Thursday, July 28, 2011

Calories, my weight, and the weekend (174.6)

I have to be honest.  I was beginning to freak out a little bit when my weight was still 176.0 yesterday.  I know I'm losing at the right rate, and last week's 175.2 marked a 5 pound loss in the past month.  But the up-tick on Wednesday messed with my head.  Knowing something in your head--like a small weight shift is no big deal--doesn't always translate to a rational emoitional response.  I was thrilled with this morning's reading.

Freaked out and thrilled..... emotional responses to that number staring back at me from between my feet.  Not exactly what I'm trying for this time. 

But, alas, I'm still learning to unhook from the scale.  That's going to be a long road, I think.

Last night I reviewed my food journal, which I've been keeping since June 28th (in hardcopy--a small Moleskine notebook). I've had 12 days of calories under 1,650.  The rest have been days between 1,700-2,000, or days I haven't fully tracked (like the cake eating days last weekend).

For 3 out of the past 5 weeks I've run/walked 3 days; one week was 2 days; one week was 1 day.

I was thinking last night I might want to back my calories down a bit if I didn't start losing again soon.  Today I think I want to keep them at the 1,600-1,700 level.  That allows me room to exercise 3 days a week without feeling deprived or exhausted.  And I think it also allows for the occasional day where I go over 1,700 calories.  Emphasis on "occasional"; as in, 2 or 3 a month at most.

Ultimately, I'll know by what the scale says.  It's determining how long I want to let my weight stay the same before I adjust the calories down (or, increase the aerobic activity, which I want to do anyway). 

What IS the right time frame to allow for a steady weight before reducing calories?  A month?  Less?  More?

I know there's no rush to lose this weight.  But I also have a goal of weighing 155 by the end of February, for the Princess Half Marathon in Florida.  I think that is attainable and not at all agressive--it's 20 pounds in almost 7 months.  I'd like to weigh less, because I run faster when I weigh less, but I can run 13.1 miles at 155 pounds, and it won't kill my pace too badly.

So, we'll see.

Tomorrow we are taking the kids to Indianapolis to see Taylor Swift. We are staying at a hotel down town Friday night (walking distance to concert), and then Saturday afternoon we'll meet up with Mark's sister and niece's families for the pool and dinner, which will include celebrating Mark's birthday on Sunday (he shares a birthday with Harry Potter--July 31st ).  There will be cake. 

I haven't decided if I'm going to have a slice or not.  I think "not" is the smart choice, since there was cake last weekend.  But, it's his birthday and it won't be in my house or the house we are staying in Saturday night, so there won't be temptation for more.  I will probably see how the rest of my food is up to that point before I decide.

Traveling is tough. I'm going to try my darndest not to gain weight on this trip.  I am packing food and a cooler, so I will have my usual snacks.  I know I can order healthy foods when we eat out; Saturday I think our niece & her husband are going to grill, so that will work out great.

I'm taking my running stuff & hitting the treadmill Saturday morning at the hotel. I have to get in 4 miles Saturday to stay on my half marathon training plan. A workout will help keep me focused on making healthy choices.

Saturday night we are staying with Mark's sister & her husband, in their new house.  They will have healthy breakfast foods like oatmeal (real oats, not brown sugar & cinnamon in a small brown bag) and fruits.

The good news is that his family is very health conscious, and we are not visiting or staying in homes where they eat a lot of junk food.

I likely won't blog while I'm gone, so it may be Monday before I'm back here, unless I have anything pertinent to share.  I can blog from my Blackberry, which is super cool. 

Oh, and it's been absolutely lovely having a husband who isn't tied to school books!  Wednesday morning as Mark was leaving for work, he had a lightness to his voice and face that I haven't seen in ages.  I told him if I could read people's auras, I would say that his has finally changed from dark to light.  It's a very good thing.

2 comments:

Vickie said...

have fun

I would say to try picking up the pace/intensity a tiny bit, before dropping the calories. yes, some version of intervals, not to kill joints and not to cause injuries, but yes, to push the edge a bit.

Vickie said...

I have a three day rule. If I am 'crashing' for three days, can't get myself back up out of the sucking vortex, then I have to call my pschiatrist and be seen immediately.

I think you might have the 3 week rule when it comes to the scale.

You have said that you can have a 2 week cycle of hold/loose, depending on where your hormones are (am I remembering that correctly?).

So if I would say, you add one more week on to your normal cycle.

So, if you have been doing all that you need to do for yourself (and I mean REALLY doing it), and you hit 3 weeks of no pounds lost, then you have to change things up a bit.

You can't expect to get on the scale and see a loss constantly. I know you know that on some level. But I am not sure you are really embracing it.

You should expect to have to change things up exercise wise on a regular basis. Because you will be a smaller person and your regular routine will become easier.

Not talking about more hours (necessarily). Not talking about putting body at risk of injury.

Am talking about weight resistance (own body in yoga or pilates, and free weights) and more intensity with cardio (intervals for example).

the same way we work the calories like a science experiment (with the goal to loose slowly with healthy calories, feeding the body healthy fuel calories, set at the highest level) - we want to set exercise up the same way. We do not want to set ourselves up the way TBL does to have to do a lot of killer hours. I would not go so far as to say we want to loose with as little exercise as possible, because our body needs healthy exercise, but there is a fine line in there somewhere.