Less of Josephine.

Now that I’m sitting here at my goal, I realize that I still have weight I’d like to lose. So I’ve decided to set my sights on 130 and see how I look when I get there. According to the CDC, 130 would put me at the lower end of a normal BMI range for my height, which I think is probably right for me. Yes, I am tall, but I have a very small frame — though for years I told myself I was “big-boned”. I remember being at a doctor appointment once and trying to excuse my extra weight with the “big-boned” theory and the doctor actually laughing and saying, “you are by no means ‘big-boned’, in fact, you’re tiny — but you are significantly overweight.” He was right, of course, if rather painfully blunt.

I’d like to run here some day… For more gorgeous runs, check out Runner’s World Rave Runs!

Also, I would really like to be as absolutely light as possible for the sake of running. I have my father as a role model in this respect. He keeps his body weight very low in order to maximize his running efficiency — and he regularly wins his age group at local races. And while I’m probably never going to be as gifted a runner as he is, I can certainly improve (and I have the rest of my life to try!). And being lighter would definitely be helpful.

So my plan: well, I’m not going to change anything about my calorie intake yet (maintenance usually involves upping calories slowly until you are no longer losing) and just see where my weight settles with my current routine. Since I lost over 1/2 pound last week, I think I can continue slowly losing for a while with no changes.

Today’s Weight: 139.2.
Mood: Silly.
Miscellaneous: Can a person survive eating just green beans? Hmmmm.

Apparently, when you want to run over 10 miles, as I did this morning, you need to make sure you’ve been eating properly. I had a pretty light food weekend, perhaps because I’ve had a little bug or something. So my calories had been pretty low. And this morning, when I got to the end of mile 8, I suddenly felt very, VERY bad. My entire body felt as if it weighed 1000 pounds and I became chilled and light-headed.

Then I barfed on my shoes. Twice.

I did manage to finish those final 2.11 miles (what choice did I have, I needed to get home after all) — though at a slow trot, and once home a boatload of water and a frozen banana with peanut butter (heaven!) brought me back to life. But I have no desire to run another 10 miler like that one. Today was a painful lesson about my body’s limitations and needs.

Today is traditionally my weekly weigh-in post, but I’ve decided that I’m not going to do formal weekly weigh-in posts any more, though I’ll continue to track each week on my Progress page. Instead I’ll just make a note at the end of every post about my current weight and whatnot. Something like this:

Weight: 139 even-steven.
Mood: Chipper, even though I need to steam clean my shoes.
Miscellaneous: I couldn’t  help myself (see below).

A family emergency is taking me out of town, I’ll be away (or spotty) for a while.

Everybody keep on keeping on!

Never mind, I’m not going out of town, somebody changed their minds. Trip out of town, FAIL.

I was actually right at 140 yesterday, but as Mondays are my “official weekly weigh days” I waited to see what I would be at this morning: 139.6! Yippee!

I went out and ran 9 miles in a total euphoria to celebrate and I felt great, great, great!

Today I did my official weekly weigh-in and I am 140.8, just .8 pounds from my original goal, yippee! I had a 1.2 pound loss in a little less than a week, so I think maybe my body is over the slight plateau I experienced in Month 6. I haven’t change anything food-wise, though my workout intensity/length is growing as I push myself towards better performance.

Biking with my darling husband!

This morning I ran 10.18 miles and other than some knee and ankle stiffness that came on in mile 9, I felt great and definitely could have kept going. I had fabulous negative splits, with my fastest mile being the last mile — which means I’m definitely learning how to pace myself properly. This is all great news for me since I’ve registered for a Half Marathon in February. I have between now and then to get used to adding another 3 miles to the end of this long run. No problemo. In fact, the hardest thing about a run that long is the fact that it is still frickin’ hot and humid here (oh, and bra chafe, still haven’t completely solved that yet either, it’s always something!). But in February I’ll be looking at 50 degree temps for the race — it will be a JOY to run in that kind of weather. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

TWO POUNDS TO GOAL!

