Weight Watchers Beyond the Scale - SmartPoints

(ETA: Here is an updated post I've written about my thoughts on Weight Watchers Beyond the Scale SmartPoints, as well as a comparison of calories vs. SmartPoints. It's pretty shocking.)

After my run this morning, I went to Weight Watchers to weigh in. The new WW program (called Beyond the Scale) started this week, and I was very curious to learn about it. I don't plan on doing it, but I wanted to at least get the info. And since I'm a free lifetime member, I like to continue to weigh in to keep my membership. The meetings are motivating sometimes, too.

I weighed in, got the new materials, and then went and sat down for the meeting. Some of the women around me were flipping through their books, and one woman said, "A quarter cup of dried cherries is 8 Points!" I actually gasped out loud when I heard that. Dried cherries are pretty much my favorite food ever, and they were 4 PointsPlus. Not anymore--with the new plan, they are now 8 SmartPoints (that's what they're calling the Points on the new system).

The new program uses calories, saturated fat, sugar, and protein to determine the amount of SmartPoints in a food. If you're a healthy eater already, or your ultimate goal is to make healthy choices, the new plan is a great tool--foods that are high in sugar and saturated fat are very high in SmartPoints, while foods that are high in protein are lower in SmartPoints. Fruits and veggies are still 0 Points. Interestingly, alcohol has gone down in Points (just a little). One shot (1.5 fl. oz.) of liquor is now 3 SmartPoints, whereas it was 4 PointsPlus.

Weight Watchers also did away with the Good Health Guidelines. I guess that if you're following the new plan, you will tend to make healthier choices anyway, so there is no need to specifically track them.

As a lifetime member at goal, my daily SmartPoints target would be 36 to maintain my weight. I'm not sure how many weekly SmartPoints I would get (it's different for everyone, but I think Glenda, my leader, said that Lifetimers still get 49).

Also different is that members are discouraged from using "FitPoints" (previously "Activity Points") on food. The purpose of earning them is so that WW can set an exercise goal for you to reach each day.

I can't get the WW app to work (apparently, it's a problem for everyone--even my leader said she doesn't have a working app yet). The website is glitchy, and still showing all the old PointsPlus stuff, too. Once everything is working, I may calculate the SmartPoints in a week's worth of my current diet just to see how it compares to my calories eaten.

I really like counting calories, though, so I don't plan to switch! If any of you are trying out the new Weight Watchers plan, I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on it. My friend Andrea has been doing it for three days and she loves it!

Personally, there is no way I would be able to stick to this plan. Weight Watchers just keeps making it more and more difficult for people to change their habits gradually, and I'm disappointed.

(ETA: Here is an updated post about Weight Watchers Beyond the Scale SmartPoints thoughts, as well as a comparison of calories vs. SmartPoints. It's pretty shocking.)

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This morning, I had intervals on the schedule. Usually, I like to do them on the treadmill, but for some reason I wanted to do them outside today. The weather was great (36 degrees and very little wind). I was curious to see how my current outdoor interval pace compares to December 2012, when I was working on getting faster. Also, it will be nice to see in a couple of months if today's pace will have improved.

On the schedule: 0.5 mile warm-up, 5 x 0.25 miles with 60 seconds recovery between intervals. On the treadmill, I just stand still and catch my breath for 60 seconds, but outside, I would just walk very slowly between intervals. The bonus of doing just 5 intervals is that the distance is so short!

I jogged very slowly for the first half mile. I was nervous for the intervals, per usual (which is so dumb to get nervous over! Who really cares but me?). When my Garmin hit 0.5 miles, I started running hard. I wasn't sure how hard to run. I didn't want to sprint all-out, because I needed enough energy to finish four more intervals; but I wanted to make sure I was using my full potential.

I didn't even look at my Garmin the entire time. I didn't want to get discouraged or let it mess with my head, so I just kept my Garmin covered with my shirt sleeve, and then whenever it beeped, I knew to start or stop the intervals. I turned around after the second interval, and then stopped my watch after the recovery of the fifth interval.

I'm not sure how I feel about the pace for my intervals. I guess the pace is probably about what I expected. Again, it's just hard to imagine running a 10K near that pace in about four months!

My splits were 1:56, 2:00, 1:51, 1:55, 1:54; which translates in minutes per mile to: 7:44, 8:01, 7:22, 7:39, 7:36. That's an average interval split of 7:40. Last week, on the treadmill, I ran them at 8.2 mph, which is a 7:19/mile pace. The treadmill always feels easier to me, so that sounds about right. (For comparison, in 2012, I averaged 7:10/mi pace for outdoor intervals).

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Motivational Monday #132

Happy Motivational Monday! I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season so far. I'm kind of relieved not to be worried about losing weight right now, and just hoping to maintain my weight through the holidays. The holidays aren't usually a big struggle for me to stay on track, though; it's summertime that's a killer for me!

This week, aside from counting my calories, I am proud of myself for getting in a walk every day. There were a couple of bitterly cold days where I really didn't want to do it, but I felt good about it once I was out there. And there were a couple of really nice weather days that I may have missed out on if I hadn't been pushing myself to go for a walk once a day!

