Inertia

Mr. Shrinking Knitter and I are getting ready to move my little office from our house into a bit of space in the large office/family room which is otherwise known as "upstairs" – the second floor of the garage. We designed the garage together and had it built about five years ago, I think. It seems like it's always been there. And it's always been his office.

We'd like to turn my office in the house into a tiny den/TV room, as neither of us really likes having a television in the bedroom, and our living room – well, there's no place to put one. On one side of the room is a large fireplace; the other walls are all sliding glass doors. We did not design the house.

In order to accomplish this move, I need to go through filing cabinets, bookshelves and storage bins to weed out what I no longer need and to determine what will go where. In other words, it's time to purge.

But I don't wanna.

We've already had a two-line phone jack installed, in order to hook the computer up to the very slow dial-up internet connection. [While arranging for this, a Verizon representative told me it looks like broadband will be in this part of the Middle of Nowhere February 17. I'll believe it when I see it.]

At any rate, I'm at a point where if it is to be, it's up to me. And I Just. Can't. Get. Started. It's overwhelming. I need Flylady standing over me, cracking the whip every 15 minutes.

I'm a crafty kinda gal. I need a clear surface for working on paper crafts, beading and bookmaking. And the stuff one needs to do these crafty things takes up space. I have several storage tubs full of supplies, as well as a six-cube storage unit stuffed full of, well, stuff. Most of my yarn and knitting tools are already up there; at least that's done.

What does this have to do with weight loss or getting healthy? Not much. But maybe talking about it here will spur me on to some action.

Thank goodness this inertia hasn't migrated over to the fitness part of my life. I'm following my training program to the best of my ability, which is to say I'm not quite getting the mileage in for the speed drills, but I'm pushing myself farther each week. Speed drills have always been my least favorite part of training. Fartleks – a Swedish word for 'speed play' – are more likely to happen than a sustained 11-minute mile.

I'm going to make up the missed mileage from yesterday sometime today. I was supposed to have done five; I did three. About half of that was at 5.5 mph, and I felt good when I was done. But it wasn't long before I felt really drained and, consequently, no work got done in the office.

Hopefully these almost-daily runs will become routine soon, and I can work on the rest of my life.

Since this post isn't terribly inspiring or motivating, I invite you to go visit Jonathan, who has some really terrific thoughts on how losing weight has changed more than his body. He really does maintenance well, and offers lots of good reasons for continuing to whittle away the pounds, if that's what you're trying to do.

Surprise! A Thursday quote day!

We have been taught to believe
that negative equals realistic
and positive equals unrealistic.
Susan Jeffers

I'll be away from the computer for the next couple of days. So Thursday is the new Friday this week.

I think today's quote pretty much sums up where my head has been at lately.

Remember when I started training for the Country Music Half? And I learned that it's not likely you'll lose any weight while you're race-training? And how I was totally okay with that? Well, it's starting again, but this time I'm not okay AT ALL with it.

Since January I've gained nine pounds (14 since last fall). This is not acceptable! It's also not helpful when you're lumbering down a road at 12mph.

My intake has been fairly steady, between 1200 and 1400 calories per day. I'm exercising six days a week from 45 to 60 minutes each day.

The sodium count the last couple days was a real eye-opener, and I was able to slash that number in half yesterday.

The way I interpret today's quote is that not losing weight during training [negative] is something I should accept. Losing weight during training [positive] ain't gonna happen.

Just knowing that's the way it was before is making it easier for me to accept it now. And I'm not even one week into training! This is the lightest week of the schedule, fewer miles than what I've been doing on my own. There's no reason I have to accept the reality of not being able to shed pounds preparing for another half.

What I do have to do is be much more vigilant about food. My nutritional analysis says I'm not getting enough protein [only about 80gm/day] and I'm getting too much fat [slightly less than 60gm/day, which is more than I'd like]. Carbs have gone through the roof, but they're good carbs. Heh.

I want to break free of the commonly held theory that losing weight during training is not just hard, but impossible. This may be the beginning of Bloody Head Syndrome, and if you think it is I hope you'll keep your thoughts to yourself. I need cheerleaders! Bands! Pep squads!

And you do, too. Isn't that why we're all here, tap-tap-tapping away, sending these messages out into the world with the hope that someone on the other end will see it, read it, get it?

What negative belief have you accepted for your life? More importantly, what unrealistic expectation are you willing to turn upside down? Let's make it happen!

One more quote this morning:

I'm not worthy!
Mike Myers as Wayne in Wayne's World

Grumpy Chair left a comment for Wendy yesterday in which she said when she doesn't feel like working out she thinks of three people: Wendy, Laura and me.

I sooooooo don't deserve that, especially after yesterday. I did my pyramid weight routine, and also did some bench moves, but when I got on the rowing machine I only lasted six pathetic minutes. SIX! I think my arms were just so plumb tuckered out [that's Southern-speak] from the lifting that I couldn't pull that rope any longer. I even tried reducing the resistance to make it a little less challenging. No go.

Next rest day I'll have to break up my workout sessions – maybe do the weights early and the rowing later in the day. At any rate, thanks to GC for putting me in such good company, but I really don't qualify.