Week 8

So this week hasn't been so great, I have kept my calories where they should be and I ran 32 miles this past week, but my weight is actually up. What the heck?! Oh well, I guess that is life sometimes.

week 7

So this week was a tough week for me. I did lose a pound, which I was excited about, but I have had sick kids and ended up missing 2 of my exercise days. I had things so carefully planned out, and I have my workouts scheduled into my day like appointments, but when it comes to sick kids there are no work arounds. It is too cold to have a sick child outside, and you just can't take sick kids to the gym. I have a feeling I might have a few weeks of this. With 5 kids and flu season, that is just life. My days are just so busy that if I don't get it done when I have the time set aside, there is just no way it is going to happen. The joys of motherhood. Hopefully this week is better. I did get to go for a run this morning, but before the end of the day, I had made 2 trips to the nurses office.

Week 6

So now comes the frustrating part of trying to lose weight. Apparently I have hit my first plateau. I seem to be able to lose weight consistently up to this point. I have not been able to break it in the 2 years since I had my last baby. I work really hard, get down to this weight and have to fight like crazy to even maintain this weight, let alone lose any more. Every time, I get frustrated and ultimately give up. Well, its not going to happen this time!!! Well, Plateau, I have been expecting you and this time I have a plan in mind, hopefully it will work (if not I have a friend that is a weight loss instructor and now a personal trainer, so I will pick her brain). I have decided that in addition to the 5 miles that I run 5 days a week (for a grand total of 25 miles a week) I am going to add 2 days of water aerobics to 2 of my running day, and the 2 days that I don't run, regular aerobics. I am going to cut my calories by 150-200 a day, and hopefully after a week or so, break this and start seeing results. I must say that hitting this and struggling to maintain my weight right now, let alone lose, is really annoying. I do not see how I can be as careful as I have been with what I am eating, and exercising as consistently as I do, how it can be so hard to just maintain a weight. Oh well, I am not giving up this time, I am determined, and I know if I lose momentum and let myself get down about it, I will fail, so I guess this is where my stubborn streak can be more of a blessing than a curse. ;-) Anyway, here's hoping for some success this week for me, and everyone else out there that is in the same situation!!!!

Week 5

I have been very good about following my calorie count and doing my exercise. I have lost 1.5 pounds this week, which is about what I am hoping for. I must say I am a little upset that the rules are changing in the middle of a competition. I believe if you start with rules, they should stay that way through out the whole competition. Otherwise what the heck is the point of having rules. I must say that I am very undissatisfied with that, but I am not a majority, so what good is my point. Majority or not, it is poor form to change the rules in a competition once it has started. That said, and I know that someone will not like my opinion, but that is what is great about this country isn't it, freedom of speech!!! Have a fantastic week!!!!!!

Week 4

So, I guess this is the 4th week. Weigh in for the month is just a few days away. I am excited about my progress, and although I will never win anything, I have made a big step towards my final goal. My ultimate goal is to lose my weight at a rate that is healthy. So anyway, this week I lost 2 pounds, which really surprised me, I have been shooting for only about a pound a week, and so far I have reached that every month. I am worried about this week though. I had to cut my workouts for most of the week in preparation for my marathon yesterday. I am worried about how much damage that will do to my weight having done such little exercise. I guess overall my total miles stayed the same, but the majority of them were in one day. I guess for one week that will have to be OK, but I have been religious about my exercise and it nearly killed me to take 2 days off and to do short runs the other 3 days. Oh well, this week I can get back on schedule and all should be well. Anyway, I managed to finish my half marathon yesterday, with out having to walk at all, although I didn't manage to keep my pace as fast as I would have liked so I was a bit disappointed. I guess I did do better than last year, but I still would have liked to have been faster. Anyway, I will conclude this really lame blog entry before I fall asleep writing it. I just never really have anything exciting to say. Oh well.

Week 3

So I am obviously not creative enough to title my blogs with anything besides the week number ;-). Anyway, this week ended up being far better than I expected. I weighed in this week with a 3.5 pound loss. I was quite surprised. After my 9 mile run last weekend, I hadn't lost a single pound and was very frustrated. I had been watching what I was eating very carefully (minus one day, I did eat a Mcflurry and a Reeses peanut butter cup, but I did stay with in my calories), but a few days later I was down by the 3.5 pounds and so that was nice. It is a little more than I was hoping for, so I doubt that each week will be quite so much. So far this week though I am back in the same boat as last week, I finished my 10 mile run and am actually up (please no tough love comments). I did have one really bad day, but I read something recently that I found to be helpful to me. It said that you can never follow your diet, (or as I am trying to make it a lifestyle change) 100% of the time, but that you should follow an 80/20 rule. You need to follow it at least 80% of the time, but that you can use that other 20% when life gets in the way. That has been very helpful for me this week, since I did slip a day, but I was able to remember that all was not lost, because I could consider that my 20% and know that I would still be able to see results, they just might be a little slower this next week. I do have a little hope since it all worked out last week. Trying to lose weight can many times be so frustrating which is why in the past maybe I haven't been successful. You put so much work into it, and it seems like you don't see results. I guess that a little bit of patience and persistence eventually pays off, though it is hard to look at the big picture sometimes when the smaller picture seems bleak. Anyway, I am excited to be seeing results and hopefully will be able to continue to feel positive and keep thing in perspective. I hope that everyone has a great week!!!!

Week 2

So this week has been a better week. I lost 1.5 pounds which has been more than I have done in a long time. My goal is to lose small, so this was fantastic results. I have been so frustrated that I have not been losing even though I have been watching what I eat. I started tracking my calories and found that they were way under what they should be, most days not even hitting a thousand. So I decided to up my calorie intake, and make those calories count. I started eating more fruits and veggies, and more protein. Even though 65 % of my calories should come from carbs, I also found that protein is very important to help my body repair itself (which it really needed after my 9 mile run this weekend). The results surprised me, and within 2 days, I had started losing. That was quite motivating. It has also been great getting comments through the week, it has helped keep me so motivated. I know that I am incredibly bad at commenting on other peoples blogs, and I am going to try to be better with that. Anyway, hopefully things will continue to go so well, and I hope that everyone else is seeing success as well. (And yes mom I know that this is completely corny and out of character for me)