7 posts tagged “weight loss”

Well, my 2007 resolutions and goals... were for the most part not achieved.  I think that's true of so many resolutions though.  Here's the list for this coming year. 

I do resolutions and goals.  To me, a resolution is something that I plan to do, like eat well.  And a goal is a result I want to achieve, like lose 5 lbs.  The two are tied together, but can be achieved separately.  So even if I don't lose 5 lbs, if I ate well, that's still good.

Resolutions

• Try to post at least once a week.
• Keep my finances in check and try to save more.
• Workout at least five times a week.
• Stick to my running plan. 
• Watch what I eat and stick to some sort of healthy eating plan.
• Spend an hour a month on creative writing.
• Stay positive about my job, regardless of how the day goes.

Goals

• Hit my 10% goal weight.
• Run a sub-30:00 5k.
• Run over 125 hours this year.
• Run 1000 km (621.4 miles)

Well, as it's just about the end of the year, let's see how I did this year with my resolutions and goals.

Resolutions

• Try to post at least twice a week. 
  
• I don't even think I posted once in the month of September.  Whoops.  And I didn't even manage to finish Holidailies this year.
  
• Stay within my budget. 
  
• My budget drastically changed, what with the new job, but so far, so good on that one.
  
• Workout at least five times a week
• This one was going well til I moved and my schedule got all out of whack.  I'd say I got close though.
  
• Stick to my running plan. 
  
• Again, going well until I moved.  But at least I didn't give up.  I came back to it.
  
• Continue to watch what I eat
• This one is going... ok...  See below goals for the miserable details.  I decided to join Weight Watchers to try to keep myself on track.  Running leaves me ravenous, but then I end up eating too much.  There is a happy medium, I just have to find it.
  
• Read two books a month. 
  
• This was possibly the most enjoyable resolution.  I read some terrible books.  But it was still fun.
  
• Spend an hour a week doing creative writing
• I don't even think I did an hour a month.
  
• Spend time each week cleaning the house, rather than letting everything pile up and become disastrous.
• This one is not going too badly, but could probably use work.
  

Goals

• Lose 8 more pounds and keep them off.
• Nope.  Gained about 5 lbs.  I see a 2008 goal here.
  
• Run a sub-30:00 5k
• Only ran two 5ks this year, and the one was mis-measured, I think.  My fastest is still 32:01.  Slow and steady, right?
  
• Run over 100 hours this year
• We have a winner!  I ran 112 hours this year.  That's 4 days and 16 hours.  And considering how dismal the last 4 months of the year have been running wise, it's amazing I did that much!
  
• Be able to run the park path by the end of the year.
• This one came with a caveat that I still live in the area at the end of the year.  Clearly, I don't.  As to whether or not I could run the park path... well, that's up in the air, so let's just say this one was not quite completed. 

I've been making lists of things I need to do to get myself back on the healthy path.  Back to regular workouts and eating well. 

I've already decided that next Monday, I"m starting a new running plan.  It's simpler than the one I had been following.  It uses minutes rather than distance.  While I was able to do the distance, I'm not really training for any particular race - right now I'm just running because I enjoy it and because it's good for me.  But I like to have some sort of plan so I feel like I'm improving.  This new plan will be a bit easier, I think, but most importantly, it will be much easier to schedule.  I think half my problem was finding the time and figuring out how much time I'll need.  Running by minutes should be easier.  Plus, it's a fun challenge.  How far can I go in this amount of time?

I have to admit, I'm stupidly looking forward to seeing how many miles I can run in 2007.  I'm not even going to try to make a prediction on that one.

Of course, I should go out running today to get ready for it, but my body is just TIRED.  I think it's from not eating well and just the excitement of Christmas.  So I'll probably TurboJam today (say what you want about those videos, they're incredibly fun and a great workout).

And I need to clean my house.  I was gone for three days!  How did my house get so gross in three days when I wasn't here?  And the cats weren't here?  It's not fair.  One of those great mysteries of life, I guess.

(Holidailies #27)

I always vaguely make New Year's Resolutions, and rarely do much about keeping them.  They vary from year to year, but always involve doing better in school and getting into shape.  I can't say that I kept the first one this semester, unless some miracle in grading occurs.  But this year, I did actually get back into shape.  Around the first of the year, I started a new gym habit.  But I didn't do anything about my eating, and I didn't lose weight, but I'm sure I was healthier.  Mid-summer, I discovered SparkPeople and actually started paying attention to calories burned and calories taken in, and I lost weight.  And then school happened, and I gained a bit of it back.  But I think I'm back on track again.  As of yesterday.  If I can just make it through Christmas without gaining any weight, I will be delighted.

I think my other New Year's Resolution is going to be to read more books.  I tend to not read during law school.  My brain just sort of goes numb and I can't bring myself to read anything after I've finished my reading for class.  But in recent weeks, in part thanks to PaperBackSwap, I've been reading a bit more, and I've got a huge pile of books to be read.  It's nice to read before bed, kind of numb my brain, not think about law school. 

I'll probably make an even bigger list. Maybe my resolutions should also include "Keep my resolutions."

