22.89

I didn't reach my monthly goal of 40 miles during the month of February.



As you can see, I only earned 22.8 miles. Not too bad considering February, to me, was a cruel month. I had a lot of personal stuff happen that really impeded my walking/running. Additionally, the weather didn't help. It was brutally cold here in the South and I just could bring myself to get out in it.

I'm happy with what I did, although it was all toward the end of the month.

Today begins a new month and I've recommitted to 40 miles for the month. I've already set a goal:



While I won't log any miles today (rain!), I will over the course of the week and Saturday will be topped off by a 5K. I'm also participating in another 5K later in the month. I have every intention of earning those 40 miles and possibly more!

Investing

Earlier today I read Pat Barone's post titled The Olympic of Permanent Weight Loss. Do check it out if you get a chance. I read through her 8 elements of what it takes for permanent weight loss and the 5th one called out to me with bells! It reads:

5. Investment. To reach their goals, world class athletes invest in themselves by finding excellent coaching, support, training, education and equipment.

I am totally in agreement with that statement. If you aren't willing to invest in your own health, then what are you willing to invest in? You only have one body (yes, cliche, but oh so true)! Why not take care of it?

One way I invest in myself it is by trying to be a mindful eater. I am not a dieter. In fact, I don't like the term diet. I see it as limiting or eliminating foods, and that's something I can't get with and will not do.

I just do my best not over indulge. I am a self-described cookie monster. They are, by far, my favorite sweet. I can't pass up a warm chocolate chip cookie. It makes me happy just thinking about them...but I digress. Even with cookies, I can eat them without going overboard.

For example, the evil goodness of Girl Scout cookies arrived yesterday. There was a point where I could open one of those sleeves of cookies and devour the entire sleeve in 20 minutes flat. Not anymore. The cookies were delivered about 10 am yesterday morning, and I didn't open the box until 8 pm last night. Even when I opened the box I didn't eat one. Instead, I took out 1 serving (5 cookies) and placed them in a baggie for my lunch. I then placed the remaining cookies back in the box.

It was that easy!

I'm investing in myself by controlling what and how I eat.

Mardi Gras Mambo 10K

Below is the image that is on the t-shirt participants in the Mardi Gras Mambo 10K received.

10k race #

Here's my race # from this past Saturday's 10K:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Not so hot this month

My running/walking petered out this month. Not that I'm not doing it, just didn't do it as intensely as I did during January. I'm not giving up though! I'm sticking to my goal of getting 480 miles by December 31, 2010. It can still be done, I just have to get in more miles in the coming months.

The weather this month was just awful. At least awful for us Southerners. Outdoor activity was really limited. Anywho, I'm back at it. This past week I did two personal 5Ks, and I did a 10K yesterday. With each run/walk, I lowered by average pace. So I'm pretty impressed with myself.

So far this month, I'm at 13 miles. I aim to get at least 20 by the end of the month. The weather this week is supposed to be really nice, so I think it can be done.

Some months are better than others...

40 mile goal reached

I set a goal on Nike+ to run/walk 40 miles during the month of January. I accomplished the goal with 2 days to spare despite the unusually cold weather we had during the month.

Hooray!

Too much?

Recently my gym has decided to charge rental fees for lockers. Which is not something I'm opposed to paying if the price is reasonable.

Tall locker - $19/month or $228 for the year
Features a shelf at the top, a mirror on the door, a drawer, 3 hooks, and a shelf on the door

Short locker - $9/month or $60 for the year
Features 3 hooks

Am I crazy in seeing thinking that price for the tall locker is not a deal, but a rip-off?

Walking. Walking. Walking

The simplest form of exercise that many refuse to do. Why is that? One doesn't have to belong to a gym or purchase fancy equipment to lead a healthy lifestyle. All one has to is walk.

Walk it out!

This posting on NPR's Health blog, Women and Walking: The Benefits of Picking up the Pace, focuses on the benefit to women, but that shouldn't limit men. No matter the gender, walking is an excellent form of exercise and it is done of your own power!

All it takes is 30 minutes of day. That can even be broken up into 2-15 minute segments. Just a little bit helps you in the long scheme of things. Eventually, you may add to your time and not even realize it.

Do it! Your body will thank you!

40 mile goal - halfway point

I set a goal back on January 2nd to run 40 miles in 4 weeks. This is the mid-way point and I'm at 23.6 miles. Nike+ states I'm 4.82 miles behind my target. I calculated that I need to do at least 2 miles each day for 11 days. Now I know that I can't do that each of those 11 days. For example, I have a conflict on Tuesday that will prevent me from running/walking that evening. Also, we never know about the weather. In fact, it is due to the extremely cold weather we had here the week of January 4th that prevented me from completing more runs/walks. 

I hope to get in 3-4 miles at some point tomorrow and also on Monday. Weather.com tells me to expect rain Wednesday and possibly on Thursday. Sunny on Friday and rain against next weekend. I need to get in at least 10 miles over the next 7 days. Here's to hoping the weather cooperates.

Posted via web from giving thought|giving sight

Unbelievable!

One day last week, I saw a blurb on twitter about something to do with Taco Bell and hoping it didn't catch on. I didn't follow up with the tweet, not thinking much of it. Then I was with some friends later in the week and someone brought it up. What? You've got to be kidding me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Really? Eating at Taco Bell for health?!?!

Then I saw the commercial. Oh gracious!

Now, I will give it to the commercial and the website in that they specifically state results are not typical and the "drive-thru-diet" is not a weight loss program. Yet, they use the term "diet" which is widely thought of as a means to lose weight. Are they using doublespeak to confuse folks? Methinks so.

Let's dissect this a bit more.

• 7 of the 9 items are under 9 grams of fat. More specifically they are 7-8 grams of fat with 2 of them being 4 and 4.5.
• the average amount of sodium is 910(mgs) - what happens if you add sauce?
• the 2 items with the least amount of fat has the least amount of fiber (2 gms)

The website with all of this information doesn't tell us what else Christine did to lose weight. It states that she didn't want to cut out fast-food so she choose those specific items. Now, I'm no Taco Bell enthusiast (I don't know when the last time I ate there), but I don't recall seeing that particular menu advertised before (though I could be wrong). So how long has those items been available? For more than 2 years? Just curious.
Additionally, what else did Christine do?

All in all, this seems like false advertisement to me. Just a means of getting more customers when a lot of folks pledge to lose weight.

40 miles

Thought I don't set resolutions, I do set goals for myself. I've decided to get 40 miles of walking/running for the month of January. That's less than 2 miles a day. Thinking about it that way makes it feasible since I generally try to get in 3 miles per walk. Of course, there will be some days that I can walk due to inclement weather or activities that I'm involved in. Overall, I think it is a goal that is attainable. I've connected by Nike+ account to twitter & facebook so that I can track my progress publicly.

I started today off with a 3.74 mile walk so I'm well on my way!

No resolutions

I don't know when the last time I set New Year's Resolutions. I was probably a teen, and it was then that I realized that it makes no sense. Why should I only attempt to set goals at the beginning of a new year? What if I want to make a random change come May? Is that not acceptable?

Personally, if I seek a renewal it will be something that I can do. For example, when I decided to lead a more healthy lifestyle I never used the "d" word. I see that as a temporary thing and I started my healthy lifestyle mid-year, I think it was April (and I stuck to it).

Therefore, I don't set resolutions. For one, it seems that most people don't keep them and they don't seem to be realistic (i.e., doable). I'm all about doing what I know I can do. I'm a realist and there are some things I may as well not attempt. If I'm not going to give my all, I don't see the point of my taking part.