May 15, 2015

A walking program

I had a bad day today, but I somehow managed not to let it derail me completely (which is some serious progress!). A few days ago, Jerry and I went to Sam's Club, and I bought some dried cherries. I probably shouldn't have bought them, knowing that they are a binge food for me, but I told Jerry that I was going to portion the bag into individual servings (and I had every intention of doing that!)

I totally forgot to portion them, but I was doing well with having them in the house. I had one serving, for 4 PointsPlus, each of the last two nights. After lunch today, I was feeling really tired and just didn't have any energy, and the dried cherries popped into my head. After debating with myself, I finally ate them--a LOT of them. (A serving is 1/4 cup, and I guessed I'd eaten about 6 servings). I was tempted to just finish off the bag, but I decided to stop myself and portion the rest into single servings (not that there were many left).

I weighed them out, and had enough for two single-serving bags. The bag had nine servings to start with, and since I'd eaten two before today, that left seven. And since there were two left over, that meant I had eaten five servings today. At 4 PP per serving, that meant I'd spent 20 PointsPlus on dried cherries.

And to be honest? I was kind of relieved! I thought for SURE it was more than that, and I was already thinking about how I'd get through the week without any weekly points. After that, it was tempting to just say, "Screw it!" and go eat all kinds of junk, I wrote down the cherries and logged the PointsPlus. Realized it wasn't the end of the world. Then I went about my day.

(This was before I logged my dinner)



When I first decided to take some time off running to heal my stress fracture (back in January), I was super gung ho about staying in running shape. I went to the rec center 3-5 times per week to do deep water running, and I was doing fast walking about once a week. I think it really helped me, too! When I started running again in March, it didn't take long to get my fitness back to pre-injury level.

And then in April, when my stress fracture recurred, I just felt totally deflated. I wanted to throw a tantrum and just scream that I quit. I was so irritated at the whole thing that I just didn't care to come up with a training plan for while I was injured.

And to be blunt, I've been really fucking lazy. I haven't been making excuses; I just lost the desire to even keep trying to maintain my fitness after my stress fracture recurred. I go for short, easy walks, and I've been doing the strength exercises that my physical therapist gave me, but other than that, I haven't made any effort to exercise. I've only done one deep water run, and two elliptical runs. I don't have any sort of schedule that I'm following, which has really screwed me up.

So, to get back on a schedule, I decided I'm going to start doing a walking program. I used a walking program when I was losing weight in 2010, before I started running, and I liked following a plan (as opposed to just going out for a walk whenever I feel like it). I had printed out the Hal Higdon's Half Marathon walking schedule, and hung it up in my kitchen. Every time I did one of the walks, I'd cross it off. It was fun to see the calendar marked full of X's.

I'm going back to the physical therapist on Wednesday, so hopefully he'll give me an idea of when I can start working back to running, but for right now, I'm just going to assume I'll be walking for several weeks. So, I chose Hal Higdon's 10K walking schedule.


I have no idea what to do about the Wins for Warriors Detroit 9K a week from Monday. I've fundraised for it, so I have to do it--but I may end up having to just do the 1-mile walk instead of the 9K run. I'll talk to my physical therapist and see what he suggests. I'm hoping he'll let me do a run/walk, but I don't even know if there is a time limit, so that may not even work.

The asterisk for 6/8 is when Detroit marathon training is supposed to start. Again, something to talk to the PT about. I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to do a run/walk in June, and then work my way up to all running by July. My PT said that when I do start running again, it's going to be a run/walk--because he doesn't want me to fracture my leg yet AGAIN.

Anyway, I think having a planned schedule for walking will be good for me, if nothing other than mentally. Right now, I hate feeling so lazy, and even though I would ideally go to the pool for deep water running, I just don't see myself doing it. With walking, I know I can force myself to get out there! So, I am going to do a long walk this weekend, and then start the schedule on Monday.


