I’ve been sick this week (classic post-race cold situation), so I rested Wednesday and Thursday and feel muuuuch better today. I think I’ll be able to do my long run tomorrow.
Now, time to see how the first two weeks of Paleo/calorie-tracking have gone!
Drum roll, please…
(Sorry for the gross, dirty scale. It’s in Aaron’s bathroom and his beard whiskers get all over it when he shaves. Time to give it wipe, clearly! Also, ignore the inaccurate body fat percentage.)
March 1: 145.6 lbs.
March 15: 138.4 lbs.
Loss: 7.2 lbs
Here’s what I look like with seven fewer pounds:
I took the “before” photo on the night of Feb. 28 and the “after” photo last night. The weigh-in is from this morning, and I’m actually down 0.2 lb. from yesterday, which is why the weigh-in and the caption are slightly different. Blah blah blah, who cares?
The fact is that I’m fiiiiiiiinally back at my marathon weight after more than a year!!!
I did NOT expect to get back here so quickly. I’ve weighed myself every morning since March 1 (to track in My Fitness Pal), and there have been a few times that I’ve weighed myself twice because I didn’t believe the number the first time.
I haven’t starved, I haven’t completely restricted myself from treats, and I haven’t been working out more than usual. I’ve simply cleaned up my eating and become more aware of nutrition facts and portion sizes!
- I eat wayyyy more veggies now, including as part of my breakfast, because they’re low-cal and filling (and delicious).
- I eat a huge salad every day, usually for lunch, along with some protein, like a hamburger patty, chicken breast, or roasted turkey.
- I still crave treats in the mid-afternoon and sometimes after dinner, but now my treats are things like dried mango, homemade apricot-pecan bars, and dark chocolate chips, and I try to really enjoy ONE serving rather than mindlessly munch and lose track.
- I’ve been able to enjoy celebrations by eating ONE bite of a cupcake for a co-worker’s birthday and ONE bite of cake for my brother’s birthday (I use a clean fork to just snag one bite and be done with it). I get to have a taste, and once I have it, I find that it’s all I want anyway!
- I’ve tracked every bite in My Fitness Pal — even those cake bites!
- I eat when I’m hungry, even if it means going over my calorie goal for the day, and stop when I’m full.
- I’ve eaten mostly Paleo, except for a few servings of pasta in the days leading up to my half-marathon and a huge, delicious waffle right after the race. I’m sure there has been some other stuff, but my point is that I’ve avoided processed carbs and dairy 99% of the time.
- I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since Valentine’s Day. I don’t really miss it, either.
None of this is groundbreaking. It’s the same, old stuff we know we’re supposed to do, but for some reason we all struggle with it.
All I know is that I’m feeling great right now, and I want to continue to keep up the healthy habits that are making me feel this way. (Side note: I used to struggle to wake up at 6:30 every morning, but now I wake up easily at 5:45, go into work early, and get to leave early!)
I feel like my body is now moving toward its natural equilibrium. Before I changed my eating, I was holding it back by feeding it sub-optimal food, and too much of it.
Now that I’ve reached my “goal” weight, I still feel like I could stand to lose a bit of fat and tone up, but I don’t really have an ideal weight in mind; I’ll just continue to eat this way and see where my body settles.
You can follow along on My Fitness Pal if you like, and I’ll do another weigh-in here on March 31!
Dev on Running 