Category Archives: running

Slow and Steady = Little Victories?

I weighed in this morning and I lost 0.4 pounds bringing my total weight loss since January 4th to 17.6 pounds.

Overall, 17.6 pounds isn’t too shabby. But when you’re working your butt off each and every week sweating, exercising, and eating lots of veggies, it can be frustrating to see only a 0.4 pound loss. Like, that’s not even a half a pound. That’s like 1/3 of a pound? I don’t know, I’m terrible with fractions.

One of the awesome things about the LoseIt app (which I rave about all the time) is the support system that’s on there. I’m “friends” with all of these strangers who are trying to do the same thing I’m doing… lose weight and get healthy… and they are there to celebrate losses and offer advice with gains. When I logged my measly 0.4 weight loss this morning, within 10 minutes I had comments from other LoseIt users saying, “Way to go, Molly!” and “There you go, Molly! That’s great!” and “Yes! You got it!” I mean, 0.4 pounds lost and you’d think I’d run a marathon or something like that.

However, in bringing it all full circle, I know that I have to celebrate the little things. In life, we all have to celebrate the little things. If we don’t, we may lose sight of what we’re doing, or what our goals are, or even, where we’ve been.

When work is stressful, like it’s been for me for oh, the past year and a half, and my to-do list is 12 miles long, I have to celebrate each little task completed (BTW: Remember the Milk = best task app EVAR), each little victory, or else I might lose sight of the fact that I’m getting closer to accomplishing something bigger. And yes, there are days when in order to make myself feel more productive, I will write something down on my checklist that I’ve already done, just so that I can check it off. There is no shame in that.

So, whether it’s losing weight, completing tasks, or something else daunting, we have to celebrate the little victories. Slow and steady gets it done. Slow and steady does work. Gotta keep that in mind, even when it might be tough to do.

Well, Happy Friday. Happy April Fools Day! Today’s the day that I’m not the most gullible person in the room, which I usually am.

All for now.

The Dreaded Plateau

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So, as I continue on my journey of really once-and-for-all getting healthy to the point at which I am happy with my level of health and fitness, I am learning A LOT along the way. I guess you could say that means this is a good learning and growing experience, otherwise what’s the purpose? Right?

Well, I’ve lost 16.8 pounds so far, and realistically, to get to a weight I’d be comfortable with, I need to lose another 10, but to get to a weight that I really want, I need to lose another 18-23. I’m not on any crazy crash diets or doing any of those “fad” things – I’m watching what I eat, counting my calories, and exercising.

If you’re not good at math (which I am not) this part may get a bit confusing, but this is something I’ve just recently learned. If you know this already, you can move on to the next paragraph, if you don’t, just maybe then you’ll learn something. So, to make something rather complicated sound basic here’s the deal:

3,500 calories = 1 pound
- Basically, this means that for every 3,500 calories you eat, you gain 1 pound, for every 3,500 calories you burn, you lose 1 pound
The average person burns between 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day WITHOUT exercise (that’s just doing your daily stuff like, being alive, breathing, showering, etc…)
They say that the average woman should eat around 1,600 and 2,000 calories a day and average man should eat around 1,800-2,200 calories a day.
- So basically, if you don’t exercise at all and eat around 2,000 calories a day, you’re going to maintain your current weight
- Do know that these numbers are based on averages – not taking into account metabolism, height, weight, etc… but they are good representation
So, basically to LOSE weight, you need to subtract 500 calories from the average daily caloric intake to burn more calories than you eat during a day

There are a lot of websites that can help you figure out a more specific number, here’s one that I used.

So, for the past two months I’ve been eating about 1,300-1,500 calories a day and burning somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 calories a day. (I go to the gym a minimum 5 days a week, most often 6 days a week. I’ve learned that a rest day is SO incredibly important – but those days I’m at the gym, I’m burning a lot more than on days I’m not… duh).

When first heading out on this lose-weight path, the weight comes off like BOOM! POOF! Where’d it go? It’s so easy and you really feel like you’re on a roll. And then, BOOM! POOF! It stops. And you hit… dun dun dun: THE DREADED PLATEAU. The dreaded plateau is when your body gets comfortable with your current lifestyle and says to you, “Nah, I don’t really feel like losing any more weight. I’m gonna hang out here for a while.”

It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world. I know that you have to just keep your body guessing and eventually the weight will come off and the plateau will end, but until then, my golly it’s a process.

I share this information just to 1) Get it off my chest, 2) Share my experiences, and 3) Hope that there’s someone out there who’s reading this and knows exactly what I’m talking about and can either learn from me or heck, I can learn from them. Is that person YOU?

All for now.

Body & Mind

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And now a message from an old guy:

Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.”

-General George S. Patton, U.S. Army and 1912 Olympian

Dang. I didn’t realize the words of an old (deceased) Army General would ever make so much sense to me. The body always gives up – for me. Trust me, my body would always rather stay on the couch, or in bed. My body never wants to get up earlier than it has to. My mind does the grunt work. My body is just the carrier pigeon.

Was feeling a small sense of personal defeat on Friday – and was feeling a general sense of being overwhelmed. (It happens. Right? Right.) And, in the midst of doing work, stumbled across this quote. I think I’m going to print off 100 copies of it and tape it up everywhere I need a reminder.

Sometimes the mind just needs a reminder – because the body tends to forget.

Word.

PS: I think Betty White is a rockstar in both body and mind. She was effing brilliant on SNL last night. For reals.