Progress Report 1.

Still feeling pretty awesome about the fact that I did a 5k. It was about 2 weeks ago I know, but still its a point of pride. Now only moments after I did my run I made a very blindly made a promise. I promised my best friend that if he stopped smoking I would run a marathon. If there is a way I can help the people I care about I will do it. Especially if it will help them stop smoking. I lost my Dad to cigarettes, and would really rather not see anyone else important to me go that route. My buddy  turned to me, smirked and said OK, your on.........WHAT? So now he quit, 6-7 days smoke free (Woot, props to him) and I have to keep my end of the deal. I did manage to scale it down to a 10k, but still that is a lot from someone who didn't even break the top 500 in the run I just did. So now I plan on using this as inspiration to help motivate me to get in better shape.
     I finally made my way to the gym yesterday after not going for awhile. One problem I have with the gym is, well its always so much easier to do the cardio part of your workout. Its not as intimidating as the strength training. I look back there and it looks like that's where all the popular kids hangout, I find myself feeling like the heavy kid who wants to sit in the back of the bus with all the cool kids all over again. I of course realize, just how stupid this is and that it is just an excuse but there you have it. I have to get over this stupid misconception and just do it. I think I did well though. I did 45 minutes of cardio, some weight lifting and then cardio again. I'm trying to get used to running and tried the treadmills for a change. Its a little different then the elliptical and stair climbers I normally use. But I think I wont have a problem with it. I did get a bit of a morale boost when someone mentioned I had lost a noticeable amount of weight when I was exercising with him, so that's awesome.
     I also did my research on the Dash Diet I wanted to use and am amazed at how simple it is. This diet is essentially a diet to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. But from the studies I have read its good for weight loss as well. The tenants are amazingly simple as well. Watch portions, stay under your calorie intake range and eat healthy foods. Its not rocket science, choose low fat dairy, whole grains, lean proteins, and fruits and veggies.And DRINK LOTS OF WATER. This is my Achilles heel. I have never been a big water drinker.  That's about it. If I couple that with a decent exercise regime, I'm hoping the pounds just melt off. Well that's all for now, again if anyone has suggestions on motivation or even exercises for a newbie, I'm all ears. Laters.