Sunday 7/26

Woke up feeling fat, bloated and altogether icky! I'm blaming the brie! When Dr. Atkins said you could eat all the cheese you wanted, I don't think he meant the whole wedge. Not sure where the overwhelming craving came from. It was good, but I'm paying the price today! I was afraid to get on the scale (so I didn't)!

On a better note, I got up early and resisted my desire to go run. I have a tendency to do too much too soon, and that's where I get in trouble. So I pulled my stationary bike in front of the TV, and pedaled while watching the Tour de France. What fun! Now I have to mention that I'm a long time Lance Armstrong fan, so watching him make his comeback while pedaling along was really fun for me. Yes, I'm a dork! I did Podrunner intervals weeks 3 and 4, adjusting the tension up and down to mimic hills. Two hours later I had managed to go 30 miles and burn off 800 calories. Most groovy!

Today's Run

3 miles of intervals using Podrunner week 2 and 3. 43:07. Slow, but it's so hot! 93 degrees and 47% humidity. Feel pretty good though. I have energy, even without the carbs.

Day Two

I lost exactly one pound. I'm at 159.4. I ate about 2000 calories yesterday, but only 9.2 carbs. One thing I haven't been able to do yet that Atkins recommends is give up the caffeine! I'm experiencing many menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and no sleep! It's been weeks since I slept well. I gave up caffeine for a couple of weeks last year, and no one wanted to be around me!

Yesterday I did 3 miles of walk/run intervals using the Podrunner Week 2 Interval Mix. Surprisingly, I'm not sore today. I think I will run on the treadmill today, as it's going to be 105 and when I walked my dog this morning she almost passed out!

Current Photo

Face too round, hair too blonde!

After Photo - 2006

2006, looking cute at about 123 pounds. My goal is to get back to this weight!

Before Photo - 2001

I thought the black top made me look thinner!

Day One

Ok, first a little background. I lost 120 pounds about 6 years ago with the Atkins diet and exercise. I managed to keep it off until a few months ago. Life and stress got in the way, and I've crept up 40 pounds. I've tried to "crash" it off a couple of times, but it didn't work 6 years ago, and it's not working now, so I'm going back to what I know works.

I'm also very motivated to run a half marathon in January. I've walked two of them, but I would really like to be able to run, or at least do run/walk intervals in the Galloway style. I ran my first mile at 40 years old, then a 5K a few months later, but if I try go run more than that, I have issues with my IT band.

So here comes the experiment...can a 44 year old woman lose weight and train for a half-marathon while on a low carb diet? Can a person successfully run without carb-loading? Is there any truth to the theory of fat-loading? Will I drop dead trying? Stay tuned!

I will be using FitDay (go to http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=TucsonDawn ) to track my food and activities, and will start out using Podrunner Intervals on my Ipod to train. I find both of these free websites extremely helpful in keeping me motivated and accountable.

For now - here are my starting stats:

• Height 5' 6"
• Weight 160.4
• BMI 25.89
• Neck 13"
• Bicep 12"
• Forarm 9"
• Chest 40"
• Waist 31"
• Hips 42"
• Thigh 25"
• Calf 13.25