1/31/13: Preparing for My One Year Anniversary

I took my start photo on February 26th, 2012, and began my Get Fit Initiative on February 27th, so at the end of this month it will be one year since I began this journey.  It has been a great year.  I feel so good!  Little things happen that surprise me.  Yesterday I got dressed for work and looked at the mirror and for a moment was surprised by how good I looked.  I was wearing a sweater that we bought at Coldwater Creek earlier in the month and my dark blue jeans.  My dark blue jeans and light blue jeans are the same size and the same style, but the material is a little different.  The dark blue jeans are a thicker and stiffer material than the light ones, so they fit a little more snuggly.  Anyway, I looked in the mirror and saw a woman looking back at me that was fit, tone, and looked good in her jeans.  I was surprised by my own reflection and said to myself, "Wow, I look good.  Look at those skinny legs!"  Then, yesterday evening Jack started horsing around and poked me in the side and tried to grab onto what used to be there.  Instead of poking into a soft roll he hit muscle and he couldn't find anything to grab.  He was pretty impressed and then kept on poking, for the fun of it, I guess, laughing and commenting on how firm my middle was.  Every now and then I'll do the same thing.  My hand will brush up against a part of me that used to be squishy with fat and instead hit a spot that is pretty solid and I'll be surprised all over again by how far I've come.

All this brings me to my short term goal.  I hit my weight goal of 150 lbs a couple of weeks ago.  That night we went out to celebrate, that weekend was not particularly disciplined, and the following week I left for China where I celebrated Chinese New Year's in quite a fashion.  All of this has resulted in me gaining just a few pounds.  As I pointed out a week or so ago, I am within the range I set for myself, but I am slightly above 150 pounds.  Here is my 1st Quarter 2013 Chart:

The horizontal blue line near the bottom of the chart is 150 lbs and the chart allows me 5 pounds on either side of that line.  I started this chart on January 13th, the weekend after I hit goal, so I was already a little over 150 lbs.  None of this is particularly worrying me, but I have decided that I want to weigh 150.0 lbs again on my one year anniversary.  I think it will be pretty symbolic to take a photo on February 26, 2013 and paste it next to my February 26, 2012 photo, along with a caption referring to reaching my goal weight of 150lbs.  I can visualize that framed and on the wall, my memento to the effort I have put into getting healthy and transforming my body.  It will by my reminder to always be vigilant about taking care of myself, as well as my trophy that symbolizes my success. 

This morning I weighed 152.8 pounds.  Reaching 150.0 by February 26th should not be difficult, but I need to track calories and be a little more disciplined about food.  I still mark my weight on my chart on Thursdays and Mondays, and I will post my weight on my blog on those days as well. 

The rest of this chart is devoted to exercise.  The top two-thirds of the chart is my 4 week schedule.  It has helped a lot to have my schedule written down.  Instead of deciding on a daily basis what I am going to do, I just check my schedule the night before and figure out how I am going to fit what I need to do into the next day.  Speaking of fitting it in, yesterday I exercised at lunch for the second day in a row.  I ran 5 miles in 53 minutes!!  I think I like exercising at lunch and for the most part my schedule should allow me to use my lunch hour for exercise on a pretty regular basis.  I like exercising at lunch much more than I like exercising in the evenings.  I like my evenings to be my time of day when I can relax and have nothing that I have to do.  This seems like a good way to get the exercise sessions in that I can't fit into my morning routine.

The bar graph between my schedule and my weight line marks the % of goal that I reached for exercise each week.   Aqua = swim, purple = bike, red = run, blue = upper body, and light green = lower body.  For the first four weeks of my program my weekly goals are 2500 of swimming, 76 minutes of cycling, 10 miles of running, 2 upper body workouts and 2 lower body workouts.  You can easily see from the graph that I completed all of my scheduled sessions in the first week and missed one upper body and one cycling session in the second week.  I wrote the word "rest" into the gaps during week 2 because my body was tired after my trip to China and squeezing in a workout that I missed due to my travel schedule.  I knew I needed a day off, so I took it.  This week I am on schedule.  I have a lower body workout to do tomorrow and a bike/run brick scheduled for Saturday.  I love how visual this chart is and how much it helps me stay on track with my goals.  It is interesting how much better I do when my goals are very specific like this, rather than a general idea of, "I need to exercise everyday," or, "I need to stay close to 150 pounds." 

Today is my rest day, which I do enjoy.  As much as I appreciate exercise and the change in my body, health, and well being that have occurred as a result of exercise, I still like my days off.  They seem like a little treat!

Have a wonderful Thursday!!