If you haven’t read Part I of the Comeback Kid, you might want to catch up or else you might be like, “what the heck is this chick talking about?”
Or, you might say that often when you read this blog. Who knows? 😉
I felt the need to post Part II because Part I was primarily written in early August and now I find myself in early October so this is somewhat of an update.
Since August, I’ve made some progress in changing the behaviors that have been unhealthy and brought on weight gain.
1. I’m exercising more.
I’m working out 4-5 times a week on a regular basis. To get back into regular exercise, I set a goal to do any kind of exercise I want and this has been running 99 times out of 100. I’ve done four strength/circuit training workouts in a little over a month and a half and I’m okay with that. Establishing a habit is my main goal. I’ve been running and loving it. And I’ve finally built my way back up to six miles. In fact, I ran six miles Saturday, Sunday, and Monday this week. Granted, I’ve done nothing for the past two days, but go one a brief 20 minute walk, but I’m still proud of that 18 miles in 3 days.
2. I’m eating more veggies.
Yes, even when i don’t feel like it. I find that I’m more satisfied with my choice after eating my veggies, rather than when I skip them. I’ve learned that I can eat what I want, but I can also put some veggies on my plate at the same time. It’s not about either or, it’s about balance.
3. I’ve been cooking.
And if you follow my recipe posts, you are very well aware. I feel a renewed sense of creativity in the kitchen. I find that if I brainstorm my ideas, write them down, and then grocery shop based on these ideas, I’m much more passionate about my cooking, rather than just relying on whatever I happened to pick up at the store. When I was in my funk, I wasn’t even that into grocery shopping. That is SO unlike me!
4. I’ve all but given up caffeine completely.
In the past month I’ve had three cups of coffee, plus one decaf last Sunday at brunch. The funny thing is that I didn’t even like it that much and found myself wishing for tea more than anything. And I feel great! I’ve actually been sleeping more..like at least eight hours almost every night. It’s not that I didn’t need eight hours; I just found it difficult to sleep eight whole hours. Coincidence? I think not.
So if I had to bet what you’re really wondering, I bet it’s “So have you lost weight?”
And the answer is, yes.
I’ve lost a little over two pounds. So I’m not nearly there yet, although my weight gain in the past didn’t involve a huge amount of weight. Let’s not forget that I’m a tiny person so any amount of weight gain feels and looks substantial. But I feel good that I’m making progress and I’m actually glad that the progress is slow because fast weight loss is easily gained back just as quickly.
Some of things that I need to continue to work on:
- Eating out – When I feel bored, tired, or like I need quality time with Brad, I tend to want to eat out. It’s a habit I need to break out of because in reality I get to eat out all the time for my freelancing work and because I have a wonderful group of friends who love to eat at restaurants as much as I do. Date nights need to be eat-in nights and outings with Brad need to revolve around something other than food.
- Varying my workouts – This isn’t something I want to push, yet. But in the back of my mind, I know it’s not optimal to only run most days.
- Continuing to pay attention to my hunger cues – I think I’m doing much better with this and not eating based on boredom, sadness, and other emotional cues (read: non-hunger cues), but this is something I always need to be mindful of. I know this about myself and that’s okay.
I can see improvements in my habits much more than I can see improvement anywhere else and I’ll take any progress I can get right now. I hope to start bringing back some fitness discussion here so if there are any topics that interest you or questions that you have about my experience as a runner or otherwise, let me know and I’ll do my best to address them.
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I was recently interviewed by Healthy Page. Check out the interview here.