I lost some weight last night.
But no, I'm not down 70 pounds. Yet.
I wasn't going to write a post today, it being Saturday and all, but I realized that this is the first day of the month, so some accounting is in order. I am on the heavy scale today and I was not on the heavy scale on November 1. That being said, I weighed 9.8 pounds less today than I did on November 1. This was a tough month, as I have alluded to a few times, but I think I've figured some things out diet wise and I feel better now than I did at any point in the previous month. On November 1, my projected end date of this weight loss program was January 8, and today it is January 24, which means I only shaved 15 days off of the time left in 30 days. However, assuming this scale is 2.5 pounds heavy, my projected end date is at about January 16. Yeah, I slowed down some, but I think I'm better positioned for the next month. Plus, I will only be in ND for 13 days in December, meaning that I'll be able to get to the gym a lot and that will also put me in position for a big month. I have a goal weight in mind for January 1: 207 pounds. I think I'll be able to make that.
The biggest thing about this diet is that I have really gotten used to eating less. By that, I mean that I can't really handle stuffing myself full of food. On Thursday night, on the way home from the Capitol City, I stopped for dinner at the halfway point home. Usually, I get a six inch sub at Subway and a bag of apples. I select one of the low fat options that they tout with no cheese and load it up with vegetables. That's a pretty low fat, low calorie fast food alternative. Is it fine dining? No. Is it better than a double cheeseburger and fries? Of course. Well, I was low on calories and I suggested to the guy who works for me that maybe we could stop and have some Mexican. We did and I ordered fish tacos. In actuality, beef tacos are probably better for you. Anyway, I got three tacos, some rice and vegetables. The rice was covered in melted cheese, the veggies were greasy as hell and the taco tortillas were on the grill so long that they were crispy. Awful. Subway would have been much better. Anywho, the point was that I didn't eat it all and I was fricking uncomfortably bloated. Before this diet I would have cleaned that up, no problem. The food would still have been bad, but I wouldn't have felt so damned full. Now, though, I can't eat like that. That, I think, is the best benefit from this. It is easy to become impatient when there's a big number to lose, but really setting discipline to change your body, in this case, changing the expectations of what I'm going to ingest has been the key trigger to making this program a success. If you are on a program and it is not going as fast as what I've been going, don't get discouraged. The big change -- this expectation of your body as to what it will get -- will get you on the right path.
Day 130
Weight: 225.0
Total Loss: 59.5
BMI: 27.75
I have always been thankful that my dad and I are close in age. I've always thought of him as young, and indeed, he was young when I was born: he'd just turned 22. I am 42 years older than my daughter and there are advantages to that, too. I'm a lot more mature than my dad was when I was a kid, I got an education and established a career, so I can provide more financially than my dad could. But, I have to tell you that as I became an adult, I have always cherished that reality that my dad is still young and we can do things together.
One of the really good things about my work/travel situation is that I get to spend a lot of time with my parents. Yeah, I'm not with my wife and daughter, but I do get to be with mom and dad more than I otherwise would. It is a tradeoff and I think that I've been able to balance things in a way that has been the best for my family and me, and I've gotten the added benefit of having that time with Dad.
A couple of years ago, Dad was suffering with leg pain and it turned out that he had peripheral arterial disease. He had surgery to put in some stents to clear up the blockage. One leg vastly improved, but the other didn't. A second surgery resulted in some bypasses. Still though, he was suffering. I began to think that this was the new normal, that he would suffer pain for the rest of his life and that his quality of life would deteriorate. A third surgery followed. A fourth. A fifth. Happily, though, after the fifth surgery, it appears that he's doing much better. That was almost a year ago and since then, he's been doing well. That DCon, er, blood thinner he has to take can cause some issues from time to time, but overall, he's doing quite well. He's still working a little -- he drove a ton of miles hauling corn and beets this fall.
Like I said, one of the benefits of this arrangement I have is that I get to see Dad a lot. Well, today is Butch's 70th birthday. In delicious piece of irony, I'm here in ND while he's in the Twin Cities at my sister's so I will miss his birthday party. He understands what I have to do and he told me he'd be "pissed off" if I drove all the way to that party when I have work to do. Besides, I'll see him tomorrow night and we'll probably sit at the kitchen counter, watch some TV and discuss whatever project I'm going to do on my house next. If you make me choose between the party and those conversations, I'll skip the party every time. I'd like to be there, of course. Such is life.
Happy Birthday, Dad. I love you.
When I signed up for my second half marathon back in October, I wondered how winter training would be different from fall training. For my first half, I went through a 12-week program hosted by Fleet Feet - we had 3 shorter runs during the week, but on Saturdays about 60 of us would get together early in the morning to do the long runs. We would all stretch out together, do some light calisthenics, then go out in groups according to our timing goals. The runs were usually in warm to moderate temps.
For my second half training regimen, most of my weekday runs are now in the cold, at night, using a flashlight. NBBW has been doing the Saturday runs with me, so good to have someone with whom to run/talk. Last weekend in A.L. was our first time out in the bitter cold (17F), and this morning it was cold and snowing during our 8 mi run. But generally, once you get past the first 1/2 mile, you body has heated up and the temperature is not a problem.
I had too many layers on this morning - need to find some technical top that will keep me warm but effectively wick out moisture. I usually run with a kerchief tied around my head and a baseball cap, but those get completely soaked as well.