Wednesday Weigh In

I haven’t posted for the last two Wednesdays, and when I don’t post about a weigh in (I do dutifully do them every week and record them, regardless of what the scale says) it can only mean one thing. 

Yep.  Bad news.

I did so well on my food based goals that first week and then got sloppy.  And I gained every bit of what I lost plus another half pound, officially putting me half a pound up from my high point a few weeks ago.  Yeah, that means I’m even higher.  In fact, this is now, officially, my highest weight all year.

Hello, my goal was to lose ten pounds, not gain it.  Now that goal is 15 lbs.  Seriously?  What is wrong with me.

I can feel it too.  I think three weeks ago a lot of that extra weight was bloat, but in the last week my clothes are feeling tighter.  It’s definitely time to stop being so blase about all this stuff and actually do something.

I feel like I am beating a dead horse by saying this for the millionth time, but it really does help me motivate myself to type it out and be accountable for it by posting this here to the blog. 

I am going to revisit my goals again and get back to them.  They clearly worked:

1.  Cut back to one drink a night on weeknights.

Totally have been blowing this and it makes a huge difference in how I feel, how my body performs and definitely at the scale.

2.  No snacking after 8pm.

I have actually been doing fairly well at this one.  It will be easier with the kids back to school and our schedule shifting into an earlier mode.

3.  Salads to replace 3 meals.

I have also been doing fairly well with this, I think.  I am part of our local Farmers’ Market committee and so I visit our market every Friday.  It is hard to pass up such beautiful, local veggies, and having such quality and variety makes turning to a salad easy.  But clearly I need to do more here, and remind myself that any leftover really can be turned into a salad.

 

Current Week: +0.8 lbs
Total Weight Left To Lose: 15.8 lbs
Age: 43
BMI: 28.5

 

MADD Dash 5K Race Recap

I ran this race last year, and I remembered it being a fast, flat course so even though I haven’t run for two weeks, I thought it would be a fun thing to do this Saturday.  The day dawned cooler than normal for an August day, so that sealed the deal.   The race starts and ends at a beach, so I packed my flip flops and planned to hang out and enjoy the sand afterwards.

I was excited to get a cool number as I signed in and chatted with my fellow race goers.  I knew a few of them, started up conversations with some strangers, and generally passed the forty minutes pre race very easily.  The race started on time, and we were off.

I felt really good starting out, passing some of my slower comrades and settling into what felt like a good pace.  I didn’t worry when my RunKeeper told me at the five minute mark that my pace was slower than usual; I knew that was part of the starting crush to get moving and just kept going.

It got warmer.  And warmer.  Even though I was feeling good, my pace just wasn’t where I had hoped it would be.  By mile 2 I was feeling that familiar “I am so hot and starting to run out of steam” feeling that i haven’t felt in quite a while.  My half training just didn’t survive two weeks with absolutely no maintenance whatsoever.  And frankly the runs in the last month have not been very long or very fast either.  Damn.

I decided to just enjoy the views and the race and not worry about time.  Even so, I was shocked to see the clock as I rounded the end read a whole minute slower than last year’s time.  I wasn’t happy about it, because if not for that, I really loved the run.  Felt good, beautiful views, people were nice, great course.  I know I don’t run for time, but I also don’t want to be going backwards.

Still, I was glad I got out there.  It kicked me in the butt and reminded me that to keep running, you have to run.  You can’t just magically wake up one morning and have it all fall into place (well maybe some people  can, but I am not one of those people…it is hard for me, all of the time…just varying degrees of hard).   You have to put in the time.

But it was also a good lesson in that it isn’t always about time and pace.  I loved this run and I am going to hold onto that, regardless of my time.  Because at the end of the day, if I don’t enjoy it…I’m not going to do it.

 

Wednesday Weigh In

6:13am on a summer Wednesday and I’m up and posting my weigh in this morning.  That can only mean one of two things:  I am eager to write about it (aka good news) or I am battling a minor case of poison ivy and can’t sleep any more.

Actually it’s both.

After four weeks of gains or static, I knew I had to change things up last week.  I’d definitely let the summer slide take over, and I was getting careless.  I was going to type lazy, but that’s not true.  I am not lazy.  I am still exercising five days a week, and that’s not lazy.  I’m not running ten mile long runs right now but I am still running, walking, and taking bootcamp.  So I’m not lazy.  But I was gaining weight.

I realized it was the decrease in activity since I’m not marathon training any more, coupled with some less than careful food and drink choices that had to be fueling the gains.  I know that I am not capable of ramping up the activity much more in the summer with the kids at home and the schedule completely out of whack.  So it had to be the food.

I set up three goals last week for food choices. Small, quantifiable goals that I said I’d check in on every week when I reported my weigh in.  Here we go:

1.  Cut back to one drink a night on weeknights.

I succeeded at this.  I called M-Th a week night.  I had one glass of wine Wednesday, none on Thursday.  On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I allowed myself two glasses.  I had none on Monday and one last night.

I am a bit ashamed to admit that represents a significant decrease in my consumption.  The only consolation for me is that I was having this discussion with some girlfriends two days ago and they all admitted they enjoy two glasses or two beers nearly every day as well.  Either they were lying and secretly calling me a booze hound behind my back, or us women in our forties like our drink.

Either way, I am glad to be cutting back.  It’s not good for me or my liver.  And I think moderation is the balance I am striving for here.

2.  No snacking after 8pm.

I mostly achieved this one.  I did slip a bit last weekend when we went to some outdoor shows we are involved in, which don’t get started until 8pm.   But when I was home, I adhered to this to the letter.  It has definitely helped.  Last night I was out until 9, and hadn’t really eaten much since 4pm.  I wasn’t terribly hungry, but if I didn’t have this edict in my head, I probably would have had some mindless snacks.  It’s really keeping me on my toes.

3.  Salads to replace 3 meals.

I had two green salads and one pasta salad that I made from scratch from a health blog this week for meals.  I know the pasta salad isn’t really what I was going for here, but it had lettuce in it and it was a lighter meal.  This one has been tough because of this week’s schedule but it’s a good goal that I am going to strive to hit perfectly or exceed this week.

I think sticking to three small, manageable goals coupled with my normal (mostly) healthy eating and exercise habits really worked for me.  The scale is 3.8 lbs lighter this morning than it was at this point last week.  🙂

Here’s to taking action and moving forward.

Current Week: -3.8 lbs
Total Weight Left To Lose: 11.4 lbs
Age: 43
BMI: 27.6