Switching around exercise to accommodate drinks

A good friend of mine is in town and she suggested getting drinks after work. I've been trying to stay under my calorie allotments more consistently so I've limited myself to drinks only on days I go for a bike ride (I "earn" at least 700 extra calories that way). But today was a scheduled run day and since I'd gotten up late, daylight hours were in short supply and the wind had begun to pick up. I just didn't want to go ride.

After much internal debate, I decided to stick with the run and go for the bike ride tomorrow, as scheduled. Because whether I run today and bike tomorrow or vice versa, the calorie totals for those two days will come out the same ultimately. And this way I get in the running that I have to force myself to do and don't have to make bike riding an unpleasant experience*.

I'm kind of proud for requiring myself to get some exercise before going out drinking this evening. On non-booze days, it's pretty easy to stay under my calorie goal but beer and the inevitable fries and mac & cheese bites screw me over. With running or biking on the alcohol days, I feel like the damage is mitigated just a little bit.

I'm also impressed that I've kept up with my calorie counting as long as I have because it used to drive me crazy. It hasn't gotten to the annoying stage yet where I am bugged by having to log everything that goes into my mouth. Part of this is because I approximate a lot of things (much more than I used to) which means my calorie-counting is not as accurate as it needs to be. But the major reason behind the change in attitude is the HUGE database of foods that myfitnesspal carries. They seem to have practically everything in there (including the Costco food court hot dog I recently ate) and when they don't, I have the option of scanning the bar code, which is much easier than inputting all the ingredients and adding it to your food list.

Lastly, I haven't put up any progress graphs lately so here is my weight-loss for 2012 - 2013. Notice my all-time greatest weight at the end of February 2012, as well as the steady albeit bumpy decrease since then:

And here is my most recent goal to reach Onederland! by March 13th. I had planned not to lose or gain during the holidays but alas, cakes and wine got the best of me. I'm still on track to get there by March, though:

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*I love to ride my bike so I try not to force myself to do it when I don't want to because that would make this fun form of exercise not so fun anymore. Usually if I don't want to do it just a little bit, I'll still go out because I love being on the open road. But with construction on my usual route, the wind factor, and the general brownness of the surroundings, I had absolutely no desire to go today. So I didn't.

On the other hand, I hate running but everything I enjoy doing requires me to have run fitness so it's a necessary evil. I've been putting off Couch to 10k for way too long so I really didn't need any more excuses to prevent me from advancing in the program.

It's the little things

I weighed myself this morning and I'm down to 220.0, which is 4 pounds lost since 10 days ago and 2 pounds since yesterday. I definitely did a little fist-pump this morning, because I'm pretty sure this is actual weight-loss and not just fluctuations. I've bounced between 223.0 and 221.0 for the past week, but this 220.0 is for real. I never thought I'd be so happy about a pound or two!

The proof that there's a downward trend. It's not just in my head after-all!

That loss may be due to me biking the last two days, and also giving up booze for Lent. I'm still rehabbing my knee from surgery in December and am only supposed to increase my time on the bike by 10% with each outing. So yesterday I did 30 minutes and today was supposed to be 33, which didn't exactly happen. 33 minutes turned into 40 because my math was wrong and I took a scenic detour at the turn-around point. But I don't think it's a big deal because I most definitely spent a good 3 - 4 minutes cruising on the downhills without using my legs at all.

The days have been so nice that it's really hard not to be outside, which makes getting on the bike not all that difficult. Actually, that's a lie. Today was (and still is) equally as gorgeous as yesterday but I was most definitely going to bail because I just didn't feel like going. Then I checked the weather and it's supposed to be cold and snowy the next couple of days, so that was enough to knock the "Oh, I'll just go tomorrow" thoughts out of my head. Luckily, it's supposed to return to mid- to high-60s by the weekend. I'm stoked!

Now I just need to get my eating in order and this weight-loss thing will be a piece of cake.

The sedentary life

We finally replaced the battery in our bathroom scale that measures body fat % as well as weight. I stepped on it today and the numbers were shocking. Here is a comparison over the years, since I like to have some perspective.

	2/12/10	2/28/11	2/28/12
Weight	212.8	204.2	220.0
%Fat	53.5	50.0	57.2
Pounds of Fat	113.8	102.1	127.0
Lean Mass	99.0	102.1	95.0

Wow, I've lost a lot of muscle and gained a lot of fat in the past year, most of it since last July. Yikes!

State of my weight, 2012 edition

I've been trying to lose weight since I can remember, but I've only been writing down my weight since 2004, my freshman year of college. Some years, there aren't many entries (college and my time abroad), but more recently I've been keeping track semi-regularly. Of course, when I'm actively trying to lose weight, there's a weigh-in every day. So that data is skewed.

Here is the history of my attempts at weight-loss since freshman year of college:

Period	Minimum	Maximum
College	166.0 1/22/2005	198.5 4/3/2007
Post-College	202.0 11/4/2008	221.0 11/16/2009 1/3/2010 1/9/2010
Colorado	206.5 5/20/2011	221.0 11/16/2009 1/3/2010 1/9/2010

And by the years:

Year	Minimum	Maximum
2004	167.0 12/15/2004	172.5 11/28/2004
2005	166.0 1/22/2005	171.5 3/18/2005
2006	--	--
2007	196.0 2/14/2007	198.5 4/3/2007
2008	202.0 11/4/2008	202.0 11/4/2008
2009	209.0 5/17/2009	221.0 11/16/2009
2010	209.5 6/17/2010	221.0 1/3/2010 1/9/2010
2011	206.5 5/20/2011	219.5 9/19/2011

I can explain each one of those mins and maxes (especially 2010 and 2011). When I'm low, it's because I've upped my exercise (triathlon training in 2010 up until June, and swimming in early 2011, then rugby this spring) even if my eating and drinking habits stayed the same. The weight crept back up as soon as I began sitting on my butt for whatever reason (traumatized by June triathlon so nothing in late 2010, and wrist injury this summer thus no biking and too busy for rugby this fall).

Conclusion:
If I exercise but don't change anything else about my life, I will lose weight.

As a parting shot, here's my weight during all these years in graphical form: