Been wanting to do this for a while but always found an excuse not to. Wanted to start on this over a year ago but could never get motivated and then I ended up getting pregnant. Well baby is almost 7 weeks now so I think it's time to go out and get started.
Also, have you found that running has "only" helped you get fitter or has it also helped you lose weight? Again, it's been an issue that I've been wanting to tackle for a while but just never get motivated for it...
Running combined with a good diet is the best weight loss plan. The diet industry makes one believe that you can only lose weight and keep it off through restrictive eating.... Not so. As long as you show sense in eating and increase your mileage you will lose weight. I've dropped 4 dress sizes in total and feel great. Go for it, once you start you won't look back. Good luck 
I agree, I have lost 2.5 stone since I changed my lifestyle, didn't diet as such just tracked what I ate on myfitnesspal so I could see how much I was eating and make more sensible choices (not fried breakfast followed by a curry for lunch then roast dinner in the evening....) This combined with doing C25K and some calestenics made the weight loss easy to do without having to deny myself. Added to weight loss I now have much more energy and feel great.
It's all about getting started. Once you start you will find the motivation, just take those first tentative steps! Good luck!
My motivation was a very utilitarian approach, to try to halt the decline in my stamina, which seemed frighteningly inevitable at the age of 57. The wonderful part of the whole thing was finding out that I love running and I am planning my next outing as soon as I finish a run. There are unexpected mental benefits too. I am still riding a wave of positivity, which started along with my first runs, back in June. I am fitter than I have been for forty years and would recommend running to anyone.
If you can fit running into the demanding life of being a new mother, then I am sure you will not regret it. Getting out of the door for the first run is probably the biggest hurdle you have to cross. After that, you will be carried away by the desire to achieve the next target, and you will become one of us......pink and smug.
Do it!!
Thank you for the replies
I really have never been so unfit in my life and I'm only 21... I used to dance and cheerleading when i was at school and college but since then have seriously let myself go. I also have a 2 year old and find that I'm always tired and just can't keep up - and I know its not just due to lack of sleep.
I seriously need to work on what I eat too. Right now I have way too many sweets and fizzy drink.
Well I'm probably going to post more regularly once I do start and update on my progress.
With the weather getting colder and it raining more I've picked a great time to start this, don't you think? 
Post your intention on Facebook, then update your progress each time you run. Your friends will keep you running and encourage you on the way
I was thinking of doing that. I will probably post that i'm doing it after tomorrows run
Motivation is a funny thing. I have joined the gym, gone for six weeks, even three months or so and then given up so many times in the past. I have always been a very busy person so fitting in exercise has been near on impossible. About 6 months ago I decided it was time to slow down on my extra activities and stepped down from a very time consuming voluntary role. I spent 6 months at home with the wife and kids, do more with them and less on my own. Now I've got myself into the right place I have started my diet and started doing the programme. I took two weeks off work, which gave me the opportunity to crack a healthy eating pattern and exercise regime without having to fit it in around work. After the two weeks I was well enough into it that I didn't want to let it slip.
I don't know if I had an early midlife crisis (Only 32) but now just felt right to get this done. Since starting the programme I haven't looked back. I'm finishing week 6 today and already have my eye firmly on the 5k mark. I've lost a stone through doing the running and calorie counting (Dropped the fizzy drinks and sweets which was a killer for me too!) and forced myself out to run no matter what the weather etc. Because of the shifts I work I find myself out running at all hours of the day and night (2 am yesterday) but I feel AMAZING.
Running will give you all sorts of benefits that you probably never expected. I heartily recommend it! As a fifty-something who's never run before, i was able to work through the programme without problems. You will find as a mother that the free time you get to yourself when running is really good for your mental health! I haven't lost any weight on the plan, but haven't dieted either. My clothes fit much better though, and what was flabby is less so, and less of it! If you do want to lose weight, I'd suggest not having sweets or fizzy drink in the house - it's much better for kids not to have it around, and their dentist will thank you for it 
They get enough of it at parties and at friends' houses, we used to only buy those things if we were having a birthday party, then use them up as soon as possible. Make the most of this time when you can control what they eat - mine's now a teenager and allowed out at school lunchtimes, so she can eat sweets occasionally. Luckily her teeth are really good from the limited input as a youngster, much better than mine 
Good luck and this is the place to come for motivation if you're feeling a bit doubtful!
