The New Me, Month #4: Mostly Back on Track

Weight-LossWell, what a month this has been. Sorry that I didn’t post on October 8, but it was a really rough day and, for obvious reasons, I was in no mood to post about losing weight.

So it’s October 9, instead. I know you forgive me for the extra day, right? But I’ll talk as though I’ve not given myself an extra day.

Goal 1 – Weight loss: Last month I set an 8 pound goal for the month, and I was able to lose 7.2, which is pretty darn close. I’m very happy about that loss, since the last part of September was a tricky one since I went a whole week without exercising. It’s proof that exercising MAKES A DIFFERENCE in weight-loss goals. So does counting those WW points. The week I didn’t exercise I also got very lazy about counting my points everyday – and I ended up with a week where I gained again. So that’s twice where I stopped counting points where I gained that week. So from now on I’m counting, counting, counting. Because it works along with the exercise.

Goal 2 – Exercise: Speaking of exercise, my goal was to walk/run 25 miles a week. Nope didn’t happen, and I’m no longer making that a goal. *lol* I did a tough 5 mile walk to a nearby section of town (it was ALL hills) and lived to regret it. I strained a muscle in my right hip and had two weeks of consistent pain. I ended up taking an entire week off from any walking/running and let the muscle heal – I’m now (mostly) back to normal. Last week I walked 6 out of 7 days, including doing a Komen 5K on Saturday morning. I ended up with my best 5K time thus far, which was awesome.

So as of October 9 I’m down 40.2 pounds (yay! for finally reaching 40 pounds down)! My hope is to continue on the downward trend.

One fun thing I did a few weeks ago was go “shopping” in my closet. I was able to begin wearing some “new” shirts, and a couple “new” pairs of pants. And I even gave in and bought a couple belts so I could continue to wear my larger pants without having them fall down around my ankles at work. In another 10 pounds I’ll be ready to bring out some other “new” pants from my closet and finally retire some of the larger ones.

The same night I did that, I also put on a couple more formal outfits that I haven’t worn in a while. I tried on an outfit I bought for a friend’s wedding 7-8 years ago, and it fits again. My plan is to wear that outfit the night of our annual White Elephant party in December. I also tried on a slinky black dress that I bought a number of years ago as a “goal” dress. I was able to get it on, although it’s very tight. But when I initially bought it I couldn’t even get it on, so that was a major success. *lol* My hope is to be invited to a super-formal evening wedding (anyone? anyone?) next spring and bring it out for just such an occasion.

So let’s talk about goals for the month.

Weight loss: We’ll go for 7 pounds this month. It’s still a decent amount to lose in 30 days, and if I continue to count my points and increase my distance and/or running intervals, I’m confident I can do it.

Exercise: My goal is to get to a point where I’m doing more running intervals that walking intervals when I do my 5Ks (either on the treadmill, on the pavement, or at official races). I still don’t consider myself a runner, but I do appreciate that running gets my heartrate going and enables me to burn fat.

I really enjoy going to the gym I joined in September. There’s never a huge crowd, I’m always able to walk right onto a treadmill and do my hour, and the clientele varied enough that I fit right in (instead of looking like solo fat chick among the size 0 in-full-makeup women and Jerky Boy weightlifter types). So with any luck my motivation will remain high to keep going and count those points, so that I can report back here on November 9 with much enthusiasm!

See you next month!

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