Crystal's Diary

C

carowell

New member
Hi All!
My name is Crystal and I'm 33. About 8ish years ago I lost a substantial amount of wait via CICO. Over the last few years I generally maintained my lower weight without too much issue. I also became much more fit and started competitive running/running longer distances and establishing body composition goals. For a while I hadn't been regularly weighing myself, but I would frequently check my key measurements to make sure I was on track. I felt like this helped me concentrate more on my fitness rather than weighing a certain amount. My ideal measurements, probably at my peak physical fitness level were: 35-28-38.5. This usually meant I was sitting around 145ish lbs and maintained a 5 day minimum workout schedule.

It has only been in the last few months that I have started to really struggle with weight gain and the change in my body composition. I am in a mostly WFH role for work at this point, still relatively new to my area which is much less pedestrian friendly than my previous location and I feel unmotivated to work out at home because I don't feel like the equipment I have is sufficient. I have found motivation over the last few months to start trying some Youtube videos to try to maintain some of my muscle mass, but that has also been difficult.

Just a week ago now I registered for NYRR New York City Virtual Marathon because I think if I have something to train towards it might give me the kick in the butt I need to really get moving. I am returning to calorie counting and increasing my activity level so I will be prepared to do this race in October.
My current measurements are:
Bust: 37
Waist: 30 1/4
Hips: 40
I have spent the last couple mornings very upset with those measurements and even more upset when I reflect on all the hard work I did to get in peak shape just to let it all slip away. I know I have the ability to get control of this and get back to where I want to be, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't struggling to get my head in the right "can-do" space.

Anyway, one of the good behaviors I used to have when I first lost all my weight was regular check ins at the forum I was part of. I think this is the first step in me getting myself 100% back on track and back to my preferred fitness level. My goal is to be checking in here daily. After that, my next goal is to do my first official weigh in next Friday/Saturday so I can better know where I'm starting from this time around.

Thanks for reading! Any advise or suggestions are super welcome :)
 
Hey, Crystal. Good for you starting a diary. Now you will have a cheer squad :)
 
Hey Crystal, you started a diary! Good for you.

Don't be upset with yourself, you are doing something about it, and that is what really matters. And your measurements don't sound bad now, but getting back to where you were is a good goal.

What is CICO?
 
alligatorob said:
Hey Crystal, you started a diary! Good for you.

Don't be upset with yourself, you are doing something about it, and that is what really matters. And your measurements don't sound bad now, but getting back to where you were is a good goal.

What is CICO?
Click to expand...
CICO is Calories In, Calories Out, so I just mean my method for weight loss previously was eating fewer calories than I burn.
 
HI Crystal,
Welcome to the forum! Training for a marathon is impressive! Hope this forum helps with your motivation.
 
Being fit enough to be able to get marathon-ready in 2-3 months is pretty good! I think you´ll do great.
 
Good Morning Everyone!

Thanks for the encouragement! This morning I got up and went for a 5 1/2 mile run. I definitely was feeling more motivated once I got up out of bed. I'm working from home today, so that made it a little easier to get the rest I needed while also allowing for enough time to get outside. In general I'm pretty ok with my current regular running route, but it can be a little sketchy. When I work in the office I usually have to wake up at 4am to have enough time for a work out, and running my route in the dark makes me a little nervous, so maybe I can prioritize doing some kind of Youtube video workout instead on those mornings.

Liza - Thanks so much! I think I'm already feeling more motivated with the addition of this forum to my daily routine. I'm very routine based and a creature of habit, so I think once I establish the routine I'll be all set!

LaMaria - Thank you so much for your support! I'm so excited to run this distance again. I spent 2018 training for my first full marathon and race day was hands down one of the best days of my life. It was such an amazing experience. In 2019 things were a little rough, so I didn't get to do all the racing and training I wanted to, but I'm excited to be back on the wagon and working towards this again :)

Yesterday I accidentally ended my calories at 1,117. With needing to get to bed I just didn't have time to add the extra 283 calories to hit my goal of 1,400, so I will need to be more mindful of that going forward.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day thus far!
 
