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SLENDERELLA61's Recent Blog Entries
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Wednesday, September 05, 2012
* No change in the kitchen. (Grrr-rrr-rrr. Arggghhhh!) Predictable, but frustrating anyway.
* Did 30 minute stationary bike and 30 minutes elliptical trainer this morn at the Y.
* Last night I ate nothing after supper -- absolutely nothing. Hooray!! I haven't done that for months and months. It wasn't even hard. I was ready for it. Ate at 5:30 pm and went to bed at 10:30, did not wake up in the middle of the night, and did not wake up this morning ravenous. I hit almost all my nutritional goal yesterdays: calories, protein, fiber, calcium, sodium. I was slightly over on carbs and slightly under on fat, but will be sure to get in my olive oil today and cut back a touch on the fruit. (There's this new fruit stand between my house and my daughter's house and the plums, the peaches, the bananas, the honeycrisp apples, the berries -- well, yum!!)
* Scale was down 1.4 pounds from yesterday. Only .3 from being at the top of my acceptable goal weight range and 4.2 over my "happy weight" of 126. In response to comment yesterday, I would love to be able to get an accurate body fat percentage reading in order to rely less on the scale for feedback, but my attempts with static measures and calipers have been obviously flawed. There is no BodPod close to me and even if there were I might be too claustrophobic to do it. I've also read that BodPod is not precise either. My body fat percentage has varied from 26.7% to 33.5% using the imprecise measures I have available. I think those rather poor numbers are due to years of yo-yo dieting when I undoubtedly lost a lot of muscle and gained back mostly fat.
* In answer to a question on my blog yesterday, the qualifying statewide 5K Road Race for the national senior games is on Saturday, December 8th, in my hometown. Women's qualifying times are 27:21 for ages 60-64 and 28:09 for ages 65-69. If I don't qualify this year, maybe when I move up an age group?? I'm 63 now.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
* Went 4.5 miles on TM today, running 3.1 miles of it. If the TM was calibrated correctly I ran my fastest 5K ever, 27:30. For my age group, to qualify for the national senior games 5K you have to run 27:21 or under. Who knows? I just might achieve that!
* Kitchen remodeling is crawling along. Currently have stove, microwave, and refrig, but no water, no sink, no dishwasher. Cabinets are in but without doors. Everything that is finished looks good.
* I'm weighing on the average about 2 pounds more than I did a month ago, and that was 3 pounds more than I wanted to weigh. Not going to do anything drastic, but just going to try to focus on healthy, healthy eating. Will be easier when I have a full kitchen, but I am not gaining one more ounce no matter what!
* I've asked myself if I am nuts, and I've decided I'm not. I think it is perfectly okay for me to celebrate 3.5 years maintaining a big loss (80+ pounds), but still bemoan that it's not always easy; that I'm not always eating with the control I want; and that my weight is a pound (or 5) more than I wish.
Monday, September 03, 2012
The first time I lost 60 pounds it took me 9 months to lose it and 3 months to gain it back. I was 16 years old and I doubt if I even maintained my loss for a week.
On December 1, 2008, when I started my current effort to control my weight, I'd lost 30 pounds or more eight times and twice maintained for almost a year. I'd lived over 5 decades overweight. This time my goal was not to lose weight, but to change my life.
Today I claim 180 weeks, almost 3 and a half years, of living life at a weight below what I weighed in 7th grade, a weight I never dreamed I could achieve, 86 pounds gone.
What did I do differently this time? For me, successful maintenance is in a large part due to three factors:
1. Super Foods or Power Foods - I dramatically increased the healthiest foods (see
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutriti
on_articles.asp?id=307 )
and decreased dramatically the processed foods I eat.
2. Based on what I read at the National Weight Control Registry, I increased my exercise. I went from 5 half hour sessions per week to a minimum of 6 one hour cardio sessions. And then SparkPeople convinced me to add strength training.
3. And most important, I quit quitting. After years of letting myself get discouraged by the scale and how hard it is to maintain, I recommitted each day to do the best I can, no matter what. Some days the best I can do isn't very good, but if I just keep trying, I get it back and find it is good enough. And my SparkFriends on the At Goal & Maintaining Team, www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/groups_i
ndividual.asp?gid=1111 , understand and support me like no one in my 3D life.
My point is that maintenance is possible, even for someone like me who found it impossible over and over again. Perhaps your keys to successful maintenance will be different than mine. We are all different. But if you keep trying, you can do it.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Enjoyed a great bike ride today! Janet took our picture, as usual:
Hope all my SparkFriends are having a healthy, happy weekend!!
Saturday, September 01, 2012
I ran with my Galloway group this morning, a casual run-walk-run of 4 miles. We sat around and drank coffee for a while, drippping sweat in the shade on this muggy, muggy morning.
Then I was feeling like more, so I went to the YMCA, jumped on the treadmill and ran, after a brief re-warm up, without walk breaks, 3.1 miles. I never went under 6 mph. When I started to feel a little tired I tried a trick a Galloway group member told me about. Instead of slowing down, I tried increasing the speed - 6.5, 7 or 7.5 mph - for 20 to 60 seconds. Then I'd go back to 6 mph and it would feel very easy. I swear it works!! I ended doing a 3.1 mile run in 29:55, my first under 30 minute 5K in at least 6 months.
I attended a Weight Watcher meeting today. I'm at a BMI of 21.7 (134 pounds dressed) which is the highest I've been for a while. Not terrible, but I'm trying to get motivated to eat a little smarter. Maybe feeling like it is not terrible is not helping me!!?!
Then I rode my bike to the bike shop under the noon sun after generous application of sun screen. Now my brakes no longer squeak and I've got a new rack to carry freggies home from the fruit stand.
Good day!!
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How nice it is to include exercise into your social life! What encouragement you are just by your example and being 'there.'
picture. Everyone looks happy and healthy!
Member Comments About This Blog Post:
sorry about the kitchen
on the stationary bike
for the blog and for sharing the information that has helped you maintain your healthier lifestyle. You are a remarkable person and I'm glad that I am able to call you a Sparkfriend! 
Pat
