Time to knuckle down

All right. This blog is called the Shrinking Knitter for a reason. I started it as a way to stay accountable and get support while I was losing weight, and to talk about knitting once in a while. Hmmmm. For the past four months it's been about running.

I thought when I started the blog that I would forevermore be a fitness walker. That was okay, but I do love to run and I'm glad to know I still can. Barring injury, I should be able to keep on running for many more years.

So it's time to use running as a weight-loss tool, along with weight training and nutrition.

In order to continue running for fitness, I'll need to eat good, clean carbs – whole grains, vegetables and fruit. I got pretty sloppy with food as race day approached, although it didn't do any damage. I'm the same weight today I was in January.

Hey! I can maintain! Heh.

In order to build muscle, I'll need to eat high-quality protein – chicken, tuna, Boca Burgers [we love Boca Burgers around here!], etc. I wasn't as sloppy with protein as I was with carbs, but there's always room for improvement.

Jonathan commented the other day that all the little things I did consistently led me to the finish line. Since he said that, I've been trying to pinpoint what some of those things were.

I'm going to use my Mac's calendar application to create a workout schedule that I can print out. As each day's activity is completed, I'll cross it off or put a star on it. Doing that was very helpful as I trained for the half-marathon.

Since it works so well for exercise, I'm going to do some menu planning as well. The YOAD idea of eating the same breakfast and lunch is a good one. I'm okay with Shredded Wheat or Fiber One, skim milk and fruit for breakfast. [I'll go back to steel-cut oats when it gets cold again.] I also like yogurt/fruit/skim milk smoothies. I need to keep fresh salad greens on hand, along with chicken strips, tuna and low-fat cheese for lunch.

I want to have a vegetarian meal at least once a week for dinner, and won't have any trouble coming up with ideas for that, or for the rest of the week, for that matter. The YOAD book and the internet are both rich sources of dinner menus, as long as I'm willing to use them.

I've been very sloppy about eating in the evening. I'm not sure when I picked this habit up – I never used to do it, but I was able to justify an evening snack because I knew I'd be running the next morning. I'm going to start breaking that habit tonight, by brushing my teeth as soon as I'm finished with dinner. I'm not hungry in the evening; it's just a bad habit.

The goal for race training was to cross the finish line. It would be great if I could set a weight-loss goal and have it happen simply by eating cleanly and exercising consistently. But if you've been here a while, you know I've been there, done that. I guess the reward has to be simply stacking one good day on top of another. I think it will result in a few more pounds lost, but I don't dare put A Number out there.

I lifted weights yesterday and feel deliciously sore this morning. I did two sets of 12 reps of several different moves, some on the bench and some [curls, squats, kickbacks] not. I tried to use the same go-get-'em mindset with the weight training that I used with running. Today I'm going to run/walk four miles on my good old mountain road. I can't wait to get out there and pick up the pace again! My knee was fine yesterday and feels perfectly normal today.

I guess what I learned most during the race training was how capable I really am. [I'm getting a little teary!] And I'm not done.

Are you nuts?

The YOU doctors' eating plan suggests eating a fistful of nuts – walnuts, almonds, peanuts are recommended – as a snack. Nuts, in moderation, are a healthful in-between-meal option; just about everyone says so! [I can hear my mother saying, "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?" Only her example was a bit more, um, earthy.]

I can't [or won't – my mother also said "Can't never did anything!"] just do a fistful of nuts. I like repetitive crunching, and nuts are perfect for that, as are pretzels and dry cereal and any number of other unhealthy-in-quantity choices. So when I get a repetitive crunching urge, I head for radishes, baby carrots, red pepper strips and celery. Nuts are great, though, in recipes, and I include half an ounce of walnuts in my morning oats.

I recently received a tin of almonds from the California Almond Board filled with a single serving of almonds. [I can no longer find the link for the free sample offer.] I'm a sucker for tiny containers, and this one is about half the size of an Altoids tin. It holds 23 almonds, about 160 calories' worth. I suppose that's a snack for some people, but it's beginning to look more like a meal to me.

