I'm baaaaaack!

So... fast forward 4 years. Over these past years I've had some ups and downs in my fitness. More downs than ups. Tweaky knees and hips didn't help. At the end of a multi-day hike in the Alps (Mt. Whitney never happened thanks to the lottery system) I almost didn't make it down the mountain thanks to extreme knee pain. I've also had big issues with hip (SI joint) pain, likely caused or at least exacerbated by my scoliosis and leg length discrepancy.

Physical therapy and massage
Almost a year ago, I gave in and asked for help, spending a couple months in physical therapy. It helped so much! Imagine that! 😏 Since then, I've been using a heel lift to help deal with my leg length discrepancy and I've been going to monthly massages. (Yes, I swear they are therapeutic! Ok, These past four years weren't the best for my mental health, which, in turn, wasn't good for my physical health. Things are on the upswing, however, so, to borrow a line from Mario, "Here we go!!"

Weight
I've been in denial for a while about my weight steadily creeping back up, so I'm going to put my weight right here as a starting point: 180 pounds. I don't recall the exact numbers, but this is in the neighborhood of 40-45 pounds more than when I finished with Weight Watchers and made Lifetime. Well, to be honest, the last I weighed myself was a few days ago and that was 179.4 pounds. My highest recently was 184, but that was brief, so I'm chalking that up to water retention. I'll keep track of my weight here for a while. I know weight isn't a great indicator of health or progress, but it is an easy thing to track. Also, it's obvious that I've been gaining around 10 pounds a year for no healthy reason. That needs to stop. BMI is also a less-than-ideal measure, but at a smidge under 5'-5", my BMI is around 30, which is almost considered obese. Who, me? Yes. That needs to change.

Food
I'm using RealPlans.com to improve my meal prep. They have great planning tools to fit lots of needs and are improving constantly. Support is prompt and helpful. When I have a plan, I do so much better. I'm not in a place where I feel like I could OCD on points or calories or macros or restrictions right now, so I'm going to focus simply planning for and eating real food at home as much as possible. I tend to snack more when I don't have a plan. I also need to cut back on my big weakness: sugar.

Exercise
I'm trying out different workout schemes. When I'm in the groove, I can make up my own workouts or follow a book, but lately just getting changed into my workout clothes has been a challenge. One thing that has helped me in the past was workout videos. So, I'm starting with investigating my options. I have a bunch of great DVDs, but I'm also looking into newer streaming options. When I looked into those a few years ago, the technology and selection just wasn't where it needed to be. To start off, I've signed up for a 30-day free trial of Daily Burn (referral link), since I'm interested in trying their 90-day kettlebell program, DBK. Of course, they have a lot of other programs and workouts. Their unique spin is a live-stream class at 9am ET every day. You can replay the class at any time over the next 24 hours with the basic subscription of $14.95 per month. The premium subscription, $12 more, adds access to all the past daily (DB365) workouts and early access to new content. They also have an option for a personal trainer add-on. The basic subscription looks fine for my needs. I'm not sure if this one program will be enough to keep me past 3 months, though.

This morning, I did the first installment of the DBK program, a kettlebell swing tutorial. It was pretty good. I also did the live DB365 from January 2. It was nice and positive, maybe a little over the top, but I can take that right now. My daughter and I have been going to Tae Kwon Do for over a year now. We've signed up to continue with 2x per week classes when they start back up this Thursday.

Awesomeness even when things aren't perfect
A few awesome physical things I did these past 4 years despite issues:

• 3-day hike in German Alps
• Cabin stay with day hikes in the Austrian Alps
• 3-day section hike on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina
• 7-day wilderness canoe trip in the Boundary Waters
• 4-day hike below rim in the Grand Canyon
• Strenuous dayhike up/down Big Baldy
• lots of skiing locally and at Keystone and Arapaho Basin in Colorado
• Earned my yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do

Goals
That's where I am right now. Where am I headed? Good question. I hesitate to list a specific weight goal, although I think 150 would be reasonable and attainable. This spring, my son and I signed up for a Junior/Parent Gladiator Challenge. I did the full version once in the past. In order to be ready for that, I'd like to get back into the habit of working out at least 4-5 times a week regularly.

Watching what I eat

Well, I've proven that I can't trust myself to watch what I eat long term without tracking. The scale just creeps up and up and I don't stop myself when I should. It would be fine if I were still following what used to be Weight Watchers' Core plan, but I've added back so many things that I would have to count, that it really wouldn't make sense to attempt that. It's not that I'm eating horribly, I just need to get my portions under control and start saying "NO!" to most sweets again.

Sweets are my downfall. I think they are like a drug to me. I need to stay away, otherwise I go overboard. If I stay away, I don't crave them. If I allow myself more than a tiny bit, then I won't stop myself from having more.

