Friday, September 14, 2012

Train Smarter, Not Harder

That is my message of the day. Lots of little things have been going on this past week. After a surprise drop in weight last week, I gained five pounds when I got on the scale, five days later. Was I bummed? No, I was downright depressed. And it hasn't gotten better. I am still down in the dumps about it. In reading about what to do I came across that phrase to "train smarter, not harder". Eat more, exercise less, be smarter, not harder on yourself. Really.

I saw my doctor for my annual checkup and although it went well, a test was forgotten and I have to go back...and pay another co-pay to have it done. (grumble) However, he was impressed that I had lost 31 more pounds since he saw me last.  And the nurse practitioner kept looking at my chart as we talked and then when I said I had lost 100 pounds total, she said "THAT explains it!" She thought she had the wrong chart because it did not match the weight of the person sitting in front of her! Ok, so that was kinda good.

I was nominated to become my quilting guild's 1st Vice President. I am already their Newsletter Editor and Web Master. I needed to add more to my life, right? Ok, so it is kinda cool to be asked and they promised it would only be when the President can't be there, that I would have to step in and that otherwise it would be an easy peasy job. We shall see.

Thursday I was solo at the support group as my co-teacher had another thing he had to do. We cover for each other when needed and I do not mind that at all. However, on Thursday afternoon, I had my weight training class too. I feel a bit stressed and stretched, so I think I will need to give up the Thursday morning support group until the weight training classes end in January. I am both sad and relieved about this decision.

The numbers are coming in from the tests I had at the checkup and my vitamin D level was way down again. I need to get a supplement. You'd think I got enough sunshine from my walking, but evidently I don't. I also will be seeing a specialist about my finger joint issues. It would be nice to get some pain relief! They want to ultrasound my kidney to check for something else and I need to have the boob squishing test done too. sigh....it is so challenging to be female sometimes!

Thursday my weight was up five pounds from Saturday. Why? In checking online and contacting someone about it, it seems I might now not be eating enough. I know, I preach that all the time. Well, it has come home to me here. So for the next few weeks I am upping my calories by about 500 more per day! Yes, you read that right. 500. I refuse to enter my weight from Thursday on my chart at the top of this blog. Besides, it was Thursday's weight, not the 'official' Saturday weight.

I found out that a local group wants to use a quote of mine in their book about getting our city healthier. They also want to interview me. Wow. Where will THIS lead? What will I do if I can't maintain a healthy weight? I do not want to be a hypocrite! I want to help others. NOW I find I have to help myself more. Should I wear makeup? I don't own any. ACK!!!

(I told you so, Robert...you have to give me THREE years before any of this change in me will be real and credible.)

I am tired tonight and have a big day tomorrow. I hope this posting makes sense! If not, don't pick on me too much. Later gators......

2 comments:

Cynthia said...

Wow, Sherri. That is tough. I have had similar experiences, so I know how difficult it can be to get past disappointments like this even if you have a healthy attitude about it. (And everything you write indicates you do.)I could tell you all the things you already know, ie water retention, hormones, stress, it's not possible for you to have gained 5 lbs of fat in 4 days, etc., but knowing those things somehow doesn't take away the sting of seeing that number on the scale when you haven't done anything to "deserve" it. I hope you will share the results of your eating more experiment on your blog, as I think it would be helpful to others.I have had some success with calorie cycling, where I alternate low calorie days or weeks with higher calorie days or weeks. This usually happens by default when I am traveling (I always eat more while traveling). But I never really know if any weight loss was caused by the cycling or would have happened anyway. Sadly, we have no way of conducting double-blind studies on ourselves!

I guess the bottom line is that you have been very successful doing what you are doing and one weight bounce doesn't negate that. Obviously, you are strong enough to resist the urge to throw in the towel because you haven't, even in the face of a set back. The way you live your life now has made you feel better and will continue to do so, no matter what the scale says.

Keep us posted! We're in this together!

Sherri said...

Thanks Cynthia, and yes, I am depressed about it but I am NOT giving up. In the past I would have. I have come too far though, to quit now! I know I am doing everything right. I am not having extra large chocolate Frostys at Wendy's and then "forgetting" to report them. :) So I am researching what else it could be. You can be sure I will post the results of eating so many more calories per day. It IS scary though, to be doing this. I keep imagining I will wake up fatter and a failure. Silly, I know, but that is what I worry about. Since it has been almost six months without changes, I know something is going on. I am very close to goal too, and of course that makes weight changes hard. The timing of the annual physical was good too. Thank you for your continued support! As I said, I will be sure to keep you and all my readers informed of the results.

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