Also, I know this sounds kind of trivial, but I am proud of myself for going ice skating with Jerry and the kids on Saturday. I know that if I had still been 253 pounds, there would have been no way of getting me on that ice. Even now, I was a little tempted to just sit out and watch them skate, but I figured that now that I have this body, why waste what it's capable of?! I knew the kids would love for me to skate with them, and I was right. Anyway, in terms of Motivational Monday, that would be my proud moment of the week ;)

Here are a couple more proud moments to share with you this week. Enjoy!

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Here is an email from Audrey:

"I have struggled with my weight since I was a child - like I don't think I've been a healthy weight since I was about 6 years old. I have yo-yo dieted up until now. January was my turning point. I got married at the heaviest weight I had ever been - dangerously close to 300 lbs. It was still amazing and the happiest day of my life up until then, but I was so disappointed in myself for letting it get so bad. 

I joined Weight Watchers for the final time, and I still have a long way to go, but am about 40 lbs down from where I started in February. I recently started mixing exercise into my routine with a mini stepper, and I just feel so much better!! So when a friend said she needed more members of her 5K team I decided to kick my 2016 goal to the curb and sign up. I was so nervous but it was one of the best times I've ever had! I can see why people love them so much!! 

We walked the whole thing (except for the last tiny stretch at the finish line) and our time was 53 minutes. I'm super excited for that because now I have something to beat!!"

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And an email from Kate, who hit a huge running milestone:

"This weekend I completed my first half-marathon in a sweaty two hours and four minutes! I'm one of those people who would never, ever have imagined becoming a runner but I started running this year after discovering your blog and I love it. I didn't think to take a photo before, after or while I was running but I did snap this picture of my Garmin as proof - for myself at least - that it did happen."

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A huge congratulations to Audrey and Kate! Anyone else want to share something you've done this week that makes you feel proud?

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Treadmill hills

This will just be a quickie post... not much to say today!

This morning, I had just three miles on the schedule. For some reason, I had the odd idea pop into my head to do hills on the treadmill today. Lately, I've been wanting all of my runs to have a purpose--to make me a faster runner--and while I know that easy running serves a purpose, I figured throwing in a few hills couldn't hurt.

Since I don't have any hills to run around here, I have to make do with the treadmill. Joey insisted on coming out to the garage with me while I ran, so he came and sat on the couch to supervise (when he wasn't standing so close to my legs that I could feel his whiskers brush against me while I was running).

I've noticed a bit of a discrepancy in my Garmin foot pod when I change the incline on the treadmill, which is odd. The speed on the treadmill can stay steady, but if I change the incline, the pace on my Garmin changes a little. I'm not sure why that is. I'm thinking maybe because when there is an incline, my foot touches the ground just a split second before it would if I were running without incline--so the foot pod "thinks" I'm taking quicker steps...? Anyway, I figured it would be a good time to test it out.

I started the treadmill at 6.0 mph (10:00/mi) and left it there for the entire three miles. Then, for the first mile, I used an incline of 4%. It was harder than it sounds! After that first mile, I lowered the incline to 0% (unfortunately, I can't practice downhill running on the treadmill) for mile two. Then, I ran from mile 2 to 2.5 at 5% incline, and from 2.5-3 miles, I ran at 0% incline. All-in-all, I ran 1.5 miles at an incline of 4-5%, which is pretty good. The pace reading did vary, just as I suspected, even though I kept the speed on 6.0 the whole time.

Pace graph

Basically, if I am running at an incline, the foot pod shows that I'm running faster than I actually am; if I'm running at no incline, it shows I'm a little slower than I actually am. Interesting!

I have no idea why my calories burned was so LOW. Only 229 calories for a 3-mile run? The heart rate graph shows that it was pretty low for the first 3/4 of a mile, so I wonder if maybe it just wasn't getting a proper read on my heart rate.

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Anyway... I've been doing really well so far with getting in a walk every day. This evening, I was getting changed into my pajamas when I realized I hadn't gone for a walk today (I'm trying not to count my runs as part of my walk-once-a-day goal). Even though it was pitch black outside, I grabbed Joey's leash and a flashlight, and we headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. We only walked about 3/4 of a mile, but it was really nice!

I'm usually scared of running/walking in the dark (I'm not sure when that started--I used to do it all the time, but over the past couple of years I developed a fear of it). It was really peaceful tonight, and it certainly helped that the weather was great, so I think I'll walk in the dark more often.

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! If you have a submission, please email it to me tonight or early tomorrow. If I don't get any this week, I won't be posting again until Tuesday.

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Fun with the family in Detroit

Jerry had the day off today, so we decided to do something fun with the kids, although we weren't entirely sure what to do. First, I had to get my long run done (right now on my schedule, a "long" run is just four miles). It was much colder than I anticipated outside, and I realized within a quarter mile or so that I'd underdressed for the weather.

Just like last week, I actually felt really amazing right from the start, and I could tell it was going to be a good run. I even decided to add on half a mile--I did four last week, and next week is five miles--so I figured 4.5 would be a good transition.

A couple of miles in, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and it happened to be right next to my feet. I jumped into the middle of the street, without even looking for cars, because it startled me so badly. Then I realized it was a raccoon. It didn't look visibly hurt, but it was crawling around like maybe its back legs were broken. I felt really sorry for it, but there wasn't anything I could do. I just hoped it would be gone when I went back around that way, because otherwise, I'd be thinking about it all day. I ran by the spot again a mile and a half later, on my way home, and it was gone. I don't know where it went, but I was glad that it wasn't there any longer!

