It's not a big secret that I'm a goal-oriented kind of girl. I do ridiculous things like register for marathons to motivate myself to stay active. As such, it's really, really important to me that I see progress on my way to accomplishing my goals. But progress is so subjective...
I am trying SO hard to get off the weight I gained when I got hurt. Until recently, I had a lot of mental hurdles I needed to overcome to get to a point where I felt more in control of my eating. Well, this past week, I really felt like I was on top of things. I had calorie deficits all but one day, I walked or ran five days out of the week, and I even passed on dessert when I took my mom out for dinner on her birthday.
Needless to say, I was actually excited to weigh myself yesterday morning to see how much progress I had made. Turns out that it wasn't that much. I was down about 0.4 pounds. Now, at least I was down, but still, I put in an awful lot of effort to see the scale "only" budge 0.4 pounds.
So what happens when you don't see the fruits of your labor? When your hard work doesn't show up in the outcome? I could easily throw my hands up in the air and give up. I want to do that a lot of times. But I have to remember how far I've come and I have to keep my goal in mind. Maybe I didn't make much progress this week, but all the small steps along the way lead up to big, measurable results as long as I don't give up my efforts.
On the plus side, I ran seven miles on Sunday and my pace was under 11 minutes per mile (down 27 seconds per mile from the week before). I might not see progress on the scale, but I am seeing it on the trail at least!
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Nine a day?!?!
Typically, I use this blog to talk about my physical activity. That's definitely an important part of my recovery. However, as I have been unable to do any real rigorous physical activity the last several months, I've also noticed that I have not been very careful regarding my nutrition. As I'm able to start using my body more and more, I'm also trying to focus on improving the quality of the foods I eat. This has proved to be very, very challenging for me!
While on Weight Watchers, I did a pretty good job planning my meals, sticking to my daily points, and writing down everything I ate. Then I started slacking about writing everything down. And then I started slacking about sticking to my daily points. And then I stopped planning out what I was going to eat ahead of time. And then I gained back 15 pounds.
I really wanted to lose that 15 pounds again before I started attempting to run again, but it's been an incredibly difficult challenge. A lot of what motivated me to eat well is knowing that I need certain nutrients to fuel my body for long runs. When I had to stop running, I lost a lot of my motivation. Now I'm trying to get back to practicing good eating habits. It honestly SHOULD be motivated by my desire to be healthy - I should just WANT to do things to take care of my body, especially when I know that I feel better, stronger, happier when I make good choices. But at the same time, our bodies learn to crave certain foods.
For me, making good choices involves two types of thinking. 1) Mind over matter. Yes, I want sugar and fat, but I just need to decide to stop eating those things for a while and eventually it will become easier to resist those types of foods. 2) I feel good about myself when I make good choices. I can do more things, I have more energy, and I'm more pleasant to be around. I have to endure the first type of thinking for a while, and then hopefully I'll get into a rhythm and the second type of thinking kicks in. I have a secret, though - I'm not there yet!
My roommate recently informed me that the food pyramid requirements have changed and that we're now supposed to eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day (a serving is 1/2 cup for everything but leafy greens; a serving size of leafy greens is 1 cup). As a disclaimer, I have not verified this information. To be honest, I think that's a little bit unrealistic to tell the general public they need nine servings of fruits and vegetables when most of us probably aren't even getting the five they previously required in on a consistent basis. But I've been eating a lot of junk food and I want to focus on "detoxing" my body from all the sodium and sugar I've been feeding it, so I'm game to give it a try for a week.
