21 Pounds and 5 Things I Wouldn't Have Believed

I've lost count, but I think today was my 12th training session or so.  Overall, K. says I'm doing great on exercises, and I'm on the right track food-wise.  Everything about healthy eating is starting to feel a lot easier and just a routine part of my life.  I saw this morning on The Today Show some author of a book about habits (can't remember who) saying that a habit is a choice that we make, and then stop making because it just becomes routine.  That's where I'm at.  And unlike diets I've been on in the past, I'm eating really well and don't really feel like I'm missing out on anything.  Instead of counting calories or points, I'm eating lots of fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and fish.  I don't really worry about how much I eat, and I'm rarely hungry (though I'm starving as I write this since I'm post-workout and pre-lunch!).  As of today's weigh-in, I'm down a total of 21 pounds!  It's hard to tell a difference in the pictures below (since I'm apparently really good at flattering posing), but I'm definitely starting to feel different.

Sometime in October
(I really should've taken a proper "before" picture)

February 28th - 21 pounds down

Instead of a big long recap of my progress, I wanted to share a few things that have totally surprised me.  If you had told me any of the 5 following things even three months ago, I would've thought you were nuts.  These all happened this week.

1. I started running on a treadmill.  I'm phasing into it slowly, doing intervals of walking and running like in the Couch to 5k program.  I alternated 2 minute intervals, and last Saturday ended up running a full mile (of course, this is over the course of half an hour and jogging at a speed of 4.5 mph... but it's a start!).

2. I registered for a 5k at the end of April that I actually intend to train for, and hope to run the entire thing.  I hope that's actually a doable goal with 2 months before the run.  Serious runners, got any tips?

3. I can fit into size large gym pants.  I've owned nothing but XL and, sigh, XXL exercise pants for years, but this weekend I had to size down to larges because, frankly, my pants keep falling down.  Which is so not cool for classes, lest I subject anyone else to my ass during downward dogs and crab walking.

4. I can bench press 45 pounds!

5. Without really even realizing it, I've gone an entire month without eating beef.  At the end of January, I had beef 3 times in a week (another thing I totally didn't realize), which made trainer K. very, very disappointed (and K. being disappointed in me seems to result in a tougher session).  She told me to start treating beef like a treat - something I eat occasionally, maybe once every few weeks or something.  So first I saved having beef for eating a steak at post-wedding dress shopping dinner with my friends.  I ended up getting some really tasty salmon instead, so I decided to save it for a steak dinner for Valentine's Day.  We ended up making, what else, fish instead.  So I keep saving up for a beef meal, and putting it off until a month has passed and I don't even miss it.