Mixed Results

Last week I posted about my grand plan for (re)starting weight loss and a healthier lifestyle.  The goal was to get up and workout every morning before work in order to 1) stay committed to exercising and 2) to kick start each day with a healthy habit.  All in all, I was very pleased with how this went.  On the 3 days I was able to stick to the plan (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday), I felt noticeably better throughout the day than I did on non-AM-exercise days.  Even more, I found it much easier to monitoring my eating on these days, mostly because I was a lot less hungry than usual.  Whether this was actually a physiological response to exercising before breakfast or some type of placebo effect is unclear.  What matters though is that it did work, which is huge.  I must admit I was a bit shocked with how immediately I saw benefits (albeit, not on the scale) with this new routine; with all the other diet/exercise plans I've tried, I've usually end up starving/cranky/discouraged.  This time I actually felt good as a result of change.  Now, don't get me wrong; I pretty much hated everything about waking up before sunrise.  No only was it dark and cold every day, running on half-awake legs hurt.  But this feeling was nothing compared to the energy I had throughout the rest of the day.  For the first time, I'm actually motivated to stick to something.  

So, given how good things went last week, why is this post titled "mixed results?"  Well for starters, I didn't make the commitment the entire week. This was mostly because I had few deadlines last week that kept me up later than planned on a few nights which made it exponentially harder to wake up by 6:45am.  But, given that this was my first shot at a pretty drastically different routine, I can live with slacking a couple days in week 1.  However, the major bingefest I had this weekend was most certainly a step backwards, and arguably negated my efforts during the week.  The fact that almost every hour of the weekend was scheduled is at least partially to blame for this; between a birthday outing Friday, planning and prepping for a Halloween party Saturday night, and another birthday party in MA on Sunday, there was little time (and desire) to prepare healthy meals or get in a walk.  Top that off with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy yesterday and you get a lot of days full of pizza, McDonald's, and unhealthy party leftovers (candy, chips, etc.).  Not surprisingly, I didn't manage to lose any weight this week and continue to hover around 206, approximately 40lbs out of the "healthy" range for someone my height and pushing 60lbs over my college weight.  

Depite this hiccup however, I remain encouraged and motivated by the results of the AM workouts.  I will pick up where I left off starting tomorrow and, thanks to a much more relaxed weekend this coming weekend, hopefully I won't slip as far as I did this weekend. Also motivating:  the Wallis Sands 1/2 Marathon on April 28, 2013.  I signed up a couple weeks ago in hopes to keep me running and it has worked.  I'd love a PR (currently 1:58:11) and think one is attainable so long as I train properly and shed a few pounds.  With this new routine, hopefully I'll do both!

Starting Over.... Again

I cannot believe an entire month has passed since my last post.  Even worse, I have made absolutely zero progress on weight loss and health improvement.  In fact, you could argue I've even gone backwards.  I have eaten more pizza in these past four weeks than I should in a year, and pizza isn't the only take-out I've brought home this past month.  Needless to say my weight has slowly continued creeping up while whatever self-confidence I have continues to erode away.  Of course I could blather on about how these past 4 weeks have been particularly busy, which has only encouraged my bad habits, but that would just be an excuse.  Things are always going to be busy, especially as I try desperately to finish my dissertation in less than a year, and therefore it's always going to be harder to make dinner, go out for a run, etc.  Heck, you could argue that those changes are hard to make even if you have the easiest schedule in the world; addictions whether to food or drugs are in fact very difficult to break.  I just need to commit, which is easier said than done, especially when I like food and being lazy as much as I do.

I keep searching for something external to motivate me to change.  This is actually one of the prime reasons I started this blog, hoping that by making my struggle public, I would be motivated by readers to keep going.  Apparently, though making a public commitment isn't enough for me.  I suppose this isn't terribly surprising; I mean my own self-consciousness wasn't even enough to motivate me.  Recently, I looked to my doctor for inspiration.  Unfortunately, it appears my weight gain isn't of great concern to my physician since, as she said, "I'm very active."  Wait.  Did I really just say that it was unfortunate that my weight gain hasn't gotten to the point where it's "lose it or die?"  Did I just imply that it's going to take the threat of a weight-related a medical problem to get me to change?  I guess I did.  I don't want to believe it, but a bit part of me thinks it's true. 

In reality though what I really want is to never have to get the point where my doctor thinks my weight is even remotely a concern; I want my physicals to still conclude that I'm normal and healthy, not that I may be in the running for a heart attack or diabetes.  The fact that this is still apparently the case (though I still have a tough time believing this) is a good thing and I'm trying to think of it like that.  Rather than see it as a pass to continue eating bad food and drinking too much beer, I'm trying to see it as a "second chance"; the chance to make changes now while I am still healthy and not quite in the red zone.

So tomorrow starts a new schedule:  I will be getting up every day around 6:45am to working out for a minimum of 40 minutes.  This week, "workouts" will consist of walking and/or running, but the hope would be to eventually add some strength workouts once or twice a week.  I have always been strongly against waking up to workout, mostly because I value my sleep.  But lately I've been thinking about the benefits of getting the workout with over with at the start of the day.  Not only are there scientifically-examined weight loss benefits to exercising in the morning, getting up and out earlier would mean my workday gets started earlier, ensuring a productive day.  Getting to school earlier without having to workout afterwards also means I can get home earlier, which means I would be more like to make dinner, rather than order in.  I've only mentally committed to trying this routine for this week, but I have a feeling I'll try and keep it up for at least a little while.