Workout Wednesday

Hello everyone! Okay, I realize Wednesday is over. Wednesday was a holiday here, and while I

didn't actually participate in the festival of Holi (a Hindu festival where people throw colored powder and dye on each other to celebrate color) I did have plans that kept me occupied all day.

So last week's goals were this: Complete week one of the Couch to 5K and work out to a youtube fitness video.

I did it!

Last week an hour or so after posting the inaugural Workout Wednesday I decided to go ahead and do the workout video... I did get bored five minutes into it though! So I decided to click on one of the recommended videos on the side though, and ended up working out for an hour to a couple different videos. So even though I didn't just work out to that particular channel I still count that as a success.

I didn't get to the first workout of the Couch to 5K until Saturday, but I was able to get out and do it then. It went well. I liked having the MP3 tracks telling me when to run and walk. I also was surprised at how many of my neighbors were out there also working out. There were walkers, runners, walk/runners like me, and even a few people doing either yoga or tai chi, plus a couple old men sitting cross legged on the benches meditating. All this while the sun was shining (but not too hotly yet), flowers were blooming, and kids who I am guessing belonged to the adults working out were running around playing games with each other. It was very pleasant!

I did the second workout on Monday. I didn't, however, check the battery life of my MP3 player, so about 3/4 of the way into my first run interval (ie at pretty much the very beginning of my workout) it died. I'm running around an oval path, so I decided to just estimate how much I "ran" and walked and just do that... I ended pretty much running half the oval, then walking back to the same place and running again. It wasn't exact. At this stage of the C25K I'm supposed to run 60 seconds, then walk 90 seconds.

When my MP3 player had died, I had glanced at my phone and it was 8:28am. I forgot about that until I was almost done, then it hit me to look at the time. See, in my head I'd been thinking "okay, I ran about this far last time I did it, so that's roughly 60 seconds, and I guess I walked this far" and had been trying to add up the time that way...

But anyway, what ended up happening is I *do* think I was running about 60 seconds, but I was walking about 2 minutes... but I ended up working out for like 25 minutes, instead of the 20 the plan is supposed to do. So I decided that was still a win, and about as good as I could get considering!

Then the next workout was supposed to be on Wednesday. But then I realized that Holi was Wednesday. So I asked my husband, "Honey?"

"Yes?"

"Come here for a minute, I need your advice."

He comes. "What do you want?"

"Well, for this Couch to 5K, my next workout is supposed to be Wednesday morn-"

"No."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

Haha. Basically it would be likely I'd have spent the whole workout getting shot at with waterguns filled with paint or something. So yeah.

So instead I did the third workout this morning (Thursday) and this time I checked my MP3's battery. I was able to do it successfully, and I'm looking forward to next week!

Goals for next week:

Do week 2 of the Couch to 5K.
Do at least two other workouts of at least 20 minutes each.
Research strength training without equipment. (It's recommended for my PCOS that I do strength training, since PCOS is linked to insulin resistance, and muscle processes insulin better or something. But I don't have access to a gym or any weights.)

I'll check in again next week!

Workout Wednesday

Yep, workout Wednesday. It's a thing now.

So I'm thinking each week I'll outline my workout plan for the following week, sharing sources if possible. If I haven't already done so in previous posts that week, I'll also tell you how the workouts went.

Since this is first week, the only thing I'll say about the past week is I tried to do some deliberate exercise here and there: some crunches, some jumping jacks, some push ups, etc.

Starting this week though, I'm going to have more clear cut goals, and I hope you will help keep me accountable.

First, I am going to do one of these workouts one time this week. I found this channel on youtube, as well as other exercise videos, and I figure I will try one. I'll tell you how it goes next week.

Also, I am officially doing the C25K again. For those of you who don't know it's the Couch to 5K, a workout designed to take you from sedentary to being able to run a 5K. I completed it in September, but I haven't really run since then since I was crazy busy planning my move to India, moving to India, then planning my marriage and as you know, I got married three weeks ago.

So since it's been months I'm going to just repeat it. Only, it will be different this time. Last time I did three weeks of "Pre-Couch to 5K" because I wasn't just sedentary, I am overweight as well and when I looked at the first week of the C25K I knew it wasn't realistic. So I took it slower and did those three warm up weeks. I recommend this highly for anyone who has considered the C25K but isn't even sure you can do week one. After my 3 weeks of prep, I eased into official week one, but I was very winded during my first week of prep so I know that if I had just tried to jump in I either would have quit, or worse been injured.

So anyway, this time I am skipping the three prepatory weeks because even though it's been some time, I did improve my overall fitness before and I don't think I've lost that and I think I can do the "normal" C25K week one.

Also, last time the only equipment I used was a watch (and a water bottle and shoes, if you want to count them.) This time I'm joining the masses and using an audio program. Most people download one of these into their MP3 and then they listen to music and it tells them when they need to change (you switch between walking and running.) I am using Buried Talents Band's Christian India Running Tracks.

There are two big reasons I didn't do this last time:

I didn't have an MP3 player.

I had been running along the road. We didn't have sidewalks, so I didn't feel it was safe to impair my hearing by listening to music since there are always crazy drivers.

