Train Wreck

I totally fell off the rails for the weekend, extending till yesterday. It was a combination of things; a weekend (a long one at that), eating with other people, and having a lot of feelings of resentment directed towards Nick.

End result? Train wreck. I haven’t been on plan for food, for training or for my N.E.A.T. (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which I gauge by my pedometer, which I don’t wear during a planned work out).

Today has been good so far. I did 30-45 minutes of body weight training, and then walked with Rufus for another 20 minutes. I took my gym gear with the intention of going at lunch, but that was kyboshed by a meeting that ran VERY long.

I weighed myself this morning and although I almost cried, it also recommitted me to my plan.

I want to go really hard for at least the next two weeks. Why? Because two weeks from now I have an appointment to get an existing tattoo on my belly revamped, something I’ve wanted to do for years, but kept putting off while I waited to lose weight. However, I’m 10-15lbs heavier than I was a year ago, so I’ve decided to just do it.

That being said, a stranger is going to be up close and personal with my tummy in two weeks time. Although I can’t lose 25 lbs or anything crazy like that, I want to feel my best which means that I have to train hard and eat well.

How was the first week?

So I've completed one week, and am on day 8 of my self-imposed challenge, and I have to say so far so good. Progress: I met my 3 lbs lost goal. Downside is that I was secretly hoping for more, and saw a smaller number when I peeked yesterday. However, 3 lbs is a healthy amount, and I really want to focus on losing in a reasonable manner this time.

Good things:
- I've exceeded my pedometer goal of 11,000 steps almost every day. As the intention of the goal is to try and push myself, I'm upping it to 12,000 steps per day for the coming week.
- I did my scheduled workout EVERY DAY! Three days of strength training according to my plan, and three days of cardio. Walks with Rufus and at lunch were added on top of that.
- I tracked my food every day, even when I overate.
- I ate breakfast everyday.
- My sleep is starting to improve.
- I'm not even that sore.

Not so good things:
- I had three days of "slip ups". Only one was what I would consider a binge, which involves eating to try and disassociate from feelings, and usually involves really excessive quantities (on Sunday, the binge day, I hit slightly more than double my target calories). While scary, it still wasn't anywhere near some of my worse days and I did catch myself. The second day was Monday when I went out socially with my football team. Given that the calorie excess was only about 250 over, and given that I had played two games of flag football right before, I am comfortable with that. Last night was somewhere in between the other two days. I only ate an excess of about 250-350 calories, but I was trying to quell some negative feelings. I also kept going for a bit after I realized what was happening in my head. So while the damage wasn't terrible, the causation makes me think of it as a binge.
- My cardio could be stepped up considerably. I'm okay with this as a work in progress, even in the coming week. However, as I get into the groove of things, I should definitely be mindful of the need to make the most of my cardio sessions.
- Sleep still isn't great, so my morning gym sessions are being cut short. Again, let's consider this a work in progress.

All-in-all a good week, though, and I feel confident that I'll hit my first mini-milestone of being back in the 140's next Friday as planned.