12-Week Sprint to the Finish: Week 5
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![12-Week Sprint 2[10]](https://weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/12-Week-Sprint-210-248x300.jpg)
Welcome to Week 5 of the 12-Week Sprint to the Finish. No matter where you are on your fitness journey, I hope you’re using the typically more relaxed summer schedule to spend some extra time working to reach your fitness goals. It doesn’t matter if your “finish” is your goal weight, your first milestone, or anywhere in between, as long as you’re using this time to buckle down and commit to making some serious progress.
“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.” ~ unknown
No matter how this last week went, if you’re working toward your goals, you’re ahead of the game.
Before I go into next week’s goals, let’s recap this week’s progress. How did you do? Here’s what I did:
Nutritional. I did great this week! No matter what the scale says tomorrow, I’ll step on it knowing that I did everything that I could have done to have a great week. Even on Saturday, which is typically my day to indulge a bit, I was less than 200 calories over my goal for the day. That’s big for a Saturday.
We had a cookout at church yesterday and I took my own hotdogs – fat-free turkey dogs on whole wheat buns – because regular hot dogs were not worth the extra calories to me. We had a dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet on Friday. I planned for extra calories for dinner and made healthy choices while I was there.
I feel really good about my food choices this week.
Physical. I followed my training plan for my runs and I did a lot of upper body work this week. I didn’t follow the strength-training plan I’ve been using as much as I have in the past few weeks because it didn’t change much. Instead, I did some different upper and lower body work on my own, focusing on some of my favorite stuff.
I had another 5K on Saturday. I’m going to post more about that tomorrow, but I will say now – I was shooting for a PR (personal record). I was going for somewhere around 33 minutes, which would have been a minute to a minute-and-a-half faster than my previous best time. I didn’t make it.
Nope. I beat my previous PR by over 2.5 minutes! I was so excited! My official time was 32:21.
Motivational. I’ve been reading Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure. I know I’ve already said I’ll be reviewing it soon, so not too much about it right now. I am enjoying it, though, and I’ll have a little bit to say about it later this week when I post about the importance of setting goals.
My goals for the upcoming week are pretty much the same as they have been for the last few weeks: follow my training plan (I’ve got my first 8 mile long run on Sunday…wow!), log all my food at My Fitness Pal, and continue reading Reshaping It All.
Now, for those who are interested, my food log from last week:
6/20/2011
Breakfast: Flax cereal w/granola and blueberries
Lunch: “Caesar” salad (my version) w/grilled chicken, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, pepperoncini, low-fat Feta, red peppers and 1 Tbsp. Kraft Classic Caesar dressing. Sweet tea.
Dinner: Pepperoni pizza (2 slices), Coke.
6/21/2011
Breakfast: Flax cereal w/granola and blueberries
Lunch: Grilled pork chop and salad w/grape tomatoes, cucumbers, pepperoncini, low-fat Feta, red peppers and 1 Tbsp. Kraft Classic Caesar dressing. Sweet tea.
Dinner: Broiled tilapia w/roasted red potatoes, roasted asparagus and sweet tea.
Snack: Fruit salad.
6/22/2011
Breakfast: Flax cereal w/granola and blueberries (Yes, I eat the same thing nearly every day. It’s good and I like it, so why mess that up?)
Lunch: Turkey burger on whole wheat bun w/roasted asparagus and sweet tea.
Dinner: Chick-Fil-A char-grilled sandwich w/side salad (1/2 packet each: sunflower kernels, tortilla strips, ranch dressing), and sweet tea.
6/23/2011
Breakfast: Flax cereal w/granola and blueberries
Lunch: Leftover broiled tilapia w/roasted red potatoes, roasted asparagus and sweet tea.
Dinner: BBQ ribs, corn, mashed potatoes, broccoli, dinner roll, Coke.
Snack: Berry Trifle
6/24/2011
Breakfast: Slept in, so I skipped it.
