I decided that giving myself some (very) mini goals and milestones will help me stay excited and be motivated throughout the rest of my weight loss. I've come quite a long way, but still 23.2 pounds seems so very far away right now. So I came up with a whole bunch of mini goals that are very attainable and will give me things to look forward to along the way.
191 (-1.2 from now): 1/3 of the way!
190: Take measurement
189 (-2 from 191): Only 20 lbs left. A very psychological thing for me.
185.7 (-3.3 from 189) 1/2 of the way!
185 (-0.7 from 185.7): Back to my lowest adult weight ever; Measurement time!
182.4 (-2.6 from 185): WW 10% since rejoining on 09/23
180 (-2.4 from 182.4): 2/3 of the way! Time to take another measurement.
179 (-1 from 180): Out of 180's only 10 pounds to go, another big psychological thing
177.4 (-1.6 from 179): 3/4 of the way!
177 (-0.4 from 177.4): Officially "Healthy Weight" BMI!
175: (-2 from 177): Measurement
173 (-4 from 177): Half way point between Healthy BMI and goal
170: BMI of 24 and only one more pound to goal!; Measurement
169 (-5 from 174): Holy crap, I'm at goal!!!
14 mini goals/milestons from now until 23.2 pounds gone. I bolded 5 of them -- they are the ones that I think deserve rewards. Hmmm...whatcha think I should do??? Got any good rewards?
WI feels like such a long time ago! I lost another 1.4! YAY!
I'm pretty sure I will not do so well this weigh in. Just gotta do the best you can, right? I'm sure with my drinking disgression on Saturday, the cookie party on Sunday, and Thanksgiving on Thursday......well, I'm thinking it won't be pretty. I'm maintaining my exercise program the whole week. However, I'm somehow panicked about stalling my weight loss. I know that this is just one week, Thursday is just one day, blah blah blah. I feel as though I can't lose focus now or else it will just all fall apart!!!! I have this irrational fear that I will suddenly gain back every pound I've lost so far in a matter of one week. I know that's not true...that's what makes it irrational.
I was still recovering from my alcohol and sugar overload yesterday, but I still ran. 7 miles. I did awesome. But I wasn't hungry all day. Isn't that so weird? I use hunger as an indicator that I'm doing the right thing. Did I wait to eat until I was hungry? Heck no! Ate my points -- didn't go over, but I still am not hungry this AM. Maybe after my workout. Today I will not eat until I am hungry. End of discussion. :)
**EDIT** I was hungry! (The Wizard of Oz comes to mind when Dorothy steals an apple and the tree slaps her hand and replies "She was HUNGRY!" Sorry...weird tangent) YAY! Got to work with a grumbly tumbly and made my breakfast.
Training schedule this week:
Monday: Run 7 miles. I finished in about 74 minutes.
Tuesday AM: Run 2 miles (will warm up for half mile, then lift, then finish my 1.5 miles at a 0.5% incline). Lift 15 reps, 3 sets all exercises. **Edit** Weight lifting and running were very easy today. I think I've broken through a fitness plateau!
Tuesday PM: Do Carmen Electra's Cardio Strip with the girls. THIS will be the highlight of my week, I think. SO funny.
Wednesday: Bike 45 minutes
Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving): 4 mile pace run which consists of:
1.25 mile warm up (I like tacking on the extra 0.25 here instead of the end)
1X400m (recover for 200m)
1X800m (recover for 400m)
1X1200m (recover for 400m)
0.5 mile easy
Friday: Run 3 mile stride run which is to run 1 mile easy then alternate 20 second sprints with 40 second easy running eight times. Lift the exercises I can at home -- 15 reps, 3 sets.
Saturday: Maybe walk/jog with the family?
That's the story. My focus this week:
Workout hard
Wait until I'm hungry
Stay OP
For Thanksgiving -- don't worry about counting, but be mindful of what I'm eating and if I'm hungry or not.
