New Goals

This week I started a new fitness and weight loss plan. I've been going to the gym for a few months now but I've found that the reason I joined in the first place, to go to classes, isn't a very realistic thing. The local gym doesn't have any classes before 10am and most of the good classes are after 5pm which wasn't covered in my membership. I also felt a little bit silly walking for 20 minutes to get there and then hopping on a treadmill for 30 minutes before walking home again. Something had to change so...
I joined weight watchers to give myself the group dynamic I was getting from going to Aerobics classes and started a "couch to 5k" program to try to overcome my fear of running. I'm now on day 3 of weight watchers and will be going for my 3rd run tomorrow morning.
It's not that I think I'm fat. Really one of my biggest problems is that I am quite happy to be lazy and stay where I am now. The problem is that things won't always be this easy and there's no point in not being the best that I can be. So, I've set a goal and will be doing my best to reach it. The plan is to be able to run 5k or 30 minutes continuously in 9 to 10 weeks. The national health service has put out a series of podcasts that have a decent soundtrack and a very friendly lady's voice telling you when to run and when to walk. Right now I'm on week one which is a 5 minute warm up followed by 8 repetitions of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking with a five minute cool down at the end. You do each week's run three times and then move on to the next week. I'm doing mine Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Runs 1 and 2 went ok but I'm sure I look pretty ridiculous trying to "jog" up hill in my neighborhood. It does help to have headphones in because it allows me to tune everything else out and just think about what it will be like in 9 weeks. Tomorrow I'm looking for a more level route though.
On the subject of weight watchers I would recommend their new "points plus" program to anyone. Memaw (Jed's grandma) works for weight watchers in the states so she helped me try the old system last year and I lost about 10 pounds. The old system was great but I did feel hungry and grouchy for the first couple weeks. So far on the new system I haven't been near as hungry and now that fruit and vegetables are free I just reach for a banana when I get hungry. Somehow it almost seems too easy so we'll see how it's gone when I weigh in on Monday. I've been told not to expect a big loss because I really don't have a lot to loose still, it would be nice to see some change.