Well good Monday, good folks. How about we start with a little weekend digest? I made some last-resort coffee (paper towels!). Eight of my fifty recipes: done. And this 101 Days Project thing? I like it.
I totally skipped out on my cycle class this morning. Consequence: I was super crabby at breakfast (I might have lost it when Patrick pointed out that my toast was burnt. “My toast is NOT burnt!” … “But it set off the fire alarm.” … “The fire alarm is wrong!”).
But it’s OK. I’ll fix that when I take Miss Dawg out for a hike.
In other news: last week’s numbers are making me happy. And I’m gonna break down my workout schedule, with times and calories burned. Good? Yeah?
Water intake
Light blue area: daily goal of sixty-four ounces
Darker blue area: daily water consumed
That new rule I set for myself — no afternoon coffee until I’ve had my 64 ounces — I think it worked. I was only slightly short a couple of days.
Points consumed
Light blue area: extra+activity points (I left a ton unused)
Darker blue area: points consumed each day
Maroon area: daily allotment of twenty-nine points
I was on point this week, and it was a lot easier than I thought it’d be. My new strategy going into the week was to keep my daily points use consistent; I also wanted to use only a few of my extra points every day.
Done and done.
On my highest-consumption days, I ate 35 points and it felt like plenty. And come the weekend, I didn’t feel deprived (it had been on the weekends that I dipped deep into my extra points).
I kept my sugar low-ish (I made a kind of excellent chocolate cake that I’ll write about this week); I kept my dairy low-ish; I ate bread on the regular.
This coming week I’ll continue to aim low for the dairy (no cheese?) and sugar (no sweet dessert?), and maybe replace some of my egg-and-toast breakfasts with egg-and-veg. I’m still in pursuit of a food life that makes me feel good.
Calories burned
Light blue area: goal of 2,000 calories Darker blue area: total calories actually burned (increasing with each workout) Green area: daily calories burned
Goal: 2,000
Burned: 2,030
I did it! I met my goal!
One difference this week: I counted the calories I burn in my Body Flow class. And would you know it? I burn more in that class than during my training runs. I was pretty surprised.
I’m going to keep my calorie goal at around 2,000 for a few weeks, then I think I’ll increase it by a few hundred calories. The idea: that as I get in better shape, my body will be capable of more and I should raise my expectations to meet what it can do.
Weight
Opposite land: When the line goes up, I lost weight; when it goes down, I gained.
Starting Monday: 129
Ending Sunday: 126.8
Difference: -2.2
More yays! I have to give it up for the new points strategy. Throughout the week my weight seemed sensitive to even a few extra points — on the days I ate that “high” 35 points, I gained a little. When I pulled it back to 31-32 points, my weight floated back down.
I’ll repeat my points strategy this week and see if it plays out again.
Last week’s workouts
I’ve been keeping track of a ton of workout numbers: exercise type, duration, calories burned, tons of heart rate numbers (max, average, zone times). I eventually plan to crunch those numbers by workout type (example: over time, how does my maximum heart rate change for cycle class workouts?).
In the meantime, I can at least list the workouts I did, for how long, and how many calories I burned.
Let’s, shall we?
Monday
CYCLE 46 min / 370 calories
Tuesday
TRAINING RUN 29 min / 182 calories
BODY PUMP 46 min / 99 calories
BODY FLOW 55 min / 187 calories
Wednesday
rest
Thursday
TRAINING RUN 29 min / 213 calories
BODY PUMP 45 min / 150 calories
PILATES 55 min / 23 calories
Friday
CYCLE 49 min / 392 calories
Saturday
rest
Sunday
TRAINING RUN 29 min / 224 calories
BODY FLOW 55 min / 194 calories
Notes: So isn’t it interesting how many more calories I burned in my Thursday Body Pump class than in Tuesday’s? The Thursday instructor is a little more fast-paced, and I was also more in the “push it push it!” mindset that day.
Another point of pride: That Sunday run? I’d downed way too much water just before I started. With my first step to run I could feel a huge pain in my stomach. I’m pretty sure that was the water sloshing around, trying to rip out my guts. But hell if I was going to fall short of my training goal, so I pushed through. It hurt, but 1) I learned my lesson — be careful with food and drink just before a run — and 2) I learned a lesson about myself — I can push past discomfort. Discomfort doesn’t have to be a wall, it can be an obstacle.
It’s these kinds of observations that are so valuable. I can use them to, say, push harder in my Body Pump classes this week …