What this means is that for the next week, I'm going to focus on more vegetable- and bean-based meals. I made eggplant parmesan and roasted brussel sprouts last night, which should last for a few days. (I honestly have never really eaten eggplant or brussel sprouts before; I'm not really sure why I decided to focus on two new foods at the same time, but hopefully it'll work out okay.) That should give me about four servings. I have applesauce every day with my lunch, which brings me up to five servings. I was going to get bananas to put in my oatmeal, but the grocery store was out of them for some reason last night. But that will give me at least two more servings. So now I just need to fit in two more servings somehow. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm also going to try really, really hard not to have desserts or pre-processed foods for the next week. In general, I don't believe in depriving yourself of things you really enjoy. However, I have a hard time satiating my sweet tooth, so I think it's better for me to stay clear of it for a while before I can trust myself to enjoy a reasonable portion at a time and not go overboard.
Besides, I don't think I'm going to have many free calories left over after eating all those veggies!
While on Weight Watchers, I did a pretty good job planning my meals, sticking to my daily points, and writing down everything I ate. Then I started slacking about writing everything down. And then I started slacking about sticking to my daily points. And then I stopped planning out what I was going to eat ahead of time. And then I gained back 15 pounds.
I really wanted to lose that 15 pounds again before I started attempting to run again, but it's been an incredibly difficult challenge. A lot of what motivated me to eat well is knowing that I need certain nutrients to fuel my body for long runs. When I had to stop running, I lost a lot of my motivation. Now I'm trying to get back to practicing good eating habits. It honestly SHOULD be motivated by my desire to be healthy - I should just WANT to do things to take care of my body, especially when I know that I feel better, stronger, happier when I make good choices. But at the same time, our bodies learn to crave certain foods.
For me, making good choices involves two types of thinking. 1) Mind over matter. Yes, I want sugar and fat, but I just need to decide to stop eating those things for a while and eventually it will become easier to resist those types of foods. 2) I feel good about myself when I make good choices. I can do more things, I have more energy, and I'm more pleasant to be around. I have to endure the first type of thinking for a while, and then hopefully I'll get into a rhythm and the second type of thinking kicks in. I have a secret, though - I'm not there yet!
My roommate recently informed me that the food pyramid requirements have changed and that we're now supposed to eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day (a serving is 1/2 cup for everything but leafy greens; a serving size of leafy greens is 1 cup). As a disclaimer, I have not verified this information. To be honest, I think that's a little bit unrealistic to tell the general public they need nine servings of fruits and vegetables when most of us probably aren't even getting the five they previously required in on a consistent basis. But I've been eating a lot of junk food and I want to focus on "detoxing" my body from all the sodium and sugar I've been feeding it, so I'm game to give it a try for a week.
What this means is that for the next week, I'm going to focus on more vegetable- and bean-based meals. I made eggplant parmesan and roasted brussel sprouts last night, which should last for a few days. (I honestly have never really eaten eggplant or brussel sprouts before; I'm not really sure why I decided to focus on two new foods at the same time, but hopefully it'll work out okay.) That should give me about four servings. I have applesauce every day with my lunch, which brings me up to five servings. I was going to get bananas to put in my oatmeal, but the grocery store was out of them for some reason last night. But that will give me at least two more servings. So now I just need to fit in two more servings somehow. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm also going to try really, really hard not to have desserts or pre-processed foods for the next week. In general, I don't believe in depriving yourself of things you really enjoy. However, I have a hard time satiating my sweet tooth, so I think it's better for me to stay clear of it for a while before I can trust myself to enjoy a reasonable portion at a time and not go overboard.Besides, I don't think I'm going to have many free calories left over after eating all those veggies!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Where am I now?
It's January 11, 2011. That means that I'm five days shy of being a month out of surgery. My knee's doing well, but recovery is a process and I'm not running and jumping around just yet.
About a week and a half after my surgery, I started physical therapy (PT). I went through physical therapy prior to having surgery, so I'm no stranger to the process. But going through PT after surgery is much different than it was before surgery.
Let me take a second to give the Orthopoedic Center of Central Virginia a shout-out. Because of vacation scheduling, I wasn't able to go back to the same therapist I saw prior to the surgery, but I've had fantastic experiences both times. Rachel really knew what she was doing, and it was fun to work with such an accomplished athlete. This time I'm working with Wanda, who is an incredibly positive person and makes showing up to do grueling, tedious exercises a joy. Thank you, ladies!