Ever wonder how you're possibly going to make it through the day/week and then you do and you're completely bewildered by your own stamina and perseverence? That's me today. This week was HARD. Hard in a multitude of aspects, the least of which was staying OP, reaching for my 7 in 7 goals and pushing through my exercise schedule. But I made it and am grateful.....and bewildered.
My handbag turned out so well! I can't wait to give it to my friend for Christmas. I didn't have time last night (didn't get home till 9:30) to take a picture of it, but when I do have time I'll get it on here to show you guys.
My run this morning: rocked it. Don't really know how. I didn't have much left and I was a whining snivelling mess last night. Insert melodramatic Jen with hand to forehead "Oh when, oh when is this going to be over?! I'm SO tired. This is SO hard." I can't believe my dbf didn't slap me. Actually he was very supportive and told me he was proud of me and impressed by me. That didn't stop me from being a brat though. I hold it against him that he's encouraging me to be more fit. Isn't that terrible. I want him to smother me with lovies and kisses and say how beautiful I am no matter what and that it doesn't matter that I have a good 25 pounds to lose to be healthy. Instead he says the reasonable thing: you will be happier with yourself and your body will be better. He's encouraging, not pressuring, but still! *Insert 3 year old stamping foot into ground and pouting* Sometimes I really need to grow up. At the very least I need to stop blaming him for my weight. He's not the reason I've been fat my whole life. He's just telling me the cold, hard truth and challenging me to be better without judging me for how I got here. I *hate* that. :)
But, back to my run. I was scheduled to warm up for one mile, do my strength training and then finish 2 miles. In my head I kind of give myself a break on Friday; I work really hard on Thursday and I'm just so happy to have completed the hardest run of the week that if I walked three miles on Friday I wouldn't care. But, instead, I ran a respectable 9:40 warm up for 10 minutes, then lifted. My lifts are getting easier, an indication that I should up weight soon. I plan to up weights after I get to sixteen reps, probably in the beginning of December. Came back to run my remaining two miles and put the incline at 0.5%. Granted, not a big incline, but an incline nonetheless. I told myself to take it easy if I was tired and that I should just see how a 10 minute mile felt. Well, I just kept increasing the speed! I ended at 6.9 and ran a *very* respectable 9:30 at 0.5% incline on a Friday after I busted my butt all week. Jen, you get a pat on the back. *pat pat pat.*
So, needless to say, VERY happy it's the weekend. I am going to cook and be domestic and play. I've got some fun stuff to do this weekend, but nothing overwhelming. I think WI will be good again this week so that's something to look forward to. I will rest which is good 'cuz I need it!
Really woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Just procrastinated for about 45 minutes before I finally got myself in gear and to the gym. I'm either a) fighting off a cold b) overtraining or c) just plain cranky! Maybe it's a mixture of the three.
However, when I finally got to the gym I mentally prepared myself for a tough run. Here's what I did:
1.25 miles in 11:40ish (warm up and extra distance)
2X400m at 7.3 mph; recovery at 6.0 mph
2X800m ranging from 7.2-7.4; recovery for 400m starting at 5.0mph and finishing at 6.0mph.
Here, I took a break. I finished all the hard stuff!! I did 3.5miles in 32 minutes. I PUSHED. I pushed hard. I was tired, but I made it. I kept my focus and worked on my strides and breathing -- technique is so important on those hard runs!
I walked around a bit before finishing my last 1/2 mile (in 4:24). Without including my walk break I did 4 miles in 36:24, a 9:06. HECK YEAH!! *dancing*
But a couple things I need to take away from this week:
I'm not eating enough. I'm always hungry; when I wake up, throughout the day, before I go to bed. No matter what I've eaten, if it's within my points, I'm still hungry. I need to do as RBR suggested and eat more. I've been trying not to swap out my APs and I usually keep my FP for *very* special occasions, but I'm too hungry these days. And you know what happens when mama's hungry? Mama gets mad. I'm also noticing my weight loss is more rapid than what's considered "healthy," another indicator that I'm not getting enough calories.
