Week 25 Falling Off the Wagon

This week the numbers are really, really bad!  I think I knew on Sunday that it was not going to be a good week.  In fact if I looked back at the past couple of weeks, I think I saw this fall coming.   I just choose to ignore the signs and hope that I could just hang on and not fall or at least not make a huge mistake.  I am stalling here because I am ashamed to admit that I posted such a large gain, so I'm taking a deep breath here and......new number 161.2.  There, it's now in black and white and I can move on.  I posted a 6.2 pound gain this week.  Yes it was a short week and I'm sure some of this is water weight, but no excuses will make it right.  Sunday and Wednesday I just fell off the diet wagon and binged!  That is the ugly truth, yesterday I was craving something.  I don't know what I was craving but I just knew that I wanted something else when I sat down to eat.  I ended up eating chips and cheese, kind of a nacho thing and oh all things popcorn!  I had lots of salt, I didn't log all my days on Bodymedia, the day I did I had over 3000mg of sodium!  So now that I have confessed, (I'm hoping that confession is really good for the soul) I plan to pick myself up, move forward and get back on track.  My consultant doesn't believe the numbers.  She kept telling me that it had to water weight from all the salty things I ate, then just told me to drink plenty of water to flush out my system.  And when I started with the cravings, to remember to drink fluids first and then if I'm still "hungry" or craving something go ahead and eat it.  I kept wanting cheeses, hard boiled eggs and a hamburger yesterday.  I think my body needed some protein.  That's now the past and we look forward.  I choose to do a planned week this coming week to help me get back on track, five days still with two free days.  I may not even take the free days this week, we will see how I do.  

                                              If I feel like I am going to binge eat again I will do two days of Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine meals just to make sure I stay on my 1200 calorie limit.  Exercise this week I've been a little lazy as well.  I've just been tired and my knees both feel like I've twisted them so they hurt just a little when I run.  I've not been good at ignoring the tenderness and pushing past it this week.  I'm used to body parts being tight and an occasional twinge every now and then.  Usually I can get my mind to ignore it and soon the pain goes away.  But the past two weeks it seem any excuse a body part can come up with, my mind is listening to and caving in.  I keep telling myself that this is my body in a panic mode because I haven't been this light in over 22 years.  I've lost weight before, but never over 100 pounds and I really feel like this is my body saying wait a minute.  I'm still on my mileage for my training, so I will continue with the training schedule and try my darnest to get back on track with the fitness part of it!  So that's the ugly truth this week.  I'm now tying my knot and holding for the rest of this day and tomorrow morning at 4am I will start my climb again!  Till next week, keep moving everyone.~ Darcy

I just had to add the last photo for motivation.

   

Time to turn up the heat! Week 24

So this week's weigh in was pretty much what I expected it to be.  I didn't really stay on plan much this week at all.  Not that I've been on my plan for the last 30 days.  So now that Eid is close, I guess I should come clean and explain what my training and eating has been like for the past 30 days.  But first let's go over the numbers.  Today at my weigh in I did not lose, but I did not gain anything either. So it's what I call a "push" week.  My number remains the same at 154.6.  Julia was back this week, I was happy to see her face.  I didn't log all my foods on my bodymedia this week, so I wasn't as accountable as I should have been either with my eating.  So back to explaining what I've been doing for the past thirty days.....  During Ramadan Muslim fast from sunrise to sunset.  There are many reasons we do so, but it means no food or drink during the day.  So I have to get up by four and finish my runs by 5:30 to be able to eat before the sun came up.  There were days that I did not get up on time and days when I just couldn't break fast at 8:00pm.  Because Ramadan landed in the middle of summer this year it meant the fast was from about 6am to 8pm every day.  Trying to train for a marathon was difficult at best.  Even now on my last day of fast I did a long run this morning at 9am and I sit here so thirsty.  I am not hungry, just so thirsty, but this is part of what Ramadan teaches us.  There are those out there in the world that live like this everyday.  Not because they want to, but because they don't have clean drinking water or food to eat.  I am blessed and this is one of the lessons I remember each year at this time.  So I guess next year I will be up a little earlier and maybe that will help.  I don't really know.  Or maybe not schedule a run so close to the season.  So I will be glad to return to my complete program on Monday and hopefully start going down on the scale and up on the mileage.  Trying to 1200 to 1500 calories at 8pm was NOT doable.  On a happier note, I was measured again today and those numbers went down.  I've lost 7.5 inches since my last measurements and that makes the total inches lost now 29.5!  Next week the weigh in will be on a Thursday because I work next Saturday.  That means I will have to be good after celebrating Eid tomorrow.                                                                                                        

So how about exercise this week?  I ran six days this week, I took a day off and did nothing but study for my ACLS. (Which I passed, if you care to know.)  And I struggled to get through the rest of my runs this week.  I did do my long run this morning as I stated earlier a seven miler that was down right ugly.  I just wanted to stop and shower around mile 4.  My mind kept asking my body if maybe it was only made to run a 5K.  But I will not let my mind win.  I will continue to train and hopefully this coming week will be better.  I also need to put my core back into the mix.  I stopped doing it two weeks ago and my back has been achy a lot this week.  I guess I need to sit down and work out some type of schedule that I can live with.  Okay, that's this weeks post.  Until Thursday, keep moving everyone! ~ Darcy

Week 23 weigh in!

