Merry Christmas!

To anyone who reads my blog, I apologize for not updating in over a week. I've been slacking off big time. To be honest, I haven't exercised in a week. I've been eating more than usual, too, but according to Livestrong's MyPlate, I've been mostly eating to maintain my weight. There are days that I've been eating to lose, but other than that, I've been slacking. I'm not too worried, though, because I'll pick myself up after Christmas. I mean, c'mon! As cliche as this sounds, Christmas only comes once a year, and I'm going to enjoy myself. I read an interesting article at Active.com that said it's okay to cut yourself some slack -- within reason, of course! -- during the holidays. Here's an excerpt: 

Cut yourself some slack, but be smart. "The holidays are about maintaining weight, not losing," says Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., author of the Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Fourth Edition. You train hard, so allow yourself to enjoy some holiday meals. "A handful of days won't set you back. It's continuously snacking on cookies that's a problem," Fitzgerald says.

If you're watching your calories, have a plan before you indulge. "Pick what foods you want to splurge on ahead of time," Fitzgerald says. In other words, don't waste your time on the green bean casserole if you really want to dive into the mashed potatoes with gravy. Or take the opposite approach and have a small bite of everything.

Also, don't commit the common blunder of going for a long run or ride before the big feast. "It sets the stage for disaster," Clark says. With a revved up appetite, you'll eat even more. Better to go to dinner with normal hunger, then burn off those carbs with a long workout the next day.

That being said, that's exactly what I plan to do. If I maintain this week -- or  even if I gain a pound, God forbid -- I'm not going to beat myself up. I know what I need to do to lose weight, and I plan on doing it most of the year. That's all that matters.

Anyway, I hope you all have a nice holiday! 

Soreness and Pain

Since I was in my early teens, I've suffered from periodic knee pain. It's not always brought on by exercise, though exercise has been known to exacerbate it. For the past five or six years, I've also suffered from lower back pain as well. My spine doesn't hurt, but the muscles around it do. Looking at the illustration below, it would seem that my iliac crest and my thoracolumbar fascia are what's hurting. 

When I touch the sore areas on my back and near my knees, it almost feels like they're bruised on the inside, even though they're (probably) not. When my back hurts, though, my knees almost certainly do as well. I'll often feel pain in my ankles, too. It almost feels like my muscles are too tight and are causing my back and legs to become misaligned. Regardless of what's causing it, it's really annoying, but it doesn't hurt enough for me to see a doctor about it yet. More often than not, Tylenol does the trick. What worries me, however, is that running is known to irritate sore muscles. I really, really hope my back pain doesn't get worse when I start running more. That would really bum me out because running is something I've been looking forward to doing.

Anyway, does anyone have this problem? If so, what do you do to help with the pain? I think I need to work on strengthening my lower back and my core. I really need to start weight/strength training soon. 

Damages

As I wrote a few days ago, my godson's birthday party was this weekend, and I was expecting to treat myself to a piece of cake. Did I go through with it? Yes, I did. And did I feel guilty about it? No, I didn't/don't. I'm okay with cheating every once in a while. As long as I don't make a habit out of it, it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Anyway, apart from the sweets, I didn't eat particularly well at the party, but I didn't go overboard. The good news is that I haven't gained any weight. Honestly, I was kind of surprised to see a loss when I stepped on the scale this morning. At this point, I'm on target to reach my goal of 170 by my next official weigh-in. I'm pretty happy about that. 

There Will Be Cake

Tomorrow is my godson's second birthday party, and as was stated in the title, there will be cake there. I'm not going to go crazy, but I am not going to deny myself a small piece of cake. Many people who have successfully lost weight -- and who've kept it off, most importantly -- have cheated on their diets on occasion, and I intend to do the same. I think it's fine as long as I don't make a habit out of it. After all, I was thin for most of my life, and I never turned down a piece of cake or a cookie every now and then. I'm sure I'll be fine as long as I don't over-indulge. We'll see how it goes.

