September 02, 2015

Hello, September

I had another great Wednesday Weigh-in today!


I was down two more pounds this week, for a total of five pounds in the three weeks since I started calorie counting. It took me two months to lose just four pounds while I was doing Weight Watchers this spring! I still believe Weight Watchers is a great program, but after doing it for so long, I think this change is just what I needed.

My body fat was 28.4% last week, so it's up by 0.1%, but I'm not worried about it. The body fat monitor is a great tool to use over a large span of time, but from day to day or even week to week it can vary quite a bit. If it should continue to go up, or even stay the same as my weight goes down, I would worry about it; but my waist measurement went down by a half an inch since last week (and I can definitely feel it in my clothes), so I'm very happy with today's results. I'm excited that I may see the 140's again very soon :)

Last week, I had a couple of goals: 1) Do a long bike ride of 20-30 miles; 2) Do the stair stepper at the rec center. I did the stair stepper at the rec center last Wednesday with Kendall, and then I got the mini stepper and did that yesterday. I did do a long bike ride, but it was only 14 miles. I was in a time crunch because the kids were at baseball practice, so I couldn't be gone for too long before I had to pick them up. I'm still considering that a success. Going into this next week, I'm going to make SURE that I get in a 20-30 mile ride at least once. The kids start school on Tuesday, so my plan is to do it on Tuesday if I can't get it done before.

My August goal was to not eat out for the month, and that was also semi-successful. I went to Portland on that last-minute trip early in the month, so I obviously ate out while I was there. There were a couple of other instances that we/I ate out, but we did cut WAY back from July, so I am happy with that.

For September, I'm going to make a challenging (for me) fitness goal: to bike a cumulative 100 miles. I have the 30-mile Tour de Troit ride in a couple of weeks, so that means I'll have to get in 70 miles on my own. Ideally, I'll do one long ride per week, plus a couple of short rides. This is a goal I've been thinking of for a while, but I always chicken out because it seems like so much work. But that's the whole point of having goals, right? ;) Now that I've written it, it's official--I need to get riding!

When I was looking at my exercise log yesterday, it looks so ODD to me--usually, the only thing I see is running. But since I've been injured, and trying to get in a lot of cross-training, it looks like a nice variety:


I don't keep track of my shorter walks each day--just the long ones. I walk Joey about three miles a day, and since that walking so stop-and-go, I don't keep track. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting the activity in. I'm hoping that after I see the orthopedist, I can come up with a plan to ease back into running this fall. I'm not sure if my stress fracture is back, but I've been getting pain in my ankle at the most random times. I'm curious what the doctor will say.

This week is going to be a busy one--I'm getting the kids ready to go back to school, and I'm getting ready to start coaching cross country!

9 comments:

  1. My husband and I are striving for a 100 mile biking goal too! Last month we killed it, getting 137- I hope we can keep it up with the changing weather (we have our 18 month in tow).

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  2. As always way to go! I've been following you for awhile and I share your story with my friends...such an inspiration! But I truly enjoy how you keep it real. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Awesome job, Katie! I was curious what tracker you are using right now to track your activities? Is the picture of your list of activities your FitBit, Garmin, or My Fitness Pal?

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    1. That is from Garmin Connect. I have it set to private, for safety reasons (it shows maps), but that's my favorite app for tracking activity!

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    2. I was wondering the same thing! It looks inspiring! And great job, Katie!

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  4. Why do you think counting calories is working so much better than WW? I just signed up for WW and feel like it's not working AT ALL. I am so lost at to what I should do...

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    1. I don't necessarily think that one program is "better" than the other. Weight Watchers worked really well for me in 2012! I'm not sure what the difference is as far as why I'm losing weight much more easily while counting calories. I do like the freedom of calorie counting, because I don't feel like I'm being "punished" for choosing a high fat food (with WW, a higher fat food is heavy on the points). Some of the foods I'm eating now are foods that I tended to avoid on WW. I've been eating whatever I want, as long as I stay around my calorie target, and it's working out pretty well!

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  5. I switched to counting calories around the same time as you. Sadly I had been gaining and losing the same 2-4 pounds for months and months and months. I felt like I was doing everything right....I tried eating more point, eating less points, counting my fruit as points. It was so frustrating and I finally decided it just wasn't going to work for me. Since I switched to my fitness pal, I've consistently lost every week and that's really motivating!

    My next step is to buy a heart rate monitor. I've been going to the gym pretty religiously and I'd love a more accurate estimation of how many calories I'm burning. If you're ever looking for another way to burn some calories, I'm really loving the Body Pump and Body Combat classes at my gym (part of the Les Mills program). I don't know if your rec center offers those classes but you should totally check them out if they do. They are so fun!

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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)

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