I am the mother of three little ones, including twins in the midst of the terrible twos! I started this because i was aware that, though permenantly knackered at the end of the day, i never got my heart racing. You know yourself with a 2 year old, that you never get to go anywhere fast! The possibility running out of the door and having 40 minutes to myself has been quite a motivation. But the best thing about it, other than the fact that my tousers are all a little looser, is that I have so much more energy. I used to hit a wall at about 4pm every day, and resort to biscuits and tea to get me thorugh to bed time. Now I am still up and busy at 11pm. I also find that now I am really in to it, i think about what i eat, not from a diet point of view, but from how it will effect my next run. So do it for the extra enegry i promise it will give you. Go on... xx
Yes, more energy is exactly what I need. On the rare occasion that I do get a good sleep, I still wake up feeling like i've not slept at all.
It's really good to hear what a positive effect it's had on everyone, definitely makes me want to get out and start running. I'm hoping to go for my first run tomorrow
I bought myself some twix today but will not be buying anymore snacks for myself. We limit how much little one can have but I don't mind having some snacks for him in the house as I don't like the snacks we keep for him anyway. As for fizzy drinks, well that's going to be difficult as my partner went a bit crazy and we now have over 20 bottles of Mountain Dew in the cupboard.
I got my motivation from meeting a chap at RHS Harlow Carr to arrange a bee meeting and found myself struggling for breath after walking up a gentle slope in the gardens. Quite took me by surprise and knew I am too young to be feeling like that. I'm only 66.
It's the best thing I have ever done and I am already feeling it is doing me the world of good. Wish I'd known about this years ago - BRILLIANT programme!
Also I am not so much loosing weight but people keep commenting that I look thinner - my joggers feel very slack too so something good is happening! I am also feeling much greater energy levels now - which is great!
I began C25K in April because I wanted to do something that would help me lose further weight (I began calorie counting last November) and get me in shape. I didn't think I would like running but I thought it would be a necessary ordeal. However after the first week I got the running bug. Since last year I've lost over 4 stones in weight and can run a 5km in 23 mins. Last year I honestly would not have been able to walk 5km without feeling exhausted. Post graduation I've motivated myself by trying to get PB's and entering races. I ran a 10km in Greenwich Park last week and will be running a half marathon in Brentwood in 2 weeks time.
Don't know how I got motivated, but for me staying motivated was hardest. I have one more run to go and I still hate running, I still think I'm not going to make it, especially about 5 minutes in. The jump from week 3 to 4 to 5 for me was immense and I could have easily given up so here is my advice: find a running partner who's mentally stronger than you! Here are my experiences:
First I have a great husband who is a faster and stronger runner than me, (fortunately not at his fittest or leanest at the moment) who has happily run much slower runs with me to keep me going. He knows how many telegraph poles between all the points on the journey so when I'm ready to quit he'll say "only 9 more poles to go", or whatever.
Second I go out thinking I'll try rather than that I have to succeed. I'll set what feels like a stretch goal of getting to a certain point before giving up, then another etc until I've made it through the podcast. This morning I ran alone and managed 30.5 minutes and mapped it at 4.8km, on Tuesday I ran 31.5 mapping it at 4.65, those two were because nearing the end I thought I'd see if I could keep going until I got home. I'm not quite going to make the 5k in 30 minutes for my last run, but I'm close and I know I couldn't have done that 9 weeks ago.
Third I have been to two Parkruns. Free 5k events which give you a measured course and a time, they sometimes have pacers for certain timings. I decided to do one when I'd done a week or two of the programme. I just alternated running and walking as I could manage (hubby helping) knowing that they say it's fine to walk it if you want. I then did it again at the end of week 7 as my last 25 minute run. I did the whole podcast: 5 minute warm up then 25 minute run, (felt a bit stupid setting off walking when most were running, but then overtook some people later) I then walked a couple of minutes of the cool down and ran the last bit (having let poor old hubby go when I finished my run part) - it's a great event, very friendly, and a lady there who passed me just as I was thinking of running again egged me through and I finished in about 35:10. This was a good improvement on my PB and I'm planning to go again next week and run the whole thing. Seeing recorded improvement is quite motivating.
Sorry for the long post. Just start and see where it takes you, but get some help to see you through the difficult middle weeks.
Having recently retired I've decided that for me to continue to collect my pension from the NHS I needed to do something to enhance my longevity. Better late than never. You've got more to gain the soomer you start so good luck and just do it !!
I did it!!
How do you keep yourself motivated?
WOW! I'm overwhelmed by all of your support - THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! First run under my belt and I've never felt so motivated! 
Just started :)
How Often Do You Guys Get Injured?
