Welcome to Eat, Write, Run!

I thought I should write a short introduction to this blog. I actually had two other blogs running before this one. One of them was about my weight loss journey and the other one was about my running. I updated them both separately for the best part of six weeks but it started to get a little tiresome. I don't remember why I decided to split them into two blogs. I mean I am doing both to achieve the same thing, which is to lose weight and to adopt a new healthy lifestyle.

So, I decided to merge the two blogs together and here it is! I've deleted the other blogs (after downloading them on to my computer, of course), but as it's probably a waste not to explain my progress so far, I've decided to write them up in condensed form.

Weight Watchers

I joined Weight Watchers Online (WWO) on Friday 1 May 2009, weighing in at 15st 8.5lb with a BMI of 36.3 and a size 18/20. This is my second time doing WWO. The first time I tried it for a month in April 2008 starting at 16st 5lb. I lost a stone and thinking I figured out how it works (eat healthy, move more - it's that easy, right?) I cancelled my membership. Though I didn't balloon back up to my starting weight, I struggled to lose any. Seems that the "eat healthy, move more" motto is as useful as a chocolate teapot when your mind's not really in the right place and you're ordering a large meaty pizza over the 'net.

As of Friday 19 June, I weigh 14st 5.75lb with a BMI of 33.3 and a (very comfortable) size 18. The past seven weeks have been full of ups and downs but I've always managed to lose weight:

Week 1 -5lb
Week 2 -2lb
Week 3 -1lb
Week 4 -3lb
Week 5 -2.25lb
Week 6 -2.25lb
Week 7 -1.25lb (I've so far lost 16.75lb)

I've also joined a challenge set by a member of Weight Watchers called "New Year, New You" and that's been a huge motivator for me because I do Weight Watchers online and I'm not really able to 'report back' to someone, like a class leader, even though I always let my boyfriend know about my weigh-in results. I don't have a specific target weight I want to be by the new year but as long as I keep trying my best and see realistic results that reflect my effort, I'll be a happy girl.

By the way, I'm a nervous wreck the day before a weigh-in (mine is on a Friday) so be prepared to see posts on a weekly basis titled "Shit, weigh-in tomorrow"!

Running (and swimming)

Before I tell you about the programme I'm currently on, I would like to talk about my previous life before exercise. When I was a kid - and I'm talking between being able to start walking until when I was around 11 years old - I was very active. I did ballet when I was very young, I also loved cycling, swimming, roller blading, and couldn't stay in one spot for longer than five seconds (a typical kid). I also did a lot of after school activities which included tap dancing, karate and basket ball. I have pictures of me when I was around 9 years-old and I didn't have an ounce of unnecessary fat on me. I can't really pin point what happened, but being active started to take a bit of a back seat around secondary school time. I had a bit of a rough period when I was 13-14 years old. Nothing bad happened to me but I wasn't in the best of moods and took a lot of comfort in food when things looked bleak. It has all been quite downhill since then, I suppose. I got more lazy; found out that the TV entertained me and I didn't even have to lift a finger unless I wanted to change channels.

I started to binge when I got bored (probably nothing on TV) and just made all the wrong choices in large portions. I tried dieting but it was more like starvation and though I managed to once lose a stone in 3 to 4 weeks, I always piled it back on plus a little more. So, exercise was out of the question because I was scared that I'll have a heart attack if I ran. The fact that I took up smoking when I was very young didn't help at all. There were times when I actually did try to get off my ass and do some exercise. I joined a gym twice and paid for a personal trainer both times, but it didn't last longer than a month or two. I hate being told what to do.

Then I met my boyfriend. He has a pair of amazing legs and has a lean body overall (though his belly is getting rounder these days - hehe). He put it down to running. I was around my heaviest weight when I met him and still smoked around 10-15 a day so I constantly guffawed at him when he suggested I ditched the fags and get my trainers on. Like I said before, I hate being told what to do and he learnt it the hard way. Whenever he said I should try something, I'd do completely the opposite. Childish? Of course. Self destructive? You betcha. However, I did admire his ability to run (he's also a non-smoking vegetarian!) and sometimes it was borderline jealousy.

I actually only recently started to run, so I'm not going to preach about it or gloat. I decided to take up running quite randomly and all of a sudden. I really don't know why but I bought a book titled Running Made Easy and read it in a day. Then I invested in a good pair of trainers and a couple of running tops two days after reading the book and, after a couple more days, started running with my boyfriend on Monday 11 May 2009. I even quit smoking the night before and even though I've always said for years and years that I'd stop smoked and end up smoking the next day (sometimes in the next hour), this time I've actually stuck to my words and I still don't smoke. In fact I've not felt inclined to take it back up because I know it will really mess up with my running. It's really weird because I know I'd take the habit back up in a second if I knew it wouldn't ruin all the work I've been doing until today and this is a great excuse (hopefully) for the rest of my life!

I'm currently on week six, and like my earlier post says, today I've completed the second run of the week. My third and final run for week six is tomorrow. In total, I'm running 14 minutes per day. Week one on the programme, I ran for 1 minute and walked for 3 minutes four times. That was a total of 4 minutes and though I consider that to be microscopic compared to my programme now, it felt far from microscopic on my very first run. My face was as red as a beetroot, my lungs wanted to jump out of my body and my heart was beating so fast I nearly asked my boyfriend to dial 999. I'd like to say it gets easier but my body has only really begun its journey so I'll be lying if I said to you that running is a doddle. However, my recovery time has got much better (I don't look like a beetroot for longer than a minute) and I can even run for a bus without going out of breath. So, there have been noticeable signs that I'm getting fitter.

I have also taken up swimming with my mum. Every Saturday, we go to our not-so-very-local swimming pool and swim in the slow lane for approximately an hour. I love swimming. I don't even consider it exercise, I think it's more of a hobby. I'm no Michael Phelps, though. I swim very awkwardly and have only recently got the hang of doing the breast stroke. The running programme has asked that I do a low intensity exercise on Wednesdays so I'm trying to go swimming twice a week. I've not been able to today as my mum's poorly and my boyfriend and I went running instead, but next week I'll be swimming my butt off twice - woohoo!

Right. Well, I think that's a decent introduction to my blog. I'm off to get ready to hit the sack. I will write tomorrow after my run. Goodnight.