Morning Exercise: Strength training with personal trainer (J Wallen)
Yesterday Evening's Exercise: 2 mile walk with Jack, to and from Governor Stumpy's for dinner
Yesterday's Calories: 1424
Vitamins: 1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine
Yes, I gained two-tenths of a pound and no, I don't know why. If I had to guess I would say it is because we went out to dinner last night and I ate a slightly heavier evening meal than I normally do. I had cajun chicken with green beans and snow peas (extra veggies, no rice, and I saved about 1/3 of the chicken for lunch today) so the calorie count was fine, but I am sure there was way more salt in the cajun spices than I normally eat. I am pretty sensitive to salt and tend to retain water when I eat too much of it, so I'm guessing I had a little extra water weight this morning. I am not going to get too excited about it.
Yesterday morning as I was blogging I made the decision to commit to losing this last 9.4 (OK, now 9.6) pounds by the end of the year. I have been all over the emotional map with regard to how I should tackle my last 15 pounds or so. My original goal date was February 4th because I thought I had 72 pounds to lose and I thought February 4th was 48 weeks from my start date and 1.5 pounds a week for 48 weeks is 72 pounds. It turns out I was wrong on two counts. First, when I weighed myself on the morning of February 27th I weighed 224 pounds, not 222 pounds, so I needed to lose 74 pounds, not 72 pounds. Second, it turns out that when I originally made my chart I missed a Monday, so 48 week takes me out to January 28th, not February 4th. I made the date correction on my chart, left the 48 weeks as my goal in spite of the extra two pounds, and now my original goal line intersects the x-axis (150 pound line) on January 28th. So while I have talked a lot about February 4th being my original goal date, because it was - until I corrected it, I guess you could say that my true original goal date was January 28th, 2013.
After establishing my goal date, based on an average weight loss rate of 1.5 pounds/week, I started my program and for about six months my average rate of weight loss was 1.8 pounds a week. After several months I was significantly ahead of my goal line. Eventually I decided to change my goal date, it looked like if I stayed on my trend line I would hit my target weight by December 1st, so for a brief period of time I thought December 1st would be my new goal date. Then September happened. We went to Oregon for a long weekend for Steve's wedding, Jack and I went on a two week vacation, and I went to China for the first time. I didn't stop losing weight in September, but all of that activity did slow down the pace of my weight loss and my progress line became much bumpier. There was a period that I got a little frustrated, but I never gave up, and slowly but surely my weight loss rate has evened out again. While I was in the low 160s I started thinking that I would be content to hit my goal weight by my original target date of January 28th, but as soon as I got into the 150s and I only had 9+ pounds to lose and I still had 6 weeks left in the year I knew I could get this done this year. There is something very motivating about knowing that by the end of this year I will have reached my goal weight. I can focus on something completely different next year. It will be a relief to no longer be focused on losing weight, but to be focused on physical fitness, instead. It's not that physical fitness hasn't been an important part of this from the beginning, it's been a huge part of every day, but I spend a lot of my mental energy on thinking about losing weight. I am looking forward to having that part of it behind me. It feels neat and tidy to get the weight loss phase completed in 2012. I really like that idea.
So I am completely and totally committed to losing this last 9.whatever pounds this year. Perhaps for this next 5.75 weeks I may seem a little too obsessed with the numbers on the scale, but so be it. We're only talking 40 days, and I can do anything for 40 days. I'm really not going to change much. The program has been working just fine, I'm just going to be very disciplined about the program - even through the holidays. One thing that I will change is how consistently I do some form of evening exercise. I will be much more disciplined about that, as disciplined as I was during my 30 day transition mitigation plan in August. So the plan for the next 40 days is:
- Exercise in the morning for an hour, 6 days a week
---Mondays: Strength train
---Tuesdays: Cardio day at the gym (stairmaster, row machine, elliptical, stationary bike, treadmill)
---Wednesdays: Strength train
---Thursdays: Morning off
---Fridays: Strength train - With Jeremy Walters!! I signed up today!!
---Saturdays: 6.4 mile run
---Sundays: 30 - 40 mile bike ride or 2000 meter swim, depending on the weather - Exercise for at least 15 minutes every weekday after work. This may include:
---Walking
---Jogging
---Sprint or Hill Training
---Bowling
---Swimming
---Cardio Machine at the Gym
---Wii Fit Biggest Loser Workout
---Core or Ab work
---Racquetball game
---Any other activity that keeps me moving and off the couch for at least 15 minutes - Eat between 1500 - 1600 calories per day
- Drink plenty of water
- No alcohol
- Take my vitamins
- Daily reading about exercise/physical fitness.
Jack and I did go to Aspen Fitness Center today and we signed up. Starting next Friday I will be working with Jeremy Walters again. I am very excited about that!! He does have a way of making me want to succeed and reach my goals. I thought I might end up working with him and Jeremy Wallen at the same time, until I use up the last 6 sessions that I already paid for, but it looks like I will be able to get that money back. That would be great, because it will pay for the first 2 month with Jeremy Walters. I am glad to be back with my personal trainer!! Tomorrow, Jack and I are going to go over and play racquetball! That should be fun.
I have five days off from work, starting with today. I hardly know what I am going to do with myself!! It feels like such a treat. Perhaps we'll start off with a little Christmas shopping.
No comments:
Post a Comment