My calories in/calories out/poundage progress this week looks like this:

• Average daily calories consumed: 1275
• Average daily calories burned: 496
• Pounds gained/lost: None

Staying the same can be a good thing. I suppose.

But staying the same for weeks – nay, months! – on end is getting pretty old. I know, I know, it looks like I've got maintenance down pat, doesn't it? But [insert whiny voice here] I'm not ready for maintenance!

It's just nuts.

I imagine some of you might be thinking I'm just nuts for continuing to frustrate myself. Why not just call it done and be satisfied where I am?

The reason I don't is because I've lost this weight before, and I know I can do it again. I'm stubborn and, apparently, much more patient than I ever thought I was. I appreciate Anonymous's suggestion to add interval training; I can easily throw that into my training runs, I think. Wednesday's speed drills are sort of interval-like, but with longer distances on both the speed and recovery segments. It'll be good for both my mind and my body to try something New! Improved! Different! after all this time of same-old, same-old.

You can see from those numbers up there that I'm having trouble limiting my daily caloric intake to 1200 or below. One day last week it was 1201, and two days was much lower. Which means the remaining days were greater than 1200, and one day was much greater. I was ravenous all weekend, after the long run on Friday. I handled the Saturday-night party food very well, but Sunday was awful. I just couldn't get enough to eat. And, of course, with a Tuesday weigh-in all the good work I did earlier in the week was undone.

So today begins yet another do-over. The upcoming weekend includes a reception and dinner out of town, over which I will have no control, so I'll have to be extra vigilant to make up for whatever kind of food landmines I'll encounter.

Before I close, I want to provide a clickable link to the Cole Hahn/Nike dress shoes Jeannie mentioned a couple days ago. I would never spend that much money on a pair of shoes, but they really are cute. We just don't need dress-up pumps much out here in the Middle of Nowhere.

Also, I'm with M@rla, who said in yesterday's comments that eating normal amounts of healthful food without gaining weight would be so, so nice. We really are learning patience, aren't we?

Finally, I do have one good number to report. In one month following the YOAD plan, I've lost 2.75 inches from my waist. Take that, bathroom scale!

The skinny on YOAD

I received several e-mails and comments yesterday about my experience with YOU: On a Diet. Did the sudden whoosh of three pounds gone make some of you think this is The One True Plan? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. It seems to be working for me, right now. And it seems to be something I can live with for the long haul.

It might even work for you, or you, or you. It's certainly worth a shot, and you don't have to buy the book to get started.

Almost every time I've mentioned YOAD, I've linked to the website. That site is stuffed with information and resources – more than I can ever offer. The book supplements that information with solid science on how the digestive system works, why we need to include certain foods and avoid others, why moving the body is important … all presented in a writing style that is stuffed with analogies. I found that slightly distracting, but I'm not holding it against the YOU doctors.

My first and most coherent thoughts about the book are here and here.

If you know you won't follow a menu plan, you can still get a good idea of the recommended foods by creating a plan on the website. [You might have to register to get to the menu planner.]

If sugary, fatty, take-out or processed foods are a large part of your current diet, you'll probably feel deprived following the YOU plan, which is based on whole grains, lean protein, avoiding sugar, blah, blah, blah. You know all this stuff. It's packaged in a way that makes the why easy to understand and adopt, if you're ready.

I was more than halfway there when I dug into the website. The book was the icing on the cake, if you'll forgive the pun.

Let me know how you do after your first two weeks!

Okay, enough about that.

Yesterday was a glorious day, from start to finish. The sun was out all day, the temperature was in the upper 40s to low 50s and the wind was gentle. The training schedule said "Rest/X-train," so I took a walk. A long walk, one in which I broke into a slight jog only twice. It was kind of nostalgic, actually. I've taken this walk more than 500 times since I've lived here: from my house to the post office and back [1.6 miles], drop off the mail and then from my house to a big white farmhouse and back [4 miles]. It took more than an hour and a half and I felt great when I got back.

