Old Habits Die Hard

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There was a Biggest Loser episode a few weeks ago where they discussed how hard it is to break old habits.  Or rather, how easy it is to go back to your old habits after creating newer, healthier ones.  They used the Biggest Loser contestants as an example, saying that even though they have been exercising, eating healthy, and living an overall healthy lifestyle for 10 weeks, all it takes is one week of going back to their old habits to get stuck in that rut again.

I think this is what happened to me.  I was so excited to have found MyFitnessPal.com, and used it diligently for a month.  I was even on-plan during weekends, and if I wanted something extra, such as a dessert or beer, I would make sure to run on the treadmill to "earn" my calories. 

Then my son's surgery happened about a month ago.  Even though it was a minor surgery to remove an abscess, it was still stressful enough to where I wasn't focusing on eating healthy.  I was way too concerned about his health to worry about where we ate, or especially about cooking healthy meals at home.  A few days of bad eating turned into a week, and that threw me off completely.  Since then, I have been struggling to get back on plan and have actually gained 5 pounds back.  And right before I went below 150 for the first time in forever.

The holidays have not helped me either, of course.  Having all the Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge to be eaten is not the best thing for a healthy diet.  Especially the pumpkin and pecan pie! 

But, never fear - I have a new plan that I am super excited about.  One of the teachers at school has arranged for a group of us to participate in a boot camp fitness class.  The instructor is coming to our school to teach the class twice a week for a month.  I am hoping this jumpstarts my diet again, and helps me reach my goal of 140 to 145 pounds.  I am planning on logging back into myfitnesspal to track my eating and exercise on a daily basis.  My goal is to reach my target weight by the New Year, or at least get close to it.  I have only 10 pounds to go, and I just want to get it over with already! 

My other motivation is my running.  I recently ran a 10k three weeks ago, and came in just over an hour.  I will be running my second 10k (since having the baby) this weekend at Universal Studios, and I am super excited.  I did the same 10k two years ago, and am hoping to beat my time this time around.  I find that as long as I am registered for a race, I stay motivated with my running.  I am debating training for another half marathon, but I am not sure if my knees can handle it.  If I lose the weight, I usually notice that my running not only gets easier, but it is also better for my knees.  For now, I will just plan on running another 10k and working on my decreasing my time.

So, for the next month, my focus will be logging in to myfitnesspal daily, attending boot camp, and in between all that, training for the next race.  Oh, and of course, cooking low calorie Hungry Girl dishes!