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.)