Wednesday Weigh-In: Weeks 12-14

That's Duck at my feet. He likes to get out all of my hair ties and fling them across the bathroom. He actually knows how to bite one end and stick his paw in the other--then he pulls and lets go with his mouth, so it goes flying. 

Hey there! It's been a while, I know. I have been in a weird funk lately and I just have not felt like writing. There isn't a particular reason; I have just been feeling very overwhelmed and preoccupied. (As if Jerry's friend dying wasn't bad enough, his grandma sadly passed away a few days ago.) I probably won't write much today, but I wanted to at least check in and say that I'm still alive and still working on losing weight.

Unfortunately, I have *not* been running much. It's been three weeks since my last post, and I've only run three times since then. This really bothers me, because I worked so hard to get back up to three miles!  Today I woke up with the mindset that I'm going to have a fresh new attitude, starting with a run.

It doesn't get light until 7:40-ish now, which is very late for me (I get up at 3:00). A couple of weeks ago, I actually went for a run in the dark; I was scared to, but I like getting my runs done in the morning so it's not hanging over my head all day. When I got out my old headlamp, one of the wires had become disconnected from the inside and it would have to be soldered (something I can't do) to fix it. It was 16 years old (I bought it at my first Ragnar in 2010), so I ordered a new one.

I tried a flashlight, but it threw off my gait. So, for that dark run, I didn't have a headlamp or a flashlight and I just relied on street lamps (and a reflective vest, of course). I don't think I'll ever do that again! The lamps are few and far between, so it wasn't ideal. My new headlamp should be here soon. I ordered the same one I had before (Black Diamond Sprinter) just a newer model.

Anyway, I don't remember much about the runs I did, so here is the quick gist:

Thursday (Sept 23)- This was the run I did in the dark. Ran 3.01 miles with a 12:21/mi pace and average heart rate of 150 bpm. At one point, I did not see it coming because of the dark, but someone had a sprinkler on and my legs got wet. I think my pace and heart rate were slower than usual because of the dark; I was being careful about my steps.

Friday (Sept 25)- I went out at 2:30 pm, in full sun, and it was hot (when will I learn my lesson?). I ran 3.01 miles (same route as previous) with a 11:22/mi pace and average heart rate of 158 bpm. Despite the heat, I felt pretty good.

Wednesday (today)- I wished I had my headlamp because I wanted to go out early. But at 7:26, as soon as it was light enough to see, I headed out. It felt really nice outside for a run, but it was very windy! And somehow, I think I had a headwind the entire time ;)  I did get to see a beautiful sunrise over Lake Erie, though. I ran 3.00 miles--I couldn't have planned that lollipop route more perfectly--with an 11:47/mi pace and average heart rate of 154 bpm. I was worried that taking two weeks off was going to derail me completely, but this was actually a pretty nice run! If not for the wind, I would have called it pretty great.

As far as my weight goes, I'm still losing... but it's slowed down quite a bit. Today's weigh in:

Here is a list of all of my weigh-ins:
Start (July 1): 168.8
Week 1: 166.2
Week 2: 159.6
Week 3: 157.4
Week 4: 154.2
Skipped week 5
Week 6: 151.2
Week 7: 149.6
Week 8: 146.8
Week 9: 144.8
Week 10: 144.4
Week 11: 142.8
Week 12: 141.6
Week 13: 140.4
Week 14: 140.4

As you can see, today's weight is the same as last week's. I've been eating exactly how I have been the entire time, with one exception: I started eating an apple with peanut butter in the evenings a few weeks ago. It started out in a stupid way; Jerry likes to snack on pretzels in the evening and seeing him eat made ME want to eat, too. I at least chose something healthier, though!

I was getting a little frustrated that my weight hasn't been going down (much) over the last couple of weeks, so I decided to weigh out my peanut butter just to see how much I'd actually been using. I have these tiny condiment dishes that I guessed held about 2-3 tablespoons. When I weighed out my peanut butter, I saw that I was actually eating FOUR tablespoons, which is two servings. At 190 calories per serving, plus the apple, I was getting 450-500 calories in that little snack! So, I'm not surprised that my weight loss slowed down.

A few days ago, I switched from the apple and peanut butter to about a cup of frozen grapes and a few prunes. Ideally, I'd like to get back to not snacking after dinner at all. I don't *need* to; I am rarely hungry after dinner. I had just gotten into the habit because Jerry was snacking.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been going through my clothes to see what to keep, what to size-down with the sewing machine, and what to donate. I had everything from size 2 to size 14! I really want to declutter the house and garage, so I got rid of almost everything that was bigger than a size 6 (which is what I wear now). I had several bags worth of clothes that I donated to a shelter who gives them away for FREE to people who need them. I don't like donating to Goodwill or Salvation Army because they mark their clothes up so high. The shelter was thrilled with the donation. 

I'm not delusional--I have a very hard time believing that *this time* will be the time I maintain my goal range--but I am tired of holding onto clothes that don't fit. I only ever buy thrifted clothes anyway, so if I gain the weight back, I'll just have to replace them.

Okay, well, that was my check-in. I'm going to try really hard to run three times a week. I feel really good that I went out this morning! Today, I'm going to work on downsizing a few flannels that I want to keep. Fingers crossed that I may see the 130's next week :)