not a good one.

We had the February 1st snowstorm followed by flesh-rending cold that shut me down, exercise-wise, for a week. Then we had the same sceanario February 9th. Now, today, the weather is beautiful and what am I doing?

Sitting in the house with a stuffy nose, running eyes, low grade fever (99.1, thank you) and a cough that sounds like a dog barking.

I made it all winter long without getting seriously ill and now, when I could be out running, I'm stuck because just walking is hard.

Whatever.

I'm so disgusted, I could scream. Except that would make me cough some more.

Ugh.

The plan this week is to get well. As soon as I feel reasonable good, I'll walk for 7 days. Then I'm starting to run. 30 seconds followed by 2 minutes of walking.

Maybe I'll get to start running March 1st (a full MONTH after I planned to be running).

As for the star plan, that went directly down the tubes. Maybe I'll start that once I can run again.

In my defence, I did lose another pound.

Calorie breakdown last week was:
Average daily calories: 2102
Carbs: 47% of total
Fat: 32% of total
Protein: 18% of total
Alcohol: 3% of total

Here's to the return of good health.

Another tactic.

OK. So last week didn't go so well. No running. Almost no walking and a little yoga. Mostly it was work and battling the weather. And I ate too much of the wrong stuff. (Average daily calories 2297. 35% fat 17% protein 45% carbohydrates and 3% alcohol.) Go me.

Nevertheless, I'm down a pound.

I want to try something else for the next two weeks. Each day that I eat under 1820 calories, I get a gold star (or it's metaphorical equivalent). Each day that I exercise, I get another gold star. This gives me 13 possible gold stars for the week (because I don't plan to workout on Sundays) or 26 for two weeks. My goal is approximately 90% compliance, which leaves me with 23 gold stars.

If I get 23 or more gold stars, I get a new pair of jeans next payday.

Also, I'm giving up completely on keeping a paper notebook for the rest of this journey. The pages keep ripping out and it's only serving to make me mad. Instead, I registered with Runner's World website and I'm using their training log along with FitDay and this blog to record everything.

So, yesterday was day one and I got no gold stars. I don't workout on Sundays and I went over my calorie limit.

I'll let you know how today goes.