The big 100!

176.0 this morning.

That's 100 pounds lost from my highest of 276 in about 2009.  A year ago today, I was about 254, so I've lost 78 pounds in the last year - 4 in the last month, solely because of Allan's challenge and not wanting to mess that up. (I have messed up Rebecca's challenge - I haven't done a thing for it since it started.)

I ran a 5K Saturday morning!  You know it's bad when you have to leave the house an hour earlier on Saturday than on a weekday.  The race started at 8:15.  Ugh.  So, we're all standing near the starting line just as the race was about to start and the announcer says, "There's a green VW with your lights on," and I went to my friends - "I have a green VW!"  So, just as the starting bell went off, I was running back to the parking lot to turn the lights off in my car.  Then I ran back to the starting  line and ran the race, starting well behind all the walkers.

Anyway, my finishing time includes the little jaunt to my car and back.  I finished in 35:14.  I use Runkeeper to keep track of my times and distances (thanks W0rld!) and I ran the first mile in 9:48, which is my fastest time ever and not sustainable.  Hell, I've only run an entire 5K once before!  Usually I have to walk a few times in 3 miles.  I slowed down and my average pace ended up at about 11 minutes per mile. Still a little fast for me.  Running with other runners made it much easier to go faster than usual.  Such motivation! As I was coming up to the finish line, I saw my friend taking pictures (because she finished so much ahead of me and had time to go to her car and get her camera!).  I'll post one when I get it.

Finally - it's been tough to stay on this 1200 calorie diet and I didn't completely succeed this week.  I had sushi on Wednesday night and went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant for Troy, NY restaurant week on Thursday, where I had some actual pasta with creamy sauce, for like the second time in a year. But I was on-plan for the rest of the week and my exercise was good.  The results show it!  I'm at a new low, and only 7 pounds away from goal.

I like Yoni Freedhoff's attitude about the whole thing.  He's an obesity doc in Canada, and his approach makes infinite sense.  Here's the link to his blog, Weighty Matters. I can't find a pithy quote right now which outlines his philosophy, so I'll badly paraphrase: The best diet for you is one that you can maintain without pain or undue stress, and in fact enjoy.  Any diet where you feel punished and unable to eat foods you like is guaranteed to fail.
Here's a quote from this post: Do you Know the Difference Between a Diet "Cheat" and a Life "Choice?"
Sure I believe that all choices need to be informed, and to inform a dietary choice, if weight's a consideration, quantity and calories may well matter, but the simple fact that you decided that food was a pleasure in your life? Well if you can't make that choice from time to time I'd argue you're cheating on living a realistic life, and that cheat's probably more likely to lead your diet to fail than any other.

He's not saying that cheating is OK.  He's saying that if you're on a diet where you feel you have to "cheat" just to get a little enjoyment out of food - that diet is doomed to fail. If you want to lose weight, lose weight eating in a healthy way that you can sustain for the rest of your life.  Amen, brotha!

(To be clear-er.  In my mind, for 300 pound people, eating in a healthy way does not include ice cream.  Ever!  There are ways to make food enjoyable at 1300-1500 calories a day, and if you must absolutely have some pasta, have a tablespoon of it to get the taste.  Seriously.  I'm not trying to give people a license to eat "intuitively" here.  I'm trying to say that the way to lose weight is to do so by eating in a way where you don't feel deprived and feel the need to cheat.  Because sista - you gonna have to eat this way for the rest of your life!  You better be able to do that! The way to success is to figure out how to eat in a way that you can maintain - forever.)

Rainy Tuesday

176.8 this morning. 

I want to note this, because it's my lowest weight since maybe 1994, it's verrry close to 100 pounds lost (my highest weight was 276), and it's less than 10 pounds from my goal, which is 169!

All it took was focus, concentration and making sure that everything I did supports this goal.  Too bad I've only been able to put together 3 days like that - but my body responded when I did the right things.  Mostly, for the last few months, I've been in more of a maintain-y mode than a losing mode.  It's harder to concentrate when 10 pounds away from goal than when I was 70 pounds away from my goal.

No excuses.  For the last few days I've been shaking it up a little to jolt my system.  I worked out hard for 4 days, weights on Friday and yesterday and ran Saturday and Sunday.  I still can only run for about 2 miles without walking.  I've got a 5K on Saturday and want to run the whole thing, even if I go slow.
I had a juice Friday and yesterday (cucumber, 2 green apples, ginger, lemon), and Sunday and yesterday I ate all my calories in 6-7 hours  (11-6).  Normally lately, I've been on autopilot with the eating 90% of the time, and then I hit a restaurant with friends and out the window goes my self control. No creamy sauces or pasta or anything like that, but 2 cheddar biscuits blows 2 solid days of 1200 calories.  It sucks, but thems the facts.

