Day 413: Trying To Be Better
"I am in competition with no one. I
have no desire to play the game of being
better than anyone. I am simply
trying to be better than the person I
was yesterday."
The day I decided it was time to address my weight I wasn't thinking about competing with anyone and I never thought of myself as being better than anyone else. I just knew I had to get serious and stop killing myself with food. If I wanted a better life it was up to me to make that happen. No one was going to swoop in and do that for me. When I started working on getting more fit there was no thought of competition there either. I knew exercise was necessary to speed up the weight loss and heal some of the damage I'd done to my body over the years. My entire focus was on improving myself and I've never measured my progress against anyone else. As far as I'm concerned my only competition is me. Every day I look in the mirror and tell myself I can do more or I can do better. There is always room for improvement in some aspect of your life. I don't measure my weight loss against anyone else, whether comparing # of pounds lost or the time it's taking. I also don't measure my treadmill workouts against anyone else. Many people speed up the workouts to get a better "score" but the fact is, I could put my treadmill at max speed, sit on the couch while it runs through the workout and then claim the top spot. When you see someone with a speed of 2500 mph you kind of suspect they cheated a bit .. lol ! So the scores mean nothing to me. Just being able to finish some of the really challenging workouts is accomplishment enough for me. Friendly competition is fine but I see a lot of the unhealthy kind in the groups I belong to. I'm just glad to have reached a point in my life where I am happy with myself where I am today. I know what the real accomplishments in my life are. I know what I've overcome. I know how hard it's been. I know how painful it's been. I also know how good it feels. Lots of people have lost more weight than I. Lots of people have lost more in a shorter timeframe. So what ? That doesn't diminish what I've accomplished. Many people are more fit than I. So what ? Considering where I've come from I am doing amazing. So that's how I try to look at life now. I focus on where I am and what I'm doing and don't worry about what anyone else is doing.
Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 160 calorie package of homestyle pancakes with sugar free syrup. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit tiramisu yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 220 calorie spinach & cheese pretzel melt with a chef salad. Dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was a Sargento Balanced Breaks that was hanging around in the fridge. It was 180 calories for a tiny amount of cheddar cheese, golden raisins and cashews. Dinner was a 7.5 ounce 220 calorie chicken fettuccine alfredo that I served over riced cauliflower. I also had the last of my roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.1 ounce 130 calorie cream filled chocolate cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1175 and I got 64 ounces of water in.
Today was a work at home day due to the winter storm warning so during lunch I did a 27 minute interval walk in Costa Rica with John Peel. It was 7 rounds of 1 minute intervals at 3.2 mph with 2 minute recoveries at 2.4 mph. He also threw in a 1 minute jog towards the end at 4 mph. This workout had quite a bit of incline too, so it was no easy stroll. After work it was time to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with Jake Norton. I had been dreading this workout since I read the description last night. Long periods of max incline still gets to me even though I haven't been defeated by a workout in many months. Anyhow, this was a 45 minute workout and about 30 minutes of it was at max incline, which is 10% for me. This was another intervals workout (90 second pushes with 45 second recoveries) and speed ranged from 1.4 mph to 3 mph .. which is not easy at max incline ! I have to say .. it was pretty amazing to reach the summit, even though it was me on a treadmill watching video on my tablet. It's a big achievement because I've made it through 20 workouts that I never thought I'd be able to do. There are 3 workouts left in the series but they are all descents so there is no incline. I will definitely do this series again. Today I logged 2.7 miles, 72 minutes and 475 calories. After dinner I hopped on the Total Gym to work on building some muscle. I spent close to 45 minutes doing various exercises. I've raised the incline on that from 3 to 4 in order to make it a bit more challenging. I definitely feel the difference !
This winter storm turned out to be another dud. It was snowing when I got up at 5:30 but it had stopped by the time I got back up at 7 and we didn't get anywhere near the 6-12 inches they predicted. I'm not complaining but I have to wonder why the forecasting has been so inaccurate this winter. I'm ready for winter to be over ! This afternoon I finally finished setting up my Ring doorbell camera. I haven't attached it to the wall yet - I just have it sitting out on the front porch. I'm amazed at how clear the video feed is when it's dark ! This weekend I'll get it attached to the door frame.
It's been a full day and I'm tired ! Time for a hot shower and my warm cozy bed.
Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 160 calorie package of homestyle pancakes with sugar free syrup. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit tiramisu yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 220 calorie spinach & cheese pretzel melt with a chef salad. Dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was a Sargento Balanced Breaks that was hanging around in the fridge. It was 180 calories for a tiny amount of cheddar cheese, golden raisins and cashews. Dinner was a 7.5 ounce 220 calorie chicken fettuccine alfredo that I served over riced cauliflower. I also had the last of my roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.1 ounce 130 calorie cream filled chocolate cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1175 and I got 64 ounces of water in.
Today was a work at home day due to the winter storm warning so during lunch I did a 27 minute interval walk in Costa Rica with John Peel. It was 7 rounds of 1 minute intervals at 3.2 mph with 2 minute recoveries at 2.4 mph. He also threw in a 1 minute jog towards the end at 4 mph. This workout had quite a bit of incline too, so it was no easy stroll. After work it was time to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with Jake Norton. I had been dreading this workout since I read the description last night. Long periods of max incline still gets to me even though I haven't been defeated by a workout in many months. Anyhow, this was a 45 minute workout and about 30 minutes of it was at max incline, which is 10% for me. This was another intervals workout (90 second pushes with 45 second recoveries) and speed ranged from 1.4 mph to 3 mph .. which is not easy at max incline ! I have to say .. it was pretty amazing to reach the summit, even though it was me on a treadmill watching video on my tablet. It's a big achievement because I've made it through 20 workouts that I never thought I'd be able to do. There are 3 workouts left in the series but they are all descents so there is no incline. I will definitely do this series again. Today I logged 2.7 miles, 72 minutes and 475 calories. After dinner I hopped on the Total Gym to work on building some muscle. I spent close to 45 minutes doing various exercises. I've raised the incline on that from 3 to 4 in order to make it a bit more challenging. I definitely feel the difference !
This winter storm turned out to be another dud. It was snowing when I got up at 5:30 but it had stopped by the time I got back up at 7 and we didn't get anywhere near the 6-12 inches they predicted. I'm not complaining but I have to wonder why the forecasting has been so inaccurate this winter. I'm ready for winter to be over ! This afternoon I finally finished setting up my Ring doorbell camera. I haven't attached it to the wall yet - I just have it sitting out on the front porch. I'm amazed at how clear the video feed is when it's dark ! This weekend I'll get it attached to the door frame.
It's been a full day and I'm tired ! Time for a hot shower and my warm cozy bed.
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