Well here in India the drivers are even crazier, but I won't be running along the roads. There are a few parks within walking distance, and one has a track. It's not like a competitive track, and there are no distances marked, but it is an oval path that is obviously intended for exercise, especially as when I've gone there in the past there is always at least one person walking or running laps. I have done so myself, actually, but I just did one lap walking, one lap running and then went home.

I'm not actually sure how long the track is, as I said there is no distances marked, so I'll probably still be doing it for time, especially as that's how the music tracks are set up (hmm, I just realized those were the same words!) However, if I take the time to figure out roughly how long a lap is, I should be able to more accurately keep track of my progress.

Last time I know that I didn't actually run a 5K at the end, but I was running for 30 minutes straight and was happy with that. But since I'm starting from a fitter place, maybe this time I will actually end with running a 5K in thirty minutes... and if not, then still!

One more thing worth mentioning is I don't know how well this will go because, well, Indian summer is approaching. Which scares me greatly, as it will regularly be in the 110s during the heat of the day. That said, I obviously won't be running in the heat of the day. But if it's 115 in the afternoon, it could easily be 95 in the morning. So I hope I have it in me, but if not then I would rather quit than get heat stroke. I had heat exhaustion once, where I almost fainted while not at home. It was scary and I won't risk that... but I figure if I bring plenty of water and I only exercise during the early morning, I should be able to do it. And right now, it's not that hot so there is no excuse for me not to get it done this week!

One thing is that the heat is dry heat, which is honestly much more manageable. It is in the low 90s outside already, but it doesn't really feel hot. It doesn't feel cool either, but the 90s back home is far more suffocating, and the only difference would be this climate is drier.

So that's the plan for next week... I promise that next week's declaration of what I'm doing the upcoming week will be less long, I just had some one time explication of the C25K to go over. So hold me accountable: by next week I'll need to have done one of the workouts from that youtube channel and completed week one of the C25K!

Fit Friday!

I apologize for my absence from this blog but life has been crazy. My future mother-in-law had a heart attack last week. (She is okay, home with new meds and diet changes.) I've also been battling a ton of stress.

I've continued with Noom, though not perfectly.

Today I worked out, lightly. By that I mean I did some actual working out (crunches, planking, rear kick thingies) but mainly I just tried to keep moving during my normal daily tasks. Bouncing on my toes while standing still, swaying my hips, just trying to move more.

I'm especially focusing on my abs and obliques right now because I'm wearing a sari to my court wedding. Saris show part of the midriff.

I'd like to start the C25K again. It's been some months since I completed it and I was very slow at the end, so that I was running for half an hour but not for 5K. So I think starting it over would be good. But I admit I'm nervous about the prospect for a few reasons. One is the pollution here. I've had like pre-asthma for years, just having slight respiratory distress when I exert myself in the cold. But that was back home in the US where the air is clean (I lived in a rural area.) Here the air is heavily polluted and exerting myself in it by running outside may help me develop full blown asthma... at the same time maybe it won't. Or maybe the asthma developing is inevitable and this way I'd be having a stronger heart and lungs from the workout when it kicked in.

The other thing that makes me nervous is everyone keeps giving me horror stories of attackers and abductors, especially with that gang rape situation that I know was all over the international news. So the idea is that if I work out in the neighborhood with regularity maybe someone nefarious will take note and lie in wait... maybe paranoid. Maybe wise. For now I could go out at different times of day so I'm unpredictable. But the spring is brief here and before the 9 weeks are up I'd only be able to run in the early morning due to the heat.

I don't know. I think I'll pray about it. And maybe get pepper spray. ;)

Linking up with Get Fit Fridays.

Who and Where

In my last post I explained the 'why' of this blog. So I decided I'd go through the classic "Who, What, Where, Why, and How." Today I'll cover the 'Who' and 'Where'. Tomorrow will be the 'What' and 'How!'

Well, where is the easiest. I just moved to India!

swimming during a camping trip

I'm Pamela. I'm an American woman in her mid-twenties who is about to get married. I'm a passionate blogger and lover of Christ. As far as health goes, I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS.) It's amazingly common considering that it's rare anyone has ever heard of it unless they or someone close to them has it. I guess maybe because it's a feminine disease people don't publicize it as much.

Basically it's a hormone disorder, or I heard it called an endocrin disorder. It's not actually a disease, it's a syndrome. Which basically means it's a collection of symptoms that appear to be related, but it's not cut and dry in everyone. Like when I was diagnosed, I didn't actually have any poly cysts, which is the symptom that gave the syndrome its name. That said, I had enough of the symptoms that the doctor had no doubts, and I did eventually get the poly cysts.

I was diagnosed at 16, but looking at the symptoms I've had it since I was 13 or earlier.  The summer between my seventh and eighth grade years in school I suddenly gained 50 pounds (22.6 kilograms). In one summer. We went to the doctor, but they just dismissed it as me preparing for a growth spurt because of my age, despite the fact I'd just had one. Before then I'd never been overweight, though I'd never been thin. I was tall with a large, broad frame and a round face, so I'd been mocked for being "fat" by my shorter, willowy classmates even when I was completely normal. So I already thought of myself as large, and gaining weight just confirmed it.

