New Perspectives

      6 Comments on New Perspectives

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! I ran 4 miles on Thursday and 7 miles on Friday, then rode another 3.1 miles on my bike Sunday while I tagged along with Jamie for his 5k prep run.  I didn’t have any barbecues or anything, which was actually kind of nice.  I was ready for a bit of a break from parties where food is the central theme!

I woke up yesterday morning and ran a one-mile warm up and then a 2-mile tempo run.  It was hard, because once again, the humidity here in southeast Michigan is a killer.  But it wasn’t nearly as hard as my run on Saturday, so I was able to plow through and then jump in the pool afterwards.  I love doing that!

I weighed myself after my run, and well…let’s just say I was not happy with the results.  🙁  I had made a “special” dessert after my long run on Saturday, which I then had again Sunday night, and although it was a diet dessert and within my point target, I decided that I’d eaten too much, too late, and I just needed an extra “day” to let my body catch up.  So I didn’t record Monday’s weight, but put it off until Tuesday.

Unfortunately, I then had a funeral viewing to attend.  My dear uncle on my mom’s side passed away on Friday. 🙁  My uncle Bobby was a great guy, who died much too young (57), and one conclusion I came to this weekend was that you simply must take care of your body to have a good, long life.  Sadly, my Uncle Bobby did not take care of himself in his later years and had a multitude of health problems (diabetes chief among them), which ultimately led to his untimely death.  It was a heartbreaking couple of days, but after it all, I was more determined than ever to take good care of this body of mine–I know now, more than ever, how precious good health is, because this is the only body I’m going to get!

I got up this morning, the day of the burial, and decided that I would change up my routine a little.  In the training plan that my friend Katie designed for me, Tuesdays are a day for either strength training or an easy run.  I usually do strength training on Tuesdays, because I enjoy it, but today, because I had the day off for the funeral, I actually had time to get a run in (and this, despite sleeping in until 9:30!).  It was incredibly humid–the dewpoint was 73° when I got out there at 10:30am–that is some moist air!  But I was determined to get a run in, knowing that I’d be expected to go to lunch after the burial with my family.

I did a simple out and back in my neighborhood, but I decided to mix it up a bit and go a different direction.  Let me tell you, it was hot.  The sun had been behind the clouds since I woke up, but after about a half a mile, it came out, and I ran the entire 1.5 miles back home directly into the sun.  I stopped a couple times to take pictures, but my pace was still pretty good for an “easy” run (my easy run pace is supposed to be 10:43-11:33).  For that last mile, I even had a hard time trying to keep in my “easy” range…I was tempted to just keep going at my current pace of 10:10-10:20 (the “I’m almost home” pace ;)), but I remembered an article Katie had sent me about why it was so important to make your easy runs truly easy, and I forced myself to slow down again and again.  I mistakenly thought that my goal easy pace started at 10:33, so that’s why my last split was a little lower than it should have been, but overall I did well at keeping things easy.  And in that heat, it was a good thing!

 

 

I went back in my car afterwards and took some pictures down the road.  The first one was rather funny…I had the air in my car at full blast because I was so hot when I got home, and it was so humid outside that my lens fogged up when I got out of the car.

 

 

Oops. 😉 Eventually, I was able to take a good shot of the tracks down the road from my house.  I don’t run over them often, so it was neat to be able to do it today.  I love train tracks.

 

 

I took a few other shots, too.

 

 

 

 

I do love living in the country.  You’ll notice that you can see a lot of standing water in a few of the pictures.  There has been so much rain lately.  We had almost twice our normal monthly rain total in June, and we’re well on our way to a record month in July. 🙁  My garden is holding out so far (thanks to my husband’s well-planned irrigation system), but I know a lot of the farmers around here must be worrying.

After I was done with my run and pictures, I weighed myself again.  Last week, for reference, I was 116.2.  This week…

 

 

I was so discouraged.  I have worked so hard to stay on plan, and have been in “weight loss” mode (with less points!) for three months, trying to get back to 113.  Today, I finally just couldn’t take it anymore.  I decided I am just done with trying to lose weight.  My body just does not seem to want to lose this last three  pounds, and I’m done fighting with it.  So, as of this morning, I put myself back into “maintenance” mode in my eTools tracker, and I was actually pretty excited to see my new points total of 30 (previously I was at 26).  I even got some of yesterday’s activity points back, because my week technically started yesterday, so it recalculated my points from yesterday using my new, higher target. 😀

I’m hopeful that I’ll just stay the same and not gain this week, but at this point, I’m too tired and frustrated to care.  I’ve spent the last three days hearing various comments from one family member after another who hasn’t seen me in a while…things like, “You’re too skinny!” “You need to gain weight!” “A good stiff wind will blow you over!”  My clothes all seem to fit fine, and I don’t feel fat.   Who knows…maybe it’s true that the little bit of strength training I’ve been doing twice a week since March has actually made me gain muscle weight.  But the bottom line is…I want to start eating like a normal person again!   So I’m going to.  😛

It’s kind of ironic, actually, that I have been so focused on trying to get back to 113 that I completely overlooked the fact that two weeks ago marked my one-year anniversary of hitting Lifetime at Weight Watchers.  It’s a shame that I missed that big milestone…I’ve managed to  keep the weight off for a whole year!  In fact, I actually weigh about 4 pounds less than I did at this time last year.  So…I guess it’s all relative, isn’t it?

Speaking of relatives…I can’t resist sharing a couple of shots of me with my mom and siblings from this week.  My brother lives out of state, so I don’t get to see him often, and it’s always crazy when the three of us get together.  And here’s photographic proof. 😉  First up is the nice family photo.

 

 

The second is more representative of us. 😀

 

 

Thanks so much for reading and helping me with my journey!  Every single reader is appreciated, truly.  🙂

6 thoughts on “New Perspectives

  1. Jenn

    Steph, I applaud you for regrouping. You have come a long way and you have worked so hard – don’t lose sight of the big picture. Your body is recalibrating and it is okay to shift. My WW buddy at work just came to the same conclusion, she has been about 5lbs over her goal for a while now, so you are not alone. I so admire your strong and positive outlook and I am so glad that you are one of my anchors to help me on my journey. I love the photo of your family, I can totally relate to the silly shot, we do that too! Funerals have a way of bring things back into check. I am sorry for your loss, sweetie.

    Reply
  2. Diane Carbonell

    I know that it can be hard to accept being a few more pounds than your mind tells you that you should be. Perhaps taking a breather from trying to lose those three pounds and just maintaining this weight for a few months could be your goal. Then you can reevaluate and see how you feel?

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Thanks, Diane–I’m trying, but boy is it HARD to stop focusing on the scale. I won’t lie–it hasn’t happened yet. 🙁 But I’m continuing to work at it! Thank you so much for stopping by!

      Reply
  3. Angela @ Honey, I Shrunk the Mom

    I”m sorry about your uncle. It’s so hard to see someone we love allow themselves to deteriorate. 🙁 I know I was there at one point in my life and I’m still struggling to balance it all, but I know that overweight is not how I want to continue living, so I just keep on trucking in my efforts.

    I love your family photos! Too cute! 🙂 And I think you’re probably right that you’ve added some muscle weight with the strength training.

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      I hope I’m right–because otherwise, I’m just getting fatter. 😉 Thanks for the encouragement!

      Reply

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