A Long Overdue Post

I am a bit ashamed on how I've neglected this blog as of late.  I now realize how easy it is to get distracted with life and throw things like blogging and exercise to the side.  I have to thank my wonderful sister who is one of my biggest inspirations for starting this, for reminding me that what I have been doing is important.

(Isn't that amazing? That's her on the left at 182 in Jan of 2011 and

present at 158!  She is awesome sauce to the 10th power.)

Tammy gave me some nice, friendly reminders that I hadn't posted anything in awhile and that was enough to kick my butt into gear and to write this.  Sad to say, I actually had to look back at my previous posts to figure out what I needed to discuss in this post.  With that said, I'd like to discuss my week IV and V weigh in's and give you today's long overdue run report.

I missed posting my weigh ins for both week IV and V!  How could I neglect this?!  Here is last weeks 

the weigh in from 18 May:

18 May 2012

Weight: 263

Waist: 50"

Approximate BMI: 36%

Just a reminder, that was a total weight loss of 10 pounds, 2 inches, and 2%.  So, here is week IV's results:

25 May 2012

Weight: 263

Waist: 50"

Approximate BMI: 36%

Wait... That's the same as week III.  Why is that?  That is because I did not do any cardio that week.  I was ramping up for my big vacation to Utah (that's a blog post for another time, tomorrow perhaps) and let my exercise slip.  Sure I didn't loose any weight, but, it showed me that my eating decisions were spot on and my metabolism was working like it should be.  So, here is Week V results:

01 June 2012

Weight: 264.5

Waist: 50"

Approximate BMI: 37%

Hold the phone... those numbers went up!  What gives?!  My thinking that my metabolism had stabilized itself and my eating choices were all I needed to maintain weight was all I needed was ultimately flawed.  I blew off cardio that week as well and I think the results speak for itself.  Instead of a total loss of 10 pounds, I'm back to 8.5 and my BMI is back to 1% total lost.  My waist didn't change, so, I'm not sure where that 1.5lbs went, but, they are back for sure.

(Although, me thinks I look much better than I used to.)

I am actually am kinda glad this happened.  Why, you ask.  Because, it shows me that if I want to loose this weight and keep it off, I need to stay vigilant.  It's not just a proper diet or just exercise, it's both.  If I neglect one of them, I am bound to fail.  I also discovered that when I am not exercising it's a little easier for me to make poor nutrition choices.  That is not good at all.

How am I going to lose those pounds again?  Back to the running!  After 2 weeks of not exercising like I should, I knew I wanted to ease back into the run so I wouldn't over do it and get really discouraged by pain and not being able to do what I was able to do 3 weeks ago.  I asked my wonderful weight loss support group on Facebook (you know who you are and thank you for all your support) how I should go about this "easing period".  My dear sister, suggested that I walk for 15 minutes and then do my 1:4 (run:walk) intervals for the last 15 minutes.  I thought that was a splendid idea and decided to go ahead and use run route #1 (uphill first and then downhill).  Here is today's run report:

Monday - 4Jun12

Time: 30:55

Distance: 2.19

Pace: 14:05 min/mi

For comparison here was my run report three weeks ago where I was running at a ratio of 2:4:

Friday- 18May12

Time: 33:03

Distance: 2.35

Pace: 14:05 min/mi

Notice the pace?  Exactly the same.  And today I straight up walked half of it, albeit, briskly.  Today's run was great, to say the least.  I opened it up on my run segments and felt no pain (I'm not sore now either), no foot numbness, I wasn't gasping for breath, I didn't feel like throwing up everywhere.  I felt great.  Truly great.

Another thing was that I really wanted to do this run today.  Little story: I couldn't find my digital watch this afternoon and I use that to know when to start running and walking.  In the past, that would've been enough to call the whole thing off.

"I don't have my watch today.  I might as well wait for Wednesday to do my run then,"  that was old me thinking.  New me thinking is a little bit different.

"I don't have my watch... Well, I have my phone with me for Zombies, Run! why don't I just look at the stopwatch there?  Better yet, does the Zombies, Run! app have a visible clock?  Sweet it does, let's do this!"

I am proud of myself today.  It's a welcome feeling.

- Louie