Thursday, January 03, 2013

Weight Loss is a Marathon - Running Backwards

One of my "rules to live by" is to try to think as weight loss as a marathon, not a sprint, meaning, slow and steady wins the race. Well how freaking slow is SLOW?!?!? My weight loss has stalled (and crept up) since MAY of 2012... that's absolutely NO loss and a bit of gain. What in the world? Am I running the marathon backwards? While at Novarum they told me it would take probably 6 years to get to my goal weight and of course I thought "nope, not me, I'll do it quicker" but with this most recent stall, I am starting to think they were onto something there. God, 6 years seems like a LIFETIME but whichever way I choose to go, 6 years from now will be 6 years from now, so it's up to me to decide how I'll look and feel when that time comes.

I hate to be a cliche, but the new year, January 2013, has inspired me to re-dedicate myself, once again, for the hundredth time over, to a healthier lifestyle, because another "rule to live by" is "I'll quit when I'm dead" and I'm not dead yet and I don't plan on being in that state for quite some time!

I am still planning on swimming 3 times a week, minimum. I will be back in the pool tomorrow morning, 6:30am sharp. My office is opening an in-house gym this year and once that's open I plan on lifting weights while at work, using swimming as my cardio, so then I get a good balance of overall work outs. It is something that I really miss from the gym when Marco and I joined so many moons ago. I really LOVED lifting weights and how it made me feel and I am truly looking forward to starting again. Also, in the warmer weather, I hope to add bike riding to my cardio as well.

I am still tracking my calories on My Fitnesspal, although not as religiously as I should be. Weekends are the worst but I'm going to try to be better at that.

I need to re-visit the idea of making small goals every week and focusing on that, as that really did work well for me and I have gotten out of the habit.

So, if there is still anybody out there, reading, popping in on occasion to check on me, don't count me out of this race yet, even if everybody else has crossed the finish line (or worse, dropped out). I'm still here, I'm still (and yet again) dedicated and I am still focused on getting healthy.

This is how I looked back in May (the last time any real weight was dropped) and it's pretty true to how I look today, if you would add a bit of bulk under my chin). Let's see what this May will bring!  


Here is to 2013 being a healthy, successful year!

2 comments:

Aline said...

First of all - you look great! Second - I have been on this journey again too. I started last July and it's been going really well.

What you said about lifting weights and mixing up cardio is spot-on. I got myself this little device called a Bodybugg which they wear on the Biggest Loser. It's a device you wear on your upper arm and it is pretty accurate at telling you how many calories you burn.
I started out cycling a lot and then more and more and more and faster and with more resistance but at some point I stopped losing weight. Well, this device showed that my body was really used to the bike, so I had to change it up. I started doing the elliptical instead, I burned way more calories and I started losing weight again. I also found that on days I lift weight, I initially didn't lose as much weight (like, right after) but at the end of the day I burned more calories on a weight lifting day than on a cardio day because my body kept on burning.
Another thing is to try and be active, even when you don't work out. Go for walks whenever you can, run around with your kid, take the stairs, ... little things but they DO add up.

I am not saying you should get a Bodybugg, I just found it really interesting to see how weight loss works and the fact that your body really DOES get used to workouts. Also, the Bodybugg calculated that in order to lose weight I should burn around 1800 calories ON TOP of what I burn just by resting. I don't reach that goal every day but I do about 4 or 5 times a week and am close most of the other times. But in order to reach this goal, I really have to be an active person. However, I also eat more than I did before. I consume around 1900 calories a day (sometimes more, sometimes less).

So maybe this helps you? I know it was great for me. A few years ago I lost weight and I got stuck at a weight about 15 pounds heavier than I am now and I got so frustrated that I eventually gave up. Now I am much more forgiving with myself and I too follow the "marathon" mantra.

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