That said, I have a tendency to think of therapy as well... therapy. That's not really the case. As I mentioned in my last post, one of the two biggest reasons I ended up injured was because my hips and glutes were too weak to support the distances I was running, which caused strain on my IT band (this is really common in endurance runners). Both times the "therapy" I've been doing has been targeted at improving the strength of those muscles, as well as my other support muscles. I'm up to more than 20 exercises that I mostly do every day - it takes me about an hour and a half to get through everything. And let me tell you, these are not easy exercises!
Prior to getting injured, I pretty much had no interest or patience for laying on the floor to do strengthening exercises. I'm a goal-oriented person, and I'm also a big-picture person. I knew people said that core and strength training were important, but I didn't understand why so it wasn't a priority for me. Like everyone else, my time is limited. I chose to focus on running, not strengthening. I didn't understand the consequences of that decision.
And I also didn't really understand what that meant. Running was never something I knew much about. I thought it was easy - put on your shoes, go out the door, and start moving your feet. I started to lose weight. I kept going because I enjoyed the quiet time alone with my thoughts. I decided to run a marathon to prove to myself that I could do it. But I didn't know much about it.
Well, I can't run right now. That's frustrating. But I'm developing an appreciation for the time I spend on the floor very carefully and meticulously going through various exercises that push me to the point where I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to finish my set. I now understand that time isn't wasted. Just because I'm not running during that time doesn't mean I'm not becoming a better, stronger, healthier runner.
It's been an expensive, painful lesson, but I'm grateful for the knowledge I have now. I look forward to putting it to good use.
About a week and a half after my surgery, I started physical therapy (PT). I went through physical therapy prior to having surgery, so I'm no stranger to the process. But going through PT after surgery is much different than it was before surgery.
Let me take a second to give the Orthopoedic Center of Central Virginia a shout-out. Because of vacation scheduling, I wasn't able to go back to the same therapist I saw prior to the surgery, but I've had fantastic experiences both times. Rachel really knew what she was doing, and it was fun to work with such an accomplished athlete. This time I'm working with Wanda, who is an incredibly positive person and makes showing up to do grueling, tedious exercises a joy. Thank you, ladies!
That said, I have a tendency to think of therapy as well... therapy. That's not really the case. As I mentioned in my last post, one of the two biggest reasons I ended up injured was because my hips and glutes were too weak to support the distances I was running, which caused strain on my IT band (this is really common in endurance runners). Both times the "therapy" I've been doing has been targeted at improving the strength of those muscles, as well as my other support muscles. I'm up to more than 20 exercises that I mostly do every day - it takes me about an hour and a half to get through everything. And let me tell you, these are not easy exercises!
Prior to getting injured, I pretty much had no interest or patience for laying on the floor to do strengthening exercises. I'm a goal-oriented person, and I'm also a big-picture person. I knew people said that core and strength training were important, but I didn't understand why so it wasn't a priority for me. Like everyone else, my time is limited. I chose to focus on running, not strengthening. I didn't understand the consequences of that decision.
And I also didn't really understand what that meant. Running was never something I knew much about. I thought it was easy - put on your shoes, go out the door, and start moving your feet. I started to lose weight. I kept going because I enjoyed the quiet time alone with my thoughts. I decided to run a marathon to prove to myself that I could do it. But I didn't know much about it.
Well, I can't run right now. That's frustrating. But I'm developing an appreciation for the time I spend on the floor very carefully and meticulously going through various exercises that push me to the point where I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to finish my set. I now understand that time isn't wasted. Just because I'm not running during that time doesn't mean I'm not becoming a better, stronger, healthier runner.
It's been an expensive, painful lesson, but I'm grateful for the knowledge I have now. I look forward to putting it to good use.
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