I don't want to post a long entry tonight because I'm pretty exhausted. My weekend's been okay so far. I went for a five mile walk on Thursday, so I decided to take yesterday off to give my legs a rest. Today, I resumed my exercise regime and walked three miles. Same old stuff. I really love walking and running, and I can't wait to start the C25K program in January. Come spring or early summer, I'd like to think that I'll be blogging about my first 5K race. :-)

Livestrong's MyPlate and Other Things

Over the past week or so, I've started using MyPlate over at Livestrong.com. It's pretty cool and useful, but the daily caloric requirement for my weight seems a bit high to me. It's weird because different sites give me different requirements, but the average amount to maintain my current weight seems to be about two thousand calories. I've been eating about 1,500 calories/day, but since I exercise daily, my net intake ends up being about 1,200 calories/day, which isn't too bad. Still, I'll have to monitor my weight to make sure MyPlate is accurate. I'd hate to think I'm eating to lose weight when all I'm doing is maintaining, so I really, really hope it's accurate. It's gotten pretty good reviews, and a lot of people say it's helped them to lose weight, so I'm hoping I'll be able to say the same. I have a feeling that the next month will be touch-and-go for me, though. I don't know how many people read my blog, but if anyone's reading this, have you ever used MyPlate? If so, how'd it work for you?

In other news, I went grocery shopping tonight. I'm happy to say that I made pretty decent choices. At this point in my journey, I've been eating a lot of processed food/meals (e.g., Lean Cuisines and the like), and I know they're not the healthiest things I could eat. Still, it's easier to keep track of calories that way. I definitely need to work on eating better food, though. That's one of my long-term goals. Other than that, I'm not eating too badly. 

These are quickly becoming one of my favorite snacks. The apples come with a generous amount of caramel, and the entire package is only 100 calories. Satisfying my sweet tooth and getting a serving of fruit = win!

That is all.

Ben Davis: My Weight Loss Inspiration

Ben Davis used to weigh 350 lbs. On Christmas in 2008, he made a promise to his grandmother that he would turn his life around. Two years later, he's lost 120 lbs. and has competed in several marathons and an Ironman. (As a matter of fact, he completed the Las Vegas marathon today in 04:06!) Like all of us, he stumbles from time to time and doesn't always make the best choices with food, but you know what? He gets right back up again, and that's how he's managed to keep the weight off for as long as he has. If you're feeling discouraged, keeping his story in mind will help.

Anyway, I'm going to post a video of his journey, which currently has nearly a million views on YouTube. I've been incredibly inspired by it to the point where I watch it several times a week. Yeah, that is sounds kind of creeperish, but it really does inspire and motivate me. Seriously, see if you can watch it without getting teary-eyed.  LOL.

Pretty inspirational, no? You should read his blog, too. Trust me, it'll help you a lot. 

Starting Fitness Stats

Average resting heart rate: 68 BPM
Planks: 35 seconds
Push-ups: None
Sit-ups per minute: 17
Total sit-ups: 30
Mile: 18 minutes
Running without stopping: 2 minutes

While some of those figures aren't too bad for a beginner, I've certainly got a long way to go. With practice, I hope to see some improvement by next month. Right now, I'm doing a mixture of walking and cycling, and once I build a good walking foundation, I plan on starting the Couch to 5K Running Program. I'm thinking I'll start it in January or so, which will give me time to work up my running endurance a little bit. 

I tried to do a push-up, and I failed miserably. This is clearly something I need to work on. By next month at this time, I hope to be able to do at least two of them. It isn't much, but it's a start. I was actually kind of pleased with the amount of time I was able to hold a plank. Nevertheless, I hope to increase that figure by ten seconds by next month. My focus isn't really on running quite yet, but it would be cool to be able to run for four minutes straight by next month. We'll see.

First Official Weigh-In

Since it's December 1st, I thought it'd be a good idea to post my official weight stats for the month. Stepping on the scale this morning, I was actually kind of surprised to see that I lost more weight since I last weighed myself on Sunday. I'm officially going to list my weight as 174 lbs., but it was actually a little lower than that. I attribute that to drinking a lot of water over the past few days, which has helped me to flush a lot of retained water out of my system, so I'm not going to count it yet. So, without further ado, here are my stats:

Height: 5'3"
Weight: 174 lbs.
BMI: 30.8
Waist: 33.50"
Bust: 39.00"
Stomach: 37.75"
Hips: 42.50"
Butt: 44.25"
Thigh (thickest part): 27.00"
Bicep: 12.00"

I'm not gonna lie: It wasn't pleasant to take my measurements and to see how much I've gained over the past few years. I used to have a twenty-four inch waist, so to see that I've gained almost ten inches was kind of shocking. At the same time, seeing it has helped to motivate me to lose weight and to get back into shape. 

I plan on losing anywhere between a half a pound to two pounds per week, so when I post my official stats next month, I hope to weigh between 172 lbs. and 165 lbs.  I'm going to set my official goal in the middle of that at 170 lbs. (Just a note: I'll be weighing myself twice a week, and I might mention my weekly weight loss, but I'll only post things officially once a month.)

Anyway, that's that. My next entry will feature my fitness stats, and I'll probably post it in the next day or so.