Seeing as though my blog is mostly about running but also about goal setting I try to write about that.
The problem has been that I have stated several goals over the last few months and none of them "took" because none of them feel right. I do have a goal though. It is a secret that I let out now and then almost tongue in cheek. Secretly though-it's my only goal.
I want to qualify and run Boston.
There, I've said it-out loud and to a lot of people. The thing is, I know I can't commit to the training I need to do right now to get there anytime soon. I know me-I am not the type to overextend myself. I'm just not happy when I do that. So Yes-I am am one of those moms who says NO to people and will not overload my schedule just because "some people" think that is what you are supposed to do.
I don't do soccer leagues with my kids. I do almost NO play dates. My kids aren't in gymnastics or karate. So far I can get away with doing that. The kids get plenty of time to play with other kids by using our abundance of unscheduled free time. We have time to read books, paint pictures and play with playdough. We have time to do laundry together and make beds together. They also get to help me make at least one meal per day-often more.
Frankly we are busy! I couldn't imagine how we would fit in all of our fun stuff if we had to run off to this or that lesson or class. I would be a stressed out mess trying to fit it all in. Nope-I can't do it and I don't even want to try!!
Now-I don't judge, I know plenty of moms who do all those things that I don't do because they would go nuts with all that free time and they would go bonkers trying to fill up that time. You have to do what works for you. Period.
That is how I know I won't even attempt a training plan for Boston until one or both my children are in school full time. It is just me and how I know I operate. This is good information to acknowledge though as it lets me relax and work on what I know I need to do first to achieve my goal.
I need to build a solid foundation so I can safely execute a strenuous training plan. Basically this is my goal for now. It's the goal that fits and it's the goal that feels right.
I decided first I would get serious about losing the "extra baby squish" that is left behind. I am not too caught up in numbers on the scale, I am more worried about inches and fluff. Having said that, numbers do count for something on the scale so I basically am trying to lose the last 10lbs. Everyone seems to want to lose the last 10lbs, so this is nothing new.
I have had a good relationship with food most of my life-a fact for which I am grateful. However, after children I did try to "diet" with some nasty consequences. I blogged about it HERE. I have been back to simply eating when I was hungry and not eating when I was not.
Immediately I gained weight. My metabolism was beyond messed up! Even with the holidays I started to lose the weight again. I changed nothing other than I ate more calories. Not JUNK-real food. Meat, Veg, Carbs, Fat. Not much in my diet is processed other than breads, some cereal (once a week or so), maybe some chips-I don't deny, but I also don't crave them or feel bad when I eat them. I simply eat what I want when I am hungry and stop then second I feel full. Not in one more bite, or after I finish this little bit-but when I feel full.
I still was not convinced though I had enough information. I am a numbers girl. I feel the answer to everything is there if you just take the time to look at all the information. This led me to a product by BodyMedia. It is called BodyMedia FIT LINK Armband Weight Management System formerly known as a BoddyBugg made popular by The Biggest Loser contestants. This is not only a pedometer, it also reads how many calories you are burning just by existing. It also "reads" your body and lets you know how you are sleeping etc.
I Love This Thing!! I have used it for just about two weeks now and like I had hoped, I have gleaned a lot of information. Most shocking I burn as little as 1700 cals/day (only once and let's just say it was after the sad Packers loss which included drinking a lot of beer) and as much as 2700 cals/day. Most days I hover between 2200 and 2400. This means that like I thought-I can easily eat 1900 cals a day and still lose weight. That my friends is a lot of food!! It's no wonder I was struggling when I was restricting to only 1400-1500cals/day!!!!
I have lost 2lbs. the first week I have worn my band. I was not expecting to lose quite that much, but that also came on the heals of our trip to WI where something fried is eaten at every meal and several Old Fashioned's are consumed daily. I suspect I will be closer to a pound or so per week for a bit and then I will level off.
I have changed up two things. One of them is specifically calorie based. I realized that I was drinking a lot of my calories in wine. I haven't made a conscious decision to not drink-but instead of just having a glass of wine just because, I have started to view it like food. So I question "Do I really feel like having a glass of wine or do I just like the idea of having a drink?" The answer almost always is I don't really want it. Huh. So weird! I'll be honest, I've been a pretty big drinker most of my life because that is the culture I have grown up in and lived in. I never really thought about whether or not I really wanted to drink or not. So-that takes care of about 200-500 cals/day I am not consuming (No I didn't drink daily, but more than not some weeks)
The biggest change-I'm running less and trying to strength train more. I just want to have a stronger leaner body and while running helps, my little bodybugg (as I still like to call it) tells me, I burn more cals doing strength and sprints than I do going long. For example: I had an average day of activity on Saturday and ran 6mi. That day I burned 2700+ cals. On Monday I had an average day of activity and ran for 25min at a pretty quick pace for me. That day I burned 2600+ cals! So after an hour of running I only burned 100 more cals than after 25min of running!! Crazy!! I also looked into why this is. Come to find out that the longer/further you run, your body becomes more efficient and "adjusts" so you burn fewer cals. When you do sprints and strength it is tricking your body into burning more as it doesn't know what it coming next. (Pretty sure I read that in Runner's World, but I can't find it to link it-sorry)
Phew! That is a lot of info for one blog post. If I would be better at blogging, I could keep them nice and short. or at least split up
Thanks for reading though and thanks for always supporting my goals by simply reading my random thoughts! Good stuff is always in the works and I promise to bring you along for the good stuff if you want to keep reading through the boring stuff
