Round Two

59 days later...

Hey, I said I'd have more details on Monday. I never said which Monday... *shifty eyes*...

Well, it's been a relaxing couple of months. I tried to do an indefinite 'lessor' version of my 100 Days plan, but my heart just wasn't in it. Why? Well, for one thing, a change in the weather. As soon as winter finally got its butt out of the way and the temperature began to climb, so to did my endorphins. It's summer! Time for ice cream! Hot dogs with the works! Long evenings full of indulgence!

I think I've mostly gotten over the novelty now. Mostly.

I've been clinging to some good habits here and there, surprisingly, mostly exercise-related (two or three days a week, but no yoga on the off days). I've been weighing myself on average every other week and I'm holding steady in the 178-180 range. This morning I was at 179.9. I had already made the decision to get back on the proverbial horse, but that number seemed like a cosmic sign affirming my "buckle down" decision. Any more gain and I'd be back in the 180s, a range I fought long and hard to get OUT of.

And so begins the 2nd "100 Day" challenge of 2013.

The challenges are mostly the same as the first go-round, with just a few tweaks:

• Instead of three water bottles, I'm only holding myself to two. (20 oz) I just don't feel like my body needs the extra water. Between the first two bottles and the juices and teas I'm drinking other places, I'm getting enough.

• I'm bumping the cardio up from four days to five. It's summer. There are tons more choices for cardio. 

• I'm shooting for an 80% success rate instead of 90% but I'm also weighting my "average" score to where the Exercise and Meal Plan challenges are carrying most of the grade. This means that the easy things like popping a multivitamin in the morning aren't skewing the curve for the days I have seven oreos in the evening and blow my meal plan to smithereens.

I've already got temptation gauntlets coming my way. First up, "cupcake day" at the Day Job cafeteria, wherein the chef makes gourmet cupcakes (including a dark chocolate sea salt caramel thing that I almost proposed marriage to the first time I tried it).  However, since this is a repeat cupcake day, the first being about a month ago, I think I can safely assume there will be more cupcake days in the future to be enjoyed.

The second is my friend Emma's wedding, which is part of the reason I must 100% ignore cupcake day this time around. For this I have already made allowances for 1 glass of champagne and 1 piece of cake on top of my dinner. (Also, the dance floor will totally be counting for one of the five cardios).

The 170s have some very exciting milestones to celebrate:

• 177 lbs - my lowest recorded weight back in 2010.
• 174.5 lbs - my BMI goes from "overweight" to "normal" (I don't live or die by BMI labels, but this does mean my little Wii Fit person will shrink, so I'm very excited about that).
• 170 lbs - what will that look like?!?! Can't wait!! 

So here we go again...

How to fall off Wagons (in Varying Degrees)

So...I did not stay on target. Red Leader would be so disappointed.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Week #14. Day 100 of the challenge is next Tuesday!!

Alas, I won't be able to provide final stats at that time because I haven't really kept track the past little while, and at this point I can't remember enough for them to be accurate. And really, what good are incomplete stats? It breaks my little accountant heart.

Don't worry, though. Since I try not to allow my accountant heart to dictate how I actually live my life, I'm doing okay, emotionally. Despite the recent rough patch, from beginning to end, this effort has been far more successful than not, and I don't regret doing it.

However, since confession is good for the soul, part of the reason I haven't had the heart to keep stats is that I've been slowly slipping off the wagon in all departments these past few weeks:

The Coffee Wagon

On Easter Sunday I broke my coffee fast. I figured-- and I still do!--that DOUBLE the lenten period abstaining from coffee was good enough. Once that barrier was broken, things began to escalate. My overall word count has been slipping behind a little, so last weekend I challenged myself to some hard core writing sprints over the weekend and my motivation/reward for achieving that were a few big white chocolate mochas from Starbucks. This week I haven't offended at the Starbucks level, but I have offended with coffee at home nearly every day.

