Adjusted Reality

It’s finally here.  I’m starting day 5 of 16 and have been enjoying a lot of relaxation.  Finally!  I feel like I haven’t done all that much yet but again, I know I need the rest.  Even with the resting I have reconnected with my bike and done over 30 miles outside, kept up with my weights, finished my holiday shopping, picked up a bit, and am working on laundry today and hope to get some outside run miles in if the weather improves a bit.  Not to mention… two fun parties so far and a really nice dinner out with friends.

I’ve actually been keeping my calories in check (a few days over 1500 but under 2000), and get to post a loss this week (though it was from last Thursday) even though I’m riding the TOM wave.  It’s a little frustrating that I’m only 1 lb down and I only have one weigh in left this month, but to look at it another way – it’s the holidays and I’ve lost 1 lb.  Not gained.  I’ll take it.

And keeping my calories in check the last few days has been HARD!  For all of you who stay at home (work at home, stay at home parent, unemployed, etc), I don’t know how you do it.  At work I’m so busy that I barely think about eating.  Here at home, I am constantly looking at the kitchen and could easily eat myself back to a size 24!  I mean, nothing I’m eating is junk food, but the temptation to snack is just overwhelming!

That being said, it’s really nice to have guilt free time to just chill.

Here’s last week by the numbers:

Workouts

Monday: off
Tuesday: swim sprints, arm and back
Wednesday: run sprints, legs and abs
Thursday: arms and back at home
Friday: arc trainer sprints, arms and back
Saturday: off
Sunday: 1.5 hour bike ride

Calories burnt last week: 3054 or 436 per day

Eating: average of about 1666 per day +100 for error = 1766 per day

Average net calories per day: 1329

Average deficit per day (1849 – net calories): 520, or just over 1 lb per week.

We’ll see if my work paid off next week once the bloat goes away.  However, I did post a nice weight of 166.4 last week, so we’re now 1 lb total lost.  I’ve worked my ass off for that 1 lb, and that’s weight during the holiday that I have lost, not gained.  So there.

This week, here is the plan:

Monday: off
Tuesday: 45 mins outside bike, arms and back
Wednesday: 10 mile run, abs and legs
Thursday: swim sprints, arms and back
Friday: track sprints, abs and legs at home
Saturday: off
Sunday: long bike ride

This should keep me active and enjoying my time off, but also keeping myself working towards loss.  The gym is closed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so hopefully the weather cooperates.  If not, I’ll be glad that I still retain my other membership at Planet Fitness!

As for food – I plan to eat healthy on Christmas Eve (we’re making a stir fry) even though there will be booze, and splurge on Christmas – family tradition is lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and lots of desert and wine.  However, it’s usually eaten over the course of a day – so while I might have a few servings of lasagna and bread and a piece of pie or 2 – it rarely breaks my calorie bank.  Could I eat healthier food?  Sure.  But it will be aight for one day.  The rest of the week – calorie counting and balancing and good food 80% of the time.  If we go to Lockhart for BBQ for lunch, I’ll have a salad for dinner.  It’s the way I lost 100 lbs, and it’s the way I’ll lose this last 10.

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday so far – 4 days until Christmas!  I’m so excited!  What are you most excited for about Christmas?  Or, if you don’t celebrate, what plans do you have to make the most of your next week?

Photos from the yelp elite snuggie party Sunday…

So, it’s about that time of year – done with work until 2011 (yaaaaaaaaaaay – don’t get me wrong, I love my job but it is time for a long winters nap), and time to reflect upon how 2o10 went.

In a word – 2010 was AWESOME.  It’s going out with MUCH more promise than it had coming in.  January 1st, I was having some discontentment issues at work, financial uncertainty, and just general uneasiness with things.  Late December, I’m feeling very content with just about all areas of life.  It’s nice that things are good again!  I missed having nice things.

Besides just a general feeling of “pleased” with the year, here is the specifics… here were my resolutions for 2010 I posted last December:

1.  This is the most important and different one for me – for one year, I am going to not attempt to lose weight.  As long as I maintain under 155, I’m going to put any pressure on myself to take off weight.  I’m going to focus on my running, and continuing to eat healthy.

