Like Diane, I too am a bit swamped, so this will be a quick check-in.
Mandy - Super excited to watch the new you emerge. We are always changing. It's great when we change for the better!
Diane - So glad to hear that the PT is working. Can't wait to hear the report from the return to the gym.
I ran my 25 minutes this morning -- like 2.25 miles. Not easy. Not particularly fun. But done. And I continue to be on the right track. Wearing a suit I bought about three years ago and was never able to wear before, so feel pretty good about that.
I wore a new outfit the other day, that I was unsure of, because jeggings always make me feel self conscious and super fat. But the print on them was cute, so I bought them anyway (only $9) thinking "some day..." and decided to wear them to the family thing I went to on Saturday, instead of a drapey dress, or plain leggings, or dress pants, or a pair of jeans that I'm still uncomfortable wearing since having the baby. Turned out pretty well I think. Well enough that I bought a few more of top and bottom in different colors/patterns.
I think I've finally got past the TOM and sodium bump and am on my way down again, which is good. I haven't stepped on the scale to verify, but my rings are not tight anymore, which is usually a pretty good indication that any water being retained is making its way to my bladder. Hopefully the chicken and dumplings I made for dinner don't bring it back.
And with the passing of TOM and the exit of the super cold weather and cloudy skies, my mood is much improved. I have been exercising and eating well, regardless, but I haven't really been into anything. Tomorrow is my regularly scheduled weekly "low" day where I limit myself to 1000-1200 calories, with my oats for breakfast, and a protein shake for dinner, and a couple snacks like fruit and cheese in between. Ever since I've been preparing overnight oats with chia seeds for breakfast, my day has not felt like it is centered on food. Oats are so filling, and so nutritious, I feel like this is a really good healthy change I've made. I can eat them around noon, and not even feel hungry until around 5. And it's only a cup of food, with about 300-350 calories depending on what I mix in. So worth it! I think I'll make a 'chocolate latte' flavor tonight and test that out.
Diane - So glad you're taking care of yourself. Sometimes the gym is the key. Sometimes being willing to forgo the gym is the key. Hope the recovery speeds along smoothly.
Mandy - You are looking hot! I forget how tall you are, but that picture certainly brings it back. So glad the oats are working for you. I love it when we can find the things that make this journey easier, especially when I remember that not being aware of my food choices and planning for them often means I eat high-cal food that I often enjoy less.
I am at work early this morning, hoping to knock out a brief before my 8:30 a.m. hearing this morning. I considered running before work, but decided to focus on the brief, then, hopefully, heading to the gym right after the hearing as a reward. Today is a repeat of Monday, so 25 minutes of running between warm-up and cool-down. Last night was lifting, but I usually treadmill to warm up for the lifting. Yesterday, the only open treadmill was between two athletic-looking men. One was running at 7.5 mph, the other was doing intervals between 6.7 and 3.4. (Yes - I am that gym patron that looks at everyone's times, but I never get judgey about it.) I knew I was only running for a few minutes, so after a minute of walking, I cranked it up and ran 3 minutes at 6.2 mph. I felt like I almost fit in! It was a fantastic feeling!
K. On to my brief. Hope everyone has a really great day.
Mandy: Wow!!! You look so good! Very proud of you. Glad you are getting into such a great groove. Do not feel subconscious at all because you look so happy and healthy!!
Laurie: Yeah, kind of hard to take that step back. It's been humbling to say the least. But you are hanging in there and becoming a running queen!!! Yay for you!!
I didn't go to the gym again. I'm just playing it by ear right now. If I feel good enough, I'll go. The trouble is that the mornings are a little painful still. I think it is just stiffness more than anything, but that's the way it goes. I do think it is getting better, but slow...
Diane - As much as I know that injuries are a part of this process (and really -- a part of life), it's awful that you're having to go through this. Still. But you're doing what you need to do to correct it. I like to control things. I struggle when I have to just let the process happen. I admire your patience with it all.
I slept very little on Tuesday night, but Wednesday was a running day, so I went. It was kind of ugly, and not my best run, but I completed it. My back and my knee and my legs hurt after I was done and got worse as the evening progressed, but I think that was more the combination of lack of sleep and running than just running. I feel much better after getting some sleep last night, and I am actually looking forward to my run tomorrow. Tonight is lifting! Woot!
I was super busy yesterday, cleaning like a crazy woman. It's like I was in the "nesting" phase again. I mean, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor of the shower, and the sink, and the toilet. And not the one guests use, so it's not because there will be family here. It was the bathroom in my bedroom. All because I bought a storage thing to set in there so I could keep extra toilet paper and my pads and stuff next to the toilet.
The scale today showed another new low, 3 pounds down from the beginning of TOM. If I can drop another 3 by New Years, I will have hit my goal that I set way back before I had upheaval due to dental issues. Gonna have to be careful with those Christmas eats!
Had some good news that we are closing tomorrow, so extra day off!!!! Yay! But that also means I need to get stuff done today. I'll be back tomorrow with more words!! ha!
Mandy - I have those times, too, when I just clean for no real reason. I almost never regret it, though. =) So excited that you are so close to hitting your goal, despite the obstacles you've faced. That's fantastic news.
