This week was Thanksgiving week and it caused me to pause and reflect on how thankful I am that I decided that it was time for this fitness journey. I have come so far over the past 17 months and I couldn’t be happier with my accomplishments. Well… I could be happier if this last 5 pounds would magically disappear!
In this week’s blog update I am going to talk about 2 things that are signs of how far I have come. One of them is about calories in and one about calories out.
Thanksgiving Challenge: One Year Later
Last year in my blog post titled Week 23: The Thanksgiving Challenge I wrote the following:
“This is Thanksgiving week and I definitely have some anxiety. This whole holiday now revolves around overeating to the point where you are stuffed. This is not my goal and doesn’t help me.”
As I went into Thanksgiving dinner last year I had a ton of anxiety. My fitness journey was still pretty new to me and I worried that I was going to derail myself with dinner. I kind of obsessed over it and it dominated my thoughts for a few days leading up to the meal and throughout the day. Then at dinner I employed an “eating strategy” and worked hard to make sure that I was careful about my food.
Fast forward one year and things are a little different. I was confident going into Thanksgiving dinner and I knew how to be successful. I knew where the calories would be and had prepared for the meal. I really enjoyed the meal and the company and there was zero anxiety.
I started with a big plate of all of the traditional foods…
Then I went back for 2 more small helpings of certain foods always including more vegetables and turkey for the protein. I even tried all 3 dessert items that were at the dinner in small but satisfying amounts. I also drank a couple of glasses of wine.
I have gotten smarter, better and more confident with my choices and my abilities. I also do the work to make sure that I can eat almost anything I want. I am no expert by any means but I am comfortable that I have enough expertise to really enjoy living my fitness life.
Doing the Work
I mentioned above that I do the work to make sure that I can eat almost anything I want. That work comes in the form of lots of exercise. I never expected to enjoy exercise the way I do and I definitely never expected to be calling myself an athlete. But here we are… I am an athlete. I am a runner. Plus I am a bit of a bodybuilder but not enough that I would call myself that at all because I am just working to shape some areas of my body and to build strength.
This week was a particularly active week for me given the Thanksgiving holiday and having time off work to workout without time pressures. I will start with the light days: Monday and Wednesday were non-workout / rest days for me. In fact Wednesday was actually the opposite of a “work” day because of an impromptu Friends-giving with super delicious but high calorie foods and drinks at the soft opening of a new restaurant in our neighborhood. So those were definitely not work days!
The rest of the week I worked hard! Probably too hard without enough recovery time.
Lifting Heavy
On Tuesday I had a session with my trainer Theresa at The Fitness Loft. It was a killer workout focused on a ton of arm, shoulder and back exercises plus some cardio. The most impressive part was that I increased my deadlift weight to 175 pounds. That is 90% of my bodyweight and my goal is 100% of my bodyweight by the end of the year. I have progressed very nicely.
My new challenge with the continued increase in weight training is to consume enough protein every day to feed the muscle growth. My new protein target is 150 grams per day and getting there without blowing my calorie budget is very difficult!
Running Far
The other area where my week included hard work was running, my normal go-to for exercise over the past year or so.
On Thanksgiving morning I ran my first 10K. I ran a “remote” Turkey Trot race with a friend of mine. It is “remote” because participants aren’t doing it together or even at the same time. Plus the distance is up to each participant – 1K, 5K, 10K, half marathon. I decided that this was the time for a 10K.
Signing up for this race was a way of keeping myself accountable for running on Thanksgiving morning instead of just riding the couch. I knew that if it was raining or cold I may not want to run outside and my gym was closed. So there was a possibility that I would give myself a pass on exercise on Thanksgiving morning which would lead to dinner anxiety. So I signed up for the race and decided to do it with a partner.
Boom… accountability!
Thursday morning was cold! It was only 30 degrees but felt like it was in the lower 20s. I am glad that I signed up for the race otherwise I may have stayed indoors. That would have been a big mistake too because the cold mostly went away as we started running.
My running partner for the morning was faster than me (and much younger, and fitter and former military) but I kept up with her through the whole race. This means I worked REALLY hard. My fastest time was in mile 4 when I ran a pace of 9 minutes 10 seconds but the other miles all averaged 9:23 to 9:47 (around my new normal pace). The only exception was mile 6 which I did alone and did alternating walking/running. I did that because I kind of hit a wall at mile 5 and was pretty exhausted but I pushed through.
I ended the race at a total time of almost exactly 1 hour and an average pace of 9:50. I am very comfortable with that result for such a long race on a cold morning. Plus this meant that I burnt over 1000 calories before my Thanksgiving eating (more when you count some walking too!).
But wait, there’s more!
I didn’t stop with the one workout and one race either.
On Black Friday morning I went to the gym and worked out for nearly 2 hours. I started with running a 5K on the treadmill. Then I did a weight lifting circuit including deadlifts of 165 pounds. I ended with a stretching routine to help my sore muscles. I really try hard not to run on consecutive days because I want my body to recover.
On Saturday morning I was back at it. I went back to the gym and did an hour on the treadmill. I did a 5-mile treadmill interval training where I would run a minute at a very fast pace and then walk a minute to recover. It was a pretty great workout and burnt almost as many calories as my full 6.25 mile run on Thanksgiving!
I finally planned to have a rest day today but couldn’t help myself. It was such a beautiful, chilly but not cold, sunny and slightly foggy fall morning that I had to go outside. So I went for a 3 mile walk around my neighborhood.
Later this afternoon Liz and I may even go out for a hike.
I am amazed with how much has changed for me in just a few short months. I am now a fit athlete who loves to exercise. I spend “vacation” days making myself sweat and pushing myself to go a bit further, a bit faster and lift a bit heavier. I really love my new lifestyle!
Next weekend will be another race, the Columbus Jingle Bell Run, and I will be working on another personal record. So check back next week to see how I did!
Thanks for reading!
Last week’s stats (11/12-11/18):
Distance walked/run: 44.5 miles (+13 vs. LY)
Total calories burnt: 25,410 (-1,771 vs. LY)
Total calories consumed: 16,025 (+2,046 vs. LY)
Net calories this week: -9,385 (+3,817 vs. LY)
Weight change (week avg.): 2.4 pounds lost (-1.3 vs LY)
