Friday, April 4, 2014

Oh, There's Change a-Comin': More on Weight Stats

So I still "owe you" a couple of race recaps, and I will get to that, but that's not what I want to write about today.  It's my blog and I can write what I want... and this writing thing is intended to be helping me reach my goals, not just providing an account of every race I participate in... right? 

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of change on the work front, and I've implemented a couple of new strategies on the fitness front as well. 

First, the work stuff:  I've alluded to some big changes ahead in previous posts over the past few months, and I'm finally able to share publicly - my new firm (which I joined just a short 14 months ago) has been acquired/merged with another, national firm.  No need to go into names here, but it's the first national firm to set up shop in our community (something that I have had a professional curiosity about for 15 years... why the hell don't we have any major accounting firms with a presence in Blo-No?  What is the entry barrier?  It's a large enough community, lots of local and national businesses here and TONS of public sector work to be had... I guess we'll find out.)  As I've talked about all the uncertainty at work recently, this is what that was about.  We were told back in NOVEMBER that the firm was in negotiations for the sale, but due to legal obligations, due diligence, and a whole lot of non-accounting stuff that I don't care to understand, it wasn't public information (and then it was public informaiton but it was all a little unclear...) suffice to say I didn't feel comfortable discussing it until The Transaction was completed. Some of my coworkers "didn't make the transition" [translation:  were let go, though in a few cases, they didn't want to work for the new firm and chose to quit] but I made the cut and so did most of my team.   But November to April is a Looooong time to not be sure what the future of your job and your career may be. 

There are many questions still to answer, and about a dozen new computer programs I need to learn to use and it looks like my team will grow from 3 auditors to about 20 so there are a lot of new names and faces to learn and hopefully a lot of new clients, too!  But I'm looking forward to taking on a new role and being able to provide my clients with better quality and a larger range of services with the level of resources that a larger firm can offer.  I think it's going to be a very good thing in the long term. 

Okay, enough boring accounting stuff.  On to the fitness stuff!

In a recent post, I wrote:
As I've said, it's been a pretty good run (hahaha, get it?) for exercise during recent weeks, and a mixed bag on the nutrition side of the equation, so it won't surprise you that the scale has had this to say:
  • March 1 - down 0.8 to 184.8
  • March 8 - up 1.6 to 186.4
  • March 16 - down 0.6 to 185.8
Overall, up one pound.  I have some more to say about this, but this post is plenty long, I'll leave it to next time.

So the thing is, my weight has been STUCK.  For quite a while, actually.  Here's a chart of my weight over the past year: 
I know:  not the right direction at ALL.

And over the past 3 months:
 
This looks pretty dramatic until you check the scale:  it's a high of 187 and a low of 184.6 - three months in the neighborhood of 185.

I did some research, read up on calorie intake and lots of other factors, realizing that what I am doing, what had been working for me initially, is no longer working.  I may not need to dramatically change everything - in fact, that's probably a terrible idea, but something needs to change.  If what I want is to lose weight in a healthy way, and my current routine is not accomplishing that, something about that routine must change.

Start Small:
I decided to try INCREASING my caloric intake to see if that shakes things up a bit.  Perhaps I've not been eating ENOUGH?  My previous calorie allowance on LoseIt! was about 1,450.  I increased that to about 1,600.  Not terribly dramatic, but from what I read, it may be enough.  After this change, my weight did this:
  • March 2 - new plan set
  • March 9 - up 1.6 lbs
  • March 16 - down 0.6 lbs
  • March 23 - up 1.6 lbs
  • March 30 - down 1.4 lbs
Overall, UP 1.2 lbs in a month.  I have another weigh-in this weekend and we'll see if maybe I'm back where I started...

Of course there are many factors in those numbers - some weeks were "better" food-weeks or exercise-weeks than others, I had a big anniversary weekend in there, water fluctuations due to exercise, etc., but that initial gain has perhaps begun to turn itself around.  I'm going to ride this out for a few weeks to let it play out. 

The other change I made was that I ordered a BodyMedia Fit Link armband.  (Got it about half-price on eBay if you're interested.)  Slightly used, I anxiously awaited its arrival in the mail so I could see what "slightly used" really means.  It's fine and had no visible scratches... everything worked and synched up to my computer right away, and I even got the first three months on the web site free, as if I'd purchased it brand new.  You know I'm a total techie-geek and when it comes to fitness gadgets well, I'll just admit that it was time for me to get a new toy.




I also decided to dig up my Garmin heart rate monitor (which syncs up with the armband system) and start using that during workouts.  (MORE DATA!)

Lastly, I suddenly realized I could order a USED copy of the Total Heart Rate Training book on Amazon or on eBay!  Duh.  Why didn't I think of that before? (The book came highly recommended to me ages ago but I've never found it in the local bookstores or library where I could check it out and decide whether it was worth buying.) I ordered it from Amazon - got it for "$0.05 plus shipping", AKA $4.50.  At that price, even if I don't find it terribly useful, I can live with the purchase price.

I'm TRYING to get my head around this thing.  What I have BEEN doing, what was WORKING for me for a couple of years, seems to NO LONGER WORK.  I need to make some changes in the exercise and / or nutrition areas in order to get my body responding in the way that I want.

Is this post long enough?  Yes, I belive it is... So there you have it - my thoughts and my current plan of attack.  I think a review of the armband is probably in my future, but certainly not today.  Have a good weekend, all!

2 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Love the blog.
    I've found good suggestions in comments sections. For your readers, here's 4 of mine.
    I'd try Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live plan.(Can't hurt). It is nutritionally balanced so cravings, hunger disappear, and cheating is easy to work in and out of on it.
    Seriously consider private farm produce or the farmer's markets' locally grown pesticide-protected plants and animals. Those chemicals change cells and their functionality, hence cravings, moods, and hunger..

    I get a full metabolic screening periodically but seemingly SUDDENLY I now have hypothyroidism. It turns out that the "number" for the "TSH" has been revised due to recent medical discoveries via technology and I really need to ramp that number down, and it is HARD TO DO.So if it's been a year or more since your metabolic workups, or if you have a doctor that doesn't keep up, consider a review of your numbers yourself. That gland's hormone CHANGES the functions of: EYES and SKIN, dictates iron absorption/deletion, and so goes the cravings. It is an interesting gland. Consider D3, Iodine and selenium intake, since these are essential to cellular function and really cannot be got except in gel tabs, drops and brazil nuts respectively.
    Keep in mind that medical technology upgrades physiology as fast as Apple changes ios. Keep up the fight/ dance!

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