On the Road Again
Oh, how I love to eat.
I have so much to catch you up on, but this is the biggest and most urgent issue, so I’m starting here. If I can figure out how to stop sleeping at night, I might be able to get everyone current on all that’s happened in the last 2 weeks.
So first, it seems that golden flax meal is not only nature’s broom, but Amy’s Miracle Cure. I’ve been stirring it into my yogurt at breakfast or on to my couscous at night. I’m running about 50/50 on the yogurt vs. couscous, since I run out of yogurt annoyingly often. I love yogurt so much and Weight Watchers makes a brand called “amaretto cheesecake” which is just as awesome as it sounds, and so while I attempt to eat only half a serving, I usually wind up downing the whole 6 oz, and before I know it, my refrigerator is devoid of those darling little cups and I’m back to eating dry brown stuff on top of my dry brown stuff. Yummy.
But even when I have to drink double waters at dinner to get the flax unstuck from my esophagus, it is totally worth it. Not only does the octopus seem less bloated and creepy, but I am dropping weight again. This morning I clocked in a crisp 153.0 pounds, down 98.0 total and off only 1.0 pound from my low before my body freaked out and starting piling on pounds out of nothing. I’m still doing the CLA and the fish oil tablets, and I’m sure they are helping as well. But all hail the little bag of horse feed in my refrigerator. I am back on the weight loss road again.
And speaking of feed, I am still eating more, and I love it. I’m still not quite where I should be calorie-wise, especially on the protein side, but wow has it made a difference. I get to eat pretty much all the time, I’m only hungry for short periods (vs. all day, like I was before), and I feel so much better. I can really be an ass sometimes. In my quest to get things done Right Frickin' Now, I often sabotage my own high-strung efforts. There’s nothing to be done about it, but I really wonder how much more pleasant this would have been for me if I’d exercised from the beginning, ate everything I was supposed to eat and behaved like a normal person. Well, normal for me, but let’s not get picky.
Then again, maybe it’s just not realistic to expect this of me. After all, I had Howard as an example through this whole process, and I never took his lead. Even when he would feel good all week while following ‘his’ program and then starve all weekend when he was following mine, it just never occurred to me that he was losing weight at pretty much the speed I was, and that I could have a more civilized approach to lifelong thinness if only I would have opened my pie hole and consumed a little more.
In returning to food, I did make some painful changes. For example, I’m barely drinking soda any more, and I’ve cut way back on the pickles at night. Of course, I don’t need them as much anymore, and I was eating them because they were basically “free” calories, but it’s still sad to say good-bye to diet root beer and the sugar free chocolate soda. I can’t help believing that the sodium content contributed to my ankles-as-flagpoles look, though, and so out they went.
I also nixed most of my popcorn consumption. I had noticed that the only thing it did for me in the afternoons was make me hungry, and it seemed to puff me up at night, so that when I ate it late on Friday, I weighed in heavier on Saturday. Let me tell you, it is MOST annoying, to be light all week and then weigh in heavy at my meeting. So I still have it, but it’s more like twice a week than twice a day. I don’t miss it as much as I expected, but again, I don’t need it as much any more.
On the exercise front, I’m still running and getting more obsessed by the session. I discovered that I do better if I take 2 days off between runs, so I’m only running 3 times a week right now. This incites me to get that dang weight bench into my rec room already, since I don’t dare hope to stay fit and healthy on running alone. I’ll be endorphin-loaded for sure, and that’s awesome, but I need some real muscles built, and I need something to do on my days “off” besides barter with myself that I can have a serving of goldfish crackers so long as I sprinkle them with flax meal.
But while I wait to get off my mushy tushy and do that, I’ve experimented with running styles. I think running is like racquetball or the guitar-anyone can do the basics in a few minutes, and you can spend your whole life hanging out in the beginner’s section and be pretty happy. But in reality, it’s one of those sports that take a long time to master and there’s a zillion ways to improve it from every angle. I borrowed 2 runner’s magazines from Maria the Spectacular (which I then forgot to bring with me to the meeting on Saturday-they’re coming, I promise!), and they were both great and completely over my head. The words were English, but the concepts were entirely foreign, and it looks like they both catered to the Hard Core runner whose been pounding the pavement for years, rather than lil’ ol Interval Gal Me who’s been at it for 6 weeks.