Today's Weight Watchers Photo A Day prompt is: Best Condiment

This is tough for me! I'm not a huge condiment person. I suspect Sriracha is a popular one, but I'm just not into it. Actually, we've had a bottle of it in the fridge for a few years--probably time to throw it out! ;)  I think that MY favorite condiment is probably sour cream. A tablespoon or two goes a long way, and you can use it on anything from chili to potatoes to any sort of Mexican food.


I also like mustard, but it's not *as* versatile as sour cream. Anyone else want to chime in with your favorite condiment?

17 comments:

  1. I'm out of my exercise routine right now, too. It's so easy to get derailed, and so hard to get back on track!! Ugh. Favorite condiment: Parkay Spray Butter. Hands down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I used to love mustard on my French fries when I was in high school. Now I LOVE ranch dressing! I love it on chicken fajitas and also to dip my fries in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like dijon mustard. It is great on top of mixed sauteed veggies with a dollop of sour cream. You ought to try it... totally addictive. I read Jeff Galloways Book "Marathon" a few years ago. It is available on Amazon for $3.99 shipped... a very good deal. It talks about the run/walk method and how it is a great strategy for reducing injuries. After reading his book I decided to give it a try and I found that I enjoyed running much much more. I have never been a fast runner anyway so for me it was an easy decision. You might want to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why are the cherries points? Aren't fruits and vegetables 0 points?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fruits and most veggies in their basic state are 0 points--fresh, frozen, canned (in water), or cooking without any added sugar or oils is OK. Drying them alters their natural state--from WW website, "You do need to count PointsPlus values when there's added sugar, such as fruit in syrup or in juice, or when there's less water content, as with dried fruit."

      Delete
  5. Balsamic vinegar and salsa are my two "go to" condiments. Two hands up for you for finding a way to get back on track with your fitness! Injuries can be mentally defeating but sounds like you aren't having it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I use Frank's red hot sauce on everything! But I'm not opposed to mustard, and I do put ranch on a lot of things as well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Costco has a jalepeno greek yogurt dip .... I also like wholly guacamole and salsa

    ReplyDelete
  8. That walking plan sounds like an awesome idea!

    Also, I know that I shouldn't love it as much, but Ketchup is by far my favorite. I could (and do) put it on pretty much everything!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Homemade pico de gallo is my all-time favorite go-to condiment. So yum. In fact, I think I'm going to go make some now.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love hummus! I put it on sandwiches and of course have it with veggies and chips. Panera has a salad with hummus and it is pretty fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good choice! Have you tried Hatch Chile hummus? That's my favorite.

      Delete
  11. Great job in tracking those cherries! I find that I'm the same way...if I lose control with something, just logging it, no matter how many points, makes me feel I'm back in control, and very often, it's not as bad as I thought!

    I can't even really think of a condiment I "love." Salsa maybe?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'd have to say my favorite condiment is salsa. It can be used on eggs, salads, with chips, on veggies, etc. Living in Texas, it's an easy one to come by - especially fresh and homemade.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Way to go with keeping yourself accountable for the cherries--that's half the battle. There was one day when I ended up like -76 (yep, 76 points in the hole); rather than beat myself up about it though, I was actually pretty proud of myself for actually tracking all of it, and then moving on.

    I love sour cream too! I know you don't really love salads, but I also started making a salad dressing of sorts with it--I mix light sour cream with salsa and I put that on southwest-type salads that I make.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm on an eating program now (basically I can eat whatever I want, just have to actually keep track of it and not go over certain allotments), and one of the hardest things for me is keeping myself accountable when I've had a bad day / felt bad / tired / unintentionally ate like 6 cookies. But what I'm learning is the damage done is often less catastrophic than how I've imagined it in my head.

    Also, I just checked out Hal Higdon's site for a walking plan, and it seems totally doable (I'm doing the absolute beginner's one). I'm just starting up with walking/jogging again after too long a respite, and this could be helpful.

    Good luck, Katie!

    ReplyDelete
  15. If I need something with lots of flavor but kind of creamy, I mix plain yogurt with salsa. Delicious and so much less fat than sour cream. I've lost 24 lbs, but have 45 - 50 to go, so try to find a compromise of satisfying but lower fat.

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive