Sunday, October 31, 2010

Finish Well...I WILL!

Hello world...its been a few wild and crazy weeks for me and a great deal of thinking amidst the crazy.  I've had alot to process in regards to my health.  I now officially have 8 weeks until the end of the year and the place where I wanted to be 100 pounds down.  I've come to the realization that without some wacky surgical intervention that isn't going to happen.  I'm down 70 now and losing 15 pounds a month for the next 2 months isn't very likely (or healthy) and you know I'm not all about a medical intervention.

So there...I said it out loud.  I feel better.  I've said before, I'm not one of those goal driven people who is all about winning or losing and really I'm not sinking into a depression because of this.  I see every pound lost as a win, and so far my score is 70.  That is nothing to be ashamed of, cry over or shake a stick at, really.  It's amazing and has literally changed my life!

When I reached 220 back in 2006 I was doing Weight Watchers and maintained between 220 and 220.6 for a staggering 6 weeks.  The WW leader said to me "Man, you've definitely got maintenance down."  HA!  It was funny at the time, albeit frustrating...really, it should have been a wake up call.  How did I know I would then top 285 just a few short years later?  Wow for hindsight...

To continue to forge ahead, I need to literally move forward and not spend too much time looking back for the purpose of self-defeat.  I believe it is important to reflect and understand where I am and how I got there.  I instead need to look ahead at where I can be, what I can accomplish and what is a realistic and SMART goal for myself.

Here is where I've been going off track...and my solutions:

1) My eating plan hasn't been tight enough.  I haven't tracked food in awhile, and while you all know I don't believe one can do that forever, when you have a specific goal in mind its a good idea. Solution: I plugged my new goal of being down to 198 by 12/31/10 into Sparkpeople and they adjusted my calories as such.  I need to stay within 1200 - 1550 calories/day (um, I'll just say now that I plan on 1550 being my target). I will faithfully use the food tracker until I've reached my goal.  Once I reach this goal, I will set a new one, probably another 33 pounds down by April 30.  My ultimate goal is 165 - maybe a bit more, maybe less.  It will all depend on my % of bodyfat, which I am aiming for under 24.9 or less (in the "normal" range).  Shoot, to be under 30 (and no longer "obese") is a great goal too!

2) I'm not exercising enough.  You may read that and say, "huh? but you run!" Yes, that I do.  Three or four times a week.  But I need more - I need to do something, anything on those off days from running in addition to that.  Solution: Nothing huge, earth shattering or crazy, but something.  I'm going to incorporate one or two biggest loser workouts a week (any more than that and I'm too sore to run!) and potentially another walk.  Overall, SparkPeople says I need to burn 1900 calories a week combined with my calories above to lose 2 pounds a week, which would get me to 198 by the end of the year.  I am averaging about a 400 calorie burn with each run and the BL workouts are about the same so if I run at least 3 times and then do the workouts on alternating days I should be at 2000 calories burnt/week.  I've struggled with running lately as I need to change my work schedule in order to do my morning runs (its too dark now and only going to get darker!).  I'm also going to start this neat Push Up Challenge http://hundredpushups.com/ with my husband.  It looks like fun and it might take me 6 months to get to 100 but by gosh I'll get there!  :) 

3) I'm not blogging enough!  I know that sounds really crazy, but this blog has been incredibly therapeutic for me and so helpful along this journey.  Getting a chance to explore my journey and get inside my own head in the hopes of sharing it with others and helping someone else - its been so rewarding.  Solution: I'll be blogging a little bit every day - with one or two longer posts a week, but at the end of each evening I'll report my intake and output (um calories in and burned, that sounded gross so I felt an explanation was in order).

Losing weight is all about math.  Less input, more output.  Why is it so hard?  There are so many environmental factors...but the key is to make good choices most of the time, and hold yourself accountable for what you eat, drink and how you exercise.  So, I will do just that, hold myself accountable once again and this time armed with a plan, and this blog for accountability.

Thanks for those of you who have stuck with me since I started documenting this in February.  I'm so excited about what the next 8 weeks holds, and I have a fresh perspective on it all.  Next huge goal - under 200!  That will be SO great for me!

I'll finish with a post of a picture of my new haircut - was going to wait until 75 pounds, but I'm just as pleased with myself about 70, so decided to go ahead and do it (and I really needed it!).

See you back here tomorrow. :)

~Clara

INPUT (FOOD) STATS:
Calories: 1481
Carbs: 215
Fat: 45
Protein: 54

OUTPUT (EXERCISE) STATS:
Calories Burnt: 499
Mileage: 2.59 running @ 12:32/mile pace
warm up/cool down 10 mins @ 15/mile pace


Saturday, October 16, 2010

I'm baaaack!

Yeah, so I haven't blogged in forever - a slacker I KNOW!  It's been a nutty time around our house, selling Stephen's car, buying a truck with in a 1 week time frame - not so easy when you are paying cash and looking for something specific.  Kinda like shopping period - when you don't need anything you find everything but when you want something in particular its nowhere to be found!  Alas, all is well and we are settling in with his new (to him) truck.  :)

But things are good.  And I have good news.

Today, I ran my 4th 5k race.  It was a great experience.  One year ago my little girl and I did the race, but walked it (jogged just a little bit but not really, in fact I carried her part of the way).  We finished it in 58 minutes.

Today I ran it, the entire thing, in 40:04...which is 4 mins and 23 seconds quicker than my race on June 26th.  Pretty happy with that!  Not loving the race picture, as I was really tearing it up that last stretch and the picture reminded me that I've come a LONG way but still have a long way to go.  My butt fat is dragging behind the rest of me - I'm serious.  When I'm standing still my butt doesn't look like that - I promise you I am not making this up, I'll post the picture below so you can see what I mean.  If we got CSI to measure the picture based on the way the pic looks my butt be about 3 inches bigger due to gravity.  :) THAT is more reason to keep on going!

By the way the course was very hilly.  I knew this in advance...but I swear it was uphill most of the way! It killed me, but I kept looking at the ground ahead of me and reminding me that my quads are my biggest and strongest muscle and they could get me up those hills!  The race was really really rough.  My playlist was very strategically put together too - several of my favs are Boom Boom Pow by BEP...and when I was heading up one hill, Melissa Ethridge's song "I Run for Hope" came on and the emotional adrenaline kicked in as this was a run benefiting cancer research.  Maino's "All the Above" ran me in that final stretch.  Another saving grace was that the weather was gorgeous and around mile 2.4 I made a friend who conversed with me the rest of the running way.  She really kept me motivated and we raced at the finish which made it fun.  Wish I had gotten her name or email.  She was a guardian angel for me!  Maybe we'll meet again.

More good news.  I got on the scale when I got home and...drum roll please...I'm down 70 pounds today!  That feels great.  I've got 2 weeks to lose 5 more to meet my 75 down by 10/30 (when my haircut appointment is).  Will I lose 5 in two weeks?  Well, I could if I really worked hard....hmmm...I have a decision to make don't I?

Because its all about a series of decisions (yes, here I go again).  Every decision you make regarding food, your health, etc., is one that will affect you for the long term.  Every fried chicken sandwich I ever ate is why my butt literally dragged behind me in that picture today.  :)  I'm being serious here.  It is taking a long time to undo what did me in.

So do I push it to get that next 5 off?  I just might.  I've been losing pretty slowly these last 20 pounds...so maybe I'll jump start myself again.  And when I start feeling deprived or diety I'll go back to 80/20.  I'll need something to really jump start me if I'm going to be down 100 by December 31...

{insert movie announcer voice} Stay tuned to see what Clara decides to do over the next two weeks....

Peace out yo,
Clara