Not my greatest, not my worst

Posted on June 12, 2016

Um, so, I slipped up a little this week. My schedule was thrown off by a friend visiting in the middle of the week. I took the day off because I had promised to go into New York with him. But it really stressed me out. I just have so much to do at work these days and I really couldn't afford the day off.

Back at work on Wednesday, I let myself indulge a little in the form of Snickers and CheezIts from the vending maching. I felt fine afterwards. Like, this isn' going to send me into a binge. I'm totallly in control. I had been binge-free for 23 days which is the longest streak since I started counting a couple months ago. But I went off the rails anyway. I just.... wanted to. I did it again on Thursday, though not quite as out of control. Friday and Saturday were back on track and my weight is still hovering around where it's been.

I have to stay focused on the daily goals. Hit that calorie count every day. Hit the gym or the pavement almost every day.

(1) Continue logging everything on MyFitnessPal. Stay within my calorie range and make sure you're doing it by eating real food.

Logging is easy! Unless you go off the rails. When I did that I just manually entered in 2000 calories for "Went Crazy." I stayed under 3 out of 6 days. Wow, that's not very good, is it? Today's not over yet...today will be an under-calorie day.

(2) Continue drinking 3 Nalgenes worth of water a day.

I haven't been really been counting, but I'm pretty sure I did this every day. It's hot!

(3) Work out 4 days and have at least 2 workouts burn over 500 calories. I think this should be easy with Flex Pass classes starting next week. RU Fit and Spinning should kick my a**.

I exercised 6 days, but only one was over 500 calories. I can step this up!

(4) Check in with my goals every day.

I only did this Monday and Tuesday. Thumbs down.

(5) Come back to blog next Sunday.

Here I am.

Stayed focused. Just play this like a game every day. One day at a time.

Comment Now!

Nic

06/15/2016 6:55PM

Wednesday: 1) Logged everything and stayed way under. Crazy because I was ravenous this morning and ate a huge breakfast. 2) Check! 3) Track workout. 8x400. So hot! And then a ~3 mile round trip walk to get frozen yogurt.

Nic

06/15/2016 6:51PM

Tuesday: 1) Logged everything and stayed under. 2) Got that water in. 3) Spin class

Nic

06/15/2016 6:55PM

Monday: 1) Logged everything and stayed under. 2) Didn't really focus on water. Might have come up shy. 3) RU Fit class at the gym. Ow!

Nic

06/13/2016 4:14PM

Sunday: 1) Logged everything, and stayed under. Ate delicious, wholesome food all day. 2) So much water! 3) Took breaks from work every couple hours by walking a mile loop around my neighborhood. 3 miles.

Forrest

06/13/2016 5:39AM

I love the honesty in your post. I have similar goals for my current challenge. I have been really good at logging the results during the first 3 weeks, but this last week I "went off the rails" a bit myself. I looked back and realized that I didn't log my goal results after Monday. I just stopped focusing on it and my weight suffered as a result. I have a tendency to log really well, when I am doing well. The good results are easy to log. The bad results are harder but it is probably even more important that they are recorded so we can make those crucial course corrections.

Jules likes this comment.

Nic

Forrest, I am a data junkie (it's my job!) so yesterday I plotted my weight along with my net calories for the last 3 weeks that I've been tracking. It's amazing to see visually that calories in - calories out really does lead to me losing weight! All those days that the scale was "stuck"? Net cals were too high! Tracking can definitely be tiresome, but it's the only way I've ever been successful losing weight. Keep at it!

Marcie

06/12/2016 12:54PM

Lot's of food for thought here Nic! Some really good things! You are focusing, you are tracking in MFP (love that tool!), you are taking accountability and you are working out and drinking your water. You point out that eating "real food" is a goal of yours. So the question I really want you to ask yourself is did the snickers and cheese-its actually make you feel better? And then how did you feel "going off the rails?" Would you have felt better had you chosen a healthy alternative and do you think that would have avoided the rail issue? I have this concept of WEC - Worth Every Calorie! I believe in balance and that indulgences are part of a balanced life. Homemade ice cream on the beach? WEC A few glasses of wine with dear friends? WEC Now apply cheese-its and snickers to that equation - no judgement here at all (believe me I have had my share of both snickers and cheese-its!!!) - for you are they WEC? If not, next time take a few deep breaths and just really think about whether or not it is worth it for you and if it will meet the need you have at the moment (which likely has nothing to do with food!) and what you want to be able to say about it in your blog next week. Just something to think about...

Jules likes this comment.

Nic

Marcie, thanks for your comments! I really like the concept of WEC. I'll try to use it the next time I'm thinking about treating myself. To be honest, that Snickers and bag of CheezIts were totally WEC. Those have always been some of my go-to "comfort" foods when I am feeling stressed. Obviously, I need to work on finding non-food-related de-stressors, but in that moment, and for a few hours afterwards, those snacks were exactly what I wanted and I felt good. The problem was at the end of the day, when I saw there were fewer calories left in the bank that I was used to. And in my stressed-out state, instead of just eating a normal dinner and understanding that I would be a little over my limit for the day, I thought, screw it! So I guess the lesson is that when I'm faced with that pang of failure, I need to tell myself, "yes, you did indulge today and that cost you, but it was WEC!"