I didn't look at my Garmin at all the entire run, but I was guessing my pace to be around 9:15/mile. When I got home, I saw that I was pretty close--and I had negative splits! A good run today.

Today's run was the end of week two of my 10K training plan. So far, so good :)

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Jerry and I were talking about what to do with the kids today, and I got a reminder on Facebook of an event in Detroit. The Detroit Urban Craft Fair was going on at the Masonic Temple this weekend, and I wanted to check it out. I thought maybe we could all go and make an afternoon of it--the craft fair, ice skating at Campus Martius, and lunch at Redsmoke. The kids have actually never been on the People Mover in Detroit, either, so I thought they'd have fun doing that.

First, we went to the Masonic Temple. It's a gorgeous building!

There is a huge hall on the third floor, which is where the craft fair was. There were 100 vendors, and an anticipated 9,000 people attending--it was crazy busy in there! We shuffled our way up and down the aisles of crafts, periodically stopping to check things out. Noah bought a belt, and I bought a journal and a couple of coasters. There were several Detroit shirts that I wanted, but they were pretty expensive, so I didn't get any.

After we left the craft fair, we drove to Greektown to park and then take the People Mover to Campus Martius. Noah was really worried about riding the People Mover... he kept asking me, "Are you sure this is safe?" ;)

When we got to the park, there was a huge tree decorated for Christmas right next to the ice rink.

I hadn't been ice skating since I was probably about 10 years old, so I had no idea how it was going to go. We got our skates on, and Jerry and Noah started skating right away. Eli and I were just barely making baby steps on the ice. At first, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to make it around the rink even once--skating was much harder than I remembered!

Eventually, though, I got a little more confident, and I wasn't hugging the walls anymore ;) Eli was doing really well, too.

It was a lot of fun to try something different. The kids had a blast, and kept thanking us for taking them there.

After that, we walked back to the People Mover and took it back to Greektown. Then we went to Redsmoke for lunch. Redsmoke is a really good barbecue restaurant; I first tried it when I was in Detroit for the Tour de Troit ride, and then Jerry and I brought Thomas there in October. I LOVE their caesar salad with pulled chicken, and that's what I've ordered each time I've gone. It's hard to try anything new when I found something I like so much!

After lunch, we walked a few doors down to Astoria Pastry Shop. Every time I've walked by there, I've wanted to go in and buy something, but I never do. Today, the kids really wanted to pick out a dessert, so we went inside. Jerry and I got a German chocolate brownie to share. My high calorie day was actually yesterday, so I didn't want to go overboard today, especially after the huge caesar salad for lunch.

The day ended up being a very fun impromptu family day in Detroit. The kids loved seeing parts of Detroit that they hadn't seen before (we rode the People Mover around the entire loop for them). Ice skating was a great way to be active even in this cold weather. It put me in the mood for Christmas!

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National Mutt Day and a tempo run

I didn't know this until last night, but yesterday was apparently National Mutt Day! I know every day is a National-something-or-other Day, but I still want to acknowledge my favorite mutt (Joey, of course). Yesterday marked 10 months since we adopted him--I can't believe it's been that long already! This morning, Eli said to me, as he was playing on the floor with Joey, "Sometimes I can't believe that we actually have a dog. I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up and it was just a dream."

As much as I've loved having Joey the past 10 months, the kids have loved having him tenfold. They love that he is always willing to play with them, and that Joey loves "his people" more than anything. Sometimes, Jerry and I talk about how Joey may have wound up in the shelter. He's such a great dog! I just don't understand why someone wouldn't want him. He spent last Christmas in the shelter, so the kids are really excited to spoil him for Christmas this year.

Yesterday, I took Joey for a walk to the beach. I always forget about this hidden little beach on the peninsula, and it's just a half mile from my house! I've never seen anyone there, so it's the perfect spot to let Joey run off-leash. (The usual spot we go, in the woods across the street, isn't safe right now because of hunters.) When I took Joey off his leash, he had a blast running along the beach and playing in the water.

It hardly looks like December in Michigan, right?! We walked down the length of the beach, and Joey sniffed everything he could possibly sniff, and then we headed back home. I'll have to take the kids with me next time, because I know they'd love to play with Joey there.

Anyway, in honor of National Mutt Day, I am happy to have this black lab/chow chow in my life :)

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I really like the new running schedule I wrote. I run on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; and it's nice to know that when I finish a run, I have the next day off! The Saturday and Sunday runs are both done at easy pace, so doing them back-to-back isn't bad. Doing the hard runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays helps me to get through them--I know that I just have to push myself for a half hour or so, and then I'll be done for two days ;)

Today was a 12-minute tempo run. Twelve minutes sounds like nothing on paper, but running at tempo pace is tough! I started with a 10-minute warm-up. Usually, during the warm-up, I'm nervous about the tempo portion; because of that, I tend to run the warm-up too fast. Today, I really tried to focus on taking it very easy for the first 10 minutes.

