Week 1 of eDiets in the bag

Today was my first check-in on eDiets.com.  I have followed a great meal plan for 7 days now, and I really did it!  I stuck to the plan and I didn't cheat!  That's a huge deal to me because I always cheat on diets....maybe that's why I have always failed to lose weight?!?!  Anyways, I can't praise eDiets enough for the menu plan.  There are thousands of meal combinations for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, that I'm never eating the same things and everything is fulfilling.  There is usually a mix of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and protein at each meal and snack.  Luckily, I'm not hungry on this diet!  I start to get a little hungry right before my next meal.  The real hunger comes at 10PM at night when I want to eat again, but I haven't!  I have told myself each night that I will be going to bed soon and don't need to eat, and so far it has worked.

Seriously, nobody from eDiets is paying me to say any of this, lol.  I realize now why I always had problems with diets in the past.  I mean, I know what I'm supposed to eat!  Lord knows how many fitness magazines I read and how much research I've done on running and nutrition.  My problem is the planning part.  That's where eDiets comes in.  It puts all my meals and snacks together each week.  All I have to do is sit down in front of the computer for about 30 minutes at the beginning of each week and review the week's menu, making any changes I want to it.  I then print it out, along with the grocery list it creates based on my menu.  I go to the grocery store, get the week's worth of food, and I am set for the week.  It takes all the guessing out, and it takes all the chances of me wondering off to a fast food restaurant out.  Plus, if I do happen to forget my food, I know I am supposed to eat 420-450 calories at each meal, so I grab something in that range.

Anyways, I am proud to say that I have lost 2.5 pounds my first week!!  I am now at 157.5 lbs.  My weigh-ins are every Wednesday.  My goal weight is 140 pounds, and I started off at 160 pounds.  I am really hoping that I can stick to this.  This meal plan, in combination with my running should get me there, as long as I don't deviate from the menu.  I will be running a half marathon at the beginning of June, so my mileage will be increasing back up into the 30+ mile/week range.  Of course, I will run the CDR again in September, so I will maintain that mileage for a good while.  I'm almost at 20 miles per week now.  If I'm feeling spunky, I may jump up to 40 miles per week while training for the CDR. 

I have found a nice group of girls in the eDiets forum.  We are in a group on the forum called Remarkable Runners.  They are really friendly, and post about their daily runs and life in general.  It's nice to find people on there to talk to who are doing a diet and who like to run races.

Aside from all my eDiets posts, I guess I should post something about running!  I had been sick for like 10 days with a chest cold, and it really kicked my butt on the running front.  I got my runs in, but not the whole distances and goal paces.  One of the runs, I had to do 1/4 mile intervals, running at a slow pace and walking.  My lungs just coudn't handle running the entire time.  One of my runs was supposed to be a 6 mile speed workout, and ended up being a 2 mile easy run.  FINALLY on Sunday, I had a fantastic run.  It was a scheduled 8 miles on my training plan.  I headed out the door with the intention of doing 7 IF I felt ok.  I figured that 8 wasn't an option considering the quality of my recent runs.  Plus, 8 miles is the longest I have run since October!  Well, as soon as my feet hit the pavement, I felt great!  So, I went for the 8 miles.  I felt great the whole time and was so happy!  Unfortunately, I had done lunges Friday.  Needless to say, Monday at work my legs hurt so bad I had to break down and take some ibuprofen.  That stuff works like magic!  I have never been so sore before!  Not even the day after the CDR last year.  I guess the lunges and the long run together kicked my ass!

I have a 4 mile race next Saturday.  It's called the Joker run.  I ran it last year and am excited to run it again.  No real goal time, I don't guess.  Maybe under 40 minutes?  I'm not sure what kind of pace I can maintain for 4 miles.  I haven't been doing any tempo runs, and have only done a few speed workouts.  I'm pretty sure I can keep a 10 min pace, maybe.  We will see.....

Sunday's long run stats:
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:32
Ave pace: 11:32
Calories burned: 1259 (as calculated by dailymile.com)  I assume it's closer to 800-1000 calories?