Afterward, I ran the sweeper and straightened up the kitchen, took a shower and got ready for my regular Tuesday gig at the prison and then sat down to knit for a while.

The meeting was one of the best I can remember. One of the inmates shared her story with us. She'll be leaving soon, and is both apprehensive about going but confident that she has what she needs to never return. The new assistant warden attended, at my invitation. She said to the group that she was happy to be there, but that if anyone felt uncomfortable or inhibited about expressing themselves, she would leave. I'm very impressed with her. She's one of the few staff I've met who believes inmates are people first, felons second. It's good to know there still are corrections workers who think like that.

All in all, a great day.

Fifty-nine days until race day.

The perfect PB&J

In my continuing quest to find One Thing I Like to eat for lunch every day, which the YOAD doctors recommend, I've been experimenting with peanut butter. I may have hit on it yesterday.

YOAD also suggests eating a teaspoon of cinnamon daily, so I mixed cinnamon into my natural peanut butter and slapped a tablespoon of it on one piece of Nature's Own Sugar-Free Whole Wheat Bread. On another piece I slapped a tablespoon of natural apple butter – apples, apple juice, cinnamon and cloves are the listed ingredients.

May I just say … yum?

And coming soon to the Middle of Nowhere will be more than eight pounds of steel-cut oats. In other words, breakfast for the rest of my natural life. My local Kroger stopped carrying them, and even stopped stocking McCann's quick-cooking oats, which Mr. Shrinking Knitter and I like better than Quaker Oats. I couldn't find them at the larger, better-stocked Kroger I went to over the weekend, either. So I hopped online and found a place to order large tins of steel-cut oats with a reasonable flat rate for shipping. [The first place I found had a great price for the oats, but charged nearly $15 to ship them!]

In the two weeks I've been loosely following the YOAD plan, I've lost three pounds and 1.5 inches from my waist. The three-pound loss is from last week to this week, and there's no rhyme nor reason for the big drop. I feel like I've exercised less and eaten more, but the stats are pretty much the same as they've been for weeks on end. Maybe it was just my turn. Heh.

PQ commented yesterday that I must be in pretty good shape to describe three miles as an easy run. I should have said that the training schedule called it an :airquote: easy :airquote: run. There's nothing easy about running three miles unless you're An Athlete. Which I am most definitely not.

[I turned comment moderation off, by the way. Until I start getting spammed. Again.]

But the run went well. I actually did four miles instead of three, again at a 5mph pace. The training runs will be getting longer as the next few weeks go by, and I need to find some longer stretches of flat road – not easy here in the mountains of Middle of Nowhere, WV. Today is a cross-training day and tomorrow's speed drill is a seven-mile run, which will be the longest mid-week distance since I started training. My first long run, five weeks ago, was seven miles. Progress!

Sixty days until race day.

Treadmill vs. road

Yesterday was a rest/cross-training day, as Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays always are during the 14 weeks of my half-marathon training. I've always done something on Tuesdays and Fridays, because I am not just training for a race; I'm also trying not to be the fattest old lady on the course.

The YOAD strength workout was very easy, incorporating many familiar-to-me moves and convincing me that I'd probably be better off sticking with a couple of weight bench and yoga sessions each week. I need to do more work on flexibility and leg strength.

For the rest of yesterday's workout, I went for a two-mile walk/run. The first mile of my loop is all uphill, and is walking by default. [At one time, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was able to run up the first hill. 'Twas in another lifetime.] Naturally it was an easy choice to run downhill all the way home.

Although running downhill has its own set of rules to prevent knee injuries. And you have to be careful not to slip on the gravel.

Anyway, my last road run was probably a month ago, maybe longer. Quelle difference! If I ever wondered which was more effective – the treadmill or the road – I am wondering no more. The road wins, hands down, no question.

It's a good thing I gave myself 14 weeks to train, because I feel like I'm starting over.