I am probably doing too much on the weekends workout-wise. I need to make sure my body gets enough rest or else I won't see improvement. I don't workout, perse, but I end up hiking with friends or taking really long walks throughout the city. Without the rest to rebuild my poor little muscles just can't sustain throughout the week and I end up slightly disappointed in my performance (ha! who am I kidding? I have mule legs!).
I am so proud of everyone on these blogs! And grateful for the encouragement and kudos. You guys have given me a lot of credit -- even when I didn't give it to myself. So thanks! I am proud of my running and am truly motivated by my improvement.
Tonight is sewing class and then bed. EARLY. I'm tired these days.
Alright! It's Wednesday and I finished 4 of my 6 workouts. Yee ha!
Last night I actually ate below my points, so no out of body eating experiences! *whew* Course I woke up RAVENOUS, so I should try to stay to my points -- not eat below them.
My run with the girls was fun and we had a good chat. We run at a track where a lot of marathoners and triathlon athletes run (especially since it's so dark and cold now). One of "them" is an acquaintance and he gave us crap for running slowly (I usually set the pace -- mostly cause I'm the slowest!). I tried not to let it bother me....he was just teasing. But I thought "Hey, a$$hole, at least I'm out here. I'm doing the best I can!" Clearly, defensive. Hm. Gotta work on that. In reality, my response to him was funny and good-natured. I told him it was my recovery run but that I was just using that as an excuse to go slowly enough so we could check him out (he's about 20 years older than me and knew I was kidding).
So, for tomorrow, I have my big pace run. Looked it up this morning:
Warm up 1 mile
2X400m, recover for 200m
2X800m, recover for 400m
Run 3/4 mile easy
I'm really looking forward to it! Run run run run run!!
Thanks everyone for all the comments and responses. Feels really good to share this with like-minded people who are so supportive. My EP experience has been wonderful because of you!
Today has gone well. It's my two-workout day. And, I gotta tell you, I really struggled with my six miles yesterday so I was really tired this morning. But I made it happen and ended up with a pretty good workout afterall. Here's this week's workout schedule:
Monday: Run 6 miles -- try to stay slow to finish. Did pretty well. Had to stop after 3.75 miles in 36 minutes to catch my breath. My hiking and lots of activity over the weekend didn't give me enough time to rest my muscles, I think. I finished the other 2.25 miles in 23:11, which put me at 6 miles in 59:11. Totally reasonable.
Tuesday: AM Bike 25 minutes. Lift (3 sets of 14 reps for all exercises). PM Run 2 miles on the track.
Wedneday: Bike 45 minutes
Thursday: Run 4P (have to look up what the pace run is this week)
Friday: Run 1 mile. Lift (3 sets of 14 reps for all exercises). Run 2 more miles.
Last night I had the strangest experience. I planned all my points and ate my dinner at about 7PM. My DBF came home from work a little late with his own dinner, sushi. Now, thank goodness I'm a vegetarian and don't eat fish, or this story would be much sadder! DBF had a portion of steamed rice to go with his dinner that he never eats. I ate the whole thing! Now, what pisses me off is that I didn't want it or even need it. I wasn't hungry. But it was like a drive-by mauling of the rice. An out of body eating experience! I had no conscious idea I was eating it until it was gone. It was probably about 1cup of rice, so 4 points. I didn't do too much damage -- my six mile run balanced me out and I just swapped my activity points. But imagine if it was fried tempura or something. It was so disconcerting to not have a conscious idea that I was stuffing my face. Maybe I've done this before but wasn't aware of it since I wasn't being so conscientious about my food, but I have no memory of it. Does this happen to anyone else?
This week is very busy for me! I'm excited about all my activities, but I'm also a little nervous about being so booked up. Thanksgiving will be a good rest for me. I can go up and run on my parents' treadmill and sleep and play with my dog and eat really yummy food in moderate portions. I'm hoping to be pretty good this week with food (barring any more out of body experiences) and training so that I can acheive my 1.2 pound loss before T-day. I think I can do it!