carowell said:
I spent 2018 training for my first full marathon and race day was hands down one of the best days of my life. It was such an amazing experience. In 2019 things were a little rough, so I didn't get to do all the racing and training I wanted to, but I'm excited to be back on the wagon and working towards this again
Click to expand...
Sounds like wonderful motivation to eat healthily! I´m sure you´re aware that big calorie deficits are going to make it harder to reach your goal when you´re doing longer runs and your focus will be more on nutrients and fuel. Which is always good to see.
 
carowell said:
Yesterday I accidentally ended my calories at 1,117. With needing to get to bed I just didn't have time to add the extra 283 calories to hit my goal of 1,400, so I will need to be more mindful of that going forward.
Click to expand...
I plan a late evening snack in my diet, and I usually count my calories first to see how much I can or have to eat. Evenings have always been a time of temptation for me, the late snack has helped with that. Sounds like you can do evenings without just fine. 283 calories under is not a big deal, you are doing fine.

Oh, and my day is going well, thanks for asking. Just got out of the gym and am headed to donate blood now.
 
Good morning, Crystal. It's 7.50 am where I am (Aus). I have nothing but admiration for anyone planning on running a marathon & also being able to get out of bed early to go for a run. I think you're being a bit hard on yourself because your measurements are not perfect, whatever perfect is. I bet you are still fairly fit & your measurements will shrink in no time.
I had a lovely day yesterday thank you :)
 
alligatorob said:
I plan a late evening snack in my diet, and I usually count my calories first to see how much I can or have to eat. Evenings have always been a time of temptation for me, the late snack has helped with that. Sounds like you can do evenings without just fine. 283 calories under is not a big deal, you are doing fine.

Oh, and my day is going well, thanks for asking. Just got out of the gym and am headed to donate blood now.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reassurance! I usually try to save as many calories as I can for the evening because I really enjoy having big dinners, sometimes I just fall short on calories when I don't have as much as I planned. I'm glad to hear that ultimately it doesn't seem to be a huge deal though.
 
Cate said:
Good morning, Crystal. It's 7.50 am where I am (Aus). I have nothing but admiration for anyone planning on running a marathon & also being able to get out of bed early to go for a run. I think you're being a bit hard on yourself because your measurements are not perfect, whatever perfect is. I bet you are still fairly fit & your measurements will shrink in no time.
I had a lovely day yesterday thank you :)
Click to expand...
You may be right - I tend to be a little hard on myself. I guess I feel a little guilty for doing so much work to get in such good shape and then seeing it slipping away. I know I've got it under control and it's not really THAT bad. It's fixable. I'm sure I'm just being over dramatic lol.
 
LaMaria said:
Sounds like wonderful motivation to eat healthily! I´m sure you´re aware that big calorie deficits are going to make it harder to reach your goal when you´re doing longer runs and your focus will be more on nutrients and fuel. Which is always good to see.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. I think that's part of why I just maintained for so long - My priority became my level of fitness rather than my weight. I think I'm still going to primarily focus on my fitness, but monitor my measurements for an idea of body composition progress and then weigh myself once a week or so.
 
carowell said:
I'm so excited to run this distance again. I spent 2018 training for my first full marathon and race day was hands down one of the best days of my life. It was such an amazing experience.
Click to expand...
It's so nice to hear your excitement. i can never imagine how people manage to run for so long! I was just getting excited the other day for managing to run 10 km! lol!
 
:D And I'm happy to be able to run a 5k but have no ambition to ever do more. Walking, on the other hand... I once did 200 km in 4 days. It all just depends on what you enjoy and/or value.
 
Hi All,
Sorry I disappeared! I'm still in this!
Work gets a little out of control some times and I hardly have any time to check in, but I've been tracking my calories and staying on track. I am feeling a lot better than when I first started posting - Even today I've felt way more optimistic about how I'm looking and feeling, but I know that I have a ways to go before I'm really where I want to be at.

I actually was just thinking, is anyone here from the old weight loss forum caloriecount.about.com? That's where I used to log everything and I used to participate on the forums a bunch. Last time I tried to find it I think it had closed, but I also felt like I kept recognizing people on here from that forum...
 
Never heard of the other forum but maybe others? Great to hear you're feeling better about things already!
 
Hey Crystal, its good to see you posting again, and even better to know you are staying on track! Good for you.

Never heard of the caloriecount.about.com forum, but did a Google search and found this
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it appears you are right it's gone.

Hope your life settles down a bit and you are able to check in with us more often. However staying on track is more important than checking in!
 
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