I have been bouncing between 80 and 77 kilos since early December. It has been driving me crazy because I *know* how much I eat and it should be low enough to continue losing weight. So yesterday, fed up yet again, I started tracking my calories. And um, well, I *thought* I knew what I was eating. There really is no getting around calories in vs. calories out. I’m happy I’ve lost the 13 kilos so far, but really need to lose another 10. Or more maybe. It galls me somewhat that my goal weight is my sister’s “unhealthy” weight. Must be those gigantically dense bones I have.
I started jogging again on Sunday and didn’t have to stop for a torn calf muscle! I”m really happy that it is looking like I’ll be able to start running soon. Well, relatively soon. Relative to never. I am going to start with week 1 (I got injured at week 6) of Couch to 5K and take it really really slowly. I jogged almost as slowly as I walk, but I was at least jogging without injurying myself. Right now it is just 10 minutes of jogging but that is so much better than envisioning nothing at all.
The nortes seem to be giving us a break for a little while and today it was warm enough for Ellen to go swimming. Jamie spied 80F somewhere this morning and I hope it continues in this fashion. We need some serious heat to kill all the germs that keep infecting us – I think I’ve had a head cold for about a month.
This morning after our daily walk, Jamie and I hung out upstairs in the palapa, home to discarded and abandoned Legos, and watched grackles and buzzing insects swoop all over the yard. The dogs next door don’t seem to be bothered by the birds but they get mightily pissed when an iguana thinks he can meander through their territory. The birds were chattering constantly – they must have been having a caucous of some kind – and a strong breeze was keeping us both cool and mosquito free. It was so nice and peaceful that we dragged chairs, cawfee and oatmeal up there, watching the blowing trees, the terribly busy birds, the errant iguanas and before we knew it the kids were awake and ready for breakfast. Definitely the best way to start a day.
(the above was written yesterday – today below)
Jamie and I spent the day in Cancun. I interviewed, dropped his MacBook at the Apple service store and hit Costco for $1600MN of “necessary crap”. I came out of the interview thinking it went really well but as time went on I realized how badly I bombed so many of the questions. I spoke almost always in generalizations and gave very few specifics. And I thought of MUCH BETTER answers after I left. Sigh. The traffic coming home was HORRIFIC and we couldn’t believe a 1 hour drive could take 2+ hours.
I don’t recall if I’ve ever burdened you with my long-held theory that running is not good for humans. Just to be sure here goes.
Running (aka stressful impacts on legs, leg joints, tendons, and even spine) IS NOT GOOD.
Walking is much kinder to your body. I’m sorry you like to jog that much but you might be prudent to choose brisk walks over jogs. You can certainly lose as much weight walking as running. I’ve lost 40 lbs (18.2kilos) in the last year. I’m now in the 230’s working my way to 200. We walk 2.5 miles most every day (a good stiff walk for 54 minutes or less – our personal record is 48 minutes). I also do 40 minutes of “Yoga in Bed” each day.
I don’t count calories, either. I have a good-sized breakfast (1/3+ cup of Coaches Oats plus fresh fruit like a fresh cut up apple, fresh pineapple, etc)
Fresh fruit snacks anytime I want. Dinner is seafood (mostly fish) plus a large salad.
So I’m basically following the fruit plus vegetable diet (aka as the “eat food with lot’s of water in it so you feel full diet”)
love, papa
Hey Kit –
Well, you ARE SEVERAL INCHES taller than me, so that has a big impact on your healthy weight range.
In Jan, I started tracking calories out of curiosity using the spark people website you’d mentioned months ago and I’ve found it to be very helpful. It seems like another case of the Hawthorne effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect). I started out of curiosity and then kept it up because it was really impacting my eating (i.e. – do I *really* want to write that down?!). I also committed to eating 8 fruits or veggies a day and that has had a big impact on keeping my calories in a good place. Some weeks I feel full on way less than my ideal calorie range and other weeks I’m hungry all the time – probably menstrual-ly linked. The website makes it pretty easy to track the carb/fat/protien stuff too.
I’ve also been lifting weights – trying to make my “engine” bigger so that it burns more fuel. So far that seems to be working. From what I’ve seen, sometimes a workout shakeup can help you break out of a plateau.
Finally, you’ve lost so much already… I imagine your body has to adjust on this plateau before it is ready to move again. Lots of people have done it so it can be done. Hang in there (& gather information to help me through my next plateau!).
Love, C
I am 62 yoa and was a collegiate athlete in my 20s and tried to stay fit through the 30 –> 50 with varying results. I am overweight and fighting the cholesterol spetre … BUT … I walked 5 times per week and get a ’soft jog’ in over the weekends.
My offering is for you to hang in and do what your heart directs. If you enjoy jogging, DO IT! Maybe find some info on how to jog so as to impact the ankle, knee hips joints the least.
My motto: Go as hard as you can as long as you can.
Do you all have a new addition to the family –namely, a cute little dog???????
Are you asking me if we have a new little pup? If so the answer is yes … a little Aussie Shepard … smart as can be.
How do you know?
Why do you ask?