Reality Check

I was worried about stepping on the scales after the feeding frenzy that was Christmas. I actually considered not weighing myself until I was back at work and back to my regular routine, but then I decided that I needed the reality check.

Two days ago, I weighed in at 169-something. Yesterday, I was up to 171.8 (yikes!). Today, I'm back down to 170.6. Still, it's about 5 pounds from my All Time Low a few weeks ago of 166. But somehow I think that those 5 pounds will be relatively easy to lose since it is "new" weight.

I don't know why I think that "new" weight is easier to lose than "old" weight - because I've never read anything to suggest there's a difference between the two - but it's just a perception that I have.

Each day, I start with the intention of eating well (meaning: not mindlessly snacking). Yesterday and today I started out well with my bowl of Mini Wheats (still left over from my Gingerbread house). I really have to go grocery shopping as I've run out of virtually everything. Yesterday I ate pretty well until I got to the pub after my run and chowed down on nachos and chicken wings. And beer. I just couldn't resist.

Creeky (my bro) left yesterday and P (my mum) leaves this morning. My life is now relatively back to normal as I can follow my own routine. Until the weekend, that is, when there are more parties and more food. I'll just have to PLAN to be good.

And when I say "good", what I really mean is that I will avoid mindless eating, which is my biggest downfall. I've realized that it's not what I eat so much as how I eat it that's the problem. I've also not journalled my food AT ALL since Wednesday before Christmas! Which, I'm sure, is part of the reason for the weight gain.

But I did keep up with my running over the holidays (including an 18K run on Christmas Eve) and exercised every second day. That's less than I usually work out, but I don't mind taking a bit of down time now because things are going to really heat up training-wise starting next week.

I think I'll start with what's known as Mega Training Day a week from Saturday, which will be a good way to jump start my training. It's about $50 for the day, but it's led by an Olympic triathlon coach, so it's well worth the money. If it's as in years past, it will be a 3-hour bike trainer workout followed by 90 minutes of core conditioning and then 90 minutes of swimming.

I'm going to do my "long" run on Friday this week because I have a 9K race on New Year's Day (Sunday) and I still don't like to run on back-to-back days. I think we'll run about 12K on Friday.

For New Year's Eve I'm getting together with friends for a dinner party followed by a house party at another friend's new house. The guest list for the house party is over 150 people, so it could end up being quite the shindig! I'm going to wear my best party dress. Speaking of which, I finally got a copy of some photos taken of me in The Dress from the event in November (I've cropped out the photos of my friends).