Archive for May, 2010
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Setbacks
Done with week one on South Beach, and onto week 2, but not without a setback.
Note to self: You seem to forget at 8 pm at night that Twizzlers are not on the diet. Really, it’s more of a habit to eat sweets late at night that I haven’t totally killed.
It’s annoying when it seems like I am generally the cause of my setbacks (although really the whole thing about living a healthy lifestyle is to take accountability of all of my setbacks) but generally mine happen at night, at my own home, on my own accord and at no one else’s suggestion. Interesting isn’t it?
Today, on my own accord and at no one else’s suggestion, I got up and ran 5 miles before I head out for work. And on my own accord and at no one else’s suggestion, I will stick to my eating plan today and will move on and stick to the diet (I truly hate that word and all the stigma it carries) the best I can until I get to my goal weight. Because that’s my responsibility, and no one else’s.
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Resilience and garage sales
Day 5 is down. I thought I’d recap where my head is and what I’ve been up to. Let’s go in reverse order.
This weekend we had a garage sale at our house. The day was weird for so many reasons. But I’m glad it is over with. It was stressful and busy and messy. But the good thing is that the basement is in much better shape. When I go down there now, I feel happy just looking at how organized and clean it is. My husband was a rock star at the garage sale – I think he might have enjoyed himself!
More husband love: we tore down our above-ground pool last fall –> resulting in a small pond/swamp in our backyard –> resulting in piles of dirt –> which we made into a mud pit –> resulting in baby grass fenced off (dog digging prevention) –> and finally, he took down the fence and we have a YARD once again. But I think the dog is happier than we are. It was a long wait, but it’s so nice to be at the end of the tunnel.
Physically, I’ve been feeling great. I ran Saturday morning, and did 4ish miles, and wow – not only have I lost aerobic fitness, but the most dramatic difference is my flexibility. My legs are just stiff from sitting around I guess. I rode my bike outside on Sunday. The weather was so nice, and at points on the ride I passed honeysuckle – one of my favorite scents ever. It was glorious.
As far as the diet goes, it’s been going well. I lost 4.2 pounds so far (in 5 days) and most of that is water – it was also probably high from PMS but I suppose you don’t really want to know that. Too late!
The diet is a little hard when socializing. I can’t drink. I can’t eat dessert. On Saturday we went to a pizza place – I knew they had a salad I could get – so that was good, but it was hard to be around everyone else eating pizza. Then afterwards, we went out for drinks. I had a diet coke & rum (which is definitely not on the diet but the best possible thing I could do, other than water) and then they wanted to go out for ice cream as we walked by a Coldstone. I got a diet Pepsi. I think I did really well that night, facing 3 different major temptations and doing reasonably well in each situation, but I think that exercising too much restraint can be a downfall. I think it does get worn down. If you’re constantly faced with temptation, over and over again, the good angel on your shoulder gets worn out. That is why I am worried about my parents coming in town and the eating out/entertaining that goes with that and my birthday that follows right after. Even if I am “good” to the letter of the diet, the constant temptations I will face wear down my resilience. And one “cheat” doesn’t have to mean the diet is blown all to hell, but it can if I’m feeling worn down.
Not sure what the answer is to all of that, but I am going to leave it on the table and get back to the Bachelorette.
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Day One
As I hinted at the end of my last post, I have decided the issue is, for now, with me. I’m recommitting myself to watching what I eat and specifically to the South Beach diet again.
I just have to put this first in my life right now in order to achieve that. When I put things first, I can do amazing things: graduate from undergrad magna cum laude; get into law school; write onto a journal at law school; graduate law school; pass the bar exam; run a marathon. I’ve done a lot of things – I can do this too.
Luckily I have an extremely supportive husband to back me on this and I have this blog thing to get me through it too. I’m kind of going back and forth on how much to share here, because it’s out of my comfort zone to talk about this diet stuff to the world.
Last night I did 60 push-ups and today my arms aren’t sore at all – just my stomach. Am I doing it wrong?
Today I attempted to eliminate all caffeine and I lost that battle. Part of the reason I’m quitting it is that it stains my teeth, and I always have it with artificial sugars (splenda, aspartame, etc.). Around 2 p.m. I was closing my eyes at my desk when I realized I had to do something. After walking around the office and other attempts at waking myself up, I decided my job > diet soda. Tomorrow I will go in armed with ibuprofen and tea!
