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):
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!