3.5 pounds

3.5 pounds, it really isn't much in the scheme of things. It could be a swing of a bad eating weekend or some heavily salted food.

Right now that 3 lbs is making me worry.

153 lbs is a rounding error to 155.
155 is headed in the wrong direction.
I will grant it isn't 168, my peak weight.
but still.....

149.5 is progress.
149.5 means I am staying steady.
149.5 means working out and eating semi healthy is keeping me honest.
but it isn't my goal for 2013.....

So I was completely off exercise for a month while the wildness of a huge work project. That is over and I am back at bootcamp and running again. It is week 2, so I feel like I am officially back on the wagon. After stress month from crazytown, we went on vacation for a week. A glorious week of no thinking and decision making. I was able to run 3 times and ate anything I wanted to. I gave myself a week after we got back before I weighed myself. Be kind to yourself, right?

Even with that....those pesky 3.5 lbs had stuck around. Bummer.

It's not like it is a surprise, of course. Pizza, beer, funnel cake and ice cream will do that to a girl. So I dig in again. That is a no brainer. Feeling good about myself is the reward for for hard work.

But the wall is a little tall right now, the distance seems a little longer, the hill a little higher. I know I have the fight in me, but I am going to have to dig a little deeper.

3.5 pounds.

Planning for Success

I am sitting here watching the Biggest Loser contestants get their make overs. It seems like this gets set up as a big goal for them and something to work for. Just another example of why setting goals and milestones is so important.

You may have noticed that I split up my year long goals into smaller chunks. The overall goal of 750 miles for the year is represented as 62 miles each month. I know if I have a lower month it won't mean I am not going to hit my goal, but it will serve as a good reminder to get back on the treadmill.

For my plank goal I set 1 minute, 1.5 minutes, etc working towards my goal of 3 minutes. I have gained strength faster then I expected, having started at only being able to hold one for 30 seconds.

What was my non-scale victory today? I stacked my feet during push ups at boot camp. It wasn't as hard as I thought at all. Gave myself a little pat on the back for that!

I have also been seeing some progress on the scale side. Double bonus.

Workout schedule
Monday - boot camp
Tuesday - Boot camp/short run
Wednesday - snow expected! 30 day shred or run
Thursday - rest
Friday - boot camp
Saturday - 30 day shred
Sunday - Long run

What have been your non scale or scale related victories lately?

Back to the Way it Was

Let's see - where were we? Ah yes, good bootcamp work out. We stretched quite a bit, which was just what I needed. She keeps telling us to stretch at home and I am getting better at making the time. I did some rolling on Monday and it felt good. I know stretching is super important, one because I feel better when I do it, but also because we have back problems in my family tree. Thanks Dad! He has a set of stretches he does regularly so his back is nice to him. Hubby needs to take a page from that book as well. It makes me feel old when he is hobbling around because he has tweaked his back. I am not doing all this working out, just to feel old!

Excitement about Disney is growing! Chatted with my Ohio running buddy and my yet to be new friend. We are all in the same sorority (different schools), but I haven't met the woman coming in from CA yet. I am certain we will be fast friends on our little weekend adventure. Just another reason why this weekend is already scoring high points in my book. What isn't scoring such high points? This annoying cold I have contracted. I have this symptom where when I get sick my eyes water. There is nothing like sitting and having your nosing running like a faucet and eyes looking like you just broke up with your boyfriend of 5 years. That was pretty much the second half of the day. I didn't want to take sudefed because anything after 2pm would keep me up way too late. (plus with no caffeine base since I have dropped diet coke - who knows what would happen!) and it was too early for a nighttime medicine. Laura's foot and my head still have lots of time to recover, so its not world ending. Annoying for sure though!

Despite my cold I managed to make a great dinner! Fish and edamana salad. I am totally not that fancy but a few months ago I went to a school fundraiser at one of those make it ahead places.

We had a fun girls night out and I ended up taking a deal where I got several sides. To be honest, this is where the money was worth it for me. The main meals were good, but the sides rocked the house. We had an exotic grain mix with roasted veggies to die for. I almost ran over and picked more up for Thanksgiving dinner.

this looked much prettier in the bowl I made it in for dinner. 

This salad was the beans (is that what they are? legumes?), cranberries, feta and walnuts with a little dressing. I never would have bought these ingredients at the store, but it exposed my husband and I to another healthy choice. I am sure my son would have eaten it as well, but I made mixed veggies for Miss Picky and gave some to him as well. I am kind of glad, because now there is more for me!

In other news, dropped two pounds as predicted. I am back to where I was in January when the holiday bloat started to dissipate  The question is will I keep losing this week. I think so, as I have workouts planned, my appetite has returned to normal and there will be a lot of walking and little/no alcohol this weekend with the race. Perfect conditions to have my body keep going in the right direction. My goal is to lose 6 lbs this year, so slow and steady wins this race.

