Finding what works

Is truly harder than it sounds. I gave WW a good go, but I found a couple of things I suspected would happen. First, I got hungry. Whenever I stuck to my points, I got hungry. By the third or fourth day, I would be using my weekly points fairly significantly. Last week by Wednesday I had no weekly points left. And I did not go crazy at all. So that was a problem. Then there is the whole issue of what to eat. I wanted to try to eat typical food, sandwiches, etc. as those kind of things are fairly low in points. But I felt bloated. Wednesday and Thursday I actually felt like I was pregnant, my stomach was so large. I hate that feeling more than anything. So I decided I needed a change.

I had purchased the AltShift book back in September. When I bought it, I read it through, but then decided not to follow it for whatever reason. I'm guessing laziness but I could be wrong. Anyway, after feeling like a huge, blimp for a couple of days, I decided to give it a try. I really did like Paleo when I did it, so I thought this might work for me. I get tired doing the same thing over and over and over. This program calls for switching between high fat/low fat, higher carbs/lower carbs. Maybe it will keep me from getting bored if I can switch things up. Some days have rice/potatoes, some days avoid them. I'm hoping it will keep me interested and on track.

So I started yesterday and I have to say, I felt good. I ate - a lot - and I did not feel super bloated. I am still feeling a little bloated because of all the carbs I'd been eating on WW, but it is starting to abate. It will probably take a day or so, I'm okay with that as long as it doesn't get worse.

The entire point of writing this post was to try and work out if I want to go to WW. I have paid in advance, so I thought I'd go and use up what I paid for. But I have managed to drag things out for over an hour and now it's too late. If I leave right this second, I can still make it but I'm not dressed. So I guess there is my decision.

One of the things I get obsessive about, and I've talked about this before, is the numbers. How low can I go. How little can I get away with. I think I've broken through that thinking, I think I proved that with WW. So I think I can handle this now. At least I'm going to give it a good try. I will track to try and keep the calories up.

One last thing before I go. I am no longer working on my Ph.D. - at least for the moment - so I have no reason to spend most of my day sitting in this chair. I will not spend hours sitting here today. I have things I wish to do and I am going to do them.

Later that same morning: I finally got moving and did couch to 5k week 1 day 1. Ran at 4 mph for the first 4 rounds. Rounds 5 & 6 I upped it to 4.5 mph. For the final 2 rounds, I upped it again to 5 mph. Not only did I survive, but in many ways running faster felt better than running slower. Interesting. So 30 minutes and 1.58 miles. Not record breaking, but a fabulous start. Side note: my back did not hurt at all the entire time. On the final cooldown walk I felt a couple of twinges, but otherwise nothing. Yeah!!!