Week 23 is an early weigh in because I work on Saturday.  Again this week Julia is out and I saw another new person.  I sit here shaking my head, wondering if the center will ever learn that I for one like consistency.  I can't be the only client that they have that hates change.  Weight loss is such a personal and private thing.  To let someone in and basically take over the wheel to help you reach your goal is a hard thing.  At least for me it is.  So anyway, we didn't discuss much this week either, just what worked and if I have any challenges coming up in the next week.  I ordered my food, packed it up and was out the door in less than thirty minutes.  I'm told that Julia will be back next Saturday.......I'll have to wait and see.  So, my new number?  154.6, that is a  2.4 pound loss for the week.  So I guess taking a couple of days off of running didn't hurt me as much as I thought it would.  I'm happy with the weight loss, I look at parts of my body when I'm showering or when I walk by the mirror and think, "Who does that body belong to?"  There are still days when I feel like I still weigh over 200 pounds.  And to be honest, when I look in the mirror I still see the woman that weighs 265 pounds.  I sigh because I know that the summer is almost over and I don't think I will find a chance to go to the lake or go swimming with this new shape I have, but that's okay.  By next summer I will be at my goal weight and I can go camping with Chris in a new suit and know I'm comfortable in this body.  A new goal to reach for.  I'm buying less food now, slowly taking out meals and starting to eat on my own.  My plan is to be at least half way by the end of September.  And by way way I mean half Jenny food, half regular foods.                                                                 

So for exercise this week I took Sunday off.  I actually went and bought a new fish tank for my husband.  We spent the better part of Saturday and  Sunday setting up the new tank and then cleaning out the old one.  Then setting the old one back up.  So I actually ran out of time and didn't get my run in, it wasn't planned that way.  I finally posted my schedule on the hall for the 1/2 marathon training and I'm doing my best to follow it.  Feels like I'm not doing anything, but I'm try my best to stay on schedule.  In another week I will register for the race and that will be the no turning back point.  Part of me has to say, I'm sorry and saddened by the fact that my cousin will have to sit this race out.  I know it would be so much easier if she were to run with me.  But this is a journey for me.  I can and will make it alone, because I am Strong.  The only thing that I hope for is that Chris will be there waiting for me when I cross the finish line.  Or at least someone.......

Well, that's it for this week.  One more week of Ramadan and then I can really turn up the heat!  Til next week, keep moving! ~ Darcy

Week 22 weigh in!

Wow, 22 weeks already.  I can't believe I've been on the Jenny train for 22 weeks now.  This week my consult was very brief, Julia, (my new consultant) is out on vacation so I got someone else I don't know.  And we all know how I feel about change, so we won't even go there this week.  I wasn't really sure how much I would be down this week.  On Tuesday before we went out to celebrate my husband's birthday I was at 156 on my scales at home.  Having eaten out I knew that the scale would not stay there.  So much sodium in restaurant food, I knew I couldn't hold on to a three pound weight loss.  I did weigh in and choose my foods for next week.  That said my new number this week is 157.0, that is a 2.8 pound weight loss for the week.  I dropped on more lunch meal for the week, so now I am eating five breakfasts, five dinners and four lunches on Jenny the rest are on my own.  I wanted to drop it to fours only but this program I'm doing until September is fixed so I spend at least $100.00 a week with $10.00 off my weekly foods.  So I guess I'll be staying there until September anyway.  So I'm now 17 pounds from my Jenny goal.  I can tell you, I'm ready to go more on my own.  But of course they don't recommend that we go more than two days on our own until we reach goal weight.  I don't like that idea.  We really didn't talk about anything special this week, but I will be weighing in early next week, because I work on Friday and Saturday.  I hope Julia is back. 

My third week training for my 1/2 marathon is complete, is was an okay week.  I finally took a day off from exercise this week.  I sat on my bum yesterday and this morning I got up and ran 6 miles.  For the first time in weeks the run felt really good.  I didn't have to talk myself into doing "ten more minutes" or one more mile.  I just enjoyed the run.  I still ended up going over the mileage for this week on the plan, I'm working on trying to cut back.  But I like the weight loss I'm getting from the exercise and low calorie count, I just keep saying to myself, "Only a few more weeks, then I can ease up a little."  We'll have to see how I do this coming week.  We are at the half way point in Ramadan, about 15 days left.  Then I can go back to my regular days and plan.  So that's my check in for the week.  I did actually go and buy myself a couple of new shirts that are mediums and one sundress that is a large.  Still feels weird not shopping in the "women's" section of the store and I think I'm just about ready to go outside in a swimsuit!  In public!  Now that summer is almost over.  LOL  So until next week, keep moving ~ Darcy