Week 3: Humbling & Empowering

How I feel (and probably look) running. 

 Again, this week was humbling in some aspects and empowering in others. Running is still really humbling. It just flat out hurts. I can feel the extra weight on my feet and it's painful. For some reason I signed up for a 5k next week, so we'll see how that goes. The empowering part of my week has been my cravings for junk or processed foods. They're non-existent. I keep on waiting for cravings to show up, but they never do. Even Easter was really easy. I didn't crave the sweet stuff or bread at all. There are two mantras that really make sense to me right now:

1. Eating a restrictive diet means eating foods that restrict me from feeling my best and achieving my goals.
2. It's not about what you eat, it's about what you DON'T eat.

I'm having a decent amount of carbs now, but they're all in the form of non-processed foods: potatoes, fruit, cashew butter and vegetables. I strongly believe that by not eating processed foods, my body has stopped wanting processed foods. The other reason I believe this is because I'm having to force myself to eat some nights. I'll get home from work having only eaten around 1,300 calories and feel perfectly content. This is not the norm. When I was eating processed food, even before this experiment, I'd be hungry a lot more often. I still eat every 2-3 hours, but it's because I need to get in enough food to not lose a lot of muscle during this transformation. I thought I'd be eating 2,500 calories a day, but I'm only eating around 2,000.

My heartburn and acid re-flux are gone now. I haven't had symptoms in a week now (maybe longer) and it feels magnificent. Also, my night sweats have lessened considerably which is nice.

Exercise went well this week. I'm continuing with the theme of starting off slow (for me). I keep on thinking about exercising every day vigorously, but that just doesn't make sense right now. I'm still big enough to have an increased risk for injury and I don't want to get injured during this transformation. Also, I need to have progression be a big part of my program. The first four weeks can start off slow, then build up each four weeks after that with more quantity and intensity of exercise.    

I thought it would be fun to capture a pic after my circuit. Megan is on my right, Jodi on my left and Andy behind me.

Exercise Log:

Wednesday - Full body circuit (same as last week's) for 60 minutes.

Thursday - Two mile walk at the gym. I wouldn't consider this a workout as much as just trying not to be incredibly sedentary.

Friday - Boot camp class at IAC for 60 minutes. It was so hard! I haven't worked out that hard since putting on the weight and oh my goodness I felt every bit of it. Again, I have a lot of respect for overweight or obese people who decide to start exercising vigorously because it hurts. A lot.

Saturday - I did 20 minutes of running and hard intervals at the park. I ran for 7 minutes straight to start off the workout and then did 30 second run (9 minute pace) and 2 minute walk intervals for the rest. It was difficult for sure, but felt good. Also, I cleaned the living room and kitchen. You might not think it, but that does burn calories.

Sunday - Recreational basketball with my nieces. I really like basketball and it was great getting outside in the sun. 20 minutes

Monday - A new workout broken into two circuits. First circuit: weighted step ups, weighted lateral hops, single leg dead lifts, 14 pound wall balls, 30 second elliptical to failure. Second circuit: one arm overheard tricep extensions, rope pull downs, barbell curls, reverse curls and 30 seconds of hard work on the rowing machine. I ended with body weight back extensions on a bench with Megan sitting on my legs. 60 minutes Great workout!

Tuesday - Day off

Approximate Total Exercise Time:  220 minutes

I tracked 5 days out of the week again. Why is tracking food for 7 days so difficult?

3 weeks down, 49 to go!