As seen from my previous post, I finished week two of the Frank to 5k program, and I'm really having fun with it! Fitness did not come without some difficulties though. I run on the elliptical on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the running program but I had to alter that since Wednesday was a holiday. We were invited to an all day barbecue for the 4th of July which is always great, but the downfall to that was having a lot to eat. Surprisingly I did really well. Caloric intake was almost 3,000 that day. I planned to let go on this day because
- I've done amazing over the past month as far as my caloric intake goes
- I planned to be active quite a bit that day to counteract the food I was going to consume
- I read in one of the forums on MyCalorieCounter.com that when there are special occasions it's okay to eat to eat to maintain weight rather than restricting calories on that day.
Last Monday I got my first paycheck! I was so excited! There were so many things that I need/want and I could finally start to address those issues... Then Bojack (My car) decided to die. In his defense it wasn't sudden. Ever since I drained the battery 2 months ago he's been acting strange. It's cool though cause batteries cost like what, 45 bucks, right? Oh wait... That's right... I live in California now... And things aren't quite as cheap as they are in Mansfield and Columbus. I go to the cheapest place in town and get a battery. Once everything is said and done I leave $102 lighter... My check was only $180 for the first week I worked so after gas I'm looking at $50 to last me the next 2 weeks. Chris doesn't have much money because he had a few bills to pay as well so I'm in crisis budget mode. I managed the trips to go to the gym this week by only going on running days and cutting the two weight training days. I'd like to do the same this week, but from the looks of things I may only be able to make the trip once or twice. That messes up the training program, but it's not the end of the world. The gym membership will not disappear from non use. In the meantime, I'll double up on walking duties this week to make up for the missed gym time.
If you didn't have yesterday circled on your calendar then you're in the dark! Yesterday was National Macaroni day. I know, right? I was informed of this on Wednesday. How do you celebrate? A potluck, of course! So Saturday I woke up and worked out and prepared myself for the carbocide I was about to commit later on that night. I had a very light lunch and worked up a sweat cranking out the update for the running program and then Chris, Margaux, and I headed over for the festivities. I learned from the potlucks this week is that I only think that I am going to have a hard time around food. I've gotten myself trained to when I'm no longer hungry, I stop eating. There was a lot of interesting macaroni recipes to try, so I kept each portion to a minimal amount until I had a chance to try everything. Later on I had a second go at some of the ones I liked the best, but I still kept a slow pace of eating and talking here and there. Most of the things I ate I couldn't find on the calorie counting app, so I guessed at what seemed similar and then at the end I added 500 calories to cover any underestimations. Even with that
500 added on, I was just over 1400 calories. Two beers made it 1700 calories. I was surprised by a brisk mile walk to the gas station that was about a mile round trip. So on the day I totaled 1532 calories with exercise removed (2561 overall) which is great because my goal is 1600 calories a day with exercise removed.
I'm telling everything out of order today, but it's okay. No one thing holds priority over anything else. Anyhow, on Monday I did something unusual. We go to Hollywood on Monday nights for a show called School Night. It features four up-and-coming artists across all genres of music. In between sets there's a separate room that has a disco ball and DJ's that play dance music then people go there and dance. During this part of the night, the Couchsurfers and I will go up there and they'll invite me to dance and I'll smile with my hands in my pockets, bobbing my knees and tell people I don't know how to dance. Well I finally gave up and decided to give it a try. They all told me that I'm not bad at all but I feel foolish nonetheless. It was broken down for me that if I looked around at everyone else, nobody is bustin moves and dancing hard, so why should I be worried because I'm not super coordinated. It made sense. So for about a half hour I danced. And I had fun! Who knows... Maybe I'll be the next John Travolta? (He didn't know how to dance at all until he was trained for Saturday Night Fever.) I'm not really trying to do all that, but this is a step in the right direction for me! :-D
And finally, I weighed in today. I woke up, went to the bathroom, then turned around and stepped on the scale. The results were interesting. My new number is 361! I'm quite happy with that! That also confirms that last week's number was a little inflated because of water weight. I'm still working to find aquatic balance in my life, as I drink too much one day and pee every hour then drink hardly any the following day. I'm even more intrigued to see what the number is next week. But now I have measurements to go with my weight and I will follow those more closely than the scale. I'm keeping all the numbers updated to the side so we'll be able to track the differences as we go! Progress is all around me and I'm geeked that I've made it this far! Wow. In the past month I've lost 12 pounds! I feel like it too! So that's my week in review! Keep your eyes peeled for my next research post and I hope that everyone has a great week! :-D