From alpha testing to the QUERCUS 200

I know that not drinking was a choice you made and felt strongly about, so I hope you don't mind if I say that I'm almost happy that it was a negative experience. You know how to refrain, so you'll do it again. Sometimes we have to be reminded in life that our original decisions were good ones, even if we weren't overtly doubting them.

I hope that whatever it was that led you to old coping mechanisms is fixable or soothable.
 
Thanks LaMa!

Thanks cate! I got home last night I am pleased to report.

Thanks Jade! It wasn't so much a quick realization as a conscious decision. Like "Hey, I think I'll whip out the old coping mechanisms. They always sucked.". It sounds less award worthy in that light.

Thank you Oaks! I'm working on it, but change stresses me out too so it is a double edged sword. One edge being snack foods :lurk5: and the other one a nice Malbec :beerchug:.
 
Change can certainly be stressful that's for sure. Some changes can be good things (or at least you think they will be), but it's still always stressful till you know that it works out.
 
I think you are a bit hard on yourself. The level of introspection that you have been doing in order to make some healthy changes and lose a significant amount of weight are things that many people avoid like the plague. People don't tend to want too look to closely within themselves for fear of what they will find.

I think the time where our comfort zones are no longer totally comfy, but the new zone is still well...new, can be very unsettling. At least it is that way for me. Oh I wish chocolate chip cookies made me feel unsettled! :biggrinjester:

Hope you and Mrs. Q. had a lovely Valentine's Day!
 
I'm trying to hold it together Mystic and stay positive.

I am too hard on myself Jade. I have come a long way in being more positive as I've made changes, but now that I am reverting in some bad habits the negativity has come back too. I'm getting back on track though. We don't do Valentine's Jade, but we had a wonderful, if tiring, Saturday.

So catch up time.

Friday Day 79 2 miles 20:29 indoor track

Saturday Day 80 1.25 miles 18:01 Recovery run following hours of trail making in our woods.

Sunday Day 81 3.1 miles (5K) 32:13 indoor track

I have successfully avoided alcohol as planned. I did better, but not great with food this weekend. I am going to eat 2,000 calories starting today until the end of February. I will figure out the calories I need to have when i have a chance to run the body weight simulator, but the online calculators both have an average reduction of around a 15% in the calories needed at 333 vs. 263. A 15% reduction from 2,300 is 1,955. I think 2,000 is reasonable.

2 schools of thought:

1. I shouldn't be reducing my calories when I'm not even making the previous goal.

2. You are already going to be struggling with getting back to calories so set the new goal and not have to go through it twice.

A compromise would be to hit 2,300 for a few days and then reduce by 50 every couple of days. I think I will try 2,000 today and adjust if needed.
 
Glad you and Mrs Q had a lovely Non-Valentine, I´m guessing that helps to get back on track. About the calorie-reduction: I haven´t got any right to speak right now but I´m pretty sure you´ll adapt to 2000kcal in a couple of days. Going from a lot to something sensible is a bit of a change anyway and then to cut it by quite a bit right after that sounds harder than one proper cut.

All the best!
 
The calorie thing is always hard. When I have been off track sometimes I think I should just try for maintenance because at least then I wouldn't be doing any damage, and yet I really want to lose weight and get there as quick as I can so I don't really want to eat at maintenance. It's tough. Slowly backing your way down sounds like it could be a good plan.
I think that you staying so well on track with your running should help you get back on track because you do have one aspect of your weight loss on track so you aren't completely off the wagon.
 
I think I want to attempt what LaMa supports and failing at that make into what Mystic is proposing. That way I have two ways to succeed and consequently two chances not to screw up.

I did the NIH body weight modelling at lunch and my calorie goal is really aggressive. That matches the 2,300 target at 333. I set my calories aggressively with the idea that I would sometimes underestimate and sometimes overeat. That worked well for me until now so I will give 2,000 a real go. I have 700 calories left. The normal 1,000 left allowed for a snack before running and a full sized dinner. I guess I ate my normal amount for the first part of the day so I am in need of reducing my late afternoon snack and/or my dinner.
 
Okay so I made it through day 1 of 2,000 calories and it wasn't too bad.

Yesterday's run
Day 82
2 miles
19:13
A respectable time since I wasn't pushing too hard. My stomach was growling and I was pretty beat afterwards, but that's just part of adapting to approprite calories. I will be sticking with 2,000 calories adjustment. That doesn't mean that I can't decide the calories are wrong for me, but I will stick with it for at least the rest of the month to see how my body adapts.

At 265.4 this morning I am 2 pounds above my lowest weight. Considering that is within weight fluctuation, I hope that means I will be heading to the 250s by the end of the month, but time is running short. If I don't make it will be because I overate earlier this month.

With 2,000 calories and running every day I am doing everything I can to complete my weightloss. Yesterday was day 1 of doing everything I can until it's done. That is my expectation of myself from this point forward. I'm ready to learn how to maintain my weight, but there is a lot left to lose before that can happen. This isn't impatience it's a commitment to perserverance.

Here's to day 2 of x. Where x equal the number of days until the scale reads 199.0.
 