When I left town last Monday I forgot to post my Week 25 weigh in, which was 143.8 and as of this morning I am 142, which I’ll use for my Week 26 weigh-in since I forgot to step on the scale on Monday morning before my run. And let me just say that after my 7.08 mile run on Monday morning I saw a lovely 130s number, something I can’t hardly believe! Whoo hoo!

Just 2 pounds to my original goal, yippee! I’m glad I haven’t had to change my calorie level (a range between 1200 and 1600, but usually around 1500 per day) in order to keep losing.

*dances around the room*

Hey gang! We just got back from visiting family for a week in Maine.  We had delayed the trip due to Twinkie’s health and then we had to wait to be out of the cone of danger for hurricane Ike. While in Maine, we didn’t get to go hiking in Acadia, so I’m pretty bummed about that. Everything got sort of screwed up by our delay, but oh well. I was able to run and bike alot while there, though, so I won’t complain about it  too much. One day I’d really like to spend some serious time in that park. I guess I’ll add it to my “things I want to do before I die” list, right before “Tango with Russell Crowe” and after “Naked Skydiving”.

I also returned to find out that the mammogram I had right before leaving town has turned up some sort of stupid density and I’ll need to go back for special spot compression views and an ultrasound. Not the greatest news. But hey, my left breast is looking sort of floppy these days any way. So if they say it has to go maybe they can replace it with a much smaller, perkier version. There’s always a bright side, right?

I need to catch up on everyone’s blogs and see what sort of mischief ya’ll have been up to while I was gone!

This is the mischief Schatzy got up to while I was gone. I rather think she was expressing her displeasure at being left behind. Fortunately I had a spare cover.

Just a little assessment of what’s working for me and what’s fallen by the wayside recently.

- Running is my addiction and biking I enjoy (though not quite as much as running). Swimming, however, isn’t happening at all recently. I guess it’s because I have to swim on their schedule instead of my own and the pool hours have been funky and not at all to my liking. I’d show up and all lanes would be taken up with swim lessons and water aerobics and whatnot. Still, I’d like to get back in the pool, so I need to put some effort into that. Ideally, I’d run every other day and alternate swimming and biking on the days I don’t run. Ideally.

- Strength training and push ups are totally not happening. I just haven’t been able to summon up enough enthusiasm to stay on any sort of real schedule. So for now, I’m just not going to pursue them. I’m sure strength training would be of real benefit but if it is just going to be a source of emotional friction and guilt for me, it’s counter-productive. Nobody’s perfect; my muscles will just have to understand and get the most out of my other activities.

- The classics…. gah. I have mostly given up on trying to improve my mind with serious literature. I’m currently working my way through a trunk-load of books passed on to me by my father: W.E.B. Griffith, Dick Francis, Clive Cussler, Herman Wouk and the like are the order of the day. So if you see me at a cocktail party, for god’s sake don’t ask me about Tolstoy because I’ll get all embarrassed and have to hide in the coat closet until you and your smart mouth leave.

- In the food department, nothing has changed (yay!). I still plan my meals out, still count calories, still weigh everything, still eat the same things over and over, and still write things down religiously. This seems to work for me so I’m gonna keep doing it — forever if necessary. So buy stock in companies that makes cute little spiral-bound notebooks — they’re my favorite for recording meals so you’ll make a mint off me.

With all that’s going on I forgot to post my weekly Monday weigh-in. I weighed 145 even, which means I lost only -.2 pounds for the week, putting me down -62.8 pounds and -30.22% overall. I’m 5 pounds from goal and I guess things are going to go slow from this point forward (I lost only -3.8 pounds over the course of Month 6), but that’s OK with me. As long as the scale continues in the right direction, it’s all good.

Wow, that was my six month weigh-in; a whole half a year is gone. Never put off til tomorrow what you can do today, because the time sure flies and before you know it, all your daily efforts have piled up into a half a year’s worth of accomplishments.