After that, the next 12 minutes felt like an eternity. I picked up the pace to where it was uncomfortable and I really wanted to slow down, but it was in my pace zone for a tempo (8:23-8:36/mi). I kept reminding myself that I ran a 5K last week at an 8:41 pace, so this shouldn't feel too bad; but it was rough. I tried not looking at my Garmin, but that didn't pass the time any faster. Finally, my Garmin beeped for my cool down, so I slowed to a jog. I wanted to just sit down on the side of the road and catch my breath, but I managed to keep going ;)

When I got home, I was pleased to see my pace for the tempo was right on target!

If there was ever a time to just focus on each day at a time, this is it... I was very happy with my pace today, but when I think about the fact that I have to knock about 30 seconds off that pace and run over 4 times farther, I just feel like it'll never happen. But, I am hoping that by focusing on the here and now, and hitting my goals for each individual run, I'll be able to improve enough to reach my goal for the 10K.

The best part about tempo runs is how good I feel for the rest of the day. I love knowing that I really pushed myself hard!

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Week 16 Weigh-in (getting real with maintenance)

This week was my first week of maintenance, and I was very happy with the scale this morning:

Wearing socks is easier than covering my tattoo ;)

I was 132.5, which means I am actually down half a pound from last week and below my goal weight! I'm not going to continue posting my body fat or waist measurements anymore, because I don't expect them to change much. Of course, I certainly hope that my weight doesn't change too much either, but we'll see about that ;)

I really had a hard time deciding whether to continue posting Wednesday Weigh-ins. On one hand, they can be helpful to have some accountability; but on the other hand, I feel like I'm walking on a very short leash. I feel like now that I'm here (at goal) I have to stay here; it would be hard to post a weight that is over goal, even if it's just a normal fluctuation. I fully expect some of my weigh-ins to be over my actual goal weight of 133, but I don't want to feel bad about myself when I post that to my blog. If I can keep my weight at or under 135, I'll be thrilled.

The hardest part of weighing in publicly is not letting the thought of a weigh-in affect the way I eat. I want to stay consistent with my eating habits, rather than eating lightly or lower-sodium foods the day before my weigh-in. I would like to treat every day as if I'm NOT weighing in the next morning, if that makes sense.

I know to expect a gain here and there, but as long as it doesn't continue to climb each week, there is no reason to panic. (I think that's the biggest key here--if I see two or three gains in a row for my weigh-ins, then clearly, something has to change. But a gain, then a loss, then a gain, etc. is normal and expected.)

My average daily calories this week was 1,597. Despite hitting maintenance, I didn't deliberately try to eat more calories or do anything differently. I just continued to eat how I have been all along. I do feel like I have more wiggle room, though, if something was to come up. If I have a second high calorie day that week, or I want to have a little extra something here or there, I have the room to do that, since I'm just trying to maintain my weight from now on. (It actually wouldn't hurt to drop a few more pounds for my 10K training--I think I was 130 when I ran my PR).

Being in maintenance mode feels kind of odd (in a good way, of course). I love that I feel like I can take a breather, and not expect to see the scale continue to go down. And that I can be happy when my weight stays the same as the week before! I still have a hard time believing that I'm actually HERE (in maintenance), though. When I look at my smallest jeans, I automatically think, "I can't wait to wear those again!" but then I remember--"Oh, wait, I CAN wear those now. I'm within a few pounds of being the smallest I've ever been as an adult!"

Being at maintenance means that I can go through all of my clothes, and get rid of anything that is either too big or too small, or I just don't like the way it fits. The size that I am now is (hopefully) the size I'll be in a month, or six months, or a year. My whole life, I've had clothes that are too small, clothes that are too big, and clothes that I just hope to wear one day... but now, I can narrow it down to JUST the wearable clothes. It feels strange! Haha.

Anyway, I am obviously thrilled to be in maintenance mode again. Hopefully I can learn from the mistakes I made last time! (If I ever write about trying to eat "intuitively" and stop counting calories, someone hit me over the head, please. Haha, you know where that always leads!). I'm actually really excited to see what 2016 has in store for me--I'm injury-free and at my goal weight :)

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Tuesday

It's December, can you believe it?!

I had a great November--I reached my goal weight and I started 10K training. I can't remember what my November goal was (if I even set one!) so chances are, I didn't reach it. But now that I'm at my goal weight, I need new goals to focus on periodically. I like doing monthly goals because it's only for a short time.

For December, I'd really like to focus on being more active on a daily basis. After having such a busy September and October, I was pretty lazy in November, and slacked on my steps each day. Instead of aiming to get in a certain number of steps this month, I decided to make it a goal to go for a walk every single day. It's hard to do when it's cold outside, but that is no excuse not to bundle up and go for a walk--even if it's just for a mile or so.

We had some very dreary weather today. It was drizzling all day, and very overcast. I'm kind of surprised how warm it's been lately, though. Last night after dinner, Jerry, the kids, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood (with Joey, of course), and it was so nice outside. Usually, it's pretty cold this time of year.

I probably could have run outside today, despite the drizzle, but I had intervals on the schedule. I like doing intervals on the treadmill, so after I got the kids off to school, I headed out to the garage. Last week, I wore running tights and a long sleeved shirt because of the cold; today, I wore capris and a tank!

Today's run was similar to what I did last week, only with one additional interval: 5 x 400 with 1:00 rest between intervals. Last week, I only did 4 intervals, and I kept the speed on 8.0 mph. I thought it felt a little too easy (it was hard, but not as hard as it should have felt for a speed workout). So today, I decided to try out 8.2 mph and see how it worked out. I set the incline at 1% (something I forgot to do last week), so I figured that would make it a little harder, too.