We don't do Valentine's
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You people are my heroes. They need to launch that holiday directly into the sun.

Despite the recent slip ups, you're doing fantastic Q. You've reached a weird point where the novelty of all of this has nearly completely worn off, but you still feel like you have a long way to go. We can take our successes for granted at this point, which isn't such a bad thing as long as it helps with the motivation.

199 doesn't look that far away at this point. You're doing fantastic.
 
Vee, Valentine's day is supposed to be in honor of Saint Valentine whose a Roman Catholic saint from the 200s. Chaucer romanticized the saint (Wait can you romanticize a Roman?) more than a THOUSAND years later. Now I have shown that I know more than most people that celebrate it. Just like no one will ever convince me that Canterbury Tales has any modern literary value, no one is going to convince me that celebrating a fictitious story about a catholic saint is necessary to show my wife that I love her. That and the catty, saccharin, and generally disingenuous behavior it tends to cultivate in some people nauseates me.

You have a way of solidifying my turmoil into a succinct logical statement. I realize that the similarities in our journey make my troubles somewhat transparent to you, but know that I lack that hindsight and benefit a great deal from your analysis.

The irony is that the novelty has indeed worn off, but I am in a very novel place. I'm past the initial push, see what I can do stage and that hasn't happened ever. It's a "when" not "if" and I have to use that fact to motivate myself to have as much control over the "when" as I can. External factors have caused me to falter a bit and that was unsettling. I want to be bulletproof. Nothing can alter my course or resolve. That's not where I am for sure, but the lesson learned is that it isn't where I am headed either. No man is an island. I just have to minimize how I let stress effect me and get back on track as soon as possible when it does.

Thank you Vee!
 
I realize that I was really harsh with my comments on Valentine's day. I want to make it clear that if it is a holiday you enjoy then more power to you and sorry to crap on your day.
 
I totally agree with you about Valentines Day! I love that you say exactly what you think :D I also enjoy (not quite the right word) your insights into your character & think it's good that we get to share them & admire your determination Q. Cheers, Cate.
 
We don't do Valentines Day, either. The 14th was just a random Saturday and on Sunday we went for a spontaneous walk in the snowy park. That walk was way more fun than anything we would have planned in advance.
 
These are my peeps in here! I always feel like such an outcast at work when I get asked about my V day plans at work. I also don't have anyone to talk about my weightloss or running to there either (not that I let it stop me).

Day 2 @ 2,000 calories and I felt like crap. I ate breakfast and lunch early because I was so hungry and so that left me very hungry and with low blood sugar for my run.

I managed 1.5 miles for day 83 in a slow 16:12, but it sucked.

The good news is that dinner was very filling and so I end the day right at 2,000. The push tomorrow is not to eat early. Which I have to leave the house before 6 so fat chance of eating later. My money is on day 3 being easier.

A long-winded aside:

I am quite forgetful so I am trying to write things in a small journal that I keep with me at all times to help out. I already do this for work as that is the only way I'd ever remember to get all the minutia done. I'm currently working simultaneously on 12 projects at different stages for 4 clients with a 13th project for a 5th client happening tomorrow. There is no way I could keep that all straight. No wI need to bring some of that idiot proofing into my personal life. Being organized on a personal level sometimes makes me feel overwhelmed, but when I have increased stress in my life I seem to be more forgetful and disorganized and that is worse than feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have so much tech at my disposal for this, but a notebook doesn't have all the distracting apps, texts, camera, etc. of my phone or laptop so I will adopt the neo-luddite bound fibrous parchment approach (NLBFPA for short). Just kidding, but I have decided to title the lists Notes To Self (NTS) so that when I forget the notebook and have the list on scrap paper it will have a title that lets me or my wife know it's important when I misplace it.
 
Life sounds busy!! Good luck organizing it!
Great job sticking within your calories!
I don't do valentines day either, of course you need a significant other to celebrate it so that might be the hitch in that for me haha.
 
Thanks a lot Mystic! Tell your next date that you don't do Valentine's day. I would have liked to have heard that at least.

Day 84
2 miles
18:51

Had to go to Silsbee again today. Got back close to on time, but i spent a lot of time trudging through mud and thick vegetation and my feet and lower legs are trying to cramp on me. I ate some really good food and drank coconut water and lots of water. 2,000 calories again today. Ate lunch and dinner pretty late, but that means going to bed without being hungry. I am hopeful for a new low tomorrow.

BIG day tomorrow that I really can't talk about right now. If it goes a certain way I won't ever be able to post it, but I'm hopeful it will go my way and I'll have something to share before too long. Wish me luck! Do I believe in luck? Sure I do. Luck is attaining a statistically improbable favorable outcome. So I believe in a very concrete practical luck, but luck none the less.

Good night WLF!
 
Quercus said:
I just have to minimize how I let stress effect me and get back on track as soon as possible when it does.
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Me too Q!

I hope that the statistically improbable favorable outcome comes true!!
 
Good luck!
All that trudging burned a lot of calories I would think! Looks like you are really getting on track with your calories!
 
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