I did pick up some things about racing and stride, and I’ve used them both already. I figured out, for example, that I wasn’t running or jogging so much as I was sprinting during my run intervals, and while that has its merits, I can’t keep it up for the 4 miles I was logging. I happened to shut off my music at the halfway point about a week ago, and so I had to clock the ‘front’ half of my run separate from the back. I ran the first 2 miles in 15 minutes and the second 2 miles in 19, and I did it the same way, running 90 steps (I don’t have a stop watch-too cheap to invest in a good one), and walking 40. So clearly I’m inconsistent on my speed. I also realized that in sprinting, I was running so that my foot landed way out in front of my body, rather than under me, and that was stressing my quadriceps and my knees, so that I did the Old Lady Hobble for 2 days after any workout. I figure that some of this is New Body Running, but some of it was also bad form. So I shortened up my stride and suddenly the Old Lady Legs went away. Cool.
But I continued to be unable to run for any kind of distance. Yes, I know it’s only been 6 weeks, and yes, I’ve ‘upped’ my running from 70 steps to 90 while keeping the walking constant. But when I think about entering a 5k race, I want to run a bunch of it. I figure adrenaline will keep me racing longer, but there’s no way I can run 3 miles without stopping. The last I checked, I could do about half a lap around the track. Sucks.
Plus, I had this nagging urge to hurl for most of my run, and I could never catch my breath on the walking intervals, even to slow down my hyperventilating. I’m okay with that on some level, because I want to keep improving. But I have to tell you, it’s kind of embarrassing to be moaning out on the roads, even if there’s no one around to hear me. I’m not a tree in the forest, and so it was still happening.
Howard suggested I do a slow run for the first 5 minutes, to warm myself up. Ha! What does that skinny clown know? ‘Warm up’ for me translates into ‘wasted time’. Balls out at all times or forget it! Full speed or stay at home! But then I finished my run on Friday and I couldn’t stand up for 3 or 4 minutes after I finished and I was weak-legged for most of the night. So yesterday I decided to try it. Why not? If I hated the slow pace, I could chuck it for next time. I was going to try 5 miles this time, and so I figured it was a good idea to go easy. Since I was adding 20% to my distance, I wouldn’t mind having a ‘slow’ pace on the first trial. And it sure would be nice to finish a run without wishing I would just upchuck and get it over with.
I reversed my route so I started on a pretty big down hill run. I realize that makes it a big up hill run near the end, but hey, we’re tweaking things, let’s mess up both sides of the equation. I ran to 100 steps and I felt pretty good, so I just decided to keep up the soft pace until I felt ready to stop. Well, I ran for half a mile, even taking in a pretty big hill in the middle, and I was fine. I only stopped because I thought I should, to reduce my risk of injury.
After that, I ran 3 more intervals at 300 steps (keeping the same 40 step walk). I made it to mile 3 before I had to slim it down to 200. I kept up the 200 until mile 4, when my calf started a protest and my stomach started turning. I noticed that I was running faster, trying to get the run over with, and my nausea had returned. I forced myself to slow down. I did try to run the last quarter-mile in, but there were two loopy, turny hills between me and the house, and I got snagged. I did manage to finish on a run, which helped, but I was spent when I finished. Final run time: 45 mins. The last 4-mile run I did was a 7:30 min mile. This one was 9 mins. Much slower for sure, but a far more civilized experience. I’m a little muscle sore today but there is no knee pain and I am walking like a middle aged woman, rather than an old lady. Pretty cool.
So maybe I’ll save the sprints for ‘speed workouts’ once I read that mag again and figure out what that means. I’m going to keep up the 5 miles (which Howard informed me is 8k) and now, instead of aiming for a 5k race, I’m going to try for 10k. Imagine that: the Fat Lady contemplating a 10k run. Well, I did 5 miles yesterday and 10k is 6.2 miles. It’s just a stone’s "hurl" away, as it were. I can definitely see it from here. So again, Me=Ass, but at least I’m learning to listen to others, even if it’s after the fact. One monster hurdle at a time…so long as it keeps me on the road.
So I’m losing right now, albeit slowly. I only lost 1.5 pounds in the last month, but my body was clearly adjusting to the workouts. I think it’s over now, or at least fixing itself, so I hope to continue down the scales until I’m finished. There’s so much else happening that I think I might be okay with this. Well, not really, but I’m certainly less stressed about it, which is going to help draw the pounds off of me.
Howard’s parents were in over the weekend, and both gave me good advice on this. Grandma said to leave my weight as it is until after the wedding and then see how I feel. Grandpa suggested I go ahead and drop to 151, so I could get my 100 pound “pin” and then stop. I’m not really sure that I’m ready to let go of my weight loss, but I got several good looks at myself this weekend, and I have to admit that whatever other weight comes off will be just window dressing. I’m a size 2 in stretch jeans, and a size 6 in everything Misses. In juniors, I’m a 5. What else do I need?
What indeed. No time for THAT discussion. Not until I stop sleeping, anyway.