How did I do?  Well, I never actually got into my goal range this year.  I’m a little less buggered about it than I expected.  I’m currently working on it since I’m about 10 lbs heavier than this, but I’ve also come to accept that I’m never going to be perfect.  Without some surgery, I’m not going to be able to walk around in a bikini with rock hard abs.  I’m never going to look in the mirror and think “perfect”, but I can (and often do) certainly look in the mirror and think “hawt”.  I do need to, and will, take off the extra 10 lbs to get right about to the tippy top of my “healthy” range and I think that’s about as low as I need to go.  Unless it interferes with my progress in athletic pursuits, I think I’m ready to let go chasing the ideal of 125.

Also, on the subject of perfect – I DO have what I would have considered a perfect body 5 years ago.  At that time, I would have probably been happy with not being out of breath walking across the parking lot, and freakin’ jazzed at not having to shop in the plus size section.  These are things that I take very much for granted now.

So yeah – not much physical progress, but lotsa mental progress.  I’ll take it.

2.  Running – I want to do a half marathon in under 2 hours, and I want to run a full marathon (no pace goal, just run the whole thing… well, who am I kidding, I’ll have a pace goal by the time I finish training, but anyhoo…) this year.  After that, decide what’s next.  Martial arts?  Triathlons?  More marathons?  Ultras?  Also, I want to make sure to not forget stretching and yoga.  That’s when I start getting injured like I am now with hurty butt.

Well, unless you’re new to the blog I’ve talked about these extensively.  The closest I got to under 2 hours was 2:08:08, but I’m working on it (and very proud of the huge PR there).  I decided to drop the marathon goal and instead train for an olympic triathlon, which I can proudly say I completed on October 3rd.  For right now, rest is next, but I definitely have some goals for next year which I’ve hinted about and will talk about soon (part 2 of this post is forward looking!)

I definitely did NOT do well with stretching this year, but I’ve gotten better in the last month – plus having yoga CLASSES is really nice.  I stayed relatively injury free this year (a few weeks of heel pain caused by sucky running shoes, one more instance of “hurty butt”, and that’s about it if I remember correctly… nothing major).  Also, having access to a pool/sauna/jacuzzi seems to have kept me loose and the injuries at bay.

3.  I will dedicate 6 hours per week to writing, revising, reading other books, or outlining.  I want to finish what I started for NaNoWriMo, and then move on to another one.  It would be peachy keen if I could do some necklaces, I would love to start songwriting, but I think this is my year of writing.

Nope.  Fail.  I read a few books but I didn’t write one word that wasn’t blogging or work related.  While I would like to read more, I’m ok taking a pass on the writing this year.  This was essentially trying to explore the possibility of pursuing this as a career.  While I love to write, and someday would like to publish a book, it’s no longer a huge need to fill a void of making my bacon with creative expression – it’s back to the bucket list.

4.  I’m not sure exactly what I want to say here, but I want to figure out what’s next career-wise.  I have spent the last few years keeping my head down and trying to stay out of the way so I can support the creatives, get my check, and go on my way.  That is SO not me.  I can’t continue to do that forever.  I might not have the ability to get what I want just yet, but I want to have a direction by the end of the year.

Done and done.  Sometimes you just have to hold out long enough and things just resolve themselves.  I’ve got a good few more years before I don’t feel sufficiently challenged in this position at work – I’ve got my hands happily full now.

5.  Some one liners: Travel outside the country (nope).  Be more spontaneous (I had to ask Zliten on this one – he said I was after some consideration so I will call it a yep!).  Continue to whittle down my smoking (yep – only when I drink now and not even all the time anymore).  Try something new with my hair (yep – hello shoulder length and layers – loving it).  Continue to draw things out of the magic hat (nope, but we definitely had our share of adventures).  Host some game nights at the house (nope).   Attempt to keep a cleaner house so it’s not embarrassing when someone comes over unannounced (ha! ha! um…no).  Do more industry events and get over my boredom with networking for networking sake (did some, but could do better – much easier in my new position now though, and much less needed, heh).  Play more games (err, besides my own game, nope).  Continue to live a life where I can have at least ONE memorable thing I do each month (2009 has many more than 1 per month, but that’s my absolute minimum requirement) (absolutely).

What’s on tap for 2011?  Stay tuned next week and I’ll discuss!  Question of the moment: do you do resolutions?  If so, what’s your one biggest success in 2010, and what do you still need to work on?