Lunch: Turkey on Ezekiel bread (first time ever eating it – pretty good) w/spicy mustard, pita chips and hummus
Dinner: The buffet I mentioned – hibachi-grilled veggies w/steak, salt-and-pepper shrimp, beef and broccoli, bacon-wrapped crab (just one…yum!) and fresh fruit – pineapple, strawberries, grapes, and watermelon. Sweet tea
6/25/2011
Breakfast: Flax cereal w/granola and strawberries
Post-race snack: banana
Lunch: (Typical Saturday brunch with the family) scrambled eggs (one whole egg, 3 Tbsp. egg whites, approx. 1 Tbsp. milk, 1/2 ounce of shredded cheddar), hash brown, Spam Light, and sweet tea.
Dinner: Grilled chicken, Gina’s Macaroni Salad, grilled corn-on-the-cob, “Caesar” salad, Texas toast, sweet tea.
6/26/2011
Breakfast: 1/2 Panera Bread cinnamon crunch bagel w/hazelnut cream cheese, orange juice
Lunch: Turkey on Ezekiel bread w/pita chips and hummus
Dinner: 2 turkey dogs on whole wheat buns, chips, Coke
It’s your turn – how did you do last week and what are your goals for this week? Make it count!
Do or do not. There is no try.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
Good for you with your good week! I had a rougher one. My husband is out of town all of last week and all of this next one, so I have full custody of the 3 preschoolers. Whew! My MIL is here to help, but still it's a whole 'nother stress level. My eating has reflected that. I've still logged into MFP every day, but I've been recording through about lunch, and then the stress cravings hit about mid-afternoon, I eat the ice cream, or the reese's cups, say "screw it" and close my MFP tab. NOT GOOD. I've got another week of hubs being one, but I'm going lean on my MIL a little more and go work out to help the stress levels and stay on track with the food. If I weight in at the same on Wednesday, I'll be happy.
I'm typically not an emotional eater, but I have a couple of friends who
are. I would encourage you to brainstorm some ways you can deal with your
stress without eating — maybe taking a brisk walk around the block if your
mil is available to keep an eye on the kids or maybe taking them outside and
running around a bit, if she's not. You know your world better than anyone,
obviously, so you know what works best for you and hopefully you can come up
with a workable solution to help you turn to healthy options instead of food
when you're stressed.
Good luck on the scale this week!
Ready to tackle another week here. I'm going to continue as I've been doing logging my foods (didn't do that over the weekend; didn't really go too crazy, they were just foods that were harder to log in and I was being lazy about it), exercising daily during the week – three days on the elliptical and the other two weights and other cardio, and just working on keeping a positive attitude (I've been feeling a bit of sulkiness creeping in about "having" to watch my calories so much and "having" to exercise each day; must remember that I'm choosing to do this to be healthier and that I need think positively about any healthy actions I take. I'm moving in the right direction!). I'm hoping that I can have another productive week and stay below this lowest weight… maybe make it to 40 pounds lost (only 2 more pounds!).
Erin, I so hear you about emotional eating. I'm right there with you about the first part of the day going well and then the stress-eating taking over in the afternoon – that has happened to me more times than I can count. I've been there with all little ones too and know how hard it is to get a workout in. Do rely on your MIL to get some time to yourself and get a bit of exercise. I know it's hard to ask for that (at least it is for me), but I think you'll be so glad you did. Also, get active with your kids as much as you can. I'm trying to do that more myself – playing with them instead of watching them play outside, etc. Good luck to you in this last week with your husband gone!
Oh, Christine, I can totally relate to that sulky attitude. Just last week,
the family and I were sitting around the table playing cards. My oldest was
munching on Pringles. I love Pringles. I don't bring them into the house. My
mil bought them for her. I knew I'd already hit my calorie budget for the
day. For the first time in a long time, I was painfully aware of the
"unfairness" of weight loss.
I looked at my husband and said, "Sometimes I miss being able to stick
whatever I want to in my mouth."
I think just acknowledging the way I felt was really helpful in that moment.
I was reminded of a post I wrote back in the early days of my weight-loss
journey about "opportunity cost" —
https://eclipsednomore.blogspot.com/2009/12/opportunity-cost.html
Resisting the tempations and making healthy choices really are so rewarding
as you reap the benefits, but the daily struggle can be hard. Here's hoping
for a good week for you! Oh, and I totally know what you mean about those
hard-to-track foods. You might consider using MFP's "quick add" feature and
guessimating the calories on those meals. At least you'd have an idea of
where you stand for the day.
Have a great week!