Monday, June 20, 2011

Small victories

If I haven't publicized it ... I've been trying the South Beach Diet in addition to regular exercise. Okay, perhaps not regular exercise ... because Phase 1 cut out all sugar, starch and carbohydrates. This was not my most brilliant move with a 5K trail race less than 7 days away. (Surprisingly, with all of those major components taken out of my diet; I wasn't as exhausted as I thought as I was going to be.) I went for what I had intended to be an easy 1 mile breeze two days out; and I made it what ... not even a half mile before my head started spinning?

Friday afternoon with the same results I decided to hell with this. I'd rather be 130 chubby pounds and trucking along than passed out in the middle of nowhere ...

I went home, had 2 bananas, ordered the most "healthy" item I could find in terms of sodium, calories etc at the Olive Garden (but even the healthy item was a staggering 910mg of sodium) ... closed the restaurant, came home and had 1 bowl of Cheerios and went to bed. Morning of the race, I got up a little early and had a banana. And you know something? 3.1 miles had never felt so good. I was able to run the entire trail rice in 36:00, a little slower than the last time, but the important part of this? I RAN the whole way!

Basically, I've decided that this means I'm out of excuses. No more saying: "Ohhh it hurts, I have to walk." Sorry, missy ... but you can do this. If it hurts? That's a good thing.

I've effectively switched over to Phase 2 of South Beach; which tosses fruit, cereal, oatmeal etc back into the diet. Sure, I lost 6 pounds in 3 days ... but how healthy could that possibly be when I was only looking to lose 10-15 pounds to begin with? And for the record ... I weighed 124 this morning; a mere 4lbs from a comfortable healthy weight for my height, and 10 pounds shy of my goal. I believe with regular muscle toning and running; that slimming down to a svelte 110 would be well within reach.

I call finishing a 5K, losing 6 pounds, and being smart enough to know that there are some aspects of a diet that are just not healthy for my activity level ... a small victory.

3 comments:

  1. Congrats!
    I am so lazy/not motivated... I can't get through a 5k without walking... super lame considering in high school I could run 3-6mi no problem. Oh getting older!

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  2. Oh yeah, my dear. If you aren't eating carbs you aren't supposed to be working out hard like that. :P Glad you didn't pass out on the road there.

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  3. I have the same problem! Trying to lose weight but then having enough food energy to work out hard. It's a delicate balance, I am finding.

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