This morning is my weekly weigh-in, and this week I stayed the same - no weight loss, and no gain. When I look back at my food diary, it's really obvious why (and it's definitely not just about yesterday's food intake!) with the way the last 7 days have gone. Work stuff took over a little, and things like being at a 4 hour meeting with a working lunch (sandwiches) provided in the middle, chocolates being offered in the office on a day I was stressed out with workload and demands, working through lunch leading to missing my step count target on 3 of the 7 days, and long days at work leading to bailing on one of my gym workouts, etc. are all the little things which on their own wouldn't have had an effect on my weightloss, but as a whole, had a really clear result. Additionally, my long run on Sunday lead me to being a bit more sedentary around it, and also because I didn't refuel properly on Sunday, I overate on Monday. Moral of the story is pay better attention, and be more organised so I can support an appropriate balance between work commitments, and my health. I feel emotionally a bit drained today, but I had a good workout at the gym this morning with my personal trainer (urgh, it was good until he mentioned box jumps, lol...) and with him going through the food diary as well, we noticed a bit more convenience food being dotted about the week.
Anyway, starting this week with a firmer eye on the goals, and I will be smarter about my long run this weekend. I didn't make the time for a swim last week, which I'll do this week, and I'll add a steam room session in, to help me feel a bit more relaxed. I will also work on my sleep this week, I think workplace anxieties are having a knock-on effect there too, and this certainly doesn't help. Regardless, I feel positive about the week ahead, and ready to get myself back on track. x
Your opening line made me laugh :-))
ReplyDeleteI think if you can survive a tough week with no weight gain you are still winning the battle. There will be lots of weeks like that to come, as you know, and just treading water (sorry swimming analogy there lol) is sometimes the best you can do.
Get the steps back up, cook all your meals and train hard - next Thursday will show results xx
Thanks Paula! x
DeleteNo Birthday blogpost so opportunity for Birthday Wishes!
ReplyDeleteNot gaining weight on a tough week work wise is a win to me. Really sounds like recording food and exercise is providing it's value - teasing out the cause and effect relationships so you know better what can improved.
Spotting that your long run resulted in you being more sedentary around it is an interesting observation. I'm sure this happens to us all. Last weekend you did a 5k race and then a long run right after so this might have an influence.
One thing you could try is breaking up your mileage up a bit more - if you have time then doing a double - a run in the morning, then a run in the afternoon would give you a similar total mileage and similar training stimulus but not require you to dig so deep physically or mentally.
Something that Dean Karnazes recommends is doing a "walk about" style long run, where you just head out the door with a card in your pocket and just run, walk and explore. When you feel hungry or thirsty stop and get food and drink, have a sit down if you want. Dean will do such things a long well over a marathon, but I'm sure it'd scale down to something like a 5km out to beach, have lunch, walk along the beach, then jog back. Just take everything nice and easy and just go out to enjoy being out doors where time on your feet matters more than distances or speed.
Interesting comments re. the long run splitting up. My plan this weekend is to still do my long run in one go, but I'll not be doing parkrun the day before. I'm not sure I'm at Karnazes level, hehe. x
DeleteLove Robert! I'm going to be in touch for help with heart rate monitoring Robert!!! :)
ReplyDeleteJust caught up on your blog posts! In summary to them all...
1) Happy Birthday - High five on staying the same! Consistency is the name of the game (my biggest issue)
2) You are doing great, keep up the good work!
3) Races would not happen without supporters and volunteers. Fact!
4) Haters gonna hate ;) you are better without negative/unsupportive people in your life!
5) I have this thing call "freedom" where I can do what I like :) SO, for example, if I don't like what you are blogging about I don't have to read it! Don't care what anyone thinks just keep doing/ blogging what is right for you!! Have your fanfare!
6) Have you tried myfitnesspal? Great app for logging exercise and food etc and adjusts your calorie count for the exercise you have done that day. My friends swear by it! Just a thought to help keep count on the long run days!
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Thanks Heather! x Love your comments. :-)
DeleteI don't get on with myfitnesspal. I currently track everything with pen and paper (which means stickers and coloured pens too, hehe) and then put totals into a spreadsheet later. I'm sure myfitnesspal is a great app for many, but it just doesn't suit me. At the moment, I'm happy with what I'm doing for tracking... we'll see how things change over the year! :-)
Pen and paper for me too :-)))
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