Last Weekly Update of "the Noughties"! (12/31/09)

Happy New Year's Eve!

Wow...hard to believe that we are fast approaching the end of, as Dietgirl calls this past decade, "the Noughties"! (Love that term!) And what a decade it has been for the Opposite Family! Mr. Handsome-and-Handy and I celebrated 10 wedding anniversaries (and hopefully many more to follow!), we discovered the Big Island of Hawaii and made a return to Kauai, we experienced the birth of our two children and their growth into big elementary school kids (Yeay! Done with diapers!), I took a pause in my career to be at home with Things 1 & 2 for several years, I made an unexpected and earlier return to career life than I'd planned, Mr Handsome-and-Handy took a voluntary sojourn from his career to experience the wonderful world of being the at-home parent, and of course, there was my equally unexpected return to health (and discovery of my newbie triathlete alter-ego!) via my mid-life health crisis. What an amazing time it's been!

I've learned so much this year. I think that, health and fitness-wise, Lyn summed it up nicely in her post titled The Resolution Habit, "...this losing weight thing, for me, no longer has a start point or an end point. Eating healthy and exercising just IS. It's an effort I make daily because it is part of who I am. It is an integral part of my life, not an on-again, off-again thing." That is the constant theme I've discovered on the blogs of those who are sustaining a large weight loss: there is no end point. I believe that everyone has some sort of continuous life challenge, a recurring thing that they have to deal with. For me, the quest to achieve a healthy-for-me body weight has always been and will continue to be part of my life challenge. The difference now is that instead of being a burden and a struggle that leaves me feeling helpless and hopeless, it has become something that is transforming me, in more ways than simply physical.

• I've learned that I want my focus to not be solely on reaching my goal weight (which I adjusted this year to a more realistic yet still elusive 165, from the middle-of-"healthy"-BMI-range 143).

• I've learned that I want my focus to be on gaining a more fit body, one that can do all of the crazy, new athletic dreams I have for it. (These dreams are, according to old high school friends, not truly new; they're just a twist on my old tendency to be kind of a show-off. ;-P)

• I've learned that I can trust myself to get back on track when I stray off course.

• I've learned that going to the gym can be fun and interesting, not an embarrassing drudgery...and that I can stick with the gym habit for an entire year (and beyond)! It's become a great tool in my fitness toolkit.

• I've learned that I really enjoy reading and commenting on your blogs, and it gives me a lot of inspiration to be part of the blogging community. Thanks, everyone!
  

So...what's up for 2010? This time last year, I was inwardly groaning and "bah humbugging" at all the talk of "your new year's resolution." (I set one goal for this year, and it wasn't formed at new year's-it was formed after my first 5K.) I think it was my seeing something that wasn't there, an unspoken judgment: "you DO have one, DON'T you, you slacker?" Like it was something you HAD to have. Ugh! Who needs that kind of pressure? So please to NOT read that into my excitement to share with you some of my goals for the upcoming year; not even sure why I'm excited to share these, since they're sort of a continuation of things I was planning to do anyway, but here goes....

• Continue to maintain good health numbers (a1c less than 6.0%; maintain good cholesterol numbers and raise my HDLs; maintain healthy blood pressure) through food, fitness, and medications+supplements prescribed by my doctor.
  

• Reward my fitness efforts by completing 1 race event per quarter. This was such a treat for me in 2009, so I'm going to continue with it in 2010. For Q1, I've signed up for the "Stanford Tree-athlon" at the end of February! It will be my second sprint triathlon, and I'm excited. It's only 8.5 weeks away, so I need to haul myself back to a swimming pool and do my running and spinning more regularly. New thing for me this time: finding a wetsuit. I'm debating making a trek down to the rental place recommended by the event coordinators (about a 40 minute drive) OR trying an online rental place. Being new to wetsuits, I will probably do the former. I should call first, though, and find out how it works well ahead of time. Not sure what will fill Qs 2, 3, and 4 yet. I don't think I'll be moving on to Olympic distance triathlon this year; I feel like I really need more sprint tri experience. I might try running a half-marathon, though. I'd also like to volunteer at an event in 2010, perhaps the Pumpkin Run, and learn more about how the events are coordinated.

• Log 1000 miles of activity this year (activity=walk, run, swim, bike, spin, elliptical, etc.). This goal's purpose is to motivate me during those times when I'm not feeling motivated by an upcoming race, especially when the season winds to a close. I got this idea from the fun I'm having in logging my workouts and seeing the mileage add up. I'm a little scared to even put this out there--1000 miles is kind of intimidating--but with consistent workouts, I can do this.
  

• Go horseback riding; not just any old place, but with Blue Sky Riding Experience. This has to wait until after April, because the horses are off for the winter months. (I've always wanted to ride a Tennessee Walking Horse.)
  

• Knit those 6 caps! (I'll be using the book Knitting for Peace; it has some preemie patterns and advice for knitting them.)
  

