6 Months is a Long Time

I sprained my ankle on my hike last weekend, so I decided to take the fitness side easy this week. I put in less than an hour of cardio and less than 90 minutes of weights. In hindsight, I could have done more weights. I guess cardio has become such a staple of my routine that I don’t think about doing weights without it. My nutrition, however, was pretty close to perfect. I ate at my ward’s FHE on Monday (I usually skip all food related activities) and although I tried to stay healthy and on plan, I probably ate more than I would have if I had prepared it myself.

One small nutrition mishap (really, it was miniscule) and a week of low physical activity, and I still lost 1.8lbs. That makes me feel…..wonderful. I know that my weight loss last week had almost nothing to do with my fitness and everything to do with my nutrition; this is SUCH a motivator to stay on track with food. I really do enjoy the fitness. It may be difficult to wake up at 4:30am or spend my evenings at the gym instead of vegging in front of the TV, but I enjoy fitness more than I enjoy not eating out with friends, preparing every meal, and skipping the dessert. I needed this motivation to stay on track with what I eat.

I threw away 4 bags of clothes this weekend. Some days I feel smaller, other days I don’t, but those 4 bags prove that I am. I have lost 6 dress sizes, medium shirts (although they are tight) fit better than extra-large shirts (which now drown me), and workout clothes I bought over the summer are becoming too big. I know this is all great, wonderful, fantastic!, but I keep looking at the future and it makes this so much harder. I have lost 50lbs in 6 months, which means it will take at least another 6 months for the next 50lbs, and then I’m still not done. I know I need to take this one step at a time, one day at a time, one pound at a time, but 6 months suddenly feels like a check point that gets farther away the faster I run.

On a more positive note, I have some new goals. I currently hate running. Really, HATE it. Absolutely not a fan. HOWEVER, I want to love running and the first step to loving running is to run. I want to run a 5k before I hit my one year (April 19^th), a 10k before my birthday (July 13^th), and a half marathon in 2013. I believe that this is 100% possible, but I do need to get to work. I am also hoping that working towards fitness goals will help me to take this one step at a time instead of trying to tackle 6 months’ worth of work overnight.

Finally, my short term goal is to be at 215 by December 8, 2012. This means that I have just over 8 weeks to lose 22 lbs. I need to be losing 3lbs a week to meet this goal. So, if any of you try to tempt me with sugar, fat, fried greasy food, etc… you may get smacked in the face with a fish. However, if any of you want to hang out at the gym, the trail, the track, or take a quick 5 mile walk to discover new fun, you may become my new BFF.