June 12, 2012

Just keep on moving forward

Why, oh why, did I pick the mother of all goals for my "What's Beautiful?" challenge goal? ;) Reaching my super-duper goal weight of 133? I haven't seen that number since my jaw was broken.

I was afraid to choose a running-based goal, because I knew my marathon would fall right smack in the middle of the challenge, and I had no clue how that was going to play out.

I didn't want to do anything out of the ordinary as far as fitness goes, for fear of sabotaging my marathon goal. So I chose the route of reaching my goal weight. I wish I could say that I am there--that I killed those 5 pounds and I am weighing in at goal of 133 right now.

But the truth is, I started this UA challenge at 138, and today, I am at 142 pounds. Not even close to my goal.
Out for a walk with Jessica in my "Perfect Pants"
I had a hard time getting used to the minimal running I did after the marathon. I was still eating the amount of food I was eating during my 35-40 mile weeks. And it was such a relief to be done training that I just celebrated a little too much.

So now my five pounds have actually turned to nine pounds. I know that doesn't sound like much of a difference, but I had that same thought when I made the goal to lose five; I thought, "Oh, it's just five pounds...that will come off in no time!"

I do want to point out a few things that have been going well, however. Because of this challenge, I've been going for a walk in the afternoons to prevent binge eating. I'm not going to lie and say it has always worked, but it has definitely saved me more than once from sabotaging my efforts.

By the way, I am in LOVE with my new Under Armour Perfect Pants. It is no lie when I say these pants are the most comfortable article of clothing I own--including my pajamas! I may or may not have worn them at least three times before washing.

I've also been doing good about keeping my night time snack to under 300 calories. I think I'm over the cereal mix now, and lately I've been having pretzels (110 calories) and wine (120 calories).
Something else I've managed to do so far is to avoid going to the local ice cream shop. Last summer, I gained 15 pounds (and held onto them all summer long!) because I was eating way too many Reese's Cup flurries. I was getting probably four or five of them per week!

I made it a goal to get through the entire season the ice cream shop is open (they close for the winter) without getting anything there. If I want ice cream, it has to be from somewhere else, where it is much less convenient. So far, so good :)

Just because this is my last sponsored UA post does not mean I am giving up on this challenge. I'm going to continue to work on changing small habits throughout the summer in order to get to my goal weight.

As you know, I am registered for another marathon. Part of my training for that involves cross-training and strength training. Hopefully, the extra activity will help me along. And my diet? That's always a challenge!

So anyway, I certainly hope that some of you are doing better than I am at this What's Beautiful? challenge. If you haven't yet signed up, I encourage you to do so. With the right determination, you could win $1000 worth of UA gear!

Regardless, Under Armour is giving away yet ANOTHER $500 gift card. All you have to do to be entered for a chance to win is answer the question "How do you keep motivated to achieve your personal fitness goals?"

SWEEPSTAKES/GIVEAWAY RULES Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: a) Leave a comment in the form below telling me how you keep motivated to reach your personal fitness goals. b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique terms in your tweet message: “#whatsbeautiful” “#sweepstakes”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post. To comply with FTC Guidelines (see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm), entrants’ blog posts must disclose that they are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post. d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
Entries from all participating blogs will be pooled for winner selection; only two entries per household. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 6/12-6/30.
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