This will be short and sweet.  I like to pull out the bullet points in these occasions:

• Holiday party Thurs – I was good food-wise, but went a little overboard with the drinkies.  Although it resulted in belting out songs in the karaoke room with about 20 of my coworkers until 2 am.  Fun!
• Went out of town Friday – Monday.  Went to Phoexix to visit a few friends.  I did not eat massive quantities, and did not eat 100% reprehensibly, but I did not eat like a normal Quix.  Most notedly, I kept ordering things without meat.  Weird for me.  Definitely feel compelled to eat more sweets and junk since though…
• The rest of the week has just been playing catch up and getting ready for the end of the year.  I have about 10 more hours of work days (full day tomorrow, and I do mean FULL DAY, and a few hours Friday before the company takes us for a Tron double feature – the first movie and then the second.  Woohoo Alamo Draft House!) to wrap up everything for the end of the year.  It will be hectic, but I think I can do it.

Then…a long winter’s nap.  We’ve got some friend gathering type things this weekend and also a snuggie party, and then, a lovely, lovely two weeks off.

I’m just worried that I’ll fall onto the couch and not wake up until January.  There is so much I want to do in my 2 weeks off, but I know that I’ve run myself ragged this year and need a good few days of just hibernation!  I’ll have to split the difference between doing and doing nothing.  Goals and relaxation.  It’ll be a challenge but I think I’m up for it.

I’ve also started to consider my 2011 Resolutions.  Look for a post on those coming up.

Let’s talk about last week:

I was out of town so not tracking most days (I just found the spark people app to track on my phone YESTERDAY, oh well).  I would guess 1500 on the days I was in town, and between 1500-2000 the days I was out of town.

I’m already back on tracking this week and doing alright, so no worries there.

Workout-wise, here’s the trauma.  I kinda didn’t have time to do a workout on Friday with packing, but made all my other planned ones.  Yay!

Monday: 30 mins running sprints, 30 mins arms/back
Tuesday: 30 mins swim sprints, 30 mins legs/abs
Wednesday: 60 mins yoga, 25 mins arms/back
Thursday: 30 mins running sprints, 30 mins legs/abs
Friday: off (oops)
Saturday: off (out of town)
Sunday: off (out of town)

Here’s this week’s plan:

Monday: off (out of town)
Tuesday: 30 mins swim sprints, 30 mins arms/back
Wednesday: 30 mins run sprints, 30 mins abs/legs
Thursday: 30 mins bike sprints, 30 mins arms/back
Friday: 30 mins *some cardio*, 30 mins abs/legs
Saturday: off or mellow bike ride (for fun)
Sunday: long run

It’s a little more than usual but I’ve been slacking with only 3 days of cardio at 30 mins per day.  We will see what I’m compelled to do.  Tuesday-Friday are the required workouts.  The weekend ones are for fun.  I know I am a SICK, SICK puppy.

However, let’s talk weight.

167.2.  That would be the same that I weighed last week.  After lackluster cardio and being out of town for 4 days.  I was terrified to get on the scale but pleasantly surprised.  Can’t complain about that.  Gonna work my ass off this week and see if I can’t chip away a little more at that even in light of the dreaded TOM visiting me here shortly.

Yep, short and sweet today.  Lots to do this week.  Better than short and sour though!  So, I ask – what’s your single most important thing you want to get done before 2011?

So week #1 has come and gone.  I now remember why I abandoned all this crap.  I’d like to say that everything is coming up roses and the scale has gone down every day and I stuck to my workouts and life is lovely.  However, I can’t.  I am now remembering how much it sucks to be good all week and gain 3 lbs because of the time of day you ate and keep weight on and feel bloated and be REALLY CONSCIOUS OF IT because of the scale and not know why it happened.  Seriously, I’ve felt unnaturally bloated for a few days and I’ve done nothing out of the ordinary (including salt) and it’s not that time where it’s normal.  And then there is…how much easier it is on the weekends to ditch a workout if you’re not training for anything.  This was definitely a week of awakenings.

That being said, officially I am down 0.2 lbs (167.2) for the week, since I’m taking the lowest weight all week.  I will hold onto that and work on making great strides for next week’s progress.