I started with a half mile warm-up at 6.0 mph, then just before my first interval started, I switched it to 8.2 mph (7:19/mi pace). My favorite part about doing intervals on the treadmill is that once the interval is over, I can just hop off the belt and catch my breath for a minute, instead of jogging. I keep the rest short (1:00) so that my heart rate doesn't have time to get back down to the resting rate, but it's nice to have those little breaks to look forward to. A quarter mile at that pace goes by pretty quickly!

The whole run went by quickly, actually. It was definitely much harder than last week; although I still feel like I could probably push the pace a bit more. I'm going to aim for 8.3 next week. Today's splits:

Warm-up: 0.5 mi in 4:58
Interval 1: 0.25 mi in 1:49  HR 173 bpm
Interval 2: 0.25 mi in 1:52  HR 157 bpm
Interval 3: 0.25 mi in 1:52  HR 166 bpm
Interval 4: 0.25 mi in 1:52  HR 168 bpm
Interval 5: 0.25 mi in 1:52  HR 171 bpm

I was very sweaty when I was done, which made me happy! I missed feeling like that, where I really pushed myself hard.

I'm sure that in a few more weeks, I probably won't be loving it so much ;)

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Today is also Taste Test Tuesday...

This week, I decided to try a vegetarian recipe that I found on Pinterest. It's called Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta. I'm a sucker for any sort of blush sauces on pasta (white + red sauce). Usually, I change things up in a recipe when cooking, but for this one, I actually stuck to it as-written.

The recipe uses cream cheese to make the sauce creamy, instead of heavy cream. When I started counting calories, I decided not to use low fat dairy products anymore--I even started buying whole milk again, which I haven't bought in years! So, I used full fat cream cheese in this. It was really good! My kids liked it, and they didn't even pick out the spinach (well, not all of it anyway... baby steps, haha). I always get a little freaked out when I use spinach in recipes, because it seems like you're adding WAY too much... but then it shrinks down to about a tenth of the size, so it all works out.

Anyway, one serving of the pasta (what you see in the bowl above) was 358 calories... not bad at all! I will definitely be making this again.

In other news, I finally got the book Big Little Lies from the library. I was on the wait list for months. When I asked for book suggestions on Facebook, several people suggested Big Little Lies. I'm only about a quarter of the way through it, but I really like it so far. There are so many books in my queue that I'll probably never get through them all!

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Motivational Monday #131

Happy Motivational Monday! This week was a GREAT one for me, considering I hit my goal weight on Wednesday :) I also ran a 5K on Thursday (giving my best effort), which was a fun way to kick off my first week of 10K training. All-in-all, it's been an awesome week for me. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Here are a few Motivational Monday stories for you to start off the week:

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Amanda recently registered for an 8K Turkey Trot--a new distance for her. In choosing between the 5K and 8K, she figured it wouldn't hurt to burn a few hundred extra calories for Thanksgiving dinner ;) She did amazing, finishing in 52:26! It started to rain with just about a mile to go, but she still had a blast running the race.

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Lucy said that in July, she was "done being fat". She started tracking her calories on My Fitness Pal, and has since lost 36 pounds! She also started the Couch to 5K program, and ran her first 5K on Labor Day weekend, finishing in 42:02. On Thanksgiving, she ran her second 5K, and PR'ed with a finish time of 38:56! (Lucy blogs at Losing Anonymously)

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Julie became injured after running six half-marathons in eight weeks. She ran through the injury until she couldn't anymore, and then she just quit racing. Her track club sponsors a Turkey Trot each year, and for the past several years, she's paid for a registration but hasn't gone. This year, she decided she was going to run it--and she finished the 5-Mile race in 42:19! After the death of her husband a couple of years ago, Julie also struggled with binge eating and her weight. She is proud to say that she is on a current binge-free streak of 316 days and nearly back to her goal weight!

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A huge congratulations ladies! Keep up the great work!

Also, and this is random... I just noticed that the Garmin Forerunner 620 (the watch I have and love) is on sale for $249 (including heart rate monitor) for today only. Including free shipping! If you've ever been thinking of getting one, you won't see it cheaper than that. I paid $450 for mine two years ago.

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First long run of 10K training

Today, I was scheduled for my first "long run" since August. My last long run was August 9, when I was in Portland. I ran 10 miles while Thomas biked next to me on a hot morning. It was SO HARD! That was before I started losing weight again, and the extra weight combined with the super hot temps made for a very difficult run. My pace was 10:58. I had forgotten to pack my heart rate monitor, which disappoints me now, because I'm curious to know what my heart rate was during that run!

The weekend after that is when my injury flared up again, so I stopped running for six weeks. And meanwhile, I focused on riding my bike and on losing the weight via calorie counting. I started running again on September 28, and I couldn't believe what a huge difference the weight loss made in how I felt! My pace was 9:46 for my first run in six weeks, which really surprised me.

I was so worried about getting injured again that I decided to stick with short distances (2-3 miles at a time). I've been doing that for two months now, and I feel ready to start building my mileage up. I am training to PR a 10K, so my maximum distance for a long run will be just eight miles, which is nice. Today, though, I was scheduled for four.