A the R(oad Warrior)
I have so much to catch you up on, but this is the biggest and most urgent issue, so I’m starting here. If I can figure out how to stop sleeping at night, I might be able to get everyone current on all that’s happened in the last 2 weeks.
So first, it seems that golden flax meal is not only nature’s broom, but Amy’s Miracle Cure. I’ve been stirring it into my yogurt at breakfast or on to my couscous at night. I’m running about 50/50 on the yogurt vs. couscous, since I run out of yogurt annoyingly often. I love yogurt so much and Weight Watchers makes a brand called “amaretto cheesecake” which is just as awesome as it sounds, and so while I attempt to eat only half a serving, I usually wind up downing the whole 6 oz, and before I know it, my refrigerator is devoid of those darling little cups and I’m back to eating dry brown stuff on top of my dry brown stuff. Yummy.
But even when I have to drink double waters at dinner to get the flax unstuck from my esophagus, it is totally worth it. Not only does the octopus seem less bloated and creepy, but I am dropping weight again. This morning I clocked in a crisp 153.0 pounds, down 98.0 total and off only 1.0 pound from my low before my body freaked out and starting piling on pounds out of nothing. I’m still doing the CLA and the fish oil tablets, and I’m sure they are helping as well. But all hail the little bag of horse feed in my refrigerator. I am back on the weight loss road again.
And speaking of feed, I am still eating more, and I love it. I’m still not quite where I should be calorie-wise, especially on the protein side, but wow has it made a difference. I get to eat pretty much all the time, I’m only hungry for short periods (vs. all day, like I was before), and I feel so much better. I can really be an ass sometimes. In my quest to get things done Right Frickin' Now, I often sabotage my own high-strung efforts. There’s nothing to be done about it, but I really wonder how much more pleasant this would have been for me if I’d exercised from the beginning, ate everything I was supposed to eat and behaved like a normal person. Well, normal for me, but let’s not get picky.
Then again, maybe it’s just not realistic to expect this of me. After all, I had Howard as an example through this whole process, and I never took his lead. Even when he would feel good all week while following ‘his’ program and then starve all weekend when he was following mine, it just never occurred to me that he was losing weight at pretty much the speed I was, and that I could have a more civilized approach to lifelong thinness if only I would have opened my pie hole and consumed a little more.
In returning to food, I did make some painful changes. For example, I’m barely drinking soda any more, and I’ve cut way back on the pickles at night. Of course, I don’t need them as much anymore, and I was eating them because they were basically “free” calories, but it’s still sad to say good-bye to diet root beer and the sugar free chocolate soda. I can’t help believing that the sodium content contributed to my ankles-as-flagpoles look, though, and so out they went.
I also nixed most of my popcorn consumption. I had noticed that the only thing it did for me in the afternoons was make me hungry, and it seemed to puff me up at night, so that when I ate it late on Friday, I weighed in heavier on Saturday. Let me tell you, it is MOST annoying, to be light all week and then weigh in heavy at my meeting. So I still have it, but it’s more like twice a week than twice a day. I don’t miss it as much as I expected, but again, I don’t need it as much any more.
On the exercise front, I’m still running and getting more obsessed by the session. I discovered that I do better if I take 2 days off between runs, so I’m only running 3 times a week right now. This incites me to get that dang weight bench into my rec room already, since I don’t dare hope to stay fit and healthy on running alone. I’ll be endorphin-loaded for sure, and that’s awesome, but I need some real muscles built, and I need something to do on my days “off” besides barter with myself that I can have a serving of goldfish crackers so long as I sprinkle them with flax meal.
But while I wait to get off my mushy tushy and do that, I’ve experimented with running styles. I think running is like racquetball or the guitar-anyone can do the basics in a few minutes, and you can spend your whole life hanging out in the beginner’s section and be pretty happy. But in reality, it’s one of those sports that take a long time to master and there’s a zillion ways to improve it from every angle. I borrowed 2 runner’s magazines from Maria the Spectacular (which I then forgot to bring with me to the meeting on Saturday-they’re coming, I promise!), and they were both great and completely over my head. The words were English, but the concepts were entirely foreign, and it looks like they both catered to the Hard Core runner whose been pounding the pavement for years, rather than lil’ ol Interval Gal Me who’s been at it for 6 weeks.