The "Meal Plan" Wagon

This has been a bit touch and go, but I'm definitely in more lax general territory than I was the first 2/3 of the challenge. I'm having two or three carb binge temper tantrums per week. I went to a friend's birthday celebration and ate appetizers and the entire plate of my entree where before I would not have allowed myself any appetizers and I would immediately have put half my entree aside to have as a meal the next day.

Little indulgences, each with its own perfectly reasonable excuse, are slipping through the cracks. If I keep it up, I will soon go from "leaking" to "hemorrhaging".

The Yoga Wagon

My cardio exercise efforts have actually remained pretty steady, however, on "off" days when I don't do cardio, I'm not keeping up on my yoga set. I can recall only one "off" day in the entire past three weeks that I did it. Bad, lazy Faith!

The Water-Drinking Wagon

Hahaha. Just... no.

The Exercise Wagon

Until this week, Week #14, I have gotten a 100% score on cardio. I'm really, really proud of that. This week has been an aberration-- a temporal crux of a bad cold, a sore back, and some scheduling conflicts. As a result, this week only I haven't exercised a jot. And truthfully, I kind of miss it.

So what's next?

This zone - between 180 and 185 lbs, is a truly difficult area for me. It's exactly where I started to fizzle out three years ago when I had my last comparable success. I'm starting to like the way I look, which puts me on a "success" high, and for me that's dangerous for momentum. I use it as an excuse to justify slacking off.

Also, it's finally feeling like springtime in Ohio and that gets my endorphins all skyrockety and that puts me in danger of being reckless.

I am NOT going to revert. I promise.While thinking about all of this these past few weeks, I've come to some decisions and I've had this line from Lord of the Rings running through my head constantly:

 GANDALF: "One stage of your journey is over. Another begins."

(Who knew there were so many epic and applicable nerd quotes to motivate one toward healthy habits?)

Details on Monday.

Temper Tantrum Thursdays

For the past couple-of weeks, I've been having a Thursday-shaped problem, and this is what it looks like:

 

Except, you know, I'm a very tall woman in my thirties, not a seven-year-old boy.

I'm not sure why, but for the past couple of weeks whenever I hit Thursday I've been having an inner temper tantrum with respect to my 100 Days Challenge. It's not just a lack of motivation, it's an anti-motivation.

Lack of Motivation:

 [sigh] "I really don't feel like exercising today..."

vs. 

Anti-Motivation: 

[rips up list of goals and stomps it into the dirt] 

"WHERE ARE ALL THE SNACKS?! BRING THEM TO ME!!! FIVE HOURS OF TV, CHEESE, AND CRACKERS! BRING IT!"

Resentful. That's the word. Resentful that winter won't go away, that I had an unsatisfactory work day, that I keep getting rejected, that the crutch I've always leaned on to comfort me through the boring and the disappointing is dropping everything into a slovenly heap and hiding in food and fantasy the minute I got home. Resentful that my progress is so slow and hard to see day-to-day, both in my weight loss efforts and my publishing efforts.

These temper tantrum Thursdays are a good portion of my lackluster score for weeks 9 and 10.  So you can imagine that I've been approaching today (which is a Thursday, for those of you who might be reading this entry six months from now and don't care to cross-reference a calendar), with no small amount of respect and trepidation.

Fortunately, the waters seem calm for now.

Part of the extremity of temper tantrum Thursdays has been due to cabin fever, with the cold temperatures being every bit as stubborn as the boy in that picture up there. Part of it has been my boredom with the routine and the pressure of the challenge obligations wearing me down (yes, they're self-imposed, but that's what makes them so pressury!). The end is starting to come into focus but it's still four weeks away. I just want to be done! I want my reward day of cares to the wind!

The most important thing, when the challenge is over, is not to let FREEEEDOM!!!! celebrations spiral into exactly the same habits I had four months ago.

We will be tackling that bridge the instant the challenge is over.

Er... plus one week. ;-)

Week #10 update and Star Wars diet tips

The past three weeks have been a roller-coaster ride, in everything but updating this blog, which has been a nice, steady ride of nothing.