I bought myself some reward boots and another nice dress!  My calves are finally small enough to fit in long boots and darn it, I'm gonna celebrate that!  I found the dress at Goodwill on Sunday for $8.50.  It's stretchy and fits and feels great!  It's exactly the length to cover up my bulgy knees but show my nice calves.  I wish I could wear dresses to work.  Technically, I suppose I can, but the day I wear a dress will be the day I have to put on steel toed boots, a lab coat, a hard hat and go out into the factory.

Friday

181.6 this morning, up 3 pounds since Sunday.

It's gotta be water weight, 'cause I didn't eat 10,000 extra calories this week. I've been kicking ass on the water, though.  I slipped on Tuesday at a birthday dinner for a friend.  I had decided in advance that I was going to have the raw ahi tuna appetizer for my dinner, but I forgot that it came with noodles with ginger sauce.  Crap.  I wasn't strong enough to just say No. The only good thing I can say about that is at least it was appetizer-sized, not dinner-sized. 

Next time I need to pick what I'm going to order ahead of time, before I leave my house.  They have an ahi tuna entree and I can ask for extra veggies in place of the starch side.

I also think my Lyme disease is making a showing again.  I've been unusually tired since last weekend and my knees hurt.  For example, a few weeks ago I was full of energy, but this week it's tough to stand up when I'm sitting, without using something else to help me get up.  I feel like I'm fat again!

I'm signed up to run a 5K on September 22, so on Monday morning I tried to run 5K (3.2 miles) without stopping.  I made it!  Then I walked 3.2 miles back to my car.  That 6.4 mile workout burned 600+ calories!  But it kicked my ass.  Then on Tuesday I pushed myself with a weight workout and was sore for 2 days afterward.

So today I tried to run for 3 miles again (1.5 miles each way), and could barely do it. Actually, I had to walk several times.  My average pace was 14 minutes/mile - which is glacial.  But I did it.  Last week it was easy and today it was SO hard.  But I did it.  Tomorrow morning, I think I'm going to do an old-style step routine or something else on DVD, and Sunday morning I'm going to try and run again.

It's times like these when I can't think too much.  I have to just put one foot in front of the other and do the right things day in and day out.  I have to stick with the plan and not think about it.  I have to exercise most days of the week and not think about it.  Don't think about it.  Just do it.  The reward is knowing that I'm more stubborn than this stupid water weight. I'm going to win.  Period.

Get FIt, Feel Epic Start

So this is the start of my second challenge this fall.  I wanted the discipline, but my first week on Allan's challenge makes me feel rebellious on the whole challenge thing.  Nevertheless, I'm good at self-denial, so I'm going to forge ahead.

As I said, the first week on Allan's challenge was mixed.  I did great, and then good, and then OK until yesterday.  I ran 2 days, rode bike 2 days, and I think I did a weight workout 1 day.  So workouts were good.  The eating was good until yesterday when I found myself at Applebees with a group of people.  Still, I didn't descend into the fried appetizers like I really wanted to.  I got a quesadilla burger, full of Applebees advertised "special flavor boosters," or something like that.  What it did was sit in my stomach like a lead ball and make me sleep poorly last night.  Ah, regret.

I religiously logged everything I ate into MFP for nine months, yet this week I had trouble doing it for more than a day.  I saw that I am eating around 1300 calories, so I'm probably OK.  I also lost 3 pounds this week (gained one back this morning!), so again, I'm probably doing OK.  This MFP trouble probably doesn't mean that I'm on the highway back to gain 100 pounds.  Still - I feel like if I'm in 2 challenges, I should be logging my food.

So, my 5 goals for Rebecca's challenge.  Measurable goals.

1) Lose 10 pounds to get below 170.
2) Run at least (1) 5K race.  Run the whole thing. Finish in less than 40 minutes. Note: this is scheduled to be September 22.
3) Ride my bicycle at least once a week.
4) Run at least twice a week.
5) Do at least one weight workout every week.

There!  That wasn't hard!  I'm committed to 4 workouts a week per the above, and I think I can do that.  It's where I want my life to go anyway, so being accountable should help cement 4x/week workouts as a way of living.

Peace y'all!