I've been going through a new (to me) pattern lately. I'll gain weight for a few weeks and show a big loss at the scale. While I still consider this to be maintaining it is psychologically exhausting. I knew when I started this journey that I'd never be done with weight loss/maintenance but I didn't realize how hard maintenance would be. I realize that this sounds all "woe is me" but it's hard. Like, finishing my first half marathon hard.
Throughout my journey people always talked about how great I looked and how great things were going for me but I don't recall anyone saying anyone ever mentioning how hard maintenance would be. I know I'll get it together and I think that starts with admitting that I have been having a problem keeping it in check.
The last couple of weeks I've been following the Simply Filling technique which has been pretty wonderful. I've been able to enjoy a number of foods that I'd previously avoided in favor of lower PointsPlus alternatives. I'm guessing that my new "indulgences" is what has been getting me into a little bit of trouble as well as the fact that I'm probably not listening to my body cues as well as I should be and eating past being satisfied.
Which do you prefer - Simply Filling or Tracking? Why? Any advice?
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Inspiration
Last week at our Weight Watchers meeting we talked all about inspiration. Guest speakers, aka fellow members, who have inspiring stories were asked to share their stories to inspire people in their meeting rooms. I was one of those speakers at my meeting and if you're reading this blog you likely know some (or all) of my story but it got me to thinking about the things that I can do now that I couldn't do before.
- not worry about parking as close to the store as possible because I can walk easily from my car to the building (and back!)
- fitting into clothes at almost any store, not just plus size stores
- wanting to wear dresses and skirts
- carrying in the groceries without needing help (and being able to make multiple trips without being winded)
- not needing to use the bathroom's handicap stall for the extra space
- speaking of bathrooms --being able to use the bathroom on an airplane (and not having to back into it)
- being able to cross my legs
- looking forward to a 20+ mile bike ride
- obviously the big one - being able to complete a half marathon!
So what can you do now that you couldn't do before? Or what are you most looking forward to doing as you lose weight?
Monday, September 9, 2013
Well that sucked
I haven't spent as much time blogging recently as I would have liked but now that I've reached my goal weight I'm sort of struggling to find content. I also wasn't sure if you wanted to always read about how I was training for the next race, which since I've basically been training since mid-January for one half marathon or another that got a little tiresome to me. However, yesterday I was supposed to don my favorite orange and blue Team Challenge singlet, lace up my beloved Brooks Adrenalines and pound out 13.1 miles.
Except... things sort of fell apart for me. As you may recall for the June half marathon I struggled with dehydration and some really bad cramps in my calf muscles. For a few days I was relieved when the weather was predicted to be cool and humidity would be low. Then I read the weather on Saturday and practically cried. I'd planned my hydration strategy based on seeing my husband twice while on the course and then found out he had to leave the course by 9 am. When I started to think (some might say when I started to panic) about my pace I'd wanted to hang with the 2:20 pacer which would have put me at a 10:41 pace. Even assuming that I'd leave the start line at exactly 7 am I feared I wouldn't see my husband a second time and would miss being able to get the additional hydration that I'd trained with. In addition to a few other factors the panic started churning and so did Morty (my pet name for my Crohn's condition).
I'd gone to bed early because I was supposed to be up at 3:15 am in order to make it to my friend Kim's house by 5:00 am for the trip to the city. I "slept" (and I use that term pretty loosely cause I'd close my eyes and have a nightmare for about 18 seconds, wake up panicked and then repeat) for about an hour before I actually woke up and really hit the panic button. I felt completely wiped out, and like I wanted to throw up. And then the abdominal pain (another symptom of the horrible Morty) hit me and I gave up.
I woke up Dan and explained what was happening, grabbed my throw-up bucket in case it got really bad and tried to explain between sobs that I couldn't run. At the time he agreed and told me that it was alright but that I had to put my health first. I sent a text to my friends Kim & Barbara to tell them what was going on and then cried myself to sleep.
I knew that I'd basically just sent myself into a flare for stressing about what I couldn't control and I hated that I'd trained for the past 2+ months only to quit. Clearly, this also means that I'll be back for another season of Team Challenge to help raise more money so that someone can find a cure for this stupid disease so I can just worry about a half marathon the night before without going full on into a flare.
Congratulations to all the people who were able to go run the race. You guys rock! And I'm jealous of the sweet bling you got.
On a totally unrelated note... my question to you this week is:
What kind of content would you like to see on my blog going forward?
Except... things sort of fell apart for me. As you may recall for the June half marathon I struggled with dehydration and some really bad cramps in my calf muscles. For a few days I was relieved when the weather was predicted to be cool and humidity would be low. Then I read the weather on Saturday and practically cried. I'd planned my hydration strategy based on seeing my husband twice while on the course and then found out he had to leave the course by 9 am. When I started to think (some might say when I started to panic) about my pace I'd wanted to hang with the 2:20 pacer which would have put me at a 10:41 pace. Even assuming that I'd leave the start line at exactly 7 am I feared I wouldn't see my husband a second time and would miss being able to get the additional hydration that I'd trained with. In addition to a few other factors the panic started churning and so did Morty (my pet name for my Crohn's condition).
