Sunday, October 16, 2011

Pulling an old habit out of the hat

Five weeks in and I am down 8.5 pounds.  Since last week I have dropped 0.5 pounds.  You would think that I would have been ecstatic.  But no, I was a little disappointed.  Yesterday the scale said 162.5 and the day before that it said 162.0.  Today it was 163.5.  I have started to reach the conclusion, that I should weigh myself once a week rather than every day.  If you let it, the daily fluctuation of weight will drive you crazy.  I speak from my own experience, in which this daily fluctuation has led me to cancel my run, or overindulge on food from the bakery, thinking that since my weight went up, all of my hard work didn’t matter anymore.  But no, not this time.  This time, as I pulled an old habit out of the hat, I quickly put it back.

In trying to move away from the dependency on the scale, I have also discovered more exciting ways to measure weight loss and fitness success.  When I run, I use a fanny pack to hold my keys, wallet, and cell phone.  (Yes, my confidence has also improved over these past five weeks, since I can now admit that I run with a fanny pack and without a hint of embarrassment!)  The waist strap on the fanny pack had become too loose and kept flopping around during my runs.  I took great pleasure in tightening the strap, and realized this was a great way to really hold my success in my hands.  Other signs of my success include moveing one notch tighter on my belt, increased level of energy during the day, and switching my coffee from two scoops of regular to one scoop of regular and one scoop of decaf.

Overall, my running feels easier.  I am able to conquer the big hill at the beginning of my run much quicker, as well as the little sister hill at the end of my run.  I am finishing stronger, and feel like I could even extend my runs if time permits.  I am starting to incorporate a longer run of five to six miles once a week.  I may even sign up for a local 10k race in March.

When I run now, I leave the watch and music at home.  I encourage you to try Running Without a Watch at least once a week and experience running free!
               

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