I feel kind of silly calling four miles a "long run", but technically, that's what it is on my schedule. My target pace for long runs is 9:18-10:35 per mile. It was pretty cold this morning, so I dressed in my Cold Gear tights and a warm long sleeved top. I used to really dread my long runs (probably because they were so, well, LONG), but today, I was looking forward to it. Four miles isn't far, and at an easier pace, it would be pretty enjoyable. I even decided to take my earbuds with me, so I could listen to music with my phone. (I've been doing that for the last few runs for some reason; I hadn't listened to music while running since early 2013, but I thought maybe it would motivate me as I try to build speed).

As soon as I started running, I could tell it was going to be a great run. I felt light and springy, the air was crisp and cold, and my playlist started off with a favorite Eminem song (Berzerk). I had my sleeves pulled down over my hands, so it wasn't convenient to look at my Garmin; and then I decided that I was going to do the entire run without looking at my pace. I felt really good, and I didn't care if my pace was in the right zone or not, so I just didn't look. I did make sure not to push myself hard, though--I wanted it to be an easy pace and enjoyable, without gasping for breath.

I did a simple out-and-back route, and it went by really quickly! When I was racing the Turkey Trot on Thursday, I was dying and kept hoping it would be over at each turn. But today, listening to music and running in the cold, I wouldn't have minded adding a couple more miles!

When I hit mile four, I stopped my Garmin, and didn't feel super tired or anything. In fact, I felt pretty energetic. Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw that my average pace was 9:06!

After the 5K on Thursday, I was worried about what I was getting myself into with this 10K goal, because it seems like I have SO FAR to go. But I remember when I got relatively fast in late 2012-early 2013, it happened really quickly. Once I started going speed work, my body adapted well and I progressed from a 10:45-ish long run pace to an 8:45 long run pace over the course of about three months. And that was for 12 mile long runs--so, hopefully, considering my long runs are going to be much shorter this time around, I can actually pull this off ;)

Today marked the last day of my first week of 10K training. My first week went really well! I did an easy run; speed work (hitting my target pace); a tempo run (which ended up turning into a 5K race); and a long run. This week coming up looks pretty much the same, except for the race. I'm looking forward to it!

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Don't forget to send in your submissions for Motivational Monday! I probably won't be posting tomorrow, so I'm just writing a reminder now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

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How I calorie counted my way back to my goal weight

Recently, I've been getting a trillion questions about calorie counting, and how I managed to do so well with it in getting back to my goal weight. The reason I chose to count calories is because it's very simple (not to be confused with "easy")--you just count the calories in everything you eat. I really didn't want to overthink anything... so I didn't.

In this post, I'm going to answer a bunch of the questions I've been getting lately, because it's easier than explaining it over and over elsewhere. I say this all the time, but I want to stress again that everybody is different, and what works for me may not work for others; and what works for others may not work for me. I am not trying to tell anyone how to do things, because I don't know you! I think it's important that each person finds what works for him/herself.

What I'm about to write is just how I chose to do calorie counting--and who am I? I'm not a doctor or scientist or nutritionist, or anything like that. I just tried to keep it simple and something I could do for the long haul. That said, though, here is how I utilized calorie counting to lose weight...

I want to start by saying that I don't have any set of "rules" that I follow. By taking away rules, I feel much less pressure. I'm not following a particular program or anyone else's guidelines. I typically just make stuff up as I go along, and learn from my mistakes.

Q. What app do you use for calorie counting?

A. I use My Fitness Pal. The two most popular apps seem to be My Fitness Pal and SparkPeople, so I did a comparison of them, which you can read here. (Update: I now prefer Fat Secret over any other app--it is very clean and neat looking, with no ads, and much less confusing. Here is a post I wrote about it.)

Q. How many calories do you eat a day?

A. It varies every single day. I don't aim for a particular number, because I think that if I were to aim for one specific number (for example, 1,500) and I were to go over just a bit (1,510), I would feel like I "cheated" or "failed" somehow. By not having a specific number that I must stick to, I don't ever "cheat" or "fail". However, when I plan out my day ahead of time, I usually aim for roughly 1,500; and I just change things as needed. (If I'm hungry, I eat more; if not, I eat less)

I averaged all the calories I ate each day over the last 15 weeks, and it worked out to 1,568 per day. My Fitness Pal suggested a goal of 1,200, but obviously, I didn't adhere to that. I just ate what was comfortable for me (enough to not feel hungry, and also what I felt was a "normal" amount of food) and it worked out to be an average of 1,568 per day. I think the best way to find out how many calories to eat each day is just to experiment and see what works! Some days I eat much less, some days I eat much more. It just depends on my appetite that day.

An example day:

Breakfast: Larabar (which is just dates, nuts, and dried fruit) with 8 g. peanut butter; tea with 1/2 tsp. sugar and 1-1/3 Tbsp. half and half (301 calories)
Lunch: Panera lunch date with a friend- 1/2 chicken caesar salad, 1 cup tomato soup, piece of baguette, unsweetened iced tea (680 calories)
Dinner: Homemade roasted red pepper and turkey sausage pasta (394 calories)
Snack/treat: homemade fudge (198 calories)

Total: 1,573 calories

Q: How did you determine the number of calories to eat per day?

