Starting Again (Again)

I went ahead and reposted my stats, as well as rewriting my profile.

I've been at this for about 2 years now, and although I'm 10 pounds down from where I started I'm still 18 pounds away from my final goal. So I'm trying to start fresh and really conquer this goal. I ran 10 miles last year I should be able to lose 10 pounds and keep it off.

My trouble I think is consistency. In the short term my problem is being a consistent healthy eater. In the long term my problem is being a consistent exerciser.

In terms of eating I'm fantastic during the week. I don't really drink, save maybe a glass of wine with dinner one night of the week. I don't eat out during the week, except maybe one lunch out with coworkers. I usually bring my lunch and healthy snacks, and I usually cook pretty healthy dinners. (Example, I made a nice shrimp and veggie stir fry last week, and I made a great black bean soup this week.)

However, weekends are a different story. On the weekend I tend to drink more, either at home with friends who come over or out at a bar. I tend to go out to eat more on weekends as well, and there's a chance that my boyfriend and I will order in.

I need to get a handle on my eating on the weekends. I don't think it's feasible that I be perfect on the weekends--but I can't make it a Fri-Sun night free for all either. If I just picked one day to drink and/or eat more than I normally would I think that would be fine. It's just sticking to that that's the hard part. :\

Exercise wise I need to find a way to keep myself from reverting back to a slug after I hit a plateau or if I hit a little bit of burn out. At the moment I'm working out 5 days a week--3 days of just cardio, and 2 days of cardio and weights. For cardio I usually run 5k, although on days when I'm feeling tired I'll walk hills for 30 minutes, and then do the elliptical for 15-20 minutes. I'll be able to keep this up for a month or two. At the end of that time what usually happens is that I maybe hit a weight plateau and I get frustrated that I'm doing all this work for nothing. Or I just hit a day when I think to myself: "Why am I leaving my nice, fun, cozy house to go sweat and be exhausted for 50 minutes? I'm going to stay home just for today."

And then I don't go back to the gym for 3 months.

I think if either of those things happen, instead of just stopping all together I need to rework my gym schedule, either lighten up the schedule to allow myself some healing time (maybe only 3 times a week, instead of 5), or change the type of exercise I do so I'm not as bored or something.

But it has to be a plan I come up with in advance, because once I get to the point of not going to the gym it's hard to even think of strategies to try and go back.

For the rest of the month I'm going to work on being consistent. I'm going to really pay attention to weekends and try to rein myself in on Sunday. I'm going to make sure I'm going to the gym at least 4 of the 5 days planned.

I really want to reach my goal this year.

2008

Okay. So. No posting for a while. Which, strangely enough, coincides with the holiday free for all I participated in. In reality it wasn't too bad--I still exercised and paid attention to my food choice the majority of the time. But the minority of the time lead me to put on 3 pounds. (Yes, I really went nuts the times I allowed myself to.)

I've used the New Year as an excuse to get back on track, but without the hoopla that I usually attach to the beginning of a year. I've created a new exercise program--mostly just to add weight lifting in. And I'm watching what I'm eating--but mostly in terms of just making healthy choices. I haven't been calorie counting or anything.

We'll see how this goes--I check in with the scale everyday. If I don't see some progress after a month perhaps I'll add calorie counting back in.