This weeks activities:
Tonight: Run 2 miles on the track with the girls.
Wednesday: Date night with my friend who recently had a baby. I get to see her and my goddaughter! YIPPEE. And we're going to a make your own salad place so I don't have to worry about eating crazy foods.
Thursday: Last sewing class
Friday: Going to my friends' roommate's performance. I have to be mindful of not drinking too much (or at all) as WI is on Saturday. Fuzzy water for me!
That's about all for me. How's everyone else's week going so far?
So, some of these things are a lot easier for me to do than others...bold indicates something I need to really work towards or make sure I think about daily:
Exercise 5 days/week and stay on the training plan
Get to the gym by 7:15 (at the latest!!)
Take multivitamin or calcium everyday at work
Get locally grown veggies each week for recipes
DO NOT eat office candy
Make food plan for the week and make interesting recipes for lunch and dinner during the week.
Had a loss at WI yesterday, so that felt good. Plugging along here. I'm at 8.8 gone since rejoining WW and hope to have 10 gone by Thanksiving. After a long and 17 pound gain hiatus from WW, I decided it was time to finally get to goal. So, here I am. Working on it and making progress, slowly but surely.
Yesterday was good. I'm trying to buy more locally farmed foods in an effort to support local economy and be green. Let me tell ya, though, I was so overwhelmed by the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building. First of all, I must have taken the worst route because it took me nearly 40 minutes to get there. I'll have to try a different route next time. Then, I thouht I was on the ball by getting there at 9. It was so crowded I couldn't even see the produce sometimes. It was like being at a very crowded bar and screaming to the bartender from four people back "snap peas, please!" The produce was much more expensive as well, but I figure it's because they aren't corporate farmers (so less bulk and biomass) and are milking the fact that lots o' yuppies go to the Farmer's Market and the market will bear the cost. Next weekend I think I'll try the Sunday market at the Civic Center and see if it's any better.
Then it was off to WW to WI. I got there and the place was packed!! I just recently found this meeting. It's later than I'd like to go (10:30) but the leader is the best I've found. Sadly, she wasn't there yesterday, so I was a little disappointed. Her replacement was good and talked about food and spices and how to use herbs to make food yummy. I knew a lot about that stuff, but who doesn't like to talk about food?
Went window shopping after WW. It's my little gift to myself for working the program all week and going to meetings that put me out of my comfort zone sometimes. I'd lost most of my weight by doing WW online. I'm a really social person, but in general, meetings are something I have to gear up for. It's embarrassing to get on the scale. I have a hard time relating to most of the members -- we're just in different places in our lives. For a while I couldn't find a leader that actually motivated me....a couple of them were really caustic and finger-pointing (though I am an avid proponent of accountability, their attitudes didn't encourage me). Finally I've found a dynamic and fun leader that makes me feel good when I get there and walk out the door by her effervescent personality. Anyway, I went window shopping and had by coffee and 2 point petite vanilla scone and walked the mall. I tried on a dress at Macy's that was on the 50% off rack that was so cute and -- get this -- a size 10! I'm definitely not a size 10 in jeans, but it was so gratifying to see that number on a dress that looked great on me. Unfortunately, the other number was $288. Even at 50% off from that it's not an amount I can justify spending just because the tag says size 10. Doesn't matter though, it made my day.
Came home. Cleaned the house. Worked on crafts. Made soup and had a nice relaxing evening with DBF. Today I'm walking the 5K trail I'm running next Sunday to get the lay of the land. Then volunteer and pick up some fabric and interfacing for my project. Tonight I'm cooking sweet potatoes carmelized with pineapple. I've never tried it, but it sounds delicious and very Fall.
Thank freaking goodness it's FRIDAY, man! I am so happy it's the end of the week. I felt like time just trudged along sooooo slllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. You get my drift.
