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90 Days Left

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

We’re 10 days in and that makes it time for an all-around update on The Hot 100. Here goes:

Keep running! I want to be able to run 5 miles without having to walk by the end of the year. Yesterday, I added an addendum that specifies how I plan on doing this – by running a minimum of 10 miles per week.

So far, I haven’t been doing great at this; I’ve only been out running once this week. That being said, though, that one run was VERY successful (3.44 miles without walking!). After that run on Sunday, once again, life got in the way and I didn’t get out again. Hence yesterday’s addendum, which I think will keep me on track.

I was planning on going out today, but at yesterday’s softball game I took a hard grounder to the shin and I’m all black & blue and swollen. *sigh* I’m so damn accident-prone. Hopefully the swelling will go down enough to not hinder my performance at my 5k on Sunday…

Lose some more weight. The goal was to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year. And then I thought about it. I don’t know that that’s a reasonable goal considering my current weight. When I was 80 pounds heavier, sure. But now? Not so much.

That doesn’t mean that I’m giving up; I’m going to get as close to that 20-pound mark as I can, but I’m aware that it’s going to be incredibly tough to get all the way there. You never know, though, right?

Of course, I’m not off to a great start. I’m actually the same as I was last Friday, but that’s 2 pounds more than I was when I wrote out my goals. Meaning rather than being down at the 10-day point, I’m up 2. My current weight is now 177.5. Again. (grr grr grr)

Clearly I need a new game plan here as well. I’ve known for a while now that I need to go back to logging my food and tracking my calories in and out on a daily basis like I did before. I know it works – that’s how I lost 90% of the weight to begin with (thank you My Food Diary!) But it takes a lot of time and dedication – almost obsession – and I’m not obsessed right now. I really need to work on keeping close track, while maintaining a balance with the rest of my life. That balance is tough though. I’m working on it.

Eat out less – cook more. I’ve been doing really well here. Not too much eating out these last 10 days; far less than usual. And it hasn’t been horrible! The husband is on board and we’ve been cooking a lot lately. I just need to keep up with it. It’s quite easy to have a long day and in a moment of exhaustion, order take out or stop to pick something up.

Also, my birthday is on Monday and my husband is taking me out for dinner. That’s a meal out that I didn’t plan on, and I’m trying to decide if I should just say, “Yeah, but it’s my birthday” and just add it in, or cut out one of the other, regularly scheduled meals out. I’m very tempted to say the former, but part of me thinks I should resist and say the latter.

Maybe I’ll eat out both times and just log it :)

Posted in Diet, Personal Stories, The Hot 100, Trials and Tribulations, Weight Loss, Workouts | View Comments

Running Addendum

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

I think I need to be even more specific about my running goal in The Hot 100 challenge. It seems that just saying that I want to work my way up to being able to run 5 miles without having to walk isn’t enough. I need something more concrete – a plan of action to get me up to that.

I’m really good at following a schedule, whether it was made by someone else or myself. If I know I have to do something, I’ll do it. On the other hand, if I wait and play it by ear, it’s likely that it won’t happen at all.

Since I know this about myself, I’ve come up with a more specific plan of action for this running goal. And it goes a little something like this:

I will run a minimum of 10 miles per week through the end of the year.

At this point, that means I’ll have to go out at least 3 times, each time running over three miles. In a week or two, I going to lower two of those runs a tad, and raise the third. So two shorter runs and one long run. Ideally, this will prevent me from burning myself out during the week and allow me to work up to that 5-mile mark on the weekend.

As I progress, of course, I’ll increase this. But for now, 10 miles per week for me would be a huge accomplishment. I’d love that.

Incidentally, I ran earlier this week and did 3.44 miles (with hills!) without walking at all. That’s the farthest yet, so I’m on my way!

Posted in The Hot 100, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | View Comments

Now We’re Cooking!

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

One of my goals in the Hot 100 is to eat out less and cook more. It’s only been a few days, but so far, so good! I haven’t had a single restaurant-prepared meal in three days, and normally I would have had at least 2 (it is the weekend…).

My husband seems to be on board, and even suggested making turkey lasagna for dinner tonight. This is particularly fabulous of him because he’s not a huge fan of red sauce dishes (crazy, right?) but knows how much I love lasagna. We had a good time preparing it, substituting some healthy alternatives where we could (like whole wheat pasta and part skim ricotta), and man was it delicious! I’ll be freezing individual portions for when I need a quick meal – probably when I’m eating alone, since my husband is likely lasagna-ed out for a while.

I’m actually enjoying cooking dinner, which is a huge surprise. Of course, it’s still an effort to get off my butt and do it. Hopefully that will get easier once this becomes more of a habit. Food seems much more satisfying after the effort put into cooking it.

Not that I’ve ever had a problem with being dissatisfied by food… ahem.

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The Hot 100 – Going Out With a Bang!

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I was all ready to post about how proud I was to have finally made use of the swimming pool at my gym on Monday (yay!) and then I saw an excellent motivational challenge on another blog – South Beach Steve’s “Log My Loss” – and got sidetracked by its brilliance.

Today – Wednesday, September 23 – marks the start of the final 100 days of 2009. In Steve’s words, let’s go out with a bang! He’s issued a challenge to get folks to set some goals for the next 100 days and then, of course, work toward meeting those goals. I think this is genius! (I’m only a little surprised I didn’t think of it myself…)

I’m definitely going to do this myself, and I hope you guys will join in the fun! Let’s end the year in a positive way, so we’ll be right on track when the new one comes along.

Oh, and the accountability thing really does help. I’ll once again ask you all to hold me accountable to these goals, and if you’d like me to do the same for you, post your goals in the comments section and I’ll get on it!

Kimberly’s Goals for The Hot 100

  • Keep running! That’s not concrete, I know, but here’s what is: Work my way up to running 5 miles without having to walk. Ideally, I’ll be able to do this by Thanksgiving, since I’ll be doing the Turkey Trot in Buffalo which is an 8k (5mi). Also, it seems that every year I essentially give up on my running goals when the weather turns colder, and then I have to start from Square One in the Spring. Not going to happen this year!
  • Lose some more weight. Like, 20 pounds more. That would put me at 155.5 on December 31, soooo close to my goal of 150. I’ll save those last few pounds for 2010 and feel awesome when I reach it by February!
  • Eat out less – cook more. Specifically, eat restaurant-cooked food no more than 3-4 times per week. This should be very doable, and will be exceedingly helpful toward my weight-loss goal, as well as make a marked difference in my wallet. Now to just get the husband on board…

This can be done. Nay, this SHALL be done!

Thanks again, Steve! Check out his kick-off video that started it all. And join in the fun!

Stay tuned for status updates :)

Posted in Personal Stories, The Hot 100 | View Comments

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