Week #8, down 3.1 lbs!!

Week #9, down 0.9 lbs!!

Week #10 (this morning), up 0.7 lbs.

This is only the second time in the challenge that I've shown an increase instead of a loss. Last time it got to me a little, but this time I think I kind of deserved it.

Let me start at the beginning of the roller-coaster ride, with that three lb loss from two weeks ago. The thing about glorious progress like that is that it's dangerous. I've thought often this scene from Star Wars:

Don't get cocky, indeed.

In retrospect, I much rather would have continued losing at a nice, steady 1.5-2.0 per week. Three pounds puts me in the danger zone of being reckless. Little things start to slip through the cracks and I'm all too happy to let them. Truth be told, I was surprised to show a loss on Week #9. I turned in truly terrible stats for week #9, and I think this week's number is somewhat reflective of that.

I'm also starting to weary from the routine. Despite how good it makes me feel, I am never going to love coming home to exercise. Yoga only takes fifteen measly minutes out of my day, but the fact that I've obligated myself to do it makes it hang over my head like Eeyore's cloud all day. With the end of the 100 Days so close in sight (just less than a month now), I'm getting looser and looser in what constitutes a "meal plan"

There are some bright sides, though. First off, only a 0.7 loss? That's peanuts, especially since it's not wholly without cause.  Secondly, I'm really starting to see the effects of my net loss in my waistline and the fit of my clothes. (This actually adds to the "cocky" danger factor. I don't know why. You'd think it would be inducement to rally my efforts even more. I guess I'm just impatient to get to that "I did it! I won!!" moment).

I don't think I'm going to make my 90% goal in all categories, namely my meal plan and water bottle categories. I'm also slightly behind on getting to bed on time, which is funny because it's actually been one of the easiest to keep up. But since I only have to do it 5 out of 7 days, one miss will skew my statistics more drastically than in other categories. Additionally, two weeks ago I had to stay up late a couple of nights to do some story planning with my coauthor on my current writing project. The late evening is the only time she really is ever around to do it, so I chalk that up as a necessary sacrifice, one that I'm not going to ... lose a lot of sleep over. (Hah, puns for a Monday. Moving on).

I was panicking a little on trying to catch up on these categories before the end, and that panic was making me more sullen and resistant to actually doing them every day, so I'm letting off the pressure of achieving them. It makes me sad, but I think I stand a better chance of sticking to good behavior these last four weeks if I'm just focusing on daily victory.

Four weeks. I'm NOT going to cruise the rest of the way. There's still so much to be accomplished in that time frame. I really, really want to hit 177 lbs. Why? Because 177 lbs was the lowest weight I remember achieving three years ago when I last had this sort of success. In order to do that, I need to lose an average of 1.75 lbs per week.

Tough? Yes (Especially with Easter just around the bend).

Doable? I think so.

And then we'll go from there. Bring it on, Week #11. Stay on Target.

Halftime Show

Monday morning at the office. I am sitting here enjoying a small Chai Latte from the Evil Shiny Coffee Bar in the Lobby. It is the most wonderful almost-coffee I've ever enjoyed.

The reason I am indulging is a three-fold celebration.

#1 - I achieved my 100% goal for Week #7
Woo-hoo! Go me!!

#2 - I've officially passed the 10 lb loss mark

#3 - TODAY IS DAY 50 AND I AM HALFWAY DONE!!!

Some "halftime" thoughts.

I had hoped that this would be going faster. Impatience is really hard to overcome, no matter how much I admonish myself otherwise. However, my minimum hope was to lose 20 lbs on the challenge and at the halfway point I've lost 10. Looks like the math checks out.

Slower is better. Yes, yes, I know, I know. This way, I'm not abusing or confusing my body. Neither am I putting a strain on my mind with excessive denial. Things I've gotten to enjoy in moderation these past seven weeks have included cookies, peanut butter toast, ice cream (once, a small custard bowl in honor of Valentine's Day), restaurant food, and lots and lots of honey-sweetened tea.

