November Break a Weigh

I'd love to join you with this Mary.  Great idea!

I'll cheer you - hows that? I stopped weighing myself all the time years and years ago. I went through a period in high school of looking for happiness from the scale. At one point I weighed 98 pounds at 5'6" and I still was not happy - I just knew 95 lbs would be better.   I don't know what finally snapped me back to reality but I just learned I can't go there for my own sanity. So basically all of my adult life I just weigh in every couple, 3 or 4 months to check. That's it, I don't even look at the scale at the doctors office.

For me - I know when I am eating too much junk (or Halloween candy) and when my pants are too tight. I also know how to clean up my eating and feel better. I don't need a number on a scale to tell me that!

Best wishes!

I'm trying to lose four pounds during November and it is really tough given my eating habits.  When I get into weight lose focus periods I am really bad about scale watching and it gets really frustrating because of the fluctuations from day to day.  Last week I had a three pound swing from one day to the next (and not in the right direction).  It made no sense to me even trying to compensate for extra fluids I drank after a hard workout and what I had eaten that evening.  It was a little demoralizing.

This week I vow to stay off the scale.  I know if I am diligent I'll get where I want to be and don't need to put myself on a roller coaster.  I don't think I can go the whole month without weighing but will stay off as long as I can.

Hey Mary and Steve :)

I have gone through periods in my life when I have weighed very, very regularly.  It was just part of the routine.  Get up, coffee, bathroom, run, shower, weigh, go about my day. Rinse/Repeat.  Then I would go through long stretches of not weighing at all.  For the most part, my weight stayed just about right on, with a few seasonal swings;)

I have been weighing myself probably once a week over the course of the last year.   I really don't like weighing regularly as I think I can get a little weird about it.  Like you said Steve, having a big swing one day and not being able to attribute it to anything can be a bummer, and I don't want to be getting too whacky with my food because I think that will limit my ability to really nail my workouts. 

I build muscle pretty easily for a woman.  Tri training has changed my body quite a bit, and so the food quantity and training volume compared to when I was just running is pretty different, as is my body's response to it.  For example, when I'm just running, I know when I'm at a good weight for me because of how my watch fits.  However, if I'm swimming regularly or in a swim focus--like I am now--that isn't an accurate guide, as my forearms and arms really get remarkably bigger with swim volume. Same thing with running v biking.  My pants fit differently if I'm doing a lot of biking.

So I'm trying to get used to having some good indicators aside from the scale, but I feel like because I'm still so new to tris, by body is still adapting to the training stress quite a bit.

What I think would be IDEAL would be if I could just shift my eating to primarily fueling and recovery for my am and lunch workouts, and really minimize my nighttime meal and grazing.  I know I can get in trouble with my resolve if I have a beer (or 3), so, as much as I hate to admit it, if I really want to be careful about things, I might need to limit my alcohol too :) 

So this challenge comes at a good time Mary.  I'll see where I'm at at the end of the month--Thanksgiving and all :)

I actually almost forgot and was about to weigh yesterday, and then I remembered the challenge, and I was relieved :)  This is not a good time of the month for me to weigh anyway, and it was nice to just avoid that.  Even though rationally I know how much my body swings for this 4-5 days, I still can get bummed when it does. Silly me.

Thanks Mary!

p.s. I have a beer in my hand and a pumpkin pie in the oven. Lol!

This has been kind of tough.  I'm tempted every morning to weigh even though I know I'm not losing the weight that I want to.  I have been slipping less with the night time junk food and one night I had a baked potato for dinner so maybe it's not as bad as I think.. I've been very busy so I've hit McDonalds more than I've wanted to.  One day I had lunch and dinner there.  Bad, bad, bad.     

How's it going for you guys?

I don't know if it's because I agreed I wouldn't do this for a month or what, but over the last week I've found I want to see what's going on.

Dinner and late night food stuff has been much better, but I'm also eating much bigger breakfasts than normal, so it may be a bit of a wash calorically.  I have also been swimming quite a bit, and my bras and shirts feel tighter than normal, so that makes me want to see if that changes the scale. 

For me, it really isn't about how I look--I feel like that is not made or broken by five or ten pounds, but I really think my run would be MUCH improved if I were lighter, and it really is a damn balance when I am needing to eat to be fueled for training and I build muscle with the swimming and cycling.  If I'm low on calories (~500/day), I really feel that on my second workout of the day.  I might just need to get more comfortable with going to be hungry.  I really like cooking and eating with my family, but I need to do a better job of just being there and not necessarily participating if I want to get to any kind of "race weight".

Mary, I completely missed that you were in a wreck or had concussion issues--woah!  I  hope you're OK.  Hugs.

It's a known fact that puppies make everything better.  Snuggling puppy ears or puppy bellies can cure me of anything :)

Mary, I completely missed that you were in a wreck or had concussion issues--woah!  I  hope you're OK.  Hugs.

It's a known fact that puppies make everything better.  Snuggling puppy ears or puppy bellies can cure me of anything

I think last week went a little better.  Since I had to back off a little on my running due to a sore tendon it gave me more motivation to step up and keep moving ahead by losing a little weight.  I think I made better choices.  I've stayed off the scale and it is getting easier to just go by feel as far as whether I'm making progress.  Hope you all have a good week.

Shopping?  Christmas shopping?  Lol, I haven't really even started, but we don't do a lot in the way of gifts at Christmas time.  We usually get the kids one nice present.  The grandparents and great aunts go buckwild on the kids at Christmas, so for us to do much it would just end up being ridiculous.  I sometimes feel like it's already ridiculous, but I know it gives them great pleasure to "do" for the kids.  This year we are going to Australia for a month, and that is our family present. 

We have tried very hard to keep Christmas about traditions--a beautiful tree that the kids (for the most part) decorate the night before, a really good brunch and Christmas dinner, and just good family time.  We read lots of books this month that are the Christmas/solstice/holiday books and my kids love that. 

This has been a great idea, Mary.  I am very curious to see how things will be at the end of the month, but I can tell by clothes, my watch, my rings, that I'm down.  I'm guessing 3-4 lbs.  My training volume has gone up steadily over the month, and that combined with the food shifts and trying to be better at night has helped quite a bit.  I'm very glad I got this set in motion before the holidays. Thank you :)

I hate to admit but we've had our Xmas tree up for a week now.  Just lights, we'll decorate after Thanksgiving.  We have a tree in my office that several years ago we decided to leave up year round and we redecorate it every month or so for Valentine's, St. Pat's, Fourth of July, etc.  I usually wait until Black Friday to launch into my shopping and have it all done in a week.  This year the big focus is on my Dad.  I'm restoring a car of his that he thinks he gave to my son and going to give it back to him for Xmas.  It was my Grandma's car that she gave to him when she died twenty years ago and he never got around to restoring it though it has been a dream of his.

The weight thing has been up and down.  I seem to have good days and bad that are influenced by work stress.  I really wanted to lose some weight but I'm not feeling it.  I guess I'm not too worried about it because I doubt I've gained.  My desire to lose weight is mostly driven by the impact that it will have on my performance and since I've made some big gains from my training again I'm not too worried.  Maybe January I'll launch into a major weight loss push.

Mary--congratulations on the new jeans.  Awesome :)

Steve--that is one of the coolest presents I have ever heard about.  So, so, touching.  I can't imagine your dad's reaction...so awesome!

I hope you both have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy all of the yumminess.  I love the Thanksgiving meal :)

I think this challenge has taught me that every day weighing really isn't for me.  I don't know if I'll go a month at a time, but I can definitely see once a week or maybe once every two.  It's been a great exercise.