(Holidailies Entry 21)

Yesterday, I didn't do much of a workout.  I was lazy and tired, and so I just did 10 minutes of Ab Jam (and man, my back muscles are sore today) and the 20 minute Turbo Jam workout.  It was a non-running day, but I still wanted to do something.

But even with the low calorie burn yesterday, I was a snacking machine all day.  It was ridiculous!  I just wanted to eat and eat and eat.  I suppose it could have had to do with all the exercise I had done in the previous days, but I think it was just the changing of the seasons and my body trying to store winter fat for hibernation.  In the past few days, I broke down and bought three new pairs of pants in smaller sizes because my regular size just isn't cutting it anymore.  So I have to be careful to not sabotage that.  I don't have money to spend on clothes that I quickly grow out of.

Went for a run this morning.  3.5 miles, as usual.  Still dark at 6am, but I've discovered that my favorite part of the day is when the sun just starts to come up.  It's beautiful.  However, it was also 40 degrees at 6am.  Once I was about a mile into my run, I was quite comfortable, but walking out the door and doing my warmup walk was painful.  I was wearing a pair of capri-style pants (but I'm short, so they're only about an inch or two above my socks - if I get some taller socks, I think they'll be fine for winter) and a t-shirt, with a very light jacket over top.  I planned to take the jacket off once I got going, but I just couldn't convince myself to go out without it.

Not really increasing the pace much, but I did end up with a huge side stitch again this morning, which I haven't had on a morning run in weeks.  Not sure what was up with that.  I'd like to have that 3.5 miles down to under 40 minutes in the next couple of weeks.  I'm at about 44 minutes now, which isn't terrible, given all the hills on the route, and considering that I do my first mile a bit slower, because even though I do a warmup walk, I'm not really fully warmed up.

I'm thinking that maybe I need to do something to get my heartrate up before the warmup walk.  I joke that I should do laps around my dining room table, but really, that's not the best plan.  I'm thinking that as soon as I get out the door, I'll do a whole bunch of jumping jacks, then do the warmup walk.   And maybe that will make me less cold.  It's only September.  If it's 40 degrees in the morning now, what's it going to be like in a few months?  I need to figure out what kinds of cold weather gear I have and then start saving my pennies for some better cold weather gear.

Well, I had a running plan all worked out.  But I definitely didn't achieve my goals.  I'm not horribly disappointed, to be honest.  I was sick, and I just didn't have the strength.

Friday, I went out and did mile loops around my house.  I felt ok, but I didn't want to overtax myself.  I did two miles in 24 minutes.  I figured that was a good recovery run.  After all, I had a lot to do that day.  Crashed around 1:30 or so, felt pretty horrible.  But our law school softball league was starting up and my team was scheduled to play two games.  I decided to go to the game and dress in case I felt better, but the plan was to not play.  Well, we didn't have enough players, so I played.  I definitely was a bit off, but I had a great time, and felt much better once I got out into the weather.

Then I went over to Light the Night, a 2 mile charity walk to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  It was a nice event, a leisurely walk through the park.  I can't wait until my distances are up enough that I can run the paths in the park.  It's a 5.65 mile path around the whole thing and it's just a beautiful place.  But I'm not quite there yet.  Ideally, I'd be to a place where I'm running to the park, running the path, and running back.  But that'd be somewhere between 10 and 12 miles (I'm not sure of the exact distance from my house to the park).  That'll be a while.

I got up this morning and decided to try a mid-afternoon run.  My legs were super fatigued, but I thought maybe once I got going, I'd feel better.  Nope.  One mile and I was done.  It just wasn't there.  So my mileage for the week is low - only 7.5 miles.  Considering the goal was 13.75, that's a bit low.  I'm scheduled to run a 5K race next Saturday.  I figure I should be up to it, but if I don't improve my time from my last race, I won't be too disappointed.  They say it can take up to 2 weeks for your running to recover after you've been sick.

On another note, I got on the scale this morning and apparently lost over 2 pounds this week.  I'm not complaining - I got into running to lose weight in the first place.  But I figure it's just a side effect of the decongestants and being sick.  I expect to see the weight back next week.  Hopefully not all of it though.

For those of you not in the know, I've been working on losing weight and getting in shape for the past few months.  Lately, I've been using SparkPeople to track calories and such, and the following was posted in my blog over there.  Kind of a recap of how August went for me.

August Month in Review

Start Weight: 149.6
End Weight: 147.4 (not logged)
Calories Burned: 13417/15,000
Miles Run: 53.1/50

This was a pretty good month all in all. In July, I bought new pants in a size smaller than normal. They're looking better than ever, maybe even a little big in the waist. I bought a pair of size 8 jeans. I'm not sure I've got the confidence to wear them yet, but they're the same brand I always buy, and the 8's looked WAY better than the 10's.

I ran a 5K this month! I finished a race! 35:01. Way faster than my goals. And I was bitten by the running bug. I'm excited to keep running. Even when I dread going out and running, I still really enjoy it when I get out there.

My weight got down to 145! That's a number I've not seen in years. Sure, it went back up, but I didn't eat so well in the week leading up to my 5K. I'm pretty disheartened by my month end weight, but I'll just keep working on it. I'm trying to step it up again. I got there once. I can do it again.

So for September:

Calorie Burn Goal: 15,000
Mileage Goal: 60