So after much deliberation (all right, a little
deliberation), I’ve decided to go back to daily weigh-ins. The last month has
not been particularly kind to me, weight-loss-wise. I think that I just have a
personality that wants to game the system. In other words, I like to take the
easy way out. When I only weigh in on Wednesdays, I have a habit of overdoing
things on, say, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and occasionally Fridays and
Saturdays and Sundays, because I have time to “make it up.” Then, of course, I spend Monday and Tuesday scrambling
to lose the weight I gained in the last few days. Sometimes I can, sometimes I
can’t.
But even if I was losing weight every week, it would still
be a bad policy. It’s not a terrible thing that I’ve started relaxing a little
bit about my diet; eating 1800 calories a day instead of 1500 a day is going to
make things easier to maintain. But when that’s combined with several 3000-3500
calorie days, it’s no good. And I need that accountability to help me eat
right, and keep going to the gym even when I don’t want to, and to push my
workouts from mediocre to good. I hopped on the elliptical for an hour
yesterday, and I’ve done the elliptical many times in the last 10 months. But
yesterday, I pushed it to a new level. By the end, I had sweaty spots within
the sweaty spots on my shirt. It felt great to kick my ass again.
I’m also getting excited about the weather turning and the
clocks changing. That first week is always rough, because waking up before dawn
is depressing and awful. But being able to run outside after work again is a
huge relief. It’s been great having a gym membership but having nothing to see but
Fox News is not great motivation to hit the gym. Even if I’m running on the
same path I’ve run on a hundred times before, just being outside is enjoyable.
Speaking of running outside, I’m excited for the Urban Adventure
Run I’m going on tonight. Basically, you start at a running store, and you’re
given a map with a bunch of local businesses that are handing out raffle
tickets, from ¼ mile to 3 miles away, then you get an hour to hit as many of them
as possible and get back for the raffle, where there’s food and beer.
Seriously, what more motivation do you need to get out and run?
Finally, I’m 17 days away from my second half-marathon, and
the first that I’m going to attempt to run. I’m not supremely confident, if
only because a combination of laziness and a nasty flu has set back my
training. Still, I’m going to go 13.1 miles, whether I have to run it or walk
it. I probably won’t make the pace I was hoping for when I first signed up, but
I’ll have gone 13.1 miles further than I did on the last March 24th,
and that’s a win.