Progress This Week

Not sure I'd classify this past week as "making progress"...unless it was progressing through batches of cookies and my sugar-free toffee in a vacuum cleaner-like manner. *cough*. But it was a really wonderful time. We enjoyed Christmas at home...not exactly quiet, with the crack of a Nerf dart launcher cocking and tiny *thwaps* of the Nerf darts hitting the wall; the low muttered grumbling of grown-ups clipping the 5 gazillion wire ties of toys, picking tape out of My Little Pony hair, and assembling Hot Wheels sets before their first cup of coffee; the "grrrr-rrr-rrr" of the "Perry the Platypus" talking plush toy and shrieks of Things 1&2 battling over it (giving new meaning to the label "Boxing Day" on December 26); the begging to HURRY and OPEN this THING I MUST PLAY WITH RIGHT NOW!!! (repeated until all gifts opened and played with); the 50,000th playing of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on whatever Pandora channel we had on (never liked that song, now it's on my "ick list" with Anne Murray's "Christmas in Killarney" and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer")--thank goodness Mr. H&H found the Christmas Island one. What was missing? The flash and camera-catchuk sound of photos being taken...Pubsgal dropped the ball and did not take any pictures on Christmas Day! (I could kick myself for not getting the wide-eyed, pre-present-opening shot. Not like I didn't have time; Thing 1 was up first, and he suggested opening presents later. "Around 2 o'clock." Hee hee! Riiiiight. Oh well.) We drove around and looking at lights in the evenings, had Mr. Handsome-and-Handy's brother's family over for "make your own pizza" dinner, foisted homemade cookies on our neighbors, and went on a "let's give Daddy some quiet time" outing to the park, bookstore, and Jamba Juice. *sigh*...what a holiday!

7-day blood glucose average: 101 (met goal of less than 120) <-I honestly have no idea how this was possible, given my intake. Next month's a1c will be interesting....
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 103 (met goal of less than 120)

Weight goals: Oops. I'm up 2.6 pounds this week.

Food goals:
- Oh heavens. I did not stay within 1000 calories of weekly goal. Not by a long shot. I allowed the holidays to run rampant through my oh-so-careful tracking and consuming efforts. It was like the Cat in the Hat up in here. Guess I'm supplying the "Voom," and it won't tidy things up instantaneously.
- Fiber: I averaged 42 grams fiber/day. (Oh, thank goodness for one accomplished food goal!)

Exercise goals: While I did not meet the 5x30 goal, I did do 4x30.
Total mileage: 11.14 miles (tracked)
- Wednesday: 60 minutes - BodyPump class
- Thursday: Ow...ow...ow. Did nothing. Quads were recovering from back-to-back BodyStep and BodyPump classes.
- Friday: Nothing today, either.
- Saturday: 69 minutes of extremely light stuff - Rode stationary bike for 30 minutes (estimating 2 miles; I went slowly and did not have the bike turned on, but figured something was better than nothing while I was talking on the phone), plus 1.1 mile strolling with the dog.
- Sunday: 30 minutes - Did the donut run (2.37 miles). Bonus activity - Untracked but heart-rate-raising "playout" at the park later in the afternoon, in which I chased The Things all over the play structures.
- Monday: Felt great self-loathing at skipping my gym workout and for eating the rest of the box of sugar-free toffee. On the other hand, it's gone now.
- Tuesday: 56 minutes, 5.67 total miles, mixed bag workout at the gym - 15 minutes, 1.25 miles on the elliptical; 26 minutes, 2.28 miles on the treadmill; 10 minutes, 1.14 mile on the rowing machine; 5:30 minutes, 1 mile on the recumbent bike.

Sleep: I think we actually did get 7 hours/sleep per night. I slept poorly on Christmas Eve, though...to much anticipation!

Monthly Measure:

No changes during the past month. 2009 summary:
bust: +.5 from my lowest point; -1.5 from this time last year.
ribcage: +1.5 from my lowest point; -1 from this time last year.
waist: + .5 from my lowest point; -2.5 from this time last year.
hips: No change; still at my lowest point; -2.5 from this time last year.
thighs: +.5 in both left and right from my lowest point during the year; no change from this time last year.

Given that I'm only 5 pounds less than I was at year end of 2008, I'm interpreting this to mean that I've lost fat and gained muscle throughout my body. Yeay! I will continue to work toward these measurement shrinking in 2010, particularly the waist measurement, as it correlates to heart health.

Goals for Next Week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or make progress toward goal.

Food goals:
Return to tracking calories.
Make sure calories eaten are *worthy*.
Track fiber. Minimum 30 grams fiber/day. (Include both insoluble and soluble sources.)

Exercise goals:
30 minutes of activity 5 days/week. At least one run, one bike, one swim, and one BodyPump.

Misc. goals:
7 or more hours sleep/night.