Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

November Wrap Up

Since it’s a cold Austin Monday and I just have a feeling that things are going to explode soon today, let’s just get right to it.

The Plan was:

  • Foodwise – not track my calories for the entire 4 weeks.  Keep the same goal as always, to eat 6 servings of fruits and veggies per day, up the protien and lower the fat a bit, and put the least amount possible of anything chocolate, fried, or generally high in calories in my cakehole.  Just without putting it into the tracker.
  • Exercisewise – the general plan is 2 days of DDR + yoga, 2 days of intervals + weights, and 1 long run.  But I have full permission to deviate and do whatever I want (as long as it’s a decent calorie burn).
  • Mentalwise – to nurture my body and mind through what’s already shaping up to be a helluva month.  Give myself permission to maintain at the weight I’m at now if that’s what it needs to do, but also to shed unwanted weight if it’s ready to do so.
  • Measurewise – I plan to get a tape measure and do a before pic this week and after pic on December 1st.  I want to see if I am making any progress beyond the scale.

The results are in:

  • Foodwise, I did not track one day.  Not one bite or one calorie.  I did make a brief mention of what I ate on the cruise but that was more for posterity than accountability.
  • Exercisewise, I sort of gave myself permission to do what I wanted, but guess what?  I stuck to pretty much the same schedule/things I planned on – running intervals/full body strength 2 days, DDR/yoga 2 days, and a long run 1 day.
  • Mentalwise, things calmed down a bit after the first week of crazy and being on vacation the last half of the month pretty much didn’t hurt my headspace.  I almost feel like things might just work out ok.
  • Measurewise, I failed.  I still don’t own a tape measure and didn’t take an official before and after pic.

Overall, I loved what I did this month and felt I succeeded in a great way.  I started the month around 165, and weighed in yesterday at 165.  During the month, not only did I give myself the rope to hang myself with by not tracking food and having a free-floating exercise plan, but also prepared for disaster with 2 hellacious weeks at work, a cruise (where the average person gains 1.5 lbs PER DAY on the boat), and Thanksgiving with a 4 star chef who’s middle name has to be either Butter or Sugar.  This month, while I would have loved the surprise, I did not expect to lose weight.  Frankly, as long as I was under 170, I was not going to bitch.  This month was practice maintainence, and in the event of actual maintainence, I would have rocked it!

This is a huge confidence booster.  I’ve always been scared of what will happen when I hit the point where I stopped losing weight and started just trying to keep it off.  Obviously, I’ve never done a good job at it, every time I’ve lost some weight and started feeling fabulous, it’s been less than a year before I gained at least that much, if not more, back.  I was also sorta freaked that I’d have to track my food for the rest of my life.  Though it is comforting to be in control and know exactly what I have/can eat when trying to be overbearingly mathematical about it all, I didn’t want to live like that forever.  I can say I didn’t miss it a bit after a few days, and I will be able to let it go when it’s time.  Exercise – I think after 16 consecutive months of regular workouts, it will be hard for me to just one day stop doing it.  I’m just not worried there.

The one thing I really liked about this month is I can tell I was eating more, overall, and not gaining weight.  Sure, the scale hated me right after vacation but the rest of the month it didn’t really vary much.  I felt like there was a lot of fuel in the fire when I worked out instead of running on fumes some days.  I’m really, really looking forward to when I can do that all the time.  However, to lose weight, I must obviously take in less calories, so it can’t last just yet.

All in all, rousing success.  I can’t wait until life is like November.  What’s on tap for December?  Back tomorrow to let you know!

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Vacation Recap, Part 3

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December Plan – 4 Day Work(out) Weeks and Back on Track(ing)

2 Comments

  1. Congratulations on the success of your experiment! It’s very heartening to hear that you maintained successfully without obsessing over calorie counts.

  2. Congrats on the progress! I love your positive mindset. You really have a great attitude. Keep up the good work, girl!

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