Friday, December 30, 2005

New Years Approaches

With the new year right around the corner, I find myself struggling with my fitness. Truth be told, this last month has been pretty hard. I knew all along that things would get harder the more weight I lost - I expected that, but that doesn't make it any easier when you see your weight creep back up simply because you eat a "little" extra. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a little. Christmas was pretty bad with all the treats, and since then it's been a constant struggle. Let's review...

Ate one half of a 480 calorie cookie. (yes, a SINGLE cookie at 480). Box of chocolate covered cherries - Garbage. Egg nog... damn you egg nog. Tastes so good! 3, 4 glasses? Box of left over assorted chocolates... okay so I ate like 9 of them probably (180 calories per 3!) Ugh. The rest made it to the garbage. Pez... don't even get me started about Pez! At least its only 35 calories per pez package. And of course, a big bowl of ice cream last night. Uuuugggghh.

Out of the last 4 weeks, my weight has actually gone up twice, to where I'm basically at the same point I was at the start of December. I know this might sound hard to believe, but this is the first time that has happened since I started losing weight 6 months ago. (I had 2 weeks of zero weight loss, but never any actual gain).

I'm pretty sure I know what I need to do to stop this silly up and down weight gain and get back on track. I need to get more workouts in (hell, I'd like to go every day but that's not realistic) and I need to keep my calorie intake lower. The times I've been most successful is keeping my calories per day down below 1500. But as anyone that has ever counted calories knows, that is not that easy. Especially when you get to the end of the day.

I know I should probably just relax. Weight isn't the only measure of health. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure my heart is the strongest it's ever been in my whole life right now. Cardio workouts that used to push my heart rate to 160-170 bpm now get up to a steady 150. Did I hit my weight goal for the end of the year? Yes. Am I consistently getting exercise? Yes. Am I eating right, controlling portion sizes and avoiding high calorie snacks? Somewhat... but there is room for improvement. Should I stop obsessing over a few pounds up and down here and there? Yes, as long I don't lose sight of the long term goal.

Probably the best thing I could do right now for my motivation would be to get my ass into the doctor and get some more blood tests so I can compare my current numbers to last year and see what sort of changes have occurred inside my body as well as outside. Besides, that's what is more important anyway.

1 comment:

Steve Eck said...

I think you have the right attitude towards in the final couple paragraphs. You just need to relax about a few pounds of weight gain over the holidays. You can always work that off in January, and you need to have a treat occasionally.