Why Am I so Mean?

You might think it was my kids that accused me of that. But no, its me. I have been disrespecting myself this past week or so. I am just eating beyond belief and can't seem to stop the snacks. A few candy corns here, a few chocolate peanuts there. And the Girl Scout cookies haven't even hit the house in earnest yet! Usually when we have treats in the house I can take my small taste right before I go to bed and be satisfied because I am upstairs with my teeth brushed in no time.

I have the usual monthly ups and downs, but this month it started way to early and hasn't abated. I could blame the long runs I have had for my upcoming half. The truth is I haven't been thinking ahead and preparing my kitchen and my head to use good food.

I am super lucky in that my husband does the meal planning and grocery shopping for the house. I very much appreciate this effort because the weeks I have to plan, I struggle to come up with meals! We have lots of cookbooks in the house and, of course, some favorites, but it is hard to do week after week.

What I need to do is figure out by Saturday night what I want him to bring home. We always have bananas and apples in the house. I take blueberries in my lunch. I find that roasting a spaghetti squash or having some extra veggies available allows me to beef up my dinner plate without increasing my calorie intake.

My self control has been low lately (since the end of the dietbet....hrm) and the scale has told the tale for sure. I need to get myself back under control and finding some yummy goodies to fill my stomach. This time of year is always a little hard. The fall veggies are getting a little boring, but the summer bounty of fruit hasn't arrived yet. That isn't an excuse, it is just a call for me to focus.

Based on my cycle and the fact that I will be going to FL (and away from the snacks!), I am sure I will lose some weight this week. What I need to do is take that edge and keep after it.

I am watching the Biggest Loser as I write this and love the Body Peace Pledge. Think I could use these reminders on a daily basis!!

By the way - still no soda since October! That is a habit I feel I can honestly say I have kicked.

What have your struggles been lately? How do you stop where you are and change the direction?

#dietbet

It indeed was icy-ish this morning and boot camp was cancelled. Bummer. But I did 30 day shred, level 2 with my son. I was proud to say I got through most of it without stopping and used my 5 lb weights!

So I think I mentioned that I had joined a dietbet. This website was clearly doing a social media blitz because there were many sites/bloggers offering bets. Essentially what you do is bet on yourself. You have 28 days to lose 4% of your weight. You take a picture of yourself and the scale on day one.

I was full of Christmas (ok- multiple holidays) bloat, so I was feeling pretty confident I would be able to get 4%. You get a word of the day to go with your weight.

Yikes, that 154.5 was tough to see. I was fully dressed and it was the afternoon, but still. I had gotten to the point where I was only seeing 14x on a daily basis, even in the evenings before bed.

During the 28 days you have a forum where folks can share thoughts, activities, encouragement, despair. Whatever suits your fancy. They even have "quick updates" such as "I just ate something bad." or "I just finished a workout." Folks were a little wrapped up in the game at the beginning. Especially when some folks were starting to weigh in with 100% of their weight loss achieved. You could submit "unofficial" weigh-ins throughout the game. Eventually that went away and the folks encouraged by social interaction stayed around.

I have to admit that my only goal was to not lose my $10. Not that it was so much money, but I should have been able to get back to my pre-holiday weight in a month. I am working out 5-6 days a week and more importantly have settled back into the food cycles I had before the treat truck came along.

Today was the last day of the bet and I knew it was going to be close. My son had his black belt pre-quals on Friday night and we went out to Italian afterwards. I had already done several meals out and was just ready to dive into some pasta. I should have special ordered what I wanted, but didn't and ended up with a heavy cream sauce. Ugh, pair that with a large glass of wine, and the pound I gained was no surprise. When I keep to my eating after a night like that, those pounds gained usually come off about half a pound day. That is what happened this time and I sneaked in with a 148. My scale only measures half pounds, so we will have to call that good. I had to take pictures again with the word of the day and they verified my weight loss.

I had to use my kids to take my pictures. I don't know why but I am a little private about my online activities with my hubby. He isn't on Facebook or Twitter and doesn't read blogs, so I feel like he isn't quite as on board with the friendships and motivation you can find online.

So would I do dietbet again? No way. My mind was on the weight more then ever before, which is saying something for someone who weighs in twice a day and writes down her morning weight and workout each day. I was happy to lose 6 pounds last year and if I was able to get to the same place (getting down to 142ish) and have those splurge days and hard workouts in between I will have won. While I was much better about my eating this weekend, Friday excepted, it wasn't joyful. Interestingly enough, I didn't totally splurge today like I expected. Who knows what the scale will say tomorrow?

What are some of your motivations? Would money change how you approach being healthy or losing weight?