I've added a link at the right to my food journal at FitDay. So far, I like the simplicity and thoroughness of this journal. I actually canceled my Weight Watchers eTools subscription, although that will run until September, because I had recently renewed for three months.

I'm going to try to bring my macros more into alignment with what is laid out in New Rules. They recommend calorie distribution of 40% carbs/30% fat/ 30% protein mix. Judging from yesterday, which was typical besides limiting overall calorie intake, I'm heavy on the carbs and light on the fat and protein... and that was even after adding some cheese. The point system at Weight Watchers was nice and easy, but it wasn't able to track macros. So, we'll see how this new thing works out. FitDay has a premium option for $5.49/month. They also have a PC based version. I wonder what the difference is. I'll give the free version a while before deciding to pay. I have no problem paying if I get benefit out of it, though.

So, I weighed myself this morning and I'm starting at 154lbs. That's even considered an overweight BMI again. *sigh* I know if I build muscle, the BMI won't mean much, but my clothes are tight right now. I'm definitely not a lean, mean muscle-machine. I wore a skirt on Sunday that was a size up from what I've been wearing lately and it fit well. A few months ago, it was too big. So, back to the downward motion of the yo-yo. Hopefully, I can do one of those yo-yo tricks where you make it spin at the bottom and don't jerk it to make it roll back up.



I haven't worked out since Friday. The sun burn is finally calming down. I moved my PT appointment from yesterday to today in the hopes that it would be less painfull. Sliding my back on the wall was NOT going to happen yesterday. It might not happen today, either!

More intervals and my knee is not worse!

Today, I got to the gym a little later than I wanted, but still early. There were a lot more people there than normal. Not that I didn't expect that!

I did a mile using speed intervals: 6.5mph and 5.5mph. Then I did Stage 1 workout B1 from the New Rules of Lifting for Women. It went well. I'm going to be sooooo sore tomorrow. After my first set of lunges, I could feel my leg muscles (I think it was my hamstrings, if I remember correctly) tighten up. Overall it went well, though. I need to use more weight on the swiss ball crunches, though. Eight reps of those are NOTHING! Wow. I used a 10lb weight on the second set, but didn't do anything. Maybe I should hold it over my head next time.

I really need to get some weight lifting gloves. I'm starting to get some blisters/callouses. The most weight I've had to control per hand so far is 32lbs during the dead lift today. I used 25lb dumbbells on the step-ups yesterday and could feel that in my palms, too.

When I got to the gym today, there was someone in the weight room who was obviously a serious lifter. We're talking pumped. Luckily, there is a full range of people that I've seen in the gym, so I'm not going to shy away from the weight room.

My knee is still sore, but it's not worse like it was after my workout on Saturday. I was limping around all day Saturday and keeping a heat pad on the soreness. That helped a lot.

I've joined another running challenge on the Weightwatchers boards. I hope to get in 10 miles a week.

After getting back from my workout, I tried some protein powder in my hot cereal. BAD idea. It is vanilla ice cream flavor from Optimum Nutrition. The stuff isn't toooo bad, but it clumps up and becomes very nasty when heated. Apparently, this is the norm for protein powder. Lesson learned! I'm not sure if I'll stick with the protein powder. The book has you use it, so I thought I'd try it out. It's rather expensive and, although I'm not sure which ingredient is the sweetener, I'm sure it has an artificial sweetener in it.

Working out AND eating right

So now, I'm doing an okay job of working out regularly. That's great. But, now, I need to get my eating back under control. I don't really work out enough to counteract bad eating habits. Lately, there has been a lot of chocolate and gummy-things around the house. I have zero will power to resist chocolate and gummy-things.

In the past, I've used Weight Watcher's Core program to lose about 25 lbs. I've gained some of that back but no where near all of it. Now, I want to recommit to the program. When I'm on program, I feel good and healthy *and* I maintain a good weight. It's not that I'm at a bad place right now, but it's creeping back up and I need to stop it now.

So far today, I had oatmeal for breakfast and soup with an apple for lunch. Only 0.5 point for the pure maple syrup (yum!!) I had on the oatmeal.

This morning I worked out. I ran+walked for 5k. The running was about 30 minutes with a couple short walk breaks. Mentally, it's hard for me to take short walking breaks. In "No Need for Speed" he talks about taking walking breaks as being good, but I'm so excited about being able to run continuously, that I feel like I'm failing if I take them.

After running, I stretched and lifted weights. All of this started at 4:45!! Wow.

Update: I had reheated soup, a salad with 1pt worth of dressing, and a 1pt piece of chocolate from my kid's advent calendar, and some almonds for supper. That makes 4.5 points today.