Last night I did a couple no-no's. Had a glass and a half of wine with DBF and a half a biscotti before my sewing class. I do have to give myself some credit: I had one point left for the day (without using FP's) and I was starving. I was early to my sewing class, went to a coffee shop and all they had were these beautiful and certainly sinful treats. I chose the thing that I thought had the least points and then cut it in half. I ate half and gave the other half to my DBF when I got home. I feel like that was a compromise between my brain and my tummy. :)
Of course after that tremendous feat of willpower I had about 3-4 points worth of wine! What are you gonna do? I've been very good this week and I made a conscious decision. I calculated how many points it would be, and though it was off-plan, I felt like I was in control. Hopefully my weigh-in tomorrow confirms it!
This morning I woke up very early and got to the gym by 6:30. The gym was good. Ran 2 miles and lifted. I did some of the running at a very small incline -- it's such a difference! I think I'm going to try and incorporate more hill work on my short run days. Feels good and I know I'm working hard -- also great to see improvement. It's very motivating! I know I didn't screw up too badly last night because I was very hungry while I was working out. If I'm hungry in the morning it's a good sign that my metabolism is in high gear and I'm "burning butter" (as my mom says). After the gym I volunteered at the hospital for a couple hours and now I'm at work. I've got a big project today, so I know it's going to be late and I'm going to be very tired when I get home. I'm mentally preparing for the hunger and the exhaustion. That's a double whammy that tends to trigger a binge. So.....get home. Drink water. Heat up my pasta. Eat slowly. Gotta visualize!
This weekend I have some more volunteer work to do, gotta go to WW and WI, grocery shop, work on my sewing homework and RELAX! Maybe I'll make some soup for dinner this weekend....mmm....warm soup for this weather sounds perfect. What is everyone else up to?
Lots to be happy about and look forward to as well!
Today was my pace run -- the hardest run for me. I'm using a Women's Running book and have learned a lot about running and training from it. It provides several schedules at three levels. I'm using the "easiest" level for a half marathon. The Pace run is designed to make you run various lengths at your "5K race pace" -- and let's be honest, it's faster than I can sustain for 3 miles. In between you recover at a slow pace for half the length of the sprint. Each week the lengths change so that you gradually move up from multiple 1/4 mile sprints to 1 mile sprints. These drastically improve speed and endurance. So, they're really hard -- but worth the pain! :) Today's Pace Run:
1 mile easy warm up (9:50)
2X400m sprint at 7.2mph, recover 200m at 6.0mph
1X800m sprint at 7.2-7.4mph -- I took a break after this sprint and walked, catching my breath. At this point I had run 2.25 in 20:35.
1X400m at 6mph
3X400m at 7.2mph, recover for 200m at 6.0. Run the remaining distance (0.45miles "easy" (I pushed it to try and break a 9 minute mile...). Finished the 1.75 miles in 15:51.
Total: 4miles in 36:26 ~9:07min/mi.
So, really hard run. I was bummed that I had to stop, but I did an extra sprint at the end to make up for it. :) I'm almost to a 9 minute mile (a personal goal I've had since barely being able to finish a 12 minute mile) which is very encouraging. Next Sunday I'm doing a 5K trail run with a couple girlfriends so I think that affects the schedule and I might not do a pace run until the next week (Thanksgiving, no less! Good thing my parents have a treadmill -- I can earn that pumpkin pie!)
Tonight I'm going to a sewing class which I'm stoked about! I'm making a couple of my girlfriends handbags for Christmas. I LOVE Christmas and I LOVE crafting. Feels good to be do something creative and fun on a weeknight - almost like I'm sneaking out of the house and doing something naughty! And I might get to meet some cool people, too! All good things.
Tomorrow is light running and weight-lifting. I've been OP all week and hope that my WI on Saturday goes well. I'm feeling positive about it and think it will.
Almost Friday, everyone! Hope you're having a good day!
