Whew! It's been a difficult week to stay on track. I think I set too many goals on SparkPeople, so I'm going to winnow back to what is most important to me in my health and fitness journey. I'm dropping the 28 day boot camp. I'm finding I get the training I need from stuff I already know, from my old fitness log, and from a couple fitness workouts through my cable on demand.

I am participating in two 5K training programs....that's probably one too many. I am practicing this on a treadmill at my gym, with the incline set to 1.5. The two plans are different from each other in their approach to getting you to the goal of jogging a 5k. I really didn’t know which would “work” for me, so I thought I would attempt both plans. Each program has you practice 3 times/week with 3 other days of cross-training and a day of rest. So I do one plan Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the other plan on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and Sunday is my rest day. The SparkPeople 5K Your Way has seemed easier than the Couch to 5K plan, so far, especially keeping track of the time while walking/jogging. Both have been a challenge for me. I have completed each day’s program through today, but I’m usually SO ready to stop jogging and catch my breath in the walking segments. Because I’m using a treadmill, I can check my heart rate. It gets up into the 160s by the time I’m done with each jog interval, and it’s been appropriately dropping down to 120-130 by the time the next jog interval comes along. I can see why each plan has you practice 3 days and take 3 other days of cross training doing something other than running. So I’m wondering if I should stop one of the plans and do something like the elliptical or a bike on the cross training day, instead another run.

I also have been swimming almost every day after the 5k training program. I swim either ½ mile or a mile, depending on how much time I have and how tired I feel. I don’t swim particularly fast, but it’s something I enjoy. I find that somewhere after the first 300-400 yards, I get in a good zone, where my breathing and my strokes seem to get strong and I swim a bit faster and smoother. I love that feeling. It helps keep me going to the mile mark.

I’m still not good about my weight/strength training part of my exercise regime. I know I want to shoot for 3 days/week. Right now, I’m getting 2 days in. I was hoping the 28 Day Boot Camp would have helped me here, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for. I would love to employ a personal trainer and let him/her devise each day’s workout for me, but I don’t want to spend the money. So, I think I need to put in writing, in advance, each weight/strength training session for each week, then set up the week’s appointments on my calendar, like I would with a real personal trainer, and then GO DO IT, each week. So, on Sunday, I will write out the coming week’s weight plan.

On to nutrition: I’m staying within my calories pretty much each day, but I think I’m not eating a very well-balanced menu. I know my body tends to be iron-poor. I know that I tend to not eat enough protein. I know I tend to eat too much fruit. I know I should be menu planning consistently. So I will work on that, too, in the coming weeks.

So, put it all together: I’m a work in progress! I’m learning how to help ME lose weight and gain health. Oh, and one : I dropped 2 pounds this week. The 90 day challenge requires a 3 pound/week drop, but I’m thrilled with 2 pounds! I have 10 weeks remaining to lose 24 pounds in order to win the challenge. Hopefully, I’ll have some weeks with some bigger drops in weight. But for now, I’m choosing to be happy with my progress.