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Better late than never, I suppose.
Every day for the last couple of weeks has (until a couple days ago) gone more or less like this:
Morning: "Ok, today is the day. I'm going to get back on track." Have a decent breakfast.
Somewhere between mid-morning and late afternoon: "Ugh. I'm hangry and my throat hurts and I'm exhausted and I DON'T WANNA."
Evening: "Tomorrow will be the day."
So yeah, after awhile you either have to make tomorrow actually be the day or you stop believing yourself. That said, I've been slowly progressing in terms of how I feel over time, so I at least had some confidence that eventually I would stop feeling awful more or less all the time. That led to last Wednesday where I brushed it off, but I at least made an effort to make a post. My (pathetic) fitbit stats were being posted daily. A few people even reminded me how pathetic they are by favoriting them, giving me a notification to point out that, yeah, I got 3,000 whole steps. Thanks. I think. :)
But the weekend started to look a little better. Saturday was my birthday party, and I didn't tell myself I'd get back on track that day. Why bother? I was already off-track, I was BBQing, and I figured, screw it, I could enjoy myself. So I did, and I drank for the first time since the surgery. Recovery made me a lightweight, so I spent much of the afternoon in a light buzz being a lump on the recliner. Decided since it was my birthday I would not feel guilty. I mostly didn't.
Sunday I had to get up at 4:30 to take Lynette to the airport for a 6:30 flight. I thought maybe it'd be the day, but I didn't feel like it had to be, and so it wasn't -- but it also wasn't a terrible day either. I didn't get any exercise, to speak of, unless you count Reuben bouncing around like a superball.
But Monday, I woke up feeling pretty good. Less scratchiness in my throat than before, though there's still some. I told myself it'd be the day, and prepared myself for the afternoon "I DON'T WANNAs" and reminded myself I have techniques for dealing with them and that it was time to stop using "I feel terrible" as an excuse. Because I'm to the point where it's really just "I'm not quite 100%".
So I did. It's a bit tougher with shifting responsibilities at work and without Lynette here this week, having to spend a bit more time with the kids, but I kept my calorie intake down to what I want it to be, I got in 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill and I didn't feel miserable afterward. I made it through a reasonable portion of dinner. The afternoon "I DON'T WANNAs" were just not as strong as they had been and I didn't need to pull out the techniques.
I didn't quite make 10K steps Monday, but in every other way I was on track.
Yesterday, that by itself made everything else a little easier. Why? Because I had an on-track day. I can extend that streak. It's one thing to motivate yourself when you consistently fail to start, but once you've started, now if you fail it's a backslide. So the motivation is there not to wreck a streak. That works for me. So I managed a real walk, 45 minutes worth outside, which is mentally easier than the treadmill, and still kept my calories down (though not quite AS down, because I also realized I could have Indian food for lunch. Which I did, and I ate too much, but I made dinner lighter to compensate).
The scale immediately noticed. I'd gotten back up to 274 while I was failing to stay on track. It has to be mostly water weight, but I was really starting to feel it right around my waist, the belt I switched to was starting to get tighter.
But this morning I dipped back below 269, so I'm still below where I started before the surgery. I'm 2 weeks behind on my end-of-year plan, but that's ok. If I miss my goal by 5 pounds because of it, I won't sweat it.
The important part is, I'm back on track. Now I have to stay on track:
I'll give this a week, and next Monday I'm going to try running again. Only on the treadmill. I'll start the 5K program over from the beginning. That'll help me get a bunch of the steps I want, and should be some exercise. I just gotta watch the knees.
Every day for the last couple of weeks has (until a couple days ago) gone more or less like this:
Morning: "Ok, today is the day. I'm going to get back on track." Have a decent breakfast.
Somewhere between mid-morning and late afternoon: "Ugh. I'm hangry and my throat hurts and I'm exhausted and I DON'T WANNA."
Evening: "Tomorrow will be the day."
So yeah, after awhile you either have to make tomorrow actually be the day or you stop believing yourself. That said, I've been slowly progressing in terms of how I feel over time, so I at least had some confidence that eventually I would stop feeling awful more or less all the time. That led to last Wednesday where I brushed it off, but I at least made an effort to make a post. My (pathetic) fitbit stats were being posted daily. A few people even reminded me how pathetic they are by favoriting them, giving me a notification to point out that, yeah, I got 3,000 whole steps. Thanks. I think. :)
But the weekend started to look a little better. Saturday was my birthday party, and I didn't tell myself I'd get back on track that day. Why bother? I was already off-track, I was BBQing, and I figured, screw it, I could enjoy myself. So I did, and I drank for the first time since the surgery. Recovery made me a lightweight, so I spent much of the afternoon in a light buzz being a lump on the recliner. Decided since it was my birthday I would not feel guilty. I mostly didn't.
Sunday I had to get up at 4:30 to take Lynette to the airport for a 6:30 flight. I thought maybe it'd be the day, but I didn't feel like it had to be, and so it wasn't -- but it also wasn't a terrible day either. I didn't get any exercise, to speak of, unless you count Reuben bouncing around like a superball.
But Monday, I woke up feeling pretty good. Less scratchiness in my throat than before, though there's still some. I told myself it'd be the day, and prepared myself for the afternoon "I DON'T WANNAs" and reminded myself I have techniques for dealing with them and that it was time to stop using "I feel terrible" as an excuse. Because I'm to the point where it's really just "I'm not quite 100%".
So I did. It's a bit tougher with shifting responsibilities at work and without Lynette here this week, having to spend a bit more time with the kids, but I kept my calorie intake down to what I want it to be, I got in 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill and I didn't feel miserable afterward. I made it through a reasonable portion of dinner. The afternoon "I DON'T WANNAs" were just not as strong as they had been and I didn't need to pull out the techniques.
I didn't quite make 10K steps Monday, but in every other way I was on track.
Yesterday, that by itself made everything else a little easier. Why? Because I had an on-track day. I can extend that streak. It's one thing to motivate yourself when you consistently fail to start, but once you've started, now if you fail it's a backslide. So the motivation is there not to wreck a streak. That works for me. So I managed a real walk, 45 minutes worth outside, which is mentally easier than the treadmill, and still kept my calories down (though not quite AS down, because I also realized I could have Indian food for lunch. Which I did, and I ate too much, but I made dinner lighter to compensate).
The scale immediately noticed. I'd gotten back up to 274 while I was failing to stay on track. It has to be mostly water weight, but I was really starting to feel it right around my waist, the belt I switched to was starting to get tighter.
But this morning I dipped back below 269, so I'm still below where I started before the surgery. I'm 2 weeks behind on my end-of-year plan, but that's ok. If I miss my goal by 5 pounds because of it, I won't sweat it.
The important part is, I'm back on track. Now I have to stay on track:
- 1800-2000 calories per day.
- 10,000-15,000 steps per day.
- A return to the leg strengthening exercises I had been doing for my knee.
I'll give this a week, and next Monday I'm going to try running again. Only on the treadmill. I'll start the 5K program over from the beginning. That'll help me get a bunch of the steps I want, and should be some exercise. I just gotta watch the knees.
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no subject
Date: 2015-09-30 05:09 pm (UTC)