Compact, Like a CarEasy Weight Loss

It's been quite a while since I've addressed much in the form of what I'm doing in the healthy living arena, so I thought I'd touch on a few things that I've been working on over the last six months.

First off, weight.  Years ago I said I didn't care what the number on the scale said, because when I realized that I had lost over 100 pounds, was working out regularly and was in the best shape of my life - and was wearing size 8 pants - I was still considered overweight by that asinine BMI formula.  I stopped weighing myself and while it took a good long time for me to be completely over the idea of that number meaning anything, I finally was able to release the power of the number on the scale.

I still don't weigh myself.  I did allow my trainer to do a body scan that includes weight when I first started back at BCS Fitness for them to have a starting point, and I did another scan about 5 weeks later, but I didn't look at the scan and the only thing I know is that I was down about 6.5 pounds from the first to the second.  I haven't done a scan since; while it might tell how my muscle-to-fat ratio is changing, and it might show some weight loss, it will never be enough for me, so I just don't go there.

That said, I can see and feel changes in my body - it's becoming more compact, if that makes sense.  Recently I had to go out in the pouring rain and put on my rain jacket that I purchased several years ago.  I zipped it up and thought huh, there's room in here.  I've been lifting with heavier weights.  Riding the aptly-named assault bike no longer wears me out in the first 20 seconds (no joke, I used to DIE on that thing).  It's still not easy but at least I can see improvement over where I was.  I jumped rope!  My cardio is getting better...but lest you think I am breezing through my workouts, let me be clear:  I am not.  They are hard, I sweat and huff and puff like a fool, but I am doing them and able to get through most of them without dying midway.  Afterward, yes - usually I'm lying in a puddle of sweat on the floor, but I'm getting stronger.

With that muscle comes not only strength but more endurance, which is making me run a little better.   That's what I wanted when I first started going back to BCS Fitness - to be a stronger runner.  Along the way, I've realized that I feel better when my body gets a good workout, I feel better when my muscles start responding to what I'm making them do, and I feel better about myself - not only physically but also mentally - when I get a good workout in.  I can have days where I'm just plodding along, but come 4:15 pm, I'm with my group and my trainers and everything changes for the better.  I'm looking at my monthly payment for my workouts as part of a prescription co-pay - much like any medicine one might need to control blood pressure or cholesterol, I need this to be healthy.

I'm making small improvements with my eating, mostly because if I'm going to work that hard at BCS Fitness, I don't want to undo it by eating junk - well, most of the time.  Some changes I've made include not ordering an extra baked good with my breakfast at Blue Baker.  Jeff still gets one but I've been able to not indulge.  That said, if chocolate chip cookie dough appears at the table, I'm going to have some...come on, I have to live!  A month ago I made it a goal to not have any milk chocolate because that seems to send me on a massive sugar craving; interestingly enough, dark chocolate doesn't do that for me, so I can have a bit of that when I want something sweet and be satisfied with it. 

I was working on having an apple every day because the crunching and chewing helped to fill me up and work out the munchies that previously I was filling with popcorn, but I sliced the crap out of my thumb while cutting an apple so they are dead to me now.  Seriously, it's been two weeks and while my wound is mostly healed, it still hurts when I put pressure on it.  Stupid apples.  Stupid knives. 

Once apples were banished, I went with a "fruit first" motto - if I get hungry or snacky between meals, I have to have fruit first (bet you figured that out already, LOL).  Right now clementines and bananas are in the house - basically I'm buying whatever looks the best in the grocery store and whatever won't hurt me with a knife.  We are cooking more, and I'm incorporating more vegetables into our meals - I finally tried cauliflower rice with my Korean beef and it was good; I'd totally substitute that for regular rice.  Jeff has been into making homemade pasta, and he's having success with it, but he wants to make it at least weekly, so I'm adding in zucchini noodles in order to cut down on the amount of pasta I eat.  Simple, small changes, nothing too extreme, and over time I think they will help...or at least, not hurt, right?

I don't have a specific goal in mind with all of this beyond becoming a better runner.  I think I'm at the point in life where I'm able to accept what my body looks like because no matter how hard I might try to diet and exercise, the truth is that I'm also living in a 55-year-old body that I've put through the wringer.  It's all good.  Where ever I end up is where I end up, and as long as I'm putting in a good effort to eat right and exercise, I know I'm doing enough.

from My Journey to Fit http://bit.ly/2SZUIrV
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