Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Workout & food for 3/9

Workout: 30 min elliptical, then 1 hr swimming. Oh, and a little PT thrown in for good measure. Swimming: 350 easy warm-up, then 8x50 in two sets of 4, descending time (i.e. each 50 a bit faster). We did free for the first 4x50 then back for the last 4x50. My backstroke still stinks, but I got a few tips and it's getting better, but I'm very slow. Finally, we did a monster set of 10x150 as follows: 5x(150 stroke, 150 free) on 3:20 (stroke) and 3:00 (free). The stroke portion was 50 fly (I did one-arm fly), 50 back, 50 breast. I could barely keep up with the 3:20 and 3:00 - so essentially had no rest. I have to work on my strokes a bit more I guess. I was a bit discouraged when I got out of the pool.
Activity points earned: 11.

Food:
Breakfast: Kashi GoLean crunch with 1/2c soy milk & 1/2c mixed berries (4 points).
Lunch: Progresso light chicken noodle soup (3) and a banana and a medium graperfruit (5 points total).
Snack: 1/4 c hummus and baby carrots, and a tangerine (3 points).
Dinner: 2c homemade potato soup and 2 pieces bread (9 points).
Dessert: Healthy Choice fudge bar (1 point).
Then it all went downhill...I got tired, and worked on the taxes, and started eating. Not good. I know this is a bad pattern, and I just can't seem to break it. I know I need to just go to bed when I'm tired and quit doing stuff, but I feel like I HAVE to do it then or I will never get to it. And then I do it, and stay up late, and because I'm tired, I start to eat. Last night I ate 4 girl scout cookies (6 points) and about 6 points of pita chips. ARRRRGH! Why do I sabotage myself this way? I work so hard all day to eat well, I exercise well, and then I go and ruin all my hard work.
Total food points: 34 :( minus 11 activity points = 23 - 18 allowed per day = 5 used from points allowance. Seeing as I only had 3 left in there, I'm now at -2 with 3 days to go. Not good. But I am going to keep trying; after all, the alternative is to make things worse.

The other bad news: weight was up to 152.6 this morning. That's really very very bad (racing weight is 145). My pants are tight. I feel miserable. Granted, probably 2-3 lb is water weight from all the crap I've been eating, but it's still not good. I think I've got several things going on here 1) sleep deprivation (chronically running on 6-7 hrs sleep/night when I know I really need 8), 2) birthday celebrating, and though I did track points, a lot of it was guesswork and maybe not good enough guesswork - i.e. I underestimated points or portion size. Eating out is always challenging. 3) not as much motivation to eat well because I feel like I'm not in training mode for racewalking.

I'm quite unhappy about all of this and would like to change it but feel a bit powerless. I wish I could start some hard racewalking training - that always makes me want to eat better, because I know I need to be at a good weight for racing, and it makes me feel better. But I can't do that yet with my foot recovery (though maybe soon? Things are going well in that department). Meanwhile, I am at a bit of a loss. I'm working hard but then sabotaging myself and it's a vicious cycle that is wearing me out. Sorry for the downer post, but realistically, that's just the way things are right now. I will turn this around somehow, but I'm just not sure how to find the way out.

3 comments:

Harriet said...

Swimming is not the calorie burner that walking is (I love it though).

It is also an appetite enhancer.

Semele said...

Hang in there, Tammy! For what it's worth, I started WW recently, and I'm finding your blog and your accomplishments very inspiring. :) Semele

Tammy said...

Thanks, Ollie & Semele, for the encouragement.

Ollie - I have totally noticed that swimming makes me want to eat everything in sight immediately upon exiting the pool. Racewalking doesn't do that to me...there is about 1/2 hr delay, and even then, a moderate meal does the trick.

Semele - I'm glad you find it inspiring. I want it to be real, too, though - yes, I have had success, and I am still doing well, but there are real struggles. I hope that sharing those helps others who go through this. Succeeding at weight loss doesn't require perfection, thankfully...just determined effort on a regular basis. Good luck to you in your journey. I know it's hard w/little ones at home, but it is certainly possible!