I'd gone to bed early because I was supposed to be up at 3:15 am in order to make it to my friend Kim's house by 5:00 am for the trip to the city. I "slept" (and I use that term pretty loosely cause I'd close my eyes and have a nightmare for about 18 seconds, wake up panicked and then repeat) for about an hour before I actually woke up and really hit the panic button. I felt completely wiped out, and like I wanted to throw up. And then the abdominal pain (another symptom of the horrible Morty) hit me and I gave up.
I woke up Dan and explained what was happening, grabbed my throw-up bucket in case it got really bad and tried to explain between sobs that I couldn't run. At the time he agreed and told me that it was alright but that I had to put my health first. I sent a text to my friends Kim & Barbara to tell them what was going on and then cried myself to sleep.
I knew that I'd basically just sent myself into a flare for stressing about what I couldn't control and I hated that I'd trained for the past 2+ months only to quit. Clearly, this also means that I'll be back for another season of Team Challenge to help raise more money so that someone can find a cure for this stupid disease so I can just worry about a half marathon the night before without going full on into a flare.
Congratulations to all the people who were able to go run the race. You guys rock! And I'm jealous of the sweet bling you got.
On a totally unrelated note... my question to you this week is:
What kind of content would you like to see on my blog going forward?
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Vacation Antics
Over the weekend we were in Wisconsin, again. It seems like most, if not all, of our summer holidays have been spent behind the cheddar curtain. This has make for a fabulous summer and some amazing memories. During a brief moment I'd posted this gem on Facebook:
Dan and I went out biking on Sunday on the back roads of Arbor Vitae. Riding our fat bikes generally gets a few strange looks and some comments from other riders or passers by. This weekend was definitely no different as we even received comments from people driving past who stopped to ask questions about our bikes. Dan rides a black Surly Pugsley Necromancer and I was riding my green Salsa Mukluk (obviously, as it's noted above). In case you're not familiar here is a photo of our fabulously fun bikes on a frozen lake in Wisconsin (circa January 2013). The bikes are super fun in winter because 1) you can still bike in the winter with the increased traction from the fat tires and 2) because you can bike on frozen lakes. I dare you to try that with your fancy road bikes people.
But those are stories for another day. On Sunday we road around the airport and tried to re-enact the opening scene from Top Gun when Maverick is riding his motorcycle next to the runway and gets all charged up when a jet takes off next to him. We really thought this would happen since we heard the jet warming up on the runway but it didn't move...until we were well past the airport. We'd been riding for well over an hour and covered some 14 miles when out of the corner of my eye I saw a deer. This was a pretty small deer so I immediately started looking for more and/or mama. She was a few feet away and they took off running.
Once we'd returned home I asked Dan if he saw those deer (he was riding behind me at the time) and he said that he hadn't seen them until he saw my head whip around. Then he started looking in that direction and caught sight of the white tails. I'd commented that this would have made a hilarious excuse for a DNS (did not start) for my half marathon on Sunday, provided that my bike didn't sustain serious damage because that would just make me crazy sad.
You just can't make this up...
How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?
Also, does anyone know if you get to keep a deer that you hit with your bike? Just checking... you know. In case.
Yesterday's Northern Wisconsin shenanigans included nearly hitting a deer with my Salsa Mukluk (fat bike). Mental note: check the rules on keeping a deer you hit with your bike.To which one of my friends responded that this story needed to be explained on my blog. This is where things might get a little boring... cause, that's pretty much all there is to it.
 |
| Clearly not taken this weekend! The snow should have given that away! |
But those are stories for another day. On Sunday we road around the airport and tried to re-enact the opening scene from Top Gun when Maverick is riding his motorcycle next to the runway and gets all charged up when a jet takes off next to him. We really thought this would happen since we heard the jet warming up on the runway but it didn't move...until we were well past the airport. We'd been riding for well over an hour and covered some 14 miles when out of the corner of my eye I saw a deer. This was a pretty small deer so I immediately started looking for more and/or mama. She was a few feet away and they took off running.
Once we'd returned home I asked Dan if he saw those deer (he was riding behind me at the time) and he said that he hadn't seen them until he saw my head whip around. Then he started looking in that direction and caught sight of the white tails. I'd commented that this would have made a hilarious excuse for a DNS (did not start) for my half marathon on Sunday, provided that my bike didn't sustain serious damage because that would just make me crazy sad.
You just can't make this up...
How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?
Also, does anyone know if you get to keep a deer that you hit with your bike? Just checking... you know. In case.
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