better than the last.
January 11, 2010
I feel like such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, now that the holidays have past. Not because of the stress of shopping, not for teasing by my husband of my terrible wrapping skills, not by the endless hours of traveling, and never ending to-do lists – but all because of the eating.
Last year, between Thanksgiving and the second week of January I managed to gain over 15 pounds. The majority of it was between Christmas and our week long trip through the Midwest to Chicago.
My stocking had been stuffed that year with granola bars, clif bars, and mixed nuts – and I ate them all in embarrassing binges. In Chicago, I ate without discretion, and loaded up on chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes to stay warm in the freezing apartment we stayed in. It was really, really awful.
I vowed early in 2009 that I wouldn’t make a repeat of last winter – my Thanksgiving was suprisingly successful, mostly due to my 6 mile runs 5 days a week, and I did struggle a lot the week before Christmas (especially since I was yet again injured for 11 days and unable to run, however still doing 45 minutes of cardio a day).
I baked hundreds (almost a thousand, actually) of cookies, brownies, breads and various treats to give family members and friends – naturally sampling each bit of batter and finished product for its approval. I felt like a load, and was sure Christmas would doom me.
I already conceeded to not counting points during the holidays, mostly because I feel like that always makes me either anxious or miserable, and generally binge as a result. Christmas eve was probably the only day where I had the most trouble, mostly because I indulged in a lot of cocktails with my husband and brother in laws – combined with a sweet tooth for the cookies I’d made and some spiced nuts made by my aunt-in-law.
Anyway, Christmas was over, and New Years came and went. I find that I have a hard time sticking to a plan of calories when I’m not at work, so the days off certainly didn’t help – however Holly and Pat were in town, and being that Holly is a Weight Watchers Lifer, sticking to low cal foods and long workouts was pretty easy.
I HAVE put on a few pounds, but I blame that in part for the fact that since I’ve been injured, and now well again, I have cut my running back to just once a day (before I was doing 2-3 miles in the morning plus 30 minutes of cardio, then 3-4 miles in the evenings). I felt like pushing myself to an unsustainable schedule of working out, and the fact that I would avoid socialalizing with my friends or family so that I could work out was something I wanted to change in 2010.
Now I’m doing 3 miles plus 15 minutes of cardio in the morning (I’d love to do more, but because I need to get to work, time doesn’t allow it..), I’d like to start doing 2-3 extra runs on evenings during the week, probably 2-3 miles. My knees are incredibly sore this week from the cold, so I’m going to take it a bit easy until my bones have readjusted to this cold weather.
Another one of my 2010 resolutions, or at least something I’d like to do for the year, is to avoid eating DIET FOOD. No splenda, no sugar free crap, no fat free garbage. It never leaves me feeling satisfied for what I wanted, and I usually end up overdoing calories or craving something else afterwards! I spent a lot of time this weekend baking and storing things in baggies in the freezer, and tossing out and remainer of gross tasteless diet food. If i’m going to eat a 200 calorie muffin, instead of a 100 calorie muffin, at least I know it’ll taste delicious and it won’t have been a waste of my efforts.
