Random…

I have a lot of things rolling around in my head as of late and can’t quite come up with one definitive blog post. I have sat down a few times and thought “okay I’d like to talk about (insert idea here) but then it just never came to fruition because I have the attention span of a…

Oh look a squirrel!

This post won’t be about anything in particular; just a bunch of random stuff that I’ve been thinking about lately and what’s on my plate these days (pun is totally intended here).

Meegan and I got weighed in last week after some debate about whether it was something we should do. If you’ve been on this journey with me for any length of time you’ll already know that I have a very unhealthy relationship the scale. In the past I’ve been known to weigh myself upwards of 6 – 10 times a day. When I still lived in Tacoma and was working with Godfather I took a big step and relinquished my scale and vowed only to be weighed at the gym once a week. It took a lot of emotional fortitude to stop stepping on the scale. I would walk around Target for no reason at all fighting the urge to put one of their scales on the floor and firmly planting my two feet on that little square of sanity.

It’s hard when you’ve been overweight most of your life and finally finding success in losing the weight to not become obsessed with what the scale says. Over time I learned to let go and when I moved to Halifax, Meegan and I agreed upon two things very quickly; a) no tv in the house and b) absolutely no scale.

When we are feeling the need to know where we stand in our weight loss (and maintenance) journeys we ask Chris down at Functional Fitness to measure and weigh us. The last time we had been weighed was late April and up till then I had been doing really well in maintenance. Holding strong at 160(ish) I felt my marathon training and food was really under control. I’ve heard lots of people say they gained quite a bit of weight during their own training and I didn’t really want to have to deal with the possible emotional set back it could bring.

After the Marathon was a different story…

One long road trip + not cooking at home + having a hard time getting back into the swing of marathon training for Sept + (insert life here) means that I’ve been noticing that my clothes haven’t been fitting as well as they had a few short months previous. Last Thursday Meegan and I decided enough time had passed and we should just go down and find out what we already knew to be true.

There is a gain in weight.

For both of us.

For me it’s 10 pounds. The scale said 171 and while most people would balk at the 10 pounds like it was no big deal it’s a big deal to me. I feel the difference in the gain. Body has been feeling sluggish. My mood has been directly influenced by the food I’ve been eating. Physically I’ve been feeling achy because of the increase in grains and I think the reason I threw my back out was because the extra weight put stress on my body.

The hardest part about maintenance is the act of being in maintenance.

Some days you just want to forget about breaking a sweat and paying attention to what you’re eating. The problem isn’t a day or two of not exercising and not paying attention; it’s when one or two days turns to multiple days turns to weeks and so on. Then you’re afraid to step on the scale and know exactly you already knew to be true. But there is power in knowing. There is power in listening to what your body is telling you. There is power in going back to what you know works and to know that while there is a gain, there is always opportunity for loss. So for now I’ve decided to go back to counting calories and logging my food. I’m using MyFitnessPal (username: prncssgrl if  you’re interested). Something a little different for me this time is having someone to share the counting with. Meegan has also decided to give calorie counting a try to see if it works for her (but that’s her story to tell) and for the last week we’ve been diligently tapping away on our iPhones. We’ve also decided that we will get weighed in once a week at the gym for the next while just to keep an eye on our progress…

look a squirrel…

This past weekend we volunteered for the Epic Dartmouth Triathlon event. It’s different than an Ironman (and is not affiliated with the organization) but the idea is the same; Swim a long time, then bike for a really really really long time, then just when you’ve had enough run a freaking marathon. We were course marshals during the marathon at the prime time (3p – 6p) and got to see just about every runner come by. For me it was emotional, awe inspiring and down right one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of.

I made this sign for them because after a long day of swimming (2.3 miles), biking (112 miles) and running (26.2) I wanted them to have something (even if just for a few seconds) that put a smile on their face. They don’t know me. They don’t know that a few years ago I weighed 270 pounds and couldn’t get up a flight of stairs without being out of breath. They don’t know that watching them (even if just for a few seconds) makes me want to go big, makes me want to push my boundaries a little farther and for those few seconds that they thank me for stopping traffic so they can cross the street I am just as grateful that they are out there doing what very few people even dream of doing.

I have Peppermint Patty with me now but the idea of training for a triathlon is just too stressful this year. There is a lot of planning that I need in place in order to start thinking about going back to doing them (and more importantly I need a freaking job). This year I’m going to focus on the running but I’ve already put word out on the street (okay by word on the street I mean I talked with some other triathletes in the area) that next season I’m looking to get back into the swing of things.

This year I’ve decided to go for Marathon Maniac status. I didn’t plan it out very well so that the Bluenose marathon would count so I am shooting for 3 marathons over the months of September/October/November. Nothing is solid as far as plans go but I am registered for the Maritime marathon (with an extra bonus of doing the Tartan Twosome – 5k race the night before) and am now contemplating either the Valley Harvest Marathon/PEI marathon combination (a week apart) or one of those two and then shooting for the Philadelphia marathon in November.

So many choices…

So many miles to run.

Look a squirrel!

I feel good about getting back on track with eating and logging food again. I’ve also decided to go back to boot camp while training for this next marathon. My back is just about done being out of whack and I’ve missed going down with Meegan and breaking a sweat together while running around, lifting weights, doing squats and pretty much just kicking ass and taking names. The running won’t be as intense as it was training for my first marathon. I needed to get that first one out of the way to calm the nerves. Now it’s just about knowing that my body can run for up to 5 hours and not give in. It’s time to push just a little bit more and see about getting those guns back that I love so much…

Boot camp is tomorrow.

Weigh in is on Thursday.

Moving and taking control happens everyday!