Week 1 of the War on Sugar
I know, I’m a few days late on posting my post-vacation weigh-in. However, I came down with a cold that had been gnawing at me the last few days of the trip and it finally brought me down this week. It’s bugging the heck out of me, because I want to get back to running, but I can’t. Thankfully, I’m not completely stupid enough to do my runs anyway.
So, down to the nitty-gritty. I lost 2 pounds! After two weeks of vacation, I LOST WEIGHT! How?
Hm… good question. You see, being at this religious observance for eight days, there is a lot of really good food made and consumed. We have three scheduled meals a day, breakfast at 8:30a, lunch at noon and dinner at 5:30p. The breakfast is more of a continental breakfast in that it usually involves cold and hot cereal (or grits one morning) and toasted breads with butters and jellies, fruit juice, milk, coffee and fruit. Lunch was a variety alternating between the standard sandwiches one day to pitas and taco bar and fish fry. Dinner was the most varied.
So how could I consume all this and still lose weight? Well, the kicker was that my routines were completely thrown out the window. First of all, I’m getting up around 7:30a each day (instead of 4:45a for work), so my day is already starting out later than usual. Thus, the hunger pangs don’t kick in quite so early as they do at work.
Secondly, I did almost no snacking. The meals were close enough together that I did not actually get very hungry between meals. I had no desire to munch endlessly (unlike the last few days when i’ve been at home a few times and cleaned out a few bags of chips, roasted peanuts and candy while watching a few movies thanks to my illness… the cold, silly).
Thirdly, I was not staying up super-late. Thus, again, no desire to do some late-night snacking. I think I had two wine coolers by the fire a few evenings. I was in bed no later than 10:00p most nights. A record for me which I really need to keep going.
Fourthly, I did not sit on my hind-end the whole time. I went for a few walks with friends and family and I did two 5-mile runs (not 5K, 5-miles). I had decided I was going to run a few times during my vacation. As it turns out, I only got in half as many runs as I wanted to, but my body did need the rest and the early signs of this illness kept me from overdoing it. I just went out on the 12th and decided I was going to run from my end of the state park to the other end and back. I didn’t know how long it would take or how far it would be. I just ran until I decided I had had enough. I looked at my watch and it was almost one hour, so I finished the hour and then walked the rest of the way back to the tent.
I drove a few hours later and discovered I had run 5 miles and was doing quite well with my standard running place, but for a longer distance. And, yes, it had it’s share of hills, more so than my usual run.
With all this, I was still surprised I had lost weight because I had indulged somewhat in the meals, but nothing was really overly bad for me (other than the fish fry one day and the ice cream sundaes another afternoon).
To top it off, my wife lost SEVEN pounds. I couldn’t have been more proud. And she did that in spite of indulging in a few six packs of Dr Pepper in a bottle (she could get the kind made with real Imperial sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup) during the week.
As soon as I beat this cold, I’m going to get back to running next week. I’ve told the best man at my wedding, Brent, about my 5K run and he insisted on joining me for the Turkey Trot in Dallas and he would run with me (he used to do cross-country in high school, but he is long out of shape for it; so he has a month to get ready himself). Dunno yet if I’ll try the 10 mile trot (which is the only one officially timed) or do the 5K again (though it is a different course than the Freedom Run).
So I’m excited to do another run and also found out that a co-worker of mine, who has been giving me running tips, has qualified for the Chicago Marathon next April. So much going on. So much to do.
Starting weight: 319.0 lb
Previous weight: 268.4 lb
Current weight: 266.4 lb
Current loss/gain: -2.0 lb
Total loss/gain: -52.6 lb
Distance to 60: 7.4 lb
Distance to WW Goal: 16.4 lb
Cross-posted to WebCudgel.com
