Sorry it's late

I started this a few days ago and at this "late" hour of 9pm on Sunday, I'm deciding to post it as is . . . because I don't post often enough.  :-) 

 

I cannot believe there is only one week left of November (well, one week and a half a handful of days).  We are not going anywhere for Thanksgiving.  We normally go to my sister's house, but not this year.  I actually see my sister regularly, so I'm not too bummed. We did a lot of outside socializing this summer, and just did pedicures last weekend.  

WA is under new restrictions, mostly just restaurants and bars and gyms closed again, but they are strongly advising us not to get together for Thanksgiving.  When I was younger, Thanksgiving was a big holiday.  We lived only a few miles from my grandma, but we'd still spend the day there eating.  When I moved to western WA I quit going over there (I did one year and was stuck in traffic forever), and then my Grandma died and my Mom got tired of being the only  one to cook (and clean) so my family started going out on Thanksgiving and it's just not fun doing it that way.  There were a couple years that we had some young people living with us (they were a brother and sister that were homeless) and we started doing big Thanksgiving dinners with them and inviting their friends, but when they moved out they gradually quit talking to us.  Now we rarely see them, which is sad, because they had become part of our family.  

I am still running.  My ankle is feeling good, and I am on track to run more miles this week more than any week since August.  Maddox has been going to the Boys and Girls Club for remote learning, but this week an employee tested positive so they closed it all.  I think it's strange since I thought they were in "pods" in case someone tested positive and only that pod would be quarantined.  According to the letter sent home, Maddox was not in direct contact and we don't have to quarantine, but they are all closed.  So we did some P.E. by doing a 2 mile run/bike ride.

Do some research

 Well, I have not been very impressed with my personal trainer.  I told her that my key problem was accountability with food, and I've had zero support from her on this.  I did ask her about macros and such, she had originally told me to eat 80% protein, which I have been trying, but myfitnesspal breaks it down to fats, protein, and carbs, and my fats have been a huge percentage, but most of them are coming from the protein I'm eating.  So I asked her about that, and she thought what I was eating was fine, but it's so hard to know.  The workouts are super easy, and not very challenging.  Last week I was a little sore, but not bad.  And she said that these are the workouts (exactly the same) that I'll be doing for the next 4 weeks.

I did lose weight last week, but I would not attribute it to her.  I do not think that she has done enough for the money I've paid her.  I am not great at advocating for myself, so the idea of talking to her about my unhappiness with her program is very, very uncomfortable to me.  I keep thinking that maybe I'll just do this thing and use the money as motivation even if she is not actually helpful.  

I don't know if it's because I've been doing this whole lose weight/exercise thing for a long time.  I know what I'm supposed to eat, I know how many calories I should be eating, and I've been exercising for a long time.  Hell, I have a 2+ year runstreak, so obviously I'm disciplined to a point. I think she is geared towards newbies, people that don't know what they're doing, and don't know what to eat.  

It often takes me a long time to decide to do something.  I think about it a lot.  And then I decide to do it, but I don't do much research on my options.  I did this with my graduate program.  I decided to go to school, and chose the easiest, most convenient school, and I've regretted it.  Same with this, I've been thinking about finding a personal trainer, but didn't know where to find one.  So this one sort of fell into my lap, and I jumped at it.  I should have researched it further.

This last weekend on Saturday, I ran 3 miles, the longest run since Sept. 27 (a 3 mile run).  I then went and ran 2 miles on Sunday.  I was a little worried about my foot, but it is fine.  I haven't had any issues with it at all.  

2 years

 Is anyone else done watching the news?  I feel burned out on it, but at the same time, can't seem to stay away.  Since our election was 2 days ago, it's been a shit show here in America.  I can't imagine things getting better before the end of the year.  (I think I have one person from outside of the US that reads this, so even though we voted this week, the next president [or current one if he wins again] doesn't take office until Jan. 20.)  I don't see any relief from this stupid political crap before than.  We don't even know who is going to be president, and we likely won't know until December.  It's ridiculous.  As I type I have the Today Show on my TV watching them speculate on the election, even though they know nothing more than they did yesterday.  🤦‍♀️

Anyway, I have big news.  I reached 2 years of running at least a mile a day on October 31st.  