 I know I haven't been writing the fun filler blog entries that I've been promising. That's because I've been out there! Doing the work! I don't have time to stop and write about it too! Pffft.

Last week I was heavily preoccupied working on yet another editing pass of my theater novel. This one I'm shopping around for publication and I needed to make some changes before I continued with the shopping. And once I get started on an editing pass it kind of burns up all of my concentration until it's finished.

I still feel better. Leaner, more awake.

The Evil Shiny Coffee Bar in the Lobby

Oy. 100% Perfection this week is going well so far, but it's a bit harder than I thought it was going to be. I work for Goodyear and this week our huge shiny modern new headquarters building was officially open for business including the new cafeteria and fancy coffee bar in the lobby.

It's the coffee bar that's really driving me nuts. I love fancy coffee bars. Yes, I know they're overpriced, but I find fancy, overpriced coffee both tasty and comforting, a delightful indulgence in a dreary, cold February world. Thus far in the challenge I've been mostly able to keep an arms' length distance from Starbucks and its evil mates, but now ... it's right there.

On Monday the temptation was the worst. I think because the shiny new building was SO EXCITING and I always want food to celebrate exciting things. Now that we're on Day #3 things have calmed down and I'm doing better. I feel less crazy with temptation and more wistful.

The shiny new building has good aspects too. There's a fitness center (although it doesn't open for another two weeks), and I fully intend to make use of the elliptical machines as part of my cardio once that happens. Also, the new cafeteria menu has more nutrition focus than the old one, so as long as I'm willing to pay for it, I can add some variety to my lunch in the middle of the day.

On another note, I'm ready for spring...

Graphs, Charts, and The 90%

Week #6 is behind us. And what a slippery week it was. I already reported on being sick-- well, that lasted through half the week. Stuck home all day... not feeling up to much of anything. I didn't eat that much, but what I did eat wasn't always necessarily the best for me. Then yesterday (Sunday) I had a severe attack of "I'm tired of this" blues and ate lots of tortilla chips & salsa at lunch and had twice as many cookies as I was allowed in the evening.

Take a look at Week #5 vs Week #6 stats:


 Week #5

Week #6

I'm sorry to say that Week #6 was the first week since the challenge began that I haven't achieved my goal of at least 90% success. Boo!! :-(


There are two pieces of good news, however. First, I'm still on-track with my overall goal-to-date:

Challenge results to-date: 02-18-2013

Not by much, but 91% still counts!


Secondly, despite everything (perhaps some leftover grace from weeks before and a little for being sick) I did have a drop in weight this week-- not much, only 0.7 lbs, but all things considered, I'll take it and be grateful!

Another interesting tidbit-- my weigh-in this morning was exactly the same as the weight I logged when I first set up my new Wii at the beginning of November. This means.... *drumroll*... I have officially lost all my Christmas weight and anything lost from here on out will be "real"!

I finally have enough data to make an impressive-looking chart tracking my progress. Isn't it pretty?

The next ten pounds will be rarely-charted waters. I've dabbled in the 180's on and off through my various efforts the past three years, always dipping in for a taste, but never staking claim. Well, folks, this time my flag is firmly clasped in my hands ready to take up permanent residence.


Actually...no. That's not right. I'm keeping that flagpole in my hands and using to pole to get me through these testy waters and beyond.

In celebration of losing all my Christmas weight and duly motivated by my poor performance this week, I have set myself a special Week #7 goal:  100% in all categories.

... pardon me... *drinks some of water bottle*.... dern water-bottle drinking...

Anyway, where was I? Yes, 100% for Week #7! I can totally do it, I've just never resolved to do so before. Plus, I have the added benefit of some extra-fun exercising on the horizon: We are having a dance party on Friday! Plus I think I'm going to hit up the roller rink again for my cardio on Saturday.

On that note, I'm going to try to take some time to do some exercise-centric blog entries this week, a topic I've been sadly remiss on heretofore.