Holy shit, I did it. Wow.
Today, I did two five-minute runs with around five minutes of rest in between. Surprisingly, it wasn't hard at all! I took a walk to ease the muscles, stretched until my calves became very warm, and ran at a slow pace without losing my breath. Wow.
Oh, by the way, it's 17:39.
I couldn't even imagine going for this long before. This is great! The part about not losing breath is very important, because usually, that's what happened after even three-minute runs. Perhaps, it has to do with the fact that I took a breakfast in an hour before running. I'll test it out next week - first two runs on an empty stomach, last two - an hour after a good meal - and let you know. In the meantime, baby steps.
What also marks this day special is the fact that the Core Challenge was 20 of everything. It's an insignificant, but peculiar circumstance that lightens my day a bit.
Twenty-five burpees are hard to do after such a run. I had to break it down into parts just to complete the challenge: 10-6-4-5. By now, I prefer running - which, it turns out, is a great execise once you get into it.
Overall, I feel my motivation levels increasing. After an exhausting run like today, I had the highest motivation for life-changing things like loosing sugary food off my eating list. I then diminished it by spending the whole day in front of the screen doing nothing again. When I work out hard, doing any significant work becomes a challenge: even the things I enjoy become unbearable. Or, maybe it's my growing depression haunting me even after I do good. Hell if I know. Running seems to help alleviate bad mood, mostly because for me, it was an achievement I strived for: when I woke up today, the first thing I did was smile because today was a big running challenge day.
Today, I noticed an interesting habit that won't let me lose weight. While I don't praise food or give it prominence in my daily life, I enjoy good food and am ready to eat as much as I can get in if I encounter it. Just now, I ate a small bowl of vareniki (enlonged pel'meni with non-meat stuffing), and they taste so good that I want another small bowl of them. I'd do the same if I encounter even a decently-cooked pizza or lazagne. While the taste is good, portion size matters greatly: if I don't control myself, I can eat half of a home pizza (which are bigger in Russia than your regular restaurant pizza), and in tme, it will hang off my sides when I try very hard to put myself into the jeans that used to fit.
I'll continue filling in the workout table daily. Feel free to visit it and see if I slack off, or feel motivated by me not stopping. I used to be a slacker of sports, after all; it's all about how you start: trying to break yourself with world records or build up on what you have instead. Feel free to message me, too, if you have anything to say or to ask. I'm no expert, though, so consider if you have someone better-prepared to ask before turning to me.
Well, it's 17:59. I hope you all're having fun today. Have a good day and be healthy. Ask others for help if you need it.
Keep up the good work, and little piece of advice some dude at the gym recently gave me that has really helped my lifting.
"Motivation is flimsy, but discipline is sturdy." Push yourself to always remain active. You may slip from time to time (which is ok), but keep giving it your all. You will be surprised by how far you can actually go. I don't know you well, but I believe in you.
Thanks. I've heard this advice before, at now it seems to grow into (onto? on? in?) me, given that I've actually achieved something after I pushed away the thought to quit. The Hubski support has helped me a great deal to stay on track.
Now, I just have to flush the Internet from my system, and I'll have time to use the principle to achieve other important things.
Am biking today, and have been biking often enough before the challenges started. Right now, running is priority, and I don't want to overload the muscles since I have no idea how much is too much, so I can only bike when it's an easy day (when I do only squats and calf raises, that is).
Congrats!! Keep it up. If you'd like help actuating your food cravings and getting energy, try taking a cup of strong coffee, adding a teaspoon of coconut oil and a tablespoon of grass-fed butter to it and blend it till its smooth. Then drink it.
My brother lost 15 pounds doing this and swears that it helps his concentration too.
I started my first cup this morning. I feel great this far :)
The sight of "coffee" is enough for me to stop thinking reasonably. I can barely drink it even if it's flavoured with a lot of milk and three teaspoons of sugar. It's a disgusting drink to my tongue's taste. I don't like the idea of getting addicted to coffee, either. Is there anything else you would advise?
Congratulations!
BTW, I did my first burpee yesterday. You've mentioned them in previous posts and I had no idea what they were. Funny enough, my girlfriend and I were doing a post-run workout last night and she suggested we do some. I was dying! I'm in good running shape but I was sucking wind during that workout..
Congratulations back!
I guess there's a reason they're called something along the lines of "jail workout". Apparently, the best practice to lose weight is to do burpees "until your legs don't walk, or until you're no longer fat".
How many did you do?
We did 3 sets of 10. I managed to complete each set without stopping, though the last few were very labored. My girlfriend was a lot better at them than I am. I'm a better runner but she's better at working out and other more "athletic" sports.