I did pick up some things about racing and stride, and I’ve used them both already. I figured out, for example, that I wasn’t running or jogging so much as I was sprinting during my run intervals, and while that has its merits, I can’t keep it up for the 4 miles I was logging. I happened to shut off my music at the halfway point about a week ago, and so I had to clock the ‘front’ half of my run separate from the back. I ran the first 2 miles in 15 minutes and the second 2 miles in 19, and I did it the same way, running 90 steps (I don’t have a stop watch-too cheap to invest in a good one), and walking 40. So clearly I’m inconsistent on my speed. I also realized that in sprinting, I was running so that my foot landed way out in front of my body, rather than under me, and that was stressing my quadriceps and my knees, so that I did the Old Lady Hobble for 2 days after any workout. I figure that some of this is New Body Running, but some of it was also bad form. So I shortened up my stride and suddenly the Old Lady Legs went away. Cool.
But I continued to be unable to run for any kind of distance. Yes, I know it’s only been 6 weeks, and yes, I’ve ‘upped’ my running from 70 steps to 90 while keeping the walking constant. But when I think about entering a 5k race, I want to run a bunch of it. I figure adrenaline will keep me racing longer, but there’s no way I can run 3 miles without stopping. The last I checked, I could do about half a lap around the track. Sucks.
Plus, I had this nagging urge to hurl for most of my run, and I could never catch my breath on the walking intervals, even to slow down my hyperventilating. I’m okay with that on some level, because I want to keep improving. But I have to tell you, it’s kind of embarrassing to be moaning out on the roads, even if there’s no one around to hear me. I’m not a tree in the forest, and so it was still happening.
Howard suggested I do a slow run for the first 5 minutes, to warm myself up. Ha! What does that skinny clown know? ‘Warm up’ for me translates into ‘wasted time’. Balls out at all times or forget it! Full speed or stay at home! But then I finished my run on Friday and I couldn’t stand up for 3 or 4 minutes after I finished and I was weak-legged for most of the night. So yesterday I decided to try it. Why not? If I hated the slow pace, I could chuck it for next time. I was going to try 5 miles this time, and so I figured it was a good idea to go easy. Since I was adding 20% to my distance, I wouldn’t mind having a ‘slow’ pace on the first trial. And it sure would be nice to finish a run without wishing I would just upchuck and get it over with.
I reversed my route so I started on a pretty big down hill run. I realize that makes it a big up hill run near the end, but hey, we’re tweaking things, let’s mess up both sides of the equation. I ran to 100 steps and I felt pretty good, so I just decided to keep up the soft pace until I felt ready to stop. Well, I ran for half a mile, even taking in a pretty big hill in the middle, and I was fine. I only stopped because I thought I should, to reduce my risk of injury.
After that, I ran 3 more intervals at 300 steps (keeping the same 40 step walk). I made it to mile 3 before I had to slim it down to 200. I kept up the 200 until mile 4, when my calf started a protest and my stomach started turning. I noticed that I was running faster, trying to get the run over with, and my nausea had returned. I forced myself to slow down. I did try to run the last quarter-mile in, but there were two loopy, turny hills between me and the house, and I got snagged. I did manage to finish on a run, which helped, but I was spent when I finished. Final run time: 45 mins. The last 4-mile run I did was a 7:30 min mile. This one was 9 mins. Much slower for sure, but a far more civilized experience. I’m a little muscle sore today but there is no knee pain and I am walking like a middle aged woman, rather than an old lady. Pretty cool.
So maybe I’ll save the sprints for ‘speed workouts’ once I read that mag again and figure out what that means. I’m going to keep up the 5 miles (which Howard informed me is 8k) and now, instead of aiming for a 5k race, I’m going to try for 10k. Imagine that: the Fat Lady contemplating a 10k run. Well, I did 5 miles yesterday and 10k is 6.2 miles. It’s just a stone’s "hurl" away, as it were. I can definitely see it from here. So again, Me=Ass, but at least I’m learning to listen to others, even if it’s after the fact. One monster hurdle at a time…so long as it keeps me on the road.
So I’m losing right now, albeit slowly. I only lost 1.5 pounds in the last month, but my body was clearly adjusting to the workouts. I think it’s over now, or at least fixing itself, so I hope to continue down the scales until I’m finished. There’s so much else happening that I think I might be okay with this. Well, not really, but I’m certainly less stressed about it, which is going to help draw the pounds off of me.
Howard’s parents were in over the weekend, and both gave me good advice on this. Grandma said to leave my weight as it is until after the wedding and then see how I feel. Grandpa suggested I go ahead and drop to 151, so I could get my 100 pound “pin” and then stop. I’m not really sure that I’m ready to let go of my weight loss, but I got several good looks at myself this weekend, and I have to admit that whatever other weight comes off will be just window dressing. I’m a size 2 in stretch jeans, and a size 6 in everything Misses. In juniors, I’m a 5. What else do I need?
What indeed. No time for THAT discussion. Not until I stop sleeping, anyway.
A the R(oad Warrior)
posted by Former Fat Girl Gone Skinny | 8:54 AM
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