I walked 34 miles last week - so I entered this week feeling good. I walked 6 miles Thursday at 4 mph, then walked 12 miles Saturday and 10 miles Sunday. I took Monday off (and I'll admit it - drank WAY too much beer) but was back to walking yesterday and added 5.33 miles to my tally.
So why did I gain three pounds this week?!?
I have a few theories:
1. Got a visitor yesterday. Sometimes I just hate guests!
2. I'm having some digestion issues - and haven't been able to get rid of them in a couple of days. But I'm hoping the oatmeal I'm eating right now does the trick!
3. Too many euphemisms can actually add to your overall weight.
4. I can feel the water retention (see number 1). Seriously, I know my potty habits and they are a bit off. I drank 40 ounces on my walk last night and have barely peed since. It was in the upper 70s so I didn't sweat it out!
And finally, it might be because of a little experiment I've been conducting all week ...
5. I took a break from counting calories.
Did your eyebrows shoot into your hairline? Is the look on your face best described as "shock and awe?" Well, before you think I've lost my mind, let me explain the experiment.
I've decided I might be leaning on SparkPeople.com too much for my weight loss. This is about making educated decisions when it comes to food. Not eating something at dinner because of what I ate at lunch, you know? But does that mean I will always have to calculate the calories I consumed after every meal? I hope not. Since starting 50n50, I have gained a lot of knowledge about the foods I eat. I can usually look at a meal and tell you how many calories are in it. So, applying my new-found skills, I decided to go the week without counting my calories. I focused on making good choices and just eating healthy. I did, however, write everything down so that I could go back and analyze my decisions.
Remember this from elementary school?
MY SCIENCE DIET
Purpose: Do I still need to count calories to continue losing weight?
Research: I have been counting my calories for 9 months now. I have a food routine, bad foods don't live in my house, and I know to look up new foods (like last night's dipped cone from Dairy Queen - a child's size has 190 calories!) before eating them.
Hypothesis: Surely, I am ready to make the proper food choices without tracking every calorie, every day.
Experiment: Stop tracking calories. Only look up new foods in order to make an educated decision. Write everything down and analyze the data on July 7 (today).
Analysis:
Wed: 1522; 222 over goal
Thurs: 893; 407 under goal
Fri: 1357; 57 over goal
Sat: 1396; 96 over goal
Sun: 2340; 840 over goal (Holiday - 1500 calorie day)
Mon: 1104; 196 under goal
Tues: 1532; 232 over goal
Weekly total: 10144; 644 over goal
Conclusion: My hypothesis was NOT correct. I am not ready to do this without counting calories. Because I allow myself 1300 calories a day during the week and occasionally give myself 1500 on weekend days, I should not have eaten more than 9500 calories last week (the week before I ate 9301). And I ate 10144. The amount of exercise is irrelevant since it is a constant variable that applies with the controlled calories (I've walked more than 100 miles in the past month!).
Admittedly, this does not account for 3 pounds of weight gain (to lose a pound you must burn 3500 extra calories, so to gain you must consume that much). There are other variables to consider, as mentioned above: water retention, digestion, monthly munchies, July 4th holiday. But these are all normal in our lives and something I need to learn to work around.
I can almost guarantee that I made better choices this week than I would have a year ago. And, looking over the data the extra 600 calories can be easily explained: 3 Schlitz beers, two glasses of wine and half a Magic Hat.
So, there you have it. Weigh Day showed me at 159 - a gain of 3 pounds. Perhaps one day (hopefully soon!) I won't have to count my calories, but something tells me it's important to fall back on it during holidays, menstruation, and alcoholic binging.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to log my breakfast calories. :-P
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