New challenge

I am excited about a new challenge and would like to blog about it. I am surprised and not surprised at the same time that it has been a year since my last post. I was not able to train for another half-marathon, for the past year, every time I tried to run, I would get sick 2 days later. I have been having a problem with recurrent sinus infections, and I was advised to have surgery. I had the most brutal sinus infection about 3 weeks before the 2011 half-marathon, which I signed up for but was not able to complete. We went to Disney anyway, and although I enjoyed the sun, in some ways, I wish we would have rescheduled the trip. In hindsight, I was just too ill to really enjoy it, and there was a part of me that was very unhappy that I couldn't run. I don't like to be negative (does that make me negative?) so I keep trying to convince myself that the trip was a success, but it really was not. I was really not myself and it just kind of rubbed off on everyone else, and I actually have decided that our family needs a break from Disney. I can see myself going for another race but we need a different vacation spot for a little while (I can't believe it myself).

Now, I did manage to get 3 runs in during the last week, and so far, I am not sick. I don't know what happened. I can only guess that maybe the half-marathon was just too hard on my body? I don't know really. I'm still having sinus issues though.

I am also, still quite fat. My weight ballooned over the summer (I think because of a medication I was on and because I must have lost quite a bit of muscle mass from not training). So, it being January, I am planning to do something about it. Gary advised me to watch Dr. Oz the other night, so I went online and watched some segments, and this 4 hour Body thing kept coming up and looked like something completely uninteresting to me, but something compelled me to watch it. I watched it and was completely fascinated by Timothy Ferris, the author, of the 4Hour Body. Then I read the excerpt from his book on the Dr. Oz web site and knew I needed that book in my hands, asap.

Gary and I went to Costco and the running room on Friday night, I got fitted for new shoes (that need to be ordered in) and I finally bought a Garmin 305 from Costco. Then, thankfully, as we were leaving Costco, Gary reminded me that I wanted to go to Chapters for the book! I was so happy that they had it, but we both said "woah!" when I picked it up - I haven't checked, but I think it is atleast 600-700 pages. So, I got it last night, and read the first 200 pages I think.

I am very excited about this program - so compelled that I want to blog about it. I really don't know what I find so interesting about it, but, I gotta feeling...you know? I even WANT to know what my percentage of body fat is, so I can track it. It's very scientific, which I love! Please don't tell me that I overeat because I am unhappy, bored, lonely, blah, blah, blah! I very firmly believe that obesity and the way our bodies react to food is very complex and involves intricate and (so far) unexplained phenomena and biological reactions. That isn't to say that some kind of psychological issue doesn't make us fat to begin with, but I think our bodies are very programmed to keep us fat once we get there!

So there are some very strange things in this book, like cold exposure to help burn fat, and doing air squats after you over-indulge to activate some kind of fat-burning mechanism. The diet is very straight-forward, and like a couple of others I have tried, it advocates a free day. You are also supposed to eat a substantial amount of protein as soon as you wake up. I was going to put off starting the diet for another week or so since we just bought a lot of groceries, but I think I will get started on Monday.

I'm feeling really confident about this particular program, I really can't say why. I have had my share of failures (in fact, I am paying for Weight Watchers right now!). But I really do want to lose this excess weight and I have been very unsuccessful with all the things I have tried in the past - and you know, that definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? It doesn't happen, so I am making an attempt to stop being insane and try something very, very different. I also really don't want to spend a lot of money on weight loss. I will need to buy a kettlebell for this program, and some supplements (but I don't think the supplements are absolutely necessary, my plan is to add them very gradually), but the food is very cheap.

I'm hoping that I will be so successful that I can share my data here!