Answer: I didn't. I never set a goal for the amount of calories I would eat--I just started logging my food, eating three meals and one "treat" a day, and it ended up working out to being about 1500-1600 per day. That was enough to keep me from being hungry and to fuel my runs, but also able to lose weight. When logging my food, I just wanted the total calories to be "reasonable"--but I didn't (and still don't) aim for a particular number or range.

I think the best way to find out how many calories to eat is to experiment! Pick a number, and try it for a week--if you lose weight and feel good, awesome. If not, try a different number. When I first started counting calories, I had no idea how many would work for me. I knew I wanted to be able to eat as much as possible, but still lose weight. So, I just started eating what felt like a "normal" amount of food, and it worked out to be around 1500-1600 calories on average. In maintenance, I've been eating more than that, but I've still lost another five pounds.

The way I've lost the weight is truly as simple as it could possibly get--counting calories. I don't look at the macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein), or anything else. I wanted to go back to the basics and keep it as simple as possible. So, I just eat whatever I want, and I log the calories for it, trying to keep it "reasonable". The bottom line is, with any sort of weight loss, to experiment and see what works best for YOU :)

Q. Do you add in extra calories for exercise?

A. No. (They get added automatically to My Fitness Pal because it syncs with my Garmin, but I don't consciously think, "Oh, I burned 275 calories on my run today, so I can eat an extra 275 calories today.") However, because I don't have an actual calorie target each day, "adding in" calories for exercise wouldn't really make sense. Like I said, I wanted to keep it very simple and not overthink anything! If I was trying to stick with a particular calorie target each day, I would probably add my exercise calories in, just to give myself that option to eat more. But because I don't have a target, there is no number to add to, if that makes sense. If I'm hungry, I eat more; if I'm not, I eat less.

Q. What is your "high calorie" day that you talk about?

A. Once a week, I choose to eat more calorically dense foods and go over my "typical" calories. I usually end up eating about 2,500 to 3,500 calories on a high-calorie day. I don't binge, or call it a "cheat day" or anything like that. I eat the same volume of food I do any other day, but I choose foods that have a lot more calories than my normal days.

For example, my kids love getting pizza once a week, so I might have three small pieces of pizza for about 1,000 calories. Normally, my dinner is about 300-500 calories, even if it's the same volume of food. I usually use the high calorie day if I'm going to be going out to dinner or if Jerry is off work and we have something special planned. I do the high calorie day to keep my body from getting used to eating the same general number of calories per day.

Q. Do you track your macro nutrients (carbs, fat, protein)?

A. No. Again, keeping it simple. I track just my calories, and I don't worry about any other numbers. I've found in the past, when I've tried to track nutrients like carbs or protein or fat, I get a perfectionist attitude. If I don't hit the target, I feel like I failed. Then, I typically binge and quit altogether.

By keeping it very simple, tracking just ONE number (calories), then I don't get overwhelmed. My Fitness Pal automatically keeps track of macros, and on the very rare occasion that I glance at it, I see that I eat mostly carbs and fat--ordinarily, that would freak me out, because "everyone" says you should eat less carbs and more protein to lose weight. I just keep in mind that I am not "everyone", I am ME. And I will do what works for me.

Q. Do you track your fruits and vegetables?

A. Yes. There are calories in fruits and vegetables (more than I thought, actually! Being on Weight Watchers for so long, I tended to think of vegetables as "free", but the calories really do add up). I track everything I eat, even the 5 calories in my tea. Not tracking something doesn't mean I didn't eat it, as much as I wish that were true ;) Only three people see my food log: myself, my husband, and my best friend. So, there is no reason to hide things from my food log! I would only be kidding myself.

Q. What kinds of foods do you eat?

A. Anything I want. Whatever sounds good to me at that time. Again, keeping it simple! If I try to restrict something, I'll just obsess over it; so, I don't have any "rules" about what I can or can't eat. Some of my favorite foods that I eat a lot of: Larabars (I eat one with peanut butter every day for breakfast), scrambled eggs with cheese, pizza, all sorts of soup, sweet tomatoes, pasta, Hostess apple pies, and dried cherries.

Q. How do you count bites of food here or licks there? Do you count them?

A. I actually got into a really nice routine with my meals, and I very rarely stray from it (not because it's a "rule", but because it's comfortable). I eat three meals a day and one bedtime treat. I don't do any snacking, because I don't like to spend calories on snacks--I'd rather eat higher calorie meals three times a day. In the evenings, I enjoy a treat of some kind--a couple of cookies, a glass of wine or two, a mini apple pie, candy, dried cherries... whatever sounds good. It's usually about 200-300 calories; but again, I don't have a particular target. So, because of my routine, I don't do any bites, licks, or tastes--just meals.

Q. How do you track the calories in recipes?

A. My Fitness Pal has an awesome recipe tracker on the app! When I'm cooking, I can literally just scan the barcode of ingredients and build the recipe right there on the app. Then it's saved for the next time I make the recipe, too. You can even import recipes from websites and swap out ingredients if you change things up. It's a really great tool!

Q. What's different between how you're eating now and when you were doing Weight Watchers?

A. Weight Watchers is a great program! (Edit: I am no longer a fan of WW.) That's how I lost the majority of my weight. However, when I was doing Weight Watchers this year, it took FOREVER to lose weight--I lost four pounds over a couple of months. I was staying on program, so I just assumed my metabolism had slowed or something. However, now that I've been calorie counting for a while, I am starting to see what the problems were.

