Monday, April 20, 2015

Getting serious again

I didn't even look to see when the last time was I updated this blog, but I'm fairly certain it was 2013 sometime.  I'm doing my first triathlon this coming weekend since I did the half Ironman in October of 2013.  Stupid sprained ankle kept me from the two races I had registered for last spring.  I just got back from a brick workout and felt like updating on here and recording some of my thoughts about how my fitness life is going.

The day after the half Ironman race, my husband and I left for a week in Mexico to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  Coincidentally I gained 10 pounds while on the trip, and I've been fighting to lose it ever since.  I just go back and forth on how I feel about losing weight.  I know I could weigh close to 20 pounds less than I do now, but it would involve working out for almost two hours each day and counting every single calorie that goes into my mouth.  Frankly that's just not how I want to live my life.  However, I'm not at all happy with how I look now and know I need to make some changes and find a happy medium between where I am now (kind of being mindful of what I eat and exercising sporadically) and the extreme of exercising a ton and monitoring everything I eat.

I did lose eight pounds while having pneumonia back in February, but most of it came back once I was healthy again.  Bummer.  I was looking pretty good there for awhile and fitting into jeans I hadn't been able to wear all winter.

We take an annual trip to Florida every summer with some of my mom's cousins and their families.  I booked our airfare last week, and it was kind of a wake-up call that in two short months I'll basically be spending a week straight in a swimsuit.  Yikes.  So the husband and I made a deal.  He's been in the same boat as me, wanting to lose weight and get more tone and fit but not having the real motivation to do it.  Our wine consumption probably doesn't help us either.  So we made a bet of sorts.  We both want to lose 10 pounds before the Florida trip, so we are using the Lose It app to track our calories and exercise.  Part of the bet is that we have to log every day and aim to be under for the week.  If we go over on calories a day or two, that's forgivable as long as the weekly total is under.  If one of us falls off the wagon and stops logging, we have to give the other person $150 of our Christmas/birthday fun money for the other to have as fun spending money in Florida.  If we both succeed, we each get $150 out of general funds as fun money.

This past week was our first week at it, and it went pretty well.  It's not uncommon for me to start using Lose It during the week and then slack and not record anything on the weekend and then just not go back to using it at all, so I'm pretty pleased with myself that I stuck to it over the weekend, even though I went over pretty significantly on Saturday.  But we were on a day trip wine tasting.

I've been struggling with some lung issues since November.  I had what was diagnosed as bronchitis from the middle of November until early January, then I was okay for a few weeks, then I had pneumonia.  I was well again for about four or five weeks after that and then started coughing again.  Enough was enough, so I went to see my pulmonologist.  She gave me an official asthma diagnosis, so I have a new super inhaler I take twice a day which does seem to be helping.  I wound up with some sinus thing or allergies or a cold last week, and I feel like my lungs are still battling that, especially when I tried to run after the bike ride today.  I felt pretty good on the bike, although I was breathing harder than normal, but the run just kicked my ass.  I couldn't catch my breath, and then I couldn't remember if I'd taken my inhaler this morning or not.  Oops.  At least the race this weekend is only a sprint, which I should be able to muscle through just fine.

My goal for the week is to exercise most days (brick workout today, weights and swimming tomorrow, run on Wednesday, bike on Thursday, take Friday off to rest up for the race on Saturday) but not go into my exercise calories at all to make sure I'm under for the week because I know I will be indulging after the race!  I planned out our dinners for the week (except one day...I need a vegetarian something...) and may plan out breakfast and lunch, too, just to make sure I'm staying on my calories.  We have some pretty busy evenings this week, so I don't think wine will be a problem.  And actually I think I'm going to scale back the wine drinking as well.  If I want an adult beverage I think vodka is the way to go...fewer calories and carbs.  And I'm pretty sure when I was at my lowest weight we consumed more vodka than wine, so surely the wine has to play a part.

I feel like this was kind of all over the place, but I'm glad for me that I wrote it all down.  The "run" today was definitely disappointing and has me slightly concerned for the race on Saturday, but I guess if I have to walk some of it, I have to walk some.  Doing well at the race is not one of my goals...I just want to finish!

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