I Like to Eat Muffin Tops, Not Wear Them.

For the past few months I've been feeling pretty negative about my body and how it's "transforming" (like my actions or lack there of have nothing to do with this transformation).  I understand that as I'm leaving my 30's it's completely unrealistic of me to expect my body and metabolism to remain the same as they were in my 20's and even early 30's.  I've been living in denial with the fact that in my 30's when my body was the best it's been since I was 20 it was a result of actually working out at the gym 4 days a week.  I earned that body.   Well I want that body again...I just don't have the time to repeat my workout schedule that I did before.  I found it extremely difficult to get all the way across town to the gym to take the pre-scheduled classes.  The times they hold these classes are just not convenient with my life and working for a living, having a spouse and kids, needing to make dinner, etc.

I've been watching a friend transform herself over the past year and she's seeing amazing results.  I don't have that kind of will power and frankly I'm not fooling myself to think I do.  Her wishes and desires far surpass mine.  I just want the cellulite in my legs to be a distant memory and my underwear to no longer cause me to have a little muffin top.  Is that too much to ask for???  So because I know I'm not going to commit to a 15 minute drive to the gym (both ways) I'm trying to tap into her for some tips and suggestions on doing stuff from home.  She's been a wonderful sounding board and I'm trying to absorb little bits and pieces of her advice here and there.

Two weeks ago I downloaded an 'app' onto my new phone called the 0 to 5K.  It basically takes non-existent runners (ME!) and turns them into runners (hopefully a distant me!) in 8 weeks.  I'm just finishing up my second week and while it's definitely getting more challenging, I'm still doing it (which is a huge win).

I have always loved the idea of becoming a jogger.  I watch them running on the side of the road and wish I could be that person.  I can't seem to run more than 3 driveway lengths down the street before wanting to die and call it quits.  Eric loves running and has asked me on more than one occasion to go out running with him, but I don't think he really gets just how much I hate running.  I've tried to go with him a couple of times and we just get frustrated with each other so we end the session.  He wants me to run immediately, I want to start slow.  So when I was introduced to this "app" I thought it would be a perfect way to ease my body into the idea of running and in a couple of months, I should hopefully be able to get to a place where he and I can run together.

I'm honestly quite proud of myself for working the program for two weeks now and not cheating at all.  Like not even cutting the running session down by 5 seconds, nothing!  In fairness I didn't get out to run yesterday because of the Thanksgiving festivities but I'll go tonight and again tomorrow night, and I went out two nights in a row last week so shouldn't that strike last night's omission out?  I also found the last run night was difficult for me. It was really the first night I actually thought hard about cheating and talked myself out of it.  I am debating doing that run session again tonight.  I want to get it under my belt with no major hesitations or doubts.  Because the next session kicks it up a good notch again, so if I don't have the last one down comfortably, I have a feeling I'm going to cheat.  This isn't a race against anyone or anything, including myself.  If it takes me 12 weeks to get me to a spot where I can run for 30 - 40 minutes then I'm willing to take that long.

My hope is once I get this running down, I can then incorporate some actual "exercising" into my life.  Since the running program is only every other day, I want to eventually get some butt, stomach and arm exercises in on the off days.  One step at a time.  If I overwhelm myself I know I'm just setting myself up for failure.

I also started taking 2000 mg of fish oil each day and this week I'm starting with a multi vitamin for women. I've also decided to stop eating after dinner, eating a little bit of something throughout the day and forcing myself to drink more water.  I have gotten into the terrible habit of eating once a day and then snacking until bed.  Whomp whomp!  When I was at my 'best' a few years ago, I did not change anything in my diet except eating snacks after dinner and well, working out!  So I'm hoping with these small changes in my food consumption, the increase of decent stuff going into my body and some cardio I'll start to see little changes and those little changes will be enough to encourage me to keep going.  Being able to do all of these things from "home" has been another huge positive.

I've taken a hideous 'before' picture with the hopes that I can stick with this idea long enough to see results (and for it to become habitual for me) so I can take an after picture!  I figure if my after picture is amazing then I won't be so scared to show the before picture.  On this Thanksgiving weekend, I'm very thankful that clothing camouflages a lot of flaws but most thankful that we are required to wear clothing, by law!  Now where's that winking face emoticon when I need it?

So for all you readers out there I pose the question:  Do you have any tips, secrets, ideas, suggestions to help me with this new endeavour?  Anything that has worked well for you?  I would welcome any comments.