Yes!!! If I've got scale-punishment coming from last week's mistakes, my body is still holding it at bay! I'm down 1.6 pounds this week, which brings me to exactly 10 pounds lost since I joined Weight Watchers and 72.6 pounds lost overall.
3/1/12 247.2
1/4 177.2
1/11 175.4
1/18 176.8
1/25 177.0
2/1 178.0
2/8 177.4
2/22 178.0
3/1 178.0
3/8 178.0
3/14 176.6
3/21 176.2
3/28 174.6
What REALLY feels good about this is that number- 174.6. I'm under 175 and less than a pound away from what Weight Watchers considers to be a healthy weight. I seem to have broken out of my plateau and I'm crossing my fingers to get well below 174 before I have another little gain, so I won't have to sweat it!
While it felt good to hit the 10 pound milestone (although I couldn't stay for the meeting to get my props, boo!), it gave me pause that it's taken me FIVE MONTHS to do it. Yep, an average of two pounds a month. Two years ago I was losing an average of two pounds a week. Then I started to look at it this way- I'd like to lose roughly another ten pounds. To live right around 165 is a realistic and healthy goal for me. Is it worth another five months of work to get there? Absolutely. And what's the alternative? Restricting myself more, working even harder, is hard to imagine in the long run (although I know there are areas where I can improve). And deciding that the slow results aren't worth the effort and trying LESS would not lead to maintaining my weight- I know some people can do that, but not me. I'd gain it all back and then some. So I'll stick to the path I'm on, even when it's slow-going, and try not to compare what my body is capable of doing NOW to what it was capable of doing two years ago.
Hey, speaking of things my body is still capable of doing, I went for a jog today! And holy cow, I forgot how much it sucks while you're doing it and how good it feels when you're done. Both extremes, forgotten. It's been months. I was only able to do a half a mile, then I walked for a quarter mile, and jogged another half a mile. I've been kidding myself that doing Stretch and Grow, the preschool fitness classes I teach a few days a week, really counts as a solid workout. Yes, my heart rate gets elevated, but not for very long and I barely sweat. Honestly, I was pretty miserable out there today once my heart started pounding and I started sweating and my body said, "Okay, this is where we stop, right? Please?". If I had stopped when I got uncomfortable, I would've only jogged a quarter mile. And then I felt like a MAJOR wimp compared to the awesome long distance runners in my life, that my body could revolt so strongly after only a mile.
But then I came back inside and sat down and whoooooosh, the endorphins kicked in. I guess those particular hormones don't really care if you've jogged a marathon or a mile- if you've pushed yourself, they're gonna give you some love.
So what got me out the door to begin with? My awesome new shoes! I am big into minimalist footwear- my most comfortable state of being is barefoot (even socks feel like too much sometimes!), so my most comfortable shoe is as thin and flexible as possible. I've been a fan of Vibram FiveFingers for years, but they've made a design shift lately towards bulkier, heavier shoes with thicker soles. I went hunting for something smaller and thinner in another brand, and boy, did I find it!
These are the Inov-8 EvoSkins (but those are not my feet):
3/1/12 247.2
1/4 177.2
1/11 175.4
1/18 176.8
1/25 177.0
2/1 178.0
2/8 177.4
2/22 178.0
3/1 178.0
3/8 178.0
3/14 176.6
3/21 176.2
3/28 174.6
What REALLY feels good about this is that number- 174.6. I'm under 175 and less than a pound away from what Weight Watchers considers to be a healthy weight. I seem to have broken out of my plateau and I'm crossing my fingers to get well below 174 before I have another little gain, so I won't have to sweat it!
While it felt good to hit the 10 pound milestone (although I couldn't stay for the meeting to get my props, boo!), it gave me pause that it's taken me FIVE MONTHS to do it. Yep, an average of two pounds a month. Two years ago I was losing an average of two pounds a week. Then I started to look at it this way- I'd like to lose roughly another ten pounds. To live right around 165 is a realistic and healthy goal for me. Is it worth another five months of work to get there? Absolutely. And what's the alternative? Restricting myself more, working even harder, is hard to imagine in the long run (although I know there are areas where I can improve). And deciding that the slow results aren't worth the effort and trying LESS would not lead to maintaining my weight- I know some people can do that, but not me. I'd gain it all back and then some. So I'll stick to the path I'm on, even when it's slow-going, and try not to compare what my body is capable of doing NOW to what it was capable of doing two years ago.
