Weekly Summary

Week 48 is over and I limped over the finish line of this milestone. 

My workout summary is below:

Sunday - Rest (Cold)
Monday - Rest (Cold)
Tuesday - Rest (Cold)
Wednesday - Home Elpitical Machine, Level 16, 45 minutes, 6.69 miles
Thursday - Tennis (lesson), 60 minutes
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest

Total:  105 minutes (1.75 hours)

From an eating perspective, I was at or very close to my goal of 1600 calories per day every day except for an acceptable happy hour on Tuesday (2000 calories) and a ridiculous free day on Saturday (unlimited calories).  I can handle what happened on Tuesday, but the wheels came off on Saturday.

There is definitely a pattern to these unplanned free days.  Alcohol. 

It isn't the calories of the alcohol itself, but if I have a few drinks (and at this weight, all it takes is 2-3 drinks before I feel terrible the next morning) and I am hungover the next morning, then I just start eating.  So, if I know the cause, I should be able to fix this.

From an exercise perspective, the cold definitely forced me to cut back.  I don't mind that too much since this is the first time I have been sick in almost a year.  I still could have gotten in my "minimum" of 4 workouts if I had pushed myself just a little bit on Friday and Saturday.  This is only the 3rd week out of the last 48 weeks that I haven't made my 4 workouts per week goal.  In fact, I have been averaging 5 workouts a week during this process.

But, today marks the beginning of a new week.  I am already on track eating wise and I am scheduled to play tennis for the next three days.  I am going to have to double up on one of these days and get a good 5K run in to keep my cardio fitness up and to continue training for the 10K on Memorial Day.

Based on how my size 31 jeans fit on Friday, I haven't lost any real ground.  However, since I still won't get on a scale, I know I haven't crossed the finish line of this weight loss phase yet either.  I know that if I had buckled down over the last two weeks, I would have been hopping on a scale today.

Week 48 is important because of my Body For Life experiences in the past (very positive by the way and I keep meaning to write about them) I still tend to think of weight loss/fitness in 12-week challenges.  So, this marks the end of my 4th challenge. 

The fact that it has taken 4 challenges to get where I am today reflects how bad things got.  When I did my first BFL challenge in 2001, it took 2 challenges to get where I am today.  When I gained it all back in 2003, it took 3 challenges plus 4 weeks and I was at a very good place but not quite as far as I am now.  Now, I am pretty much back to where I was in 2001 and maybe in even a little bit better shape.

Taking this one week at a time works for me.  I am getting a little bit tired of counting weeks but maybe I need to do so until I get on a scale and declare the weight loss phase to be over.

Cheers.