Today is another four-mile 'easy' run, and will happen probably in the early afternoon. It rained all night, but the rain is moving out and the temperature should be up to about 50 by the time the roads are dry.

I went to a meeting last night and wore a pair of pants that I was sure would fit snugly. I told Lori how surprised I was that they just slipped right on. Some of you suggested that even though my weight was staying the same, I was probably losing inches. It's certainly true of my waist [thank you, YOAD!], but being able to wear those pants comfortably was a nice surprise.

I also Googled for something like 'losing weight while training for a marathon' and came away further convinced that I'll be maintaining for a couple more months. Cross-training on rest days might help, but probably won't make much of a difference. So if you're stopping by here looking for weight-loss tips, you might want to come back in May. I think the only thing that's going to happen for the next 10 weeks is staying the same, same, same.

Of course, I could be wrong. Heh.

Sixty-six days until race day.

Friday Quote Day

I usually find a quote during the week that I think will work for Friday Quote Day. I've never ended up on Friday morning scrambling around for something more appropriate. Here's what I thought would work for today:

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

But it just doesn't feel true after what I've been reading.

The good doctors Roizen and Oz are telling me I don't have to fight the good fight. They're suggesting a more elegant solution, a way to work with my body instead of against it.

Jonathan wisely reminded me yesterday to beware of those "never" statements I quoted from the book's introduction. And you know, Jonathan, I thought about that all afternoon and evening.

[Jonathan also wrote this brilliant statement in this post:

“… if I’m getting out of life the things I really want, I’m less likely to be stuffing myself with food as a means of compensation for repressed anger, guilt, frustration, etc.”
~ Jack Sprat

Which is pretty much what the book is telling me, as well.

I guess I'm tired of the fight and desperate for an answer, and what these doctors are telling me, in their cutesy, simile-laden way [I'm starting to edit the similes out as I'm reading, that's how tiresome they are!] is that I can lay my weapons down.

And that's very appealing.

To make the Eisenhower quote meaningful for today, planning still is essential on the YOAD program. You can't have a soup-and-salad lunch when the crisper is empty. A daily 30-minute walk [as you all know, I'm doing way more than that, but that's the minimum YOAD recommendation] has to be worked into the schedule, somehow.

We plan for the other parts of our lives: work, children, school, pets, spouses, friends, meetings – all our activities and relationships are important and vital, and we make appointments – plans – for the events that make life meaningful.

My life would be even more meaningful if I didn't constantly have the weight of my weight hanging over me.

So I'm still working this all out. Are they good marketing men, getting me to believe that I don't have to fight with myself any longer? I used to work in advertising; I'd like to believe I'm not that gullible.

It's hard to argue with success. As they suggest, I've been taking a waist measurement every day since I started following the plan. [And I will reiterate – I am loosely following the plan. I still don't have all the recommended foods, and I still love wheat saltines far, far too much.] Three days – an inch and a half smaller. Pretty incredible.

Seventy-one days until race day.

It's not about the food

I had a post completely proofed, spell-checked, sliced, diced and done, hit the "publish" button and it disappeared. Damn!

Basically, I was answering Vickie's question from yesterday's comments. She wanted to know:

"…what is different about this plan vs what you were doing before? More food? different food (how so)? different combinations? eating smaller more often? eating larger less often?"

All I can say right now is it's not about the food. Anyone who follows the link from yesterday's post can get the gist of the food plan, which looks to be mostly plant-based, light on protein and heavy – heh – on satisfying fiber.

I'm ready to begin reading Chapter 6: Metabolic Motors. Since I've spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about, crying over and bemoaning my own broken metabolism, I want to give this chapter my full and undivided attention. Meaning it's probably not good bedtime reading.

When I first mentioned ordering the book, several of you said you were going to start reading your own copies. What do you think, so far? Or do you want to do book club after you've finished reading it?

Several of you also said you were loathe to buy another diet book. I can't tell you how many times during the past year I've picked this book up and put it back down after a cursory glance, saying to myself, "Puh-lease! Not another diet book!"