Saturday was such a pretty day.  I was so happy to have such a nice day to do 2 miles outside.  I wished I could have run 7.31 miles (for 731 days) or even spelled out 731, but because of my ankle I've only been running 1 mile, and there's no way I could have run that far.  But I did run my favorite areas, along the river, and then on the trail that always has really glorious fall leaves on it (a paved trail).  Fall running is my favorite type of running.  The weather is often nice (unless it's raining, and it does rain), and the leaves and feel of the air, just make it my favorite time to run.  And of course, I'm stuck on the treadmill.  

With my ankle, I had been planning on stopping on November 1st, but I just couldn't do it.  I know it's so silly to only be running one mile a day on my treadmill, but my ankle has been doing better, it's definitely not worse, and I'm not ready to stop.  So today (after I run) will be day 736.  

Also, I decided to hire a personal trainer.  I have been getting no where with my weight loss, still holding onto 15 lbs over my ideal weight (10 since COVID).  I was thinking about what would motivate me . . . 

My sister did 30/10, and paid $3000 to starve, but she got down to 126 (I would love that, but I'm not going to get that low, I won't give up wine completely).  She talked about the money, and how she wasn't going to waste $3000, and because of that, she's kept it off almost 2 years. (She gained a little, she's probably in the low 130's, but that's still amazing.)  I don't have $3000, and don't want to starve, so decided I can't do that one.

Then I heard about the controversy about All In by Teddi.  Teddi is a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills (or was until this controversy came out and she was fired, besides she was boring) and is the daughter of John Mellencamp.  I watch the Real Housewives of everywhere (it's stupid, I know, I still love Bravo [the channel]).  So All In by Teddi is a weight loss/accountability program but this summer/fall it came out that #1 it's very expensive and #2 it's abusive.  The people have an accountability coach, and they have to text pictures of what they're about to eat and get permission for it.  They are required to do intensive exercise for an hour every day, and text their coach the proof.  And if they don't lose weight they have to pay the program because they (the person, not the program) failed for that week.  Also, the reports were that the "coaches" were untrained, and very abusive.  Also, people reported that they were only allowed to eat about 900 calories a day, and even after complaining they were starving, the "coaches" would tell them to drink more water with lemon.  

Alright, so I wasn't interested in All In, I didn't want to pay money if I didn't succeed, but I liked the idea of accountability.  So I started taking pictures of everything I ate, even though I track, I was still wondering if that would be useful (it wasn't).  I also started taking regular "progress" pictures (one a week), that was also not useful.

So, what motivates me?  When I was marathon training it was the idea of going farther than I've ever gone before on my long runs.  And the fact that I heard a lot of people gain weight when they marathon train, so I decided I can't eat a lot, I don't want to gain weight.  And I lost weight.  But I can't marathon train right now, and I have already hit all those miles anyway.  

So I thought that money might motivate me.  If I am paying someone to help me, do I want to screw off and give up?  Not really.  And then a random person requested to friend me on Facebook, and I was looking at her profile and she is a personal trainer, so I messaged her.  After some talking about it, I decided to hire her.  This is my first week.  She's in Nebraska (I'm in Washington) so it's all virtual, and so far . . . ehhh.  I told her multiple times that what I'm really looking for is accountability, but I haven't really received support for that this week.  We met for one session online, she gave me 2 strength training workouts for the rest of the week, and that's all I've had from her.  Oh, I guess she gave me some recipes, but nothing I would eat. So I don't know.  But I paid her.  We shall see.

I knew last week that I was starting with her this week, so I ate.  I had the mindset that I'm starting next week so why not?  It's so silly.  I am of the mind that you don't have to start on Monday, on the first day of the month, on Jan. 1st, start where you are.  But I easily went into the mode of "I start on Monday."  My motivation right now is that I paid money to lose weight, so I better damn lose weight, and that's on me, not her.