I tracked my food all week and kept things pretty much under control, but I did track Saturday after the fact and I might have forgotten stuff, and can’t be 100% sure how much alcohol I consumed Friday since I wasn’t pouring my own drinks, so there is that.  But all in all, I’m pretty jazzed that 1500 calories felt downright normal most days.  While I may have wanted more some days, it was more mouth hunger and wah I want some ice cream type hunger rather than real, belly hunger.

I will definitely not be listing out each week’s worth of food or anything, but here is the averages for anyone that wants to play along at home.

Avg calories in: (food intake tracked +100 per day for error)1633

Avg calories out per day: 266 (oh well, will do better this week)

Avg net calories per day: 1367

Current calorie burn per day (as calculated by a website): 1541 (what I burn in a coma) x 1.2 (the modifier they suggest as a sedentary, non coma person) =1849

Average calorie deficit per day: 1849 – 1367 = 482 (just under 1 lb deficit)

However, I’m not 100% confident that my body is normal like that.  I think since I got myself into distance running I’m more efficient – which means it’s harder for me to lose weight.  I’m still trying to figure out what the ratio is where I can eat and lose without starving myself.  I was losing before on 1200-1500 but that makes me crazy. 1200 is not enough food.  It makes me wanna hurt people.  1500 feels more normal.  However, we know how much success I’ve had at this as of late – the weight doesn’t like to come off unless I really want to eat my arm off.  I figured that might reconcile itself once I stopped the crazy workouts, so we shall see.  I am just coming off a wild 10 month ride, things might just take a few weeks to stabilize.

What I can do is adhere to my workouts a bit better.  I know, right?  Me?  Slacking?  This is what happens when I’m not training.  I did great early in the week, but Thursday I had to workout on a break from work, so I couldn’t stay as long as normal (20 mins cardio, 25 weights).  Friday I took off because I was just needing a rest, and said it was ok, because we had a lot of activity planned this weekend.  Friday nite, I forgot what it was to drink on a lower calorie regiment and hurt myself Saturday, so I didn’t do jack or shit.  The nice long bike ride or swim planned?  Nah.  I barely left the couch.  Then, Sunday, we had so much to make up for errand-wise, we just didn’t have time – I was literally out shopping from 10am til 6pm, then dinner, and it was already too late by the time my food had settled.  Oh well, this week is another opportunity.

Last week’s workouts:

Monday: arc trainer HIIT for 30 mins (about 1.5 miles) (400 calories), arms and back (194 calories)
Tuesday: swim HIIT for 30 mins (about 1 mile) (477 calories), legs and abs (194 calories)
Wednesday: yoga (60 mins) (188 calories)
Thursday: bike HIIT for 20 mins (5.15 miles) (279 calories), arms and back (152 calories)
Friday: off
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Total: 1864 calories, 80 mins cardio, 85 mins strength, 60 mins yoga

This week I want it to be more like:

Monday: running HIIT for 30 mins (about 3 miles) (400 calories), arms and back (194 calories)
Tuesday: swim HIIT for 30 mins (about 1 mile) (477 calories), legs and abs (194 calories)
Wednesday: yoga (60 mins) (188 calories), arms and back (194 calories)
Thursday: running HIIT for 30 mins (5.15 miles) (279 calories), legs and abs (194 calories)
Friday: outside bike ride (600? calories)
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Total: 3370 calories, 210 mins cardio, 120 mins strength, 60 mins yoga

I’m frontloading the week because I’m out of town this weekend.  I was looking forward to a nice, long, relaxed mid day run because I’m off in the afternoon before my plane, but I realized that a) I only have about 2 hours to get ready (which is essentially a run and a quick shower) and b) I’ll be drinking at the holiday party the night before.  So let’s call it a bike ride outside instead and it will still be lovely.  I miss my bike.  Long run next week.  Let me tell you though, since I already technically completed this week’s running sprints…god I love wearing myself out on the treadmill in 30 mins.  1 minute sprints getting up near my all out mile pace are fun.  And yes, I know I am a sick puppy.  I’m looking forward to doing it again tomorrow.

Moving on, the official weigh ins…

Starting: 167.4
Last Week: 167.4
This Week: 167.2 (-0.2 this week/-0.2 overall)

It’s not much, but it’s the right direction.  So I’ll take it.

I’m not sure I’ll continue with this level of granularity, but I might.  It can help me, but it might make for boring reading material.  So, what do you think?  Are you a healthiness voyeur and want to see all the messy details, or would you rather just a 1 paragraph summary while I go on to talk about something else?