PCOS is related to insulin resistance... they're not actually sure why. And even though I had the PCOS first and it caused the weight gain, apparently the best advice they have for treating PCOS is to lose weight. Oh, yeah, and the hormones cause weight loss resistance.

Fun.

So I battled my weight without any success in high school. I only gained. Then when I went to college I remember at the end of my first semester I got really into exercise... and gained weight. Which was probably muscle, but still, I lost no fat. Then in the spring I went on a super strict diet for a month...

all sweaty and endorphin-y after a workout

And gained two pounds.

After that I simply quit trying for a couple years. I didn't really gain much weight if I pigged out and didn't exercise... and I didn't lose weight if I exercised and ate right, so why bother?

But I did find I felt a little better after eating well and I liked the endorphin rush I'd get from a good workout (the first time I ever experienced it was freshman year of college. Before that gym class and exercise was the bane of my existence because I'm clumsy and nonathletic and it was only extremely painful, not fun. I'm still clumsy and nonathletic, but I can see the fun now.)

In the years since college I have gone on lots of exercise kicks. I found that one of the best ways as a broke person to hang out with friends was to go on walks. We'd got to a nature trail and conquer it. I've had some of the best times doing that. Also I would go as a guest with friends with gym memberships. Or would do exercise videos. The Bollywood dance videos that used to come on Discovery Fit & Health

A friend during a nature walk.

About a year and a half ago, I had been thinking about doing some walk or something for charity. And then my friend Hannah, whose daughter Sadie Mae had passed away earlier that year, announced she was going to have a 5K in Sadie Mae's honor. And I got inspiration. Why not do that trendy Couch to 5K program I'd seen people talking about and raise money for Sadie Mae's 5K? So I started "See Pam Run", because honestly I never run. I'm very overweight and so I figured people both loved seeing people getting in shape and helping out charities, so hopefully we could get somewhere with this...

So I started in earnest and did pretty well. Then I had to get a biopsy.

I'd been having my period nonstop for over a year and a half. At first, I wasn't panicked because the PCOS causes my periods to be WEIRD. I often only have a couple a year and when I do they are extremely heavy. I've gone over a year without one before. I've also had it happen where I had them every two weeks. So I didn't panic at first...

Then it kept going. And I compartmentalized it. Why? Because I was living in the USA, unemployed, pre-Obama Care and had no insurance. I couldn't afford a simple doctor's appointment let alone tests and treatment if it was something serious.

So I ignored it. Honestly I think I have ignored my PCOS much the same way. It's a way of coping, and helps with stress, and is a good way to function if there's something you can't do anything about, but PCOS is actually treatable and I've just been sticking my head in the ground. Anyway...

So I went to the doctor and he scheduled me for an ultrasound a few weeks later. That was agonizing. After bleeding for 18 months, my uterus was inflamed and I was crying... and they found a lump.

So then they had to give me a biopsy. Which literally had me sobbing and yelling. I couldn't walk for days, let alone run.

The photo I used for "See Pam Run"

Blessedly, the biopsy was negative, and sticking the needle into the lump (which I think was a fibroid tumor) disturbed it enough that I finally got rid of it and, with the aid of birth control pills, my period stopped.

Then Hannah ended up deciding to do a balloon release instead of a 5K, so I didn't really have motivation to get moving again...

But eventually I did, and I finished it this past August. And I blogged about it. And I found that when I'd not finish a week, I'd be doing other exercises and yet there wasn't "space" on my blog for that...

I didn't get too much exercising in after the Couch to 5K, just some walking with friends and crunches at home kind of stuff here and there because... I was moving to India! But I am an *avid* pedestrian and would rather walk, so long as the weather is nice.

And now I'm here. And I just got my period for the first time in 5 months (yay) after being here a month, which could be coincidence or it could be that Indian food is indeed healthy for me.

Me preparing to cook back in US

I've never had my own kitchen. Still don't have one. I don't have the will power to resist food I love for long, so when I was in college it was so hard with the cafeteria style eating, especially during stressful times. And at my parent's house, they are major snackers and always keep stuff around. And we'd do our grocery store shopping once a week, and I wasn't a part of it. I'd ask for something, and they'd say bring me home one or two meals to last me a week of lunches. So in order to get enough, I'd ask for the cheapest stuff... which in America is synonymous with the least healthy most of the time.

Here in India, I was anticipating doing the cooking. (I only moved here November 29th.) I bought a PCOS and a Diabetes cookbook (my future mother-in-law has diabetes, and consequently Ryan and I are both at risk for getting it, him by genetics, mine from PCOS. So I figured Diabetes friendly meals would be good for all.) However, his parents hired a cooking maid and so I don't cook here either. And they're like "you can cook when you want" but I can't really because again, I don't do the grocery shopping and I honestly don't know what half the spices are (they're not labelled) and I don't know how to make a meal out of cauliflower and peas. I'm used to American cooking.

So... that's the where and the who, I guess. Tomorrow I'll tell you what I hope to do with this blog and how I expect it to work!