Since the Stan’s Donut 5k, I’ve really just been chugging along, nothing all too drastic from the grind. My knee still is bothering me a bit, especially on step-ups, lunges, and sprints. So I’ve been taking the frequency back down to every other day until my vacation, better to error on the side of caution because I don’t want to be hurting on the trip.
Baby Alpaca
However, with the consistency I’ve been having, had a great announcement to make….
Lost another baby animal! This time a baby alpaca, which I found to be an average of 18lbs. This is fun to equate into something substantial instead of just seeing numbers.
However, on top of that, I felt super sore this morning. So I decided to weight myself because I was curious as to how much water my muscles were holding on to and saw this….
Went from 301.8 lbs yesterday to this overnight! It’s not like I’m super dehydrated either, I drank a TON of water yesterday. So, maybe I was holding onto some water previously and the hard workout flushed that out.
Either case, I was SO FREAKING happy because I haven’t seen the scale begin with a 2 in over a year!
Coldplay Scientist
Getting to this weight, I initially thought about posting Coldplay’s “The Scientist” because I’m right at the weight that I started this whole shebang with. Get it? “I’ll take it back to the staaaaaart…..”
The huge difference being, last time I was this weight, I only dreamed of physically doing the things I’m doing now. Looking at the speeds I have on the treadmill and the amount of weight I’m lifting at OTF, I didn’t start doing that until I was in the 265-270’s.
Taken, since I’ve built muscle, the largest I was running a 5k (previous to the big gain last year) was Night Nation/Hot Chocolate, and even then I was a full 10lbs lighter than I am now.
Point being, while I shouldn’t compare myself now to myself a few years ago, it’s impossible for me to avoid completely. That being said, I’m doing pretty darn good and feel primed to keep losing because my body composition is much better than it was last time I was this weight.
Mindset
Which leads to my mindset, I feel that this is the best I’ve been in a LONG time.
With the initial weight loss, I was motivated by the competition, then after that I lost about 7lbs a month the next two months until I plateaued and eventually puttered out. So, really, I just have a good 3 month period.
A longer period of time has occurred between I started the baby animal thing and now. That’s how relatively short period of a time that was where I was “extremely successful,” no wonder I eventually gained it all back!
For example, after the Stan’s Donut 5k, my buddy and I went to get deep disn pizza at Lou Malnati’s. With that, I noted the calories, and factoring in the amount burned during the race, I was still below calories.
It was no big deal, and I just got back on track.
In the past, I would have felt super guilty and tried to overcompensate the next few days, or I would have gotten depressed and had a mini (or big) spiral.
While back in 2015 when I had the big loss, I didn’t go out with friends, pretty much just stayed to my own to lose in a vacuum. This past month+ since the last spiral post Bears 5k, I’ve gone from 312 lbs to 299. Taken, a good chunk was water since I weighed 306.6 day of the Bears 5k.
Which I think is even better, because that’s still within a healthy 2-3lbs a week loss. During that time, I’ve had dinner with my friends, gotten ice cream after doing an escape room, and caved into cravings.
This time I was able to take it in stride and immediately get right back on track. So I think my mentality and my relationship with food and exercise are in a much better place.
On vacation, I plan on not caring about calories. We will be walking a TON in the parks, and I think I’ll try to do push-ups, squats, or something in the hotel room to keep the muscles activated. Then when I get back, I’ll just get back on track.
The largest worry is when my typical Q4 busyness comes, so we’ll see how I handle it when that time comes. But at least for the time being, I’m well primed and headed in the right direction. Fantastic to be below 300lbs again, and (much like the baby alpaca) hopefully that is behind me.