Hot 100 Update

Time to check in on the progress of my Hot 100 challenge! Actually, I'm not sure if we are to update today or tomorrow, but I've got the time this morning so I'm weighing in.

Not literally, because I can't trust my wonky bathroom scale anymore (the one that erroneously said I gained 54 pounds over the summer -- die, SOD, die).

But a quick look-see at how I'm doing:

Goal #1: I'm still sticking with the running, although it's been truncated this week due to nasty weather, a bad knee and foot, and yet another effing cold (just a small one, thank goodness). My knee has been sore all week still, but I gently pushed through it, aggressively iced the knees (not frosting Peridot!) and took some anti-inflammatory ibuprofen. The foot problem came from new shoes that I bought -- cross-training shoes to run and walk in! Yay!

Except the shoes gave me big blisters and a serious sharp pain under my toe as I walked. Upon reflection, I'm going to have to keep my big Frankenstein walking shoes for walking to/from work, and carry the running shoes with me for the moments I'm on the treadmill.

To that end, I bought myself a new backpack to haul my extra stuff around. Funny how one purchase always leads to another. But it's been great so far, and in a weird way, it helps me to stick to my plan. You bought it, you better use it, right?

Goal # 2: Eat weight-loss portions at every meal: wow, I'm pleased to say that this has been going pretty well. Yay! It's not easy for me, but I've really been focusing hard on keeping it small, eating slowly and spacing my meals out better. I have stuck to my usual 300 to 400 calorie breakfast, but added a small portion of fruit later in the morning, a bigger lunch -- about 600 calories -- but broken into two meals. One about 1pm, another one about 3 or 4pm. This has helped me stave off my usual 5pm blood sugar drop, but to be extra sure, and to power my evening workout, I've taken to eating a handful of chopped walnuts and some fruit (actually prunes this week!) before I leave work.

In turn, I do believe this has helped me tone down the overeating at night. I get home hungry for dinner, but not wolfishly ravenous. We have lightened up on the carbs at night -- even though we always ate healthy quinoa instead of rice/cous cous, it's still a carb and all too tempting to load up on it.

Goal # 3: Lose 25 lbs. So, I have no actual proof on this one, but I believe I'm on my way. Because of my idiot scale, I have to weigh at my gym, and since I'm rarely there in the mornings now the only time I can weigh myself is at night, obviously not the ideal time. Sometimes when I change things up and start working out a little harder, I show a stall or a gain on the scale -- usually just for four or five days, and then it will drop. But if I get on now, it very likely won't have budged, and that depresses me. Right now I'm going to stick to holding to my good habits and get on the scale in the next few days.

In other news, I'm very unhappy at having a niggling cold again. What is it about me that makes me so prone to these things? They always start out the same -- ear ache, then soreness in the throat on that side, then pain in the lung and some congestion, then a few days of sinus problems. It always starts on the right side and spreads -- although this one is holding firm on the right side b/c it's very light.

Is it possible that my weight loss efforts are making me more prone to colds? I eat a ton of fruit, but maybe I need to add multivitamins or more vitamin C.... I've taken to throwing Arame seafood into my dinner, surely that will help too. In anycase, boosting the immune system is my shadow Hot 100 goal!

This weekend I plan to spend time checking out everyone else's Hot 100 blogs. Let's go Hotties!