My collection of nutrition and diet books rivals that of the local library. But I hope I will always be teachable, and I give Laurie the credit for inspiring me to finally order it and give it a chance. The plan I've been on for more than a year is not meeting my needs. Something needs to change, and since I'm the only part of the equation that can make that decision, I guess it's up to me to do the changing.

Here's the part of the book that hooked me, from page 10 of the Introduction:

"… using this plan, you will train yourself to never think about how much you're eating, never think about getting on a diet or worry about coming off one, and never have to figure out formulas, zones, or, for the love of (fill in the deity of your choice), place a chicken breast on a food scale."

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? And we all know things that sound too good to be true usually are.

I hope we're wrong about the good doctors YOU.

My treadmill and I have become best friends this winter. I tried the new shoes out yesterday, for six miles, accompanied by that venerable and wonderful Valentine's Day film Sleepless in Seattle. It took 81 minutes, and the shoes felt great. The middle four miles were supposed to be at a 12:30 pace, but I was confused and thought they were supposed to be 12:23. I had to stop and rest for a few seconds here and there, but overall I think my time was pretty decent. If you've ever seen me, you know I wasn't built for speed!

Seventy-two days until race day.

All we need is love

I hope you get flowers instead of candy. Heh.

Mr. Shrinking Knitter is a great card buyer. He puts a lot of thought into them, and will study a display of cards for a long, loooooooong time searching for the perfect sentiment. The design is less important to him than the words or the price. He did, however, tell me that he could have taken me out to dinner 20 years ago for what he spent on my card this year.

It's a great card, though, and worth every penny dollar.

This is the first Valentine's Day in our 14-year-history we've been able to buy "husband" and "wife" cards – our first date was 14 years ago last night.

Well, I started reading YOU: On a Diet [hereinafter known as YOAD] yesterday. It's an easy and entertaining read, surprisingly so, since it's written by two men of medicine. The good doctors Roizen and Oz were busy as bees coming up with relevant similes for just about every other sentence. I'm a little distracted reading comments on how our bodies have gotten 'large enough to be spotted by Google Earth' and statements that healthy eating will become as 'automatic as a Simon Cowell barb.' And that's just on the first page of the introduction.

Someday, God willing, no one will know what a Simon Cowell barb is. [I know, I know – some of you don't!]

But. The information is solid science, presented in a way that makes it understandable in a way a high-school biology textbook never was. At least for me. And after one imperfect day on the plan – 30 minutes of activity [they suggest walking, I rowed, and it was a rest day for me], three meals and three snacks – my waist is a half-inch smaller and I got rid of one of those new extra pounds.

It's not about the pounds, though, they are careful to emphasize. Reducing waist size is more important for health than reducing pounds. For someone like me, who already has good cholesterol levels and a healthy heart, I could easily talk myself out of following their advice.

But why would I? My blogless friend Nancy [whose husband is undergoing surgery today – prayers for Jim, please] reminded me that when we started eDiets we agreed to shake things up when necessary. After many weeks of continuing to pay them money follow that program and gaining or staying the same, it's necessary. I'm ready for something new.

I want the same enthusiasm and hope I had a year ago in January. The YOAD book includes a whole section on how their plan helps overcome emotional eating. Their premise, you see, is that by eating healthful food frequently you never allow yourself to become hungry. But, as I've mentioned here before, I don't have to be hungry to eat. Somehow they seem to think they have the answer for that, too.

I hope they're right.

If you don't want to buy or borrow the book, you can get a taste – heh – of the plan from the book link above. Two weeks of menus, a shopping list and recipes are all on the website. And forums, where you can ask questions and get advice. Be advised that the forum members all seem to be YOAD cheerleaders – but who better to turn to when seeking enthusiasm, eh?

My training today is a six-mile tempo run: one mile to warm up, four miles at a 12:30 pace and one mile to cool down. That seems pretty fast, but last week's pace was a slightly faster 12:23. It'll be a good test for the new shoes.

Seventy-three days until race day.