Today was pretty good on the diet front other than that:
Breakfast: spinach smoothie (milk, frozen spinach, protein powder & ice)
Lunch: whole foods salad loaded with veggies, feta, tofu, chickpeas, edamame
Snack: almonds
Dinner: grilled chicken and veggies
Caffeine products: 1.
And on a completely contradictory note, read this really cool blog post. KTHANXBYE
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It’s not you, it’s me
I know in my last post I promised I would be writing more about my weight and nutrition. I’m kind of stuck right now. I have been through a couple of half-hearted South Beach diet attempts and haven’t successfully made it through the first phase. It’s a tough phase for me – I love carbs. But I’m starting to question whether my lack of success is because of me or because of the diet.
For some reason, life has managed to get in the way, or I’ve let it get in the way. I think most fad diets like South Beach will work if you stick to them 100%. Most of them involve clever ways to ultimately reduce calorie intake. If I was to blame South Beach it would be because:
1) it’s a lot of work – meal preparation and meal planning
2) eating eggs for breakfast gets old, real fast
3) Phase one is so strict.
4) I have a sweet tooth that would put the Cookie Monster to shame, and it’s a force for the South Beach diet to reckon with.
But there are real pros – in the first phase, I have lost 4 pounds or so of what I’m sure is partially water weight. It’s still a lot – on my five foot tall frame. Plus, eating real, fresh food takes a lot of preparation and that’s kind of the way it should be. I felt really good while I was on it — like I had a lot of energy and felt great in the morning.
So I’m wavering on whether to give it another go right now or try another method. Thoughts anyone?
I guess I should talk a little about my goals–I’ve never talked weight on here so here goes. I would like to lose about 20 pounds, to put me at about 100ish pounds (which is healthy for 5’0″). My BMI isn’t unhealthy where it is now, but it’s not where I’d like it to be. An application on my iphone tells me that if I lose a pound a week starting now, I’ll reach my goal by October 6.
I’m watching the Biggest Loser tonight and they are running marathons and I feel jealous. But I want to focus on the weight goal before I do that again – losing weight and training for a marathon is not a smart idea. (You know, unless you live on a ranch with personal trainers and work out 8 hours a day – then go for it. … So I say as I eat one more Twizzler.)
So, diet, is it you, or is it me?
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Do cyclists really have more fun?
Just a quick post to talk about where I’m at right now.
I’ve been on kind of a running hiatus. I think I have ran two times since the marathon. I’ve been going to the gym and doing the elliptical, but lately I think about going to the gym and seeing how I can avoid the elliptical. It’s so boring! I also think the movement itself is kind of awkward.
I did go for a bike ride this weekend. I went out on Grant’s trail which is a paved, relatively flat trail. It was fantastic – on some of my runs toward the end of my marathon training, I found myself jealous of bikers. It looked like they were having more fun. Well, they might have been. It was a lot of fun. I was out there for 45 minutes – just took it easy since I hadn’t been on the bike in forever. I figured out how to use my bike’s gears as well. I never really understood the idea of changing them and why that would help you until this last weekend.
I’m leaving town to visit my brother in Nebraska and I think I will get a few runs in. I imagine it’s going to be hard to get back in the swing of things.
I have my mind on a couple of races this fall/winter – the Oct 3 half marathon (Lewis & Clark) and maybe a full marathon on December 3. The thing that is stopping me is that I would like to lose some weight before I start racing again. It’s really hard to lose weight when training for distance events. So I am taking a break from training until I lose the weight. I am very tempted to sign up for the races, but I don’t want to lose focus. I’ve been doing the South Beach diet – which has 3 phases.
The first phase eliminates sugar, all bread, starches (like potatoes), and yes, even fruit. The point is not to give up all carbs. In fact, South Beach embraces carbs at all phases (vegetables, milk, cheese all contain carbs and the low fat versions of dairy are encouraged). The point of the first phase is to jump start you on the diet (you lose water weight) and kill your cravings for sugar, and it is only supposed to last for two weeks. Then in the second phase, you gradually add in fruits and whole grain carbs. The third phase is maintenance.
So, in the next few months, I will probably be discussing weight and nutrition more than I ever have before on this blog and talking less about running. Perhaps I will also be writing more about biking as well
About Me
My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
