Hiatus

Evening all,

I know I've not posted in a while, but I haven't forgotten you all, or run away, I promise! Term finished on Friday and I have an exam on Tuesday, so I'm very much focussing on that just now. I'll come back with a big update post on Tuesday evening, and as a way of trying to make up for this stall, I have something planned for next week too...so, don't go away, and normal service shall be resumed shortly!

2012 Week 9 - RESULTS

Extremely late, I know - but better late than never!

STARTING WEIGHT:   219.1 lbs

ENDING WEIGHT:  218.9 lbs

WEIGHT LOSS:    0.2 lbs

So, why so late?

I only have one week left of this term, and exams follow on Tuesday the week after. It would be nice to say that everything is wrapped up and I've been focussed solely on revision...but of course, that isn't the case!

Everything is coming to head, and I am cray busy. Frustratingly, there are various skill sign-offs we need to get each term, and even though we do them every day, there's rarely anyone around to sign off the practice in our books. As such, I have to do an on-call tonight just to ensure there's a consultant for me to harrass for my signatures, and then I need to do the same on Sunday. On top of that, I have several presentations I need to prepare, and I pulled an all-nighter on Wednesday trying to finish a research paper we're hoping to publish. Haven't even had a chance to think about revision yet!

With all this, my weight loss hasn't exactly been in the forefront of my mind. The fact that I still showed a small loss last week is encouraging to me. However, it also raised a slight concern.

You see, I haven't been for a run in almost two weeks. I'm always wary to offer my 'reasons' for this, as I have above, because in my experience what counts as a 'reason' one day can be revealed as a poor 'excuse' on the next. But I have been busy...and that's what concerns me. The fact is life is always going to busy, and I don't want that to be an excuse for not exercising. I would understand if there had been a reduction in how much exercise I did, perhaps moving from 'weight-loss' levels down to 'maintenance' levels. But to not exercise at all? That's not good enough.

If my on-call finishes on time I should be home just after 10pm tonight, and depending on how tired I am I hope to go for a run then. Maybe try and squeeze one in on Sunday evening too. I can't promise anything, as the fact is I really do have to spend every available hour (and then some) working, but occasional breaks are always necessary, so it could be a chance to kill two birds with one stone!

 2012 Weight Loss: 

6.0 lbs (78.2 total loss)

2012 Week 8 - RESULTS

How did my diet-slip over the weekend affect my weight loss?

STARTING WEIGHT:   219.4 lbs

ENDING WEIGHT:  219.1 lbs

WEIGHT LOSS:    0.3 lbs

And that's still more than I deserve.

The fact that I lost any weight at all last week is most certainly down to the fact that I went for three runs. I didn't manage a fourth on Sunday, and I won't be going out tonight in all likelihood - the joys of looming exams!

Although I know I did a bad thing in my binge over the weekend (I say binge, but it wasn't really, just eating something bad rather than something good...but I'm going with binge, as I want to make sure I don't do it again!), there is one encouraging lesson, as my mother pointed out - although I ate more than I wanted, by maintaining my exercise at the same time, I didn't collapse into a terrible gain, but more or less maintained my weight from the previous week.

That's good to know for when I DO reach goal and have to start maintenance - I should be able to up my calorie intake to more normal levels (more than diet-mode anyway), and as long as I keep up my exercise, it should be manageable.

But that's looking too far ahead, as with last week's small loss, I am now very slightly behind my schedule of hitting goal weight by July 1st.

Obviously, last week's diet plan of increasing my carbs didn't really work, so I'm fiddling with my diet again this week. I still don't want to go back to my old protein-heavy diet just yet, even though it has worked for me in the past. Instead, I'm now trying out the 'multiple small meals' approach, as its a common piece of diet advice I haven't used before. We'll see how that works out!

 2012 Weight Loss: 

5.8 lbs (78.0 total loss)


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Week 8 So Far...

So a picture can say a thousand words, right?

Actually, I'm maybe being a little hard on myself. But no, not really.

The week started pretty well. I'd already got two runs under my belt by Thursday, and had been doing ok with the diet, by which I mean sticking the meals I had prepared, rather than snacking or buying food on the go.

The thing is, I'm still trying to find my feet with this new push for goal, still trying out different methods and approaches. One of the things I'm trying to fine-tune is my diet. I obviously don't want to eat too much. I'm also wary of eating too little, as I'm concerned it may have affected my concentration and energy levels, and therefore my work, in the past. I've said how too many carbs lead me to binge, but I'm also wary of relying too much on protein, because of all those Atkins horror stories you hear.

I guess its all about balance, and I'm still trying to find mine. This week I didn't fall off the wagon completely, but we definitely hit a pot-hole and had a good wobble. You see, this week I upped the number of carbs in my diet, seeing if that made me stronger on my runs (as I felt run down most of last week). It started fine, but I was eating more and more each day, and feeling hungrier each evening, until finally on Thursday night I caved, and had a kebab. On Friday I was even worse - running late in the morning, so skipped breakfast, then was busy all day so I skipped lunch, and then, telling myself that as I was at zero calories for the day I could get away with it, I had ANOTHER kebab!

It almost went overboard today. Instead of using up some of the food in the fridge I went to the shop and brought a sausage roll and a donut for lunch, and then almost went out for a third kebab this evening. Its funny, eating a few carbs just makes me so HUNGRY! Or maybe, when my body starts to crave them, they start creeping into my diet, and that's why I've made the association. Who knows.

The good news is, I didn't have a third kebab. I went for a run instead! I'm still worried about the impact it will have on my weigh-in on Monday, but we'll have to wait and see. I've now got three runs in this week, and might be able to squeeze in a fourth tomorrow, so I would still hope to see a loss - just maybe not my target loss, which would mean the second time on the trot I've failed to reach it...

See you Monday!


(PS there is ONE upside to having overloaded on carbs...it made my run tonight so much easier, and I recorded my best time yet!)


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