Hey, speaking of things my body is still capable of doing, I went for a jog today! And holy cow, I forgot how much it sucks while you're doing it and how good it feels when you're done. Both extremes, forgotten. It's been months. I was only able to do a half a mile, then I walked for a quarter mile, and jogged another half a mile. I've been kidding myself that doing Stretch and Grow, the preschool fitness classes I teach a few days a week, really counts as a solid workout. Yes, my heart rate gets elevated, but not for very long and I barely sweat. Honestly, I was pretty miserable out there today once my heart started pounding and I started sweating and my body said, "Okay, this is where we stop, right? Please?". If I had stopped when I got uncomfortable, I would've only jogged a quarter mile. And then I felt like a MAJOR wimp compared to the awesome long distance runners in my life, that my body could revolt so strongly after only a mile.
But then I came back inside and sat down and whoooooosh, the endorphins kicked in. I guess those particular hormones don't really care if you've jogged a marathon or a mile- if you've pushed yourself, they're gonna give you some love.
So what got me out the door to begin with? My awesome new shoes! I am big into minimalist footwear- my most comfortable state of being is barefoot (even socks feel like too much sometimes!), so my most comfortable shoe is as thin and flexible as possible. I've been a fan of Vibram FiveFingers for years, but they've made a design shift lately towards bulkier, heavier shoes with thicker soles. I went hunting for something smaller and thinner in another brand, and boy, did I find it!
These are the Inov-8 EvoSkins (but those are not my feet):
I love that last picture- although I don't imagine I'll ever be wearing these under such muddy circumstances, the photo really captures how thin and grippy these are. They're made of silicone, and it's like dipping your feet into liquid rubber, pulling them out and taking off down the road. You can really feel the earth beneath your feet, different textures and temperatures, the crack in the sidewalk, the springy-ness of the grass and squishy-ness of the mud, the little pebbles that make their presence known but don't hurt you. I love the way they feel when I run, totally connected to the ground. In traditional, cushioned running shoes with more than an 8 mm heel drop, your foot tends to strike the ground heel first (which leads to increased vertical loading), and you run the risk of injuries related to repetitive motion. In minimalist shoes with your toes free to splay out and do their thing, you tend to seek the ground forefoot first and vary your stride based on how the ground feels, reducing the risk of injury due to repetitive motion.
Plus, you can crumple them in a ball or roll them up and throw them in your purse, you can toss them in the dishwasher when they get dirty or even just run them under a faucet and they'll dry in fifteen minutes. How convenient is that?
The fit on these was not quite right out of the box- I ordered the medium, the large and then finally the extra large before realizing that the toes were going to pinch me no matter how long the shoe is from toe to heel. I had to grab some scissors and snip a little bit out from between the toes, which sounds strange, but the location of the little holes don't allow any pebbles or other road debris into the shoe, you can't see them at all on the left foot and only a little on the right foot. Besides, these things look so strange to begin with, the last thing anybody would notice is a couple of little holes between the toes!
I'm not on any kind of training program, and I'm just going to take things as they come, but it was good to get out there today and I'll definitely be doing more of it! Ooh, and speaking of training, my Weight Watchers training officially began today! I met with my mentor and she walked me through the whole training process, which takes a loooong time- I won't be running my own meeting any time soon. But I'm happy to be heading in the right direction- in a lot of ways!
Plus, you can crumple them in a ball or roll them up and throw them in your purse, you can toss them in the dishwasher when they get dirty or even just run them under a faucet and they'll dry in fifteen minutes. How convenient is that?
The fit on these was not quite right out of the box- I ordered the medium, the large and then finally the extra large before realizing that the toes were going to pinch me no matter how long the shoe is from toe to heel. I had to grab some scissors and snip a little bit out from between the toes, which sounds strange, but the location of the little holes don't allow any pebbles or other road debris into the shoe, you can't see them at all on the left foot and only a little on the right foot. Besides, these things look so strange to begin with, the last thing anybody would notice is a couple of little holes between the toes!
I'm not on any kind of training program, and I'm just going to take things as they come, but it was good to get out there today and I'll definitely be doing more of it! Ooh, and speaking of training, my Weight Watchers training officially began today! I met with my mentor and she walked me through the whole training process, which takes a loooong time- I won't be running my own meeting any time soon. But I'm happy to be heading in the right direction- in a lot of ways!