I learned to "work the program" in order to get the most calories possible out of each PointsPlus (something that, once you learn, you can't "unlearn"). For example, I learned that 25 grams of peanut butter and 28 grams of peanut butter had the same number of PointsPlus; so naturally, I would choose to eat 28 grams. When you do that with all of your foods, you eat a lot more calories than you would otherwise!

I think the biggest issue, however, was the fact that I was following all the "rules" of WW. Since WW gave me a target number of PointsPlus to aim for each day, I would always try to work it like a puzzle, getting in a particular number of PP each day--no more, no less. I ate all of my activity PP and weekly PP, also, so even if I wasn't very hungry one day, I would still eat the PP that I was "allowed". If I was extra hungry one day, I would still try to stick with my allowance. While counting calories, I'm listening to my hunger cues much more, and I don't feel the pressure to stick to a particular calorie target.

Also, Weight Watchers has you thinking in terms of weeks instead of days. For some people this works really well; but as a binge eater, it didn't work so well for me. My PP started fresh every Wednesday... so if, for example, I binged (or just overate) on Thursday or Friday, I wouldn't have any weekly PP to carry me over until Wednesday. A lot of times, I would just say "screw it" and not count my PP for the rest of the week. So, it wasn't the fault of Weight Watchers that I wasn't losing weight; it was just the way that I was working the program.

To put it simply, calorie counting (the way I do it) has no hard set of rules, so I can just make it up as I go, fitting it into my life. I like that!

Q. What do you do if you don't know how many calories are in something? Say, you go to a friend's house for dinner, and you don't know the recipe for what he/she prepared. How do you count that?

A. I make my best guesstimate. I just search for the food in the MFP database generically (if your friend made lasagna, for example; with garlic bread and salad). I would search lasagna, and then pick the one that I would honestly think makes the most sense. Obviously, it's not going to be exactly accurate, unless you have the recipe, but it's close enough. I would search garlic bread and salad the same way.

I do the same thing when I go to a restaurant that isn't a chain or doesn't have the calories listed. I just think of something similar, and count it as that item instead. The most important thing about it is not to lie to yourself. Don't say, "Oh, that looks like it's about half a cup" when clearly it's a cup and a half ;)

Yeah, I'd say that's 1/4 cup of dried cherries, wouldn't you? ;)

Q. Do you still have urges to binge? And if so, what do you do? 

A. I do still have urges to binge, and sometimes I have to white-knuckle my way through them (my kids arguing with each other is my biggest trigger!). But, the more time that passes since my last binge (115 days and counting right now), the more determined I am to keep the streak going. And the urges come less and less often now. It's much easier to cave in on Day 4 than it is on Day 104, for example, because you don't want to ruin the good streak!

One thing that has helped is that I have a drink to sip--usually, I'll have diet tonic water with lime, or flavored seltzer water. Vodka tonics are my favorite cocktail, so when I have the diet tonic with lime, I can at least pretend I'm having the real thing, haha.

Other things I do to pass the binge urge: text a friend, take a shower, play a game on my iPad, work on a puzzle, take Joey for a walk, plan out my meals for the next day, do a load of laundry... basically ANYTHING that either gets me away from the kitchen, or takes my mind off of the food.

Finally, I make a mental note of what it is that I want to binge on, and I tell myself I can have it on my high calorie day. When my high calorie day comes around, I usually have forgotten all about it; but if I'm still thinking of it, then I'll go ahead and eat it (measuring and counting it, of course!).

Edit: I wrote a four-part series about binge eating that details my eating habits very well. Probably way too much info, actually! Hahaha. Here is the link.

Q. Does your old post about eating a dessert every single day to resist binge eating still hold true?

A. Yes! I still have a dessert/treat every night, and I definitely think it helps me not to binge. It gives me something to look forward to all day, and by eating just a small portion, I am still excited to eat it again the next day (whereas, after a binge, I feel sick and vow never to eat it ever again).

Goofy picture, but I was expressing my excitement over my
bedtime treat--a York Peppermint Patty! ;)

For a very in-depth look at my diet and how I refrained from binge eating, and all that, you can check out this series of posts.

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I think that pretty much sums it up! I can't stress enough that it really helps to experiment to find what works for YOU. Try making your own rules and change them around until they fit for YOU. I think the approach I'm taking is very similar to intuitive eating--I'm eating what I want, I'm listening to my hunger cues, I'm not following any "rules"--only I happen to log my food and track the calories, so I can keep myself from getting out of hand.

For anyone who is struggling like I was struggling to get back to goal, my advice would be not to overthink it, and do what makes it easier for YOU. For example, if counting macros helps you to stay on task, then do it! If it stresses you out, like it does for me, then just focus on the calories.

If having a target calorie goal each day helps you not to overeat, then do that; but if it makes you feel bad about yourself for going over your target once in a while, then try having a target range, or no target at all. That's basically what I did--I just looked at what made things easier for me, and made up my own rules. Hopefully that helps!

I also want to make it clear that I am not trying to tell anyone at all how they should or shouldn't eat. Like I said, I've been getting a lot of questions lately about the calorie counting, so I wanted to answer those in one spot. As I always say, find what works for you--something you can do for the long haul--and do that :)

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