This post’s pictures have been brought to you by Christmas and Iguanas.  Can you tell which ornament in the tree is only PRETENDING to be an ornament?  She’s really cute how careful she is in the tree, and she’s only broken one ornament so far, but she looked so sad about it, I couldn’t be mad at her.  Of course it was my Runner Girl one – looks like we’ll be making a pilgrimage to Runtex when they get them in.

Last year around this time, I started training for my second half marathon.  I had spent the summer doing whatever workouts I fancied (and just had finished the 30 day shred) and got back to seriouspants running training.  After that, I never really quit.  I let up a little during the spring, but as soon as May hit – I was 100% into it and didn’t stop for 6 months.

I started a year ago around 155 lbs.  Let’s just say I’m a little above that.  I’ll be popping champagne when my weight again starts with a 15.  Racing is NOT a great way to lose weight.  Training hard makes you eat hard.  I *know* I could mitigate this by obsessively tracking my food, but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to do it.  I feel like I am deserving of being able to eat whatever the heck I want when I run so much.

However, that gets me into the trouble I’m in now.  Needing to lose about 17 lbs.  I don’t necessarily feel fat or like I look bad, but I’d like all the clothes in my closet to fit again and I know I felt both slim and strong right around 150.  I’m good with getting back there and hanging out for a while and seeing if that’s where the Quix-innards are the happiest.

The goal is – 1 lb per week.  There are 12 weeks until my cruise.  I would like to be 12 lbs lighter by then.  I spent 3 months training like a fiend for my olympic tri and half marathon.  I can spend 3 months concentrating on my eating habits, working out like a sane person, counting calories, and getting my arse on the scale again.  It’s just another training regiment.  That’s what I’m telling myself.  It’s hard to get FREAKING PUMPED about meeting my calorie goals or FEELING POWERFUL about keeping my workouts to 30 mins cardio, 30 mins weights most days the way I did completing a training run on pace or doing a new, harder, longer brick workout than the week before.

But… I’ve already lost 1.8 lb from my first weigh in Monday.  I know it will get harder from here, but I’m up for the challenge.

The rules:

-As I said, doing this for 12 weeks.  Goal is 1 lb per week.  I’m starting at 167.4, so I hope to be no more than 155.4 when I have my sail away cocktail.

-I tend to fluctuate like a mofo, so each Wednesday will be my official weekly weigh in.  That weight will be the lowest weight from the previous week.

-Still trying to dial in the exact calorie count.  I seem to be doing well with 1500 on the weekdays when I pay attention to the crap going in my face.  I’ll probably allow 1 or 2 days per week with a little more, try to stay around 1600-1700 on average.  If I stop losing weight I’ll go a little lower.

-Not going to get too hung up on macronutrients or obsessive over the quality of my food.  I generally eat good stuff.  I know that I can eat more and feel better if I eat healthy stuff.  If I choose to eat some crap, I just have to keep it in my calorie range.  And suffer.  and since I don’t like to suffer, I will generally stay away from crap.

-Through December at least, we are going to do at least 2 hours per week of weights.  30 mins x 4 times per week this week.  Alternating body parts.  Next week – probably a class to change stuff up.

-Cutting the cardio in half (or more).  30 minutes x 3 days, and 1 day of long cardio (bike ride, run, etc).  I’m allowing one day of cardio bliss so I can potentially keep up some endurance.  The 30 min sessions will be mostly HIIT.  For example, I did the arc trainer Monday (3o mins of 1 min max speed, 1 mins recovery), and swim sprints Tuesday.  If I’m going to cut my cardio time, it’s going to COUNT.

-Yoga.  Gonna try to make it to the Wednesday class each week or try out a weekend one.  This is not counted in cardio or strength.  If I can’t make it to class, at least do some at home 1 day per week.

I think that’s enough to feel sufficiently crazy challenged in the next coming months.  Instead of some shiny medal or a new PR – I’ll be able to fit in my pants.  And I’m good with that.  Considering the goal has an end date (I’m not going to continue on this forever), that will help me get there.

Any weight loss tips?  Anyone else try to take off weight in off seasons?  Hit me up in the comments.  I’ll be back on Wednesday with my first week’s progress.  Hint – I’ve lost at least 0.2 lbs (167.2 today) so that’s a good sign!