A Saturday weigh-in

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For all of February, I had been hovering between 76 and 77 kg. Ever since the year started, my weight loss has really slowed down. While I hadn’t been doing as well with food as I used to, I also didn’t do that badly. And I was definitely not slacking off with the exercise. There was less running, but I did the 30 Day Shred and Zumba.

My last weigh-in was a particularly frustrating one. I had been down 0.5 kg on Tuesday – completely undeserved really after the Saturday I’d had, consuming roughly three times my daily calories in food and alcohol – but I had lost 0.5 kg. Wednesday, I was up 0.5 kg from Tuesday, putting me at the exact same weight as the week before. So I logged it. Thursday, I was down 0.4 kg again. Worst timing ever, right?

I also realized that I had had some food that was quite high in sodium on Monday and Tuesday, and I knew that Wednesday’s high was probably due to water retention. I decided to stay away from sodium for this entire week, from Wednesday to my next weigh-in on Wednesday to keep this from happening again. I do think I am quite prone to gaining weight when I eat sodium-rich food so I usually avoid eating out and ready-made meals for 2–3 days before my weigh-in.

I have to admit that I weigh myself nearly every day. I only log Wednesdays but I weigh myself almost daily, and some days even twice, in the morning and evening. I think that as long as I don’t go mental over it, it’s okay, and it gives me a good idea of how my body is working, how it reacts to exercise and certain foods. But of course, this week was incredibly frustrating.

Friday, I was down even more from Thursday, and today, I was down a whopping 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) from only three (!) days ago. I always log Wednesdays but I decided to make an exception this time and log today’s weight as well. I know that I am risking a gain between today and Wednesday or staying the same (especially with TOM due next week), but seeing this morning’s weight on the scale gave me such a boost.

I am 75.1 kg now – only 0.2 kg from my next mini goal of weighing under 75 kg which I really hope to reach either this upcoming Wednesday or the Wednesday after that, at which point I will have less than 10 kg left to lose.

I am also only 2.9 kg from a BMI under 25. My current BMI is 25.99. You have no idea what it means to see that 25. I am so close to being normal weight now, it seems almost unreal.

It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since I went off the Metformin and having a small gain of 0.3 kg the first week off meds, and no change the second week had me a little disheartened. I know that I am much healthier now than I was in August last year but I will not know for sure whether I have kicked the insulin resistance until August when I take an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to check my insulin levels.

Until then, I am pretty much relying on my ability to lose weight without Metformin as an indicator of my health. Today’s weigh-in showed me that I can lose weight, and a decent amount of it too, without the Metformin, and I feel so much more confident now that I will be able to keep this up and reach my goal weight.

And just like that it’s spring

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I went for a run today. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve decided to get into a running routine again, and I started today. As I’ve only done a few runs in the past 2 months, I started again with week 1 of Jane Wake’s 10K running plan, skipping the first two runs and going straight to the last run of week 1. The last run of the week is always the longest and I wanted to make the best of getting to run on a Saturday afternoon in gorgeous weather.

It was 12C outside so I wore capri running pants and a t-shirt for my run. It was so nice not to have to bundle up for this run. It really felt like it was spring for the first time this year. Let’s just hope it sticks around. I wouldn’t mind if we were done with snow and ice until November or December.

I really like this picture. Sometimes I need to see a picture of myself to see how much my body has changed. I feel like I actually look like a runner now. I never did before. I still want to slim down a bit more but I’m quite happy with where I am already.

On my run, I met another runner who made me wonder if he was running in an alternate universe, being that he was dressed up for temperatures roughly 10-20 degrees colder than it was. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, pants, gloves, and a hat. All I could think was, how is he not dying bundled up like that when running in 12C weather?

I ran a route that I hadn’t run in a while, though I realize now that it’s actually probably the best of all the routes I have run so far as it’s almost completely flat and longer than others. The lovely scenery is another plus. Such a shame though that there are no lights along the road so I can only run it while it’s light out – a problem everywhere in this area as soon as you leave the town.

I stopped to take pictures a few times along the way because it was too beautiful not to. I will have plenty of serious runs with no breaks in the evenings when it is too dark to take pictures anyway. I still ran a pretty good pace during the running interval and I am positive that my running will benefit immensely from the strength workouts I did during the 30 Day Shred. I should definitely keep up the strength workouts to work on my posture and pace. I think I will manage a sub 35 5k pretty soon.

It was so beautiful today, and I cannot wait for when it is light out again in the evenings. Should be as soon as next month when we switch to summer time. I am looking forward to running outside the town again and discovering more running routes this year.

It was definitely a great run. Aside from the other runner, I also met a Nordic walking group. A few weeks ago, I met a running group while going to the grocery store, so there seem to be a few runners in the area. I prefer running by myself, but I always get terribly excited when I see other runners here.