Diane - Woot for an extra day off! I trust you're continuing to heal.
I came in to work early so I could make sure to get my run in today and also sneak out to do some shopping in preparation for our vacation. I don't want to be at work at all. I am completely unplugging for a few days. I am excited, but I also have a bit of anxiety about not doing any work for an extended period. But I am also feeling a bit burned out, so I am hoping to come back recharged.
I may or may not check in over the next few days, but I'll be out for a week after that. I am going on a cruise with the family, so it will be interesting to see how the food part of this goes. The activity part should be good, though.
Hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year's!
Back-to-back posts for me! I am at work just cleaning a bit of stuff up for an extended break, and thought I would articulate my goals for the break.
1 - Access the gym on ship to maintain my 3 days of running a week, but don't worry about lifting if it doesn't fit.
2 - Enjoy whatever foods I want, but don't eat so much I don't feel comfortable.
3 - Enjoy the more active activities to maintain a decent calorie burn, but don't neglect doing more sedentary activities just because they don't come with calorie burn.
Laurie: Hope you have a great time on your cruise!! If you do go over on food or whatever, I hope you don't have a lot of guilt about it. Just enjoy, and then we're back at it!!
I'm back from all the vacationing stuff. We have a 3 day weekend, so that's good. I'll be doing some goal setting this weekend, and I'll share with you next week. I do plan to get on the scale on Monday, no matter how scary it is. It is a place to start. I went back to body pump yesterday and then did some stuff on the treadmill today. I still have a few issues with my back, but I'm carefully getting back to it all. No spin or yoga for a while.
Diane - Hope the weigh-in went well yesterday. I plan to jump on the scale tomorrow morning. I won't weigh when I only got about 3.5 hours of sleep, so I didn't weigh this morning as scheduled, so I have a touch of scale anxiety as well. But better to know than not to know. So glad your back continues to improve. Can't wait for it to be 100% healed. I am really, really looking forward to seeing the goals you are setting. I intend to do that soon as well.
It's good to be back! I miss the warm weather and the "do whatever I want" atmosphere of vacation, but it is nice to be back to routine. I did overindulge a few times. The worst day, ironically, was yesterday, when I was out-of-control on road trip food, as we had to drive about 15 hours back from the port. But I had some great experiences, made all the better by the fact that I am fairly fit right now. The elevators were hard to catch, so I walked up a lot of stairs without worry about getting super winded. Did a lot of walking and swimming without worry. And maintained my 1/2 marathon training schedule, albeit with some adjustments, one of which was running Sunday instead of Monday, as yesterday was a car day. But I was able to run three miles! I did it on the jogging track, so I don't know what my pace was, but it was less painful than the treadmill has been lately, so I may look at options to run that don't involve treadmills. Maybe. I also created a new running playlist, which should be helpful as well.
Hope everyone made fantastic holiday memories! I am actually looking forward to stores being fitness-oriented for the next month to six weeks. It will be nice to have other people focused on it instead of being unintentional, but effective, sabotagers.
Have a great day! It's going to be a fantastic New Year!
Ok, full disclosure time and then I'm moving on. I have put on a lot of weight since November. But, I'm going to own it and move on. Just a general lack of effort and then lacking the workouts put me on a path of not watching what I was eating. But, that's done. It is now a starting point for me.
My back is getting better and better. I have only one more PT session and she thought I should be done. I think so, too. I went to Body Pump this morning and it went well, but I had to keep my weights low for now. I'm going to put off going back to spin class for another week since that was painful to lean over the bike. I'll probably try going back to that next week. They have new spin bikes, so I'm kind of anxious to try them out.
Anyway, I'm shooting for a pound of weight loss per week. I am hoping and expecting that I can lose more than that here in the beginning as I just need to get back into the 230's. So, I'm hoping that it means that I'll be in onederland by November.
I'm going to keep up my workouts and work on getting them back to the level that they were before I was hurt. I really am not interested in running any races, but I'm going to plan a hike soon that will be my goal this year, just have to figure out where that will be. I do plan on going back to do the Manitou Incline at some point, but probably not this year. I need to go back and do much better than I did before.
And finally, I am going back to what worked the best for me back in 2014. Full out dedication to recording what I eat and commitment to keeping under my calorie goal. Of course there will be times when I'm over, but discipline is key. I plan to get that back. Now!!! I can't keep giving half effort.
Um ... *taps mic* ... uh, hi. It's been a while. Also,
I went back and read some of my old posts last night. I haven't been here in two years! I'm thrilled that the little regainers' corner that I started even longer ago than that is still here with some new faces and some familiar ones.
I've put on another 20 pounds or so since two years ago. At this point, though, I've still regained less than half of the 120 pounds I took off between August ~2009 and ~August 2012 (which now sounds like a frighteningly long time ago also). In fact I'm sitting right at 200 this morning, which is not the worst it's been over the past two years but which I'm also not terribly proud of.
So, here I am. Reading my old posts has been helpful because I used to know how to do this: One choice at a time. And that is what I am doing right now.
