Saturday Weigh in - 05/05

The cold virus has been playing a never ending game of tag in my house; Usually starting with my hubby, then the kids, one by one, then me - only to start right back with hubby a week or two later.  Thankfully, my immune system is fairly strong so I only get mild nasal congestion and a scratchy throat for a couple days.

Most people opt to skip exercise when they're sick - but as long as you don't have a fever and you're not taking decongestants you can safely do so.  In fact, I always feel drastically better after a workout and I think it helps me recover quickly too!

Last Friday I splurged on a new GPS heart rate monitor.  I was obsessing researching for nearly a week and ultimately decided on the Garmin Forerunner 610.  It was a wee bit more than I initially budgeted for a new one, but it had all the features I needed/wanted and more.  I knew the speed and distance on my treadmill was inaccurate because I typically run 4+ mph outside but if I set the treadmill to 4 mph I feel like I'm going to die after a few minutes!


According to my monitor, when I'm running 4 - 4.3 mph the treadmill speed is set to 3.7 - 3.8 and the distance is off by a quarter mile after 3-4 miles.  This is probably why I've been able to successfully increase my distance week by week because I'm actually going a bit farther than the treadmill was indicating.

I'm now able to run 4+ miles two days a week.  The remaining three days I do various run/walk intervals to give my body some rest/recovery time between my distance increases.  My current goal is to be able to run 5 miles.  After I reach that goal I'm going to work on increasing my speed before increasing distance again.

The only negative aspect of the Garmin is the calorie difference.  My old Polar heart rate monitor indicated I was burning 1100 calories after a 4 mile run and 15 minutes of strength training... the same exercise with the Garmin has me burning only 900 calories.

Okay, I can hear the comment in your head, "...only 900 calories?"  I know how ridiculous that sounds - 900 calories is still quite a bit (especially considering I don't compensate by eating more).  I know as my fitness increases and my weight decreases I will ultimately burn less calories... it just seems like a large difference in calories when I'm not really doing anything different.  I'm not worried about it though - the important thing is consistent exercise!

Current weight: 239.4
Last week's weight: 241.4

Difference: -2 lbs
Total lost: -36.6 lbs
 
*Happy Dance*

I've officially lost more than 35 pounds and 13%+ my starting body weight!

*More happy dancing*

In non-scale victories, I had a couple this week!  A few weeks ago I reported how I was able to remove a bra extender from one of my bras - this week I was able to remove two more bra extenders from a couple other bras. I was also able to fit into a size XL dress instead of XXL!  Never thought I would see the day I would be excited to wear an XL - but going from XXL to XL means a lot!