Monday, December 8, 2014

AM: 12/8/14


Good morning and happy Monday!

Can you believe there are less than 20 days until Christmas?! I hope you are looking forward to the holidays- with almost two weeks off from work, I am so anxious to spend some quality time with all my family and friends. It's amazing how different this year's holiday season is from last year's. This time last year, Matthew and I were gearing up for Dopey and doing our last long training runs. This year I'm planning out routes for him and Dad and earning my "cyclist" status by following them on a bike. Even though it's not what I had originally planned, it's still really fun to be able to do the long run with them. And I get to yell out encouraging things and maybe sings some songs from Rocky IV. They are so glad I'm their cheerleader :-)

Training:
Monday- Runner's World Yoga- Seriously, why haven't I been doing this all along?! It makes me feel amazing!
Tuesday- 20 minutes elliptical
Wednesday- Rest day
Thursday- Rest day
Friday- Rest day
Saturday- 3.95 mile run/walk- yup, I actually RAN with 5:1 intervals!
Sunday- Runner's World Yoga and light upper body weights

The smile says it all- happy to be back!

You may have noticed that my training was a little light this week. Well, after my weigh-in, I knew that I needed to change something up this week because I gained again- for the second time in a row. This is unusual for me. Both weeks I had lots of activity points left over so theoretically, there shouldn't have been a gain. I have a sneaking suspicion that the ActiveLink is overestimating the points that I am earning.

So I did two things- 1. I am doing another assessment with ActiveLink. I hope this reset will give me a more honest version of the points I'm earning. 2. I made a goal this week to not use all the APs that that I am "earning." I wanted to see if this would make a difference on the scale. We shall see on Wednesday.

Nutrition:
Matthew and I ate out a TON this week/weekend and I went to two holiday parties. But overall, I'm very happy with the food choices I made. The Weight Watchers app is a lifesaver- whenever we are at a restaurant, I can always look up different options for meals in the app and then make the best choice based on where we are. I managed to only use eight APs in addition to my 49 weekly PPV.

Lots of eating out and holiday parties this week.
And I had watermelon- in December! It was awesome. 

Pretty good PPV management if you ask me.

Weight-loss:
147.4 as of 12/3/14 weigh-in
+1.2 from last week
-43.0 since January 2013
-54.8 since HW

I can't sugar coat it. I am super frustrated with my weight-loss this week. After last week's gain, this was a crushing blow to my goals. I started out December at a higher weight than November. I just don't understand how I can lose seven pounds while I was non-weight bearing and then gain once I start moving again. My hopes of hitting the 50 pounds lost mark in 2014 are fading quickly. I'd basically have to lose over seven pounds in the next three weeks- unlikely.

I know that this is only one week and I know that it's not a ginormous set-back. But it's still crazy frustrating, especially when I have been working out and staying within my points each week. Hopefully by redoing the assessment with ActiveLink and by changing how I view and use the APs, there will be some movement on the scale. Either way, I want to power through this gain and get back to losing.

QOTD: What are you looking forward to most this holiday season?



6 comments:

  1. Sarah:

    Please don't be too frustrated about the small weight gains. You are not doing anything wrong. It's time for an unsolicited lecture because I really want you to understand why you should not be discouraged. When you are non-weight bearing, you lose some muscle tissue to atrophy because the muscles are not being used. Happily in the short term, this results in weight loss. You were very happy to lose weight even though you were not able to exercise. When I was reading your blogs back then, I was thinking that this was the case, and I certainly was not going to say anything about that to you then. Some of what you lost during that time was muscle. Now it's a problem because you think that you are doing something wrong and you are disappointed that you are having some gains on the scale. Remember--you are rebuilding those muscles now. That WILL result in weight gain, but the muscles need to be rebuilt anyway for your overall fitness and return to running. You have been so careful with your eating plan, and I'll bet that you are still losing fat even though the scale is not reflecting it. Why not give yourself a break on the numbers temporarily until you rebuild those muscles? It's true that your Activelink might be allowing you more activity points than you really used, but also consider the fact that muscle is heavy and you are rebuilding what was lost. I mentioned before that my husband lost over 20 pounds when he broke his leg. As he regained full function, his weight returned to normal, but it was all muscle--not fat. I know that you wanted to make your weight goal by the end of the year, but you also want to build up those muscles. Fitness and function should trump the numbers on the scale in this case. Why not make different goals for this special circumstance? AND YOU ARE RUNNING AGAIN!!!! That is SOOOO awesome! Sorry if I said anything that will upset you about the muscle loss=weight loss thing. I just wanted you to not be so discouraged.

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    1. Hi Lisa! Thank you for your message! A few other people have suggested that this may be the case as well. I know I shouldn't be so numbers focused and that I really should just be super excited that I'm running again- which I totally am! I am hopeful that if I just keep making the next right decision (with regard to food and running) that I'll be at my goal weight soon. Thank you again for your message- I really appreciate your friendship :-)

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  2. I'm sure you'll see results again if you just keep doing the right things. In our meetings we say sometimes the scale is just mysterious: showing a loss when we didn't do great and a gain when we didn't. The important thing is to keep at it, which you're committed to doing! Also, I love the RW yoga videos & do them a few times a week.

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    1. Man, those yoga videos are so good! I feel like I just got a massage when I'm done! And yeah, I say the same thing about the scale. Just have to keep on moving :-)

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  3. I'm sure this setback will be short lived. And as Lisa said, you're now working on rebuilding muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. You look amazing, and it sounds like you're feeling physically great too. Just remember that, and that your weight is simply a number.

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    1. Thanks, Kathryn! I do feel 1000 times better than I did this time last year, that's for sure!

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