I haven't updated in forever it seems like! I had (still have, really, as my last one is tomorrow, but it's not as bad as the first ones) finals all month. I haven't weighed in in weeks and workouts have been non-existent too :( I also injured my leg running, did I write about that? I can't remember. It hurts at the very top every time I run. I'm planning to go see my dr about it hopefully before Xmas.

I am getting back on track TODAY though, I swear. I went to the gym and did over an hour of cardio :) It felt great! I also bought "New Rules of Lifting for Women." It's intimidating, but hopefully will go well. I would really like to lose a little bit more weight before Christmas. I think I will go weigh in Thursday if I can find a meeting near my parents.

WW and running update: I gained only .8 at WW this week! I'm thrilled with that. It's probably actually more since I didn't weigh in the week before and was on plan, but whatever. I'm still below that number I never wanted to see again :)

In other news, I hurt myself running yesterday. For the past few runs I have felt a bit of pain right at the top of my leg in the front, like where it connects to the torso. It never lasted long and honestly I didn't think about it much. But yesterday it will really painful walking home, and hurt the entire rest of the day. I had hoped it would subside overnight, but it hasn't. I'm really bummed. I googled and it looked like it could be muscles called the iliopsoas- in which case I read it takes a really long time to heal, since it's basically impossible to rest it entirely. Hopefully I'm wrong. I go home in 9 days and obviously if it's still hurting then I'll go to my dr (and I might go even if it doesn't hurt anymore). Until then, while it still hurts I'm going to have to avoid running :/

A little bit off topic from my usual posts, but I just signed up to adopt a soldier stationed abroad. I'm hoping I get some info in the next few days so I can send something out in time to get there for Christmas. I went to college in a military town, and I know a good number of soldiers, so I was very glad when I heard about this organization! If anyone else wants to do it, the site is adoptaussoldier.org. I read that you can use the USPS flat rate boxes and ship very cheaply.

Oh dear, Thanksgiving. I'm not huge on a lot of Thanksgiving food, so I wasn't worried about it... I should have been. My aunt made all these little desserts- all small enough to pick at, so I did. Allllllll day. And all day today on the leftovers. Thank god I think they are gone now, but still. :( Sad face that now I doubt I'll be hitting the 40 lb lost mark this week or soon.

On the other hand, YAY for exercise! I came home on Tuesday and on Wednesday ran 30 minutes. Then today, I kept putting off the gym... putting it off more... and occasionally thinking, "Well, if I don't go today, there's always tomorrow." Bad thoughts to get into. But finally at 6:45 I got off my butt and went and it went really well. I did my 5 minute warm up, ran 32 minutes, walked 2 1/2 or 3 minutes, and then ran to finish the 5K distance (only 2 or 3 more minutes I think, although I wasn't paying attention to the time at that point.) Then did more cool down and came home!

I have to say, although at times I HATE running when I'm trying to get off the couch and to the gym or around 20 minutes into the run, I LOVE it afterward and pretty much any other time. I love telling people that I've started running, I love how I feel for the day after a good run, and sometimes even during a run when I feel really good and like a real athlete. I'm really glad that finishing C25K didn't lead to me getting lazy with it. And hopefully if it ever does, I can come look at this blog post and remember why I am doing it!

I'm happy to report I lost close to 2 lbs this week, bringing me .4 away from a 40 lb loss this year. Finally I got away from my 2 lb window I've been in since July! This was despite a mini-binge I had involving Haagen Dazs this week. I don't know if it really counts as a binge if I figure out the points and plan for them, but... either way, it's not really something I want to make a habit of (again).

I also started week 9 of c25k this week! I should graduate on Sunday. I need to decide what to do after this, because I definitely think I need to have a program to keep on target. I'm thinking maybe Hal Higdon's 8K training plan. It also incorporates some cross training, which I'd like to add in to my plan so I get more than 3 work outs a week.

This week has been good food-wise and running/exercise-wise too I guess. I finished week 8 yesterday. Just one week of 30 minute runs and I'm done with C25K! That is crazy to me! I am still not actually at a 5K distance (and won't be at the end of the week), so my first goal is going to be working up to doing that regularly. I'm also planning to transition to outside running when I'm home for the holidays (maybe when I go home for Thanksgiving even).

I really felt the need to get some activity in today, and since I ran yesterday I decided to go for a long walk along the Hudson River. There were sooo many runners out, and I was jealous of them! If I hadn't been wearing heavy clothes I might have thrown in some jogging myself, but as it was I was hot and sweaty just walking- yuck. But now I know that will be a good place to run when I figure out the logistics of running outside here (right now I don't because I don't have any pockets to put my keys in or an iPod holder).

Anyway, just a regular Sunday night update. Until next time.

I lost a lb. at weigh in today. I should be happy, but it puts me right back where I was stuck for 6 weeks, right back where I'v been pretty much since July. Ugh. Well, whatever. If I lose another lb next week then I'll be happy and hopefully never see this number ever ever again.

Ran day 2 of week 8 after the meeting today. It went well... not a lot to say about running at this point.

Long time no post. No real reason, though my schedule has been off.

Last week, I gained 2 lbs at weigh in. Definitely deserved. This week, I tracked everything. If I don't lose tomorrow, it's not due to food. I'll have to figure something out. I... am just not going to think about it anymore until I see what happens tomorrow.

Still running. I'll be doing day 2 of week 8 tomorrow, running 28 minutes. It's still kind of crazy to think I can do that! But I can. Monday's run went well and I wanted to run again today, but I'm still trying to be careful and follow the plan exactly because the last thing I want to do is get injured or burn out. I also did a lot of walking and lifting/carrying heavy things and just plain old moving this week. I felt good and full of energy.

We've been having sort of an Indian summer in NY and today was laundry day, so I ended up wearing some shorts I haven't worn in a few months. They were definitely at least a size too big, meaning I'm back in the sizes that start with 1! I can't even remember the last time that was true. I'll probably be more excited/actually believe it when I actually buy something in that size but it was still pretty cool to realize.

Another Sunday night update.

Exercise: Started week 7 of c25k. 25 minutes is hard, but doable. Obviously, since I've done it twice. I'm still not hitting 2 miles during it (barely- about .1 short). Today, I thought I would continue on until I hit the 2 mile mark, but I just couldn't do it. However, with warm up and cool down I am doing about 2.5 miles in 35 minutes, so that's still pretty good.

Food: Hasn't been fabulous this week. I haven't been tracking carefully and tonight is the second night this week I'm going to sleep STUFFED. It doesn't feel good, and I don't really know why I'm doing it :/ I'm determined to get back on track though. Hopefully with my increased running, the damage won't be too bad.

Ahh I finally broke my weight stalemate at WW this morning with a 1 lb loss. It felt good. I am now 1.2 lbs away from a some new HYC bling on the sidebar there... maybe next week!

I also completed week 6 of C25K today. It was difficult, and I had to slow down towards the end, but I finished and I know it will get better through the next week! It's pretty exciting that running a mile is now not a big deal for me and now I'm closing in on 2 miles :)