Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Healthy You Challenge Week 19

Week 19 here for the HYC. Sitting at 163.8 which is only .2 up from where I was last week. Not happy about the gain that I reported yesterday, but at least for the challenge Im not that far up.

I exercised 3 times this week. I didnt get my usual workout in yesterday as I worked a horrible 12 hour day and had to go to the grocery store after work to stock up on healthy foods. By the time I came home, exercise was the not anywhere on my agenda for the evening. But 3 is not bad and I definitely enjoyed the bike ride that I wrote about yesterday. The plan this summer is to just keep working our way up to longer and longer rides. Hopefully by the time my boyfriend and I visit my parents in July, we will be up for a bike ride there. Last time I went bike riding in PA, I got one of the biggest workouts of my life. So many hills! We had a great time, but it was hard to do more than a few miles. I think this year we are up for the challenge!

The bike riding that I did in PA makes me think of a story that really shows that weight is not always an indicator of health. My parents and sister did this bike ride with me and my sister who has the eating disorder, struggled the entire way. I was probably around 200 pounds at the time but was exercising, and I happily pedaled my way through the hills while she was far behind us struggling. I probably had at least 100 pounds on her, yet was in better physical shape than her because she was starving herself and getting no nutrients. My parents were worried towards the end that she was going to have a heart attack. Imagine that...at young 20 something year old girl having a heart attack from a bike ride. Now Im not saying I was in the best health at 200 pounds, but I certainly wasnt going to keel over from a bike ride. And now almost 40 pounds less than that, I am feeling my weight loss even more and can tell I dont have that extra weight holding me back anymore.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I for SURE agree that weight is not always an indicator of health. There are a LOT of skinny unhealthy people.

I'm sorry you had a gain... but, you are making good choices that are fitting in with YOUR lifestyle... I am the last person to tell you not to get hung up on a number on the scale... but that's what they say! Just keep plugging along, and remember your accomplishment!

happy HYC day!

Margie said...

The gain could be muscle or water retention. As long as your clothing fits normal without feeling any tighter you probably are doing fine. Just keep on going!

Anonymous said...

Your bike ride when at home sounds wonderful. One of my goals/bucket list items is to go kayaking when we are in the Cook Islands next month.

And, I agree.....thin is not necessarily healthy.

You are doing so good with your weight loss. I know it's a huge deal to get to goal - but as I read somewhere this week...the scale is just a random number generator. It helps me keep things in perspective to remember this - especially as we know how slow my weight loss is!

Hang in there Heather - you're doing great! It wasn't that long ago that you were struggling to exercise and now look at you go? You're an inspiration to us all.

Crissy Rae said...

I think you will have a great time tackling those hills on your next bike ride in PA. I agree, weight is not a good indicator of health, lots of thin people are very unhealthy and worse, some don't even know it because they never get checked out by the doc.

Grumpy Chair said...

I don't think of .2 or even .4 gains as gains - just scale fluctuations. On the other hand if it is a .2 loss I will take it!!

Last November I had to have a stress test - the techs couldn't believe my endurance on the treadmill. I think they thought I would get to my 100% heart rate maximum within 3 minutes. I fooled them.

Diana Swallow said...

I just had this conversation with my husband tonight. Yes I'm 355 pounds but I can move a lot better than most 355 pound women out there.

Don't sweat those few pounds, you know all about the water retention game by now.

Cammy@TippyToeDiet said...

What a great example (and reminder) of what constitutes "fitness." I fall into the comparison trap from time to time, and I'll remember this story the next time I do. Thank you for sharing it!

Trisaratops said...

That is so true about health verus weight. My thighs are changing shape, and when I flex, my quads are there, not just chubs. It is amazing. Don't you feel great about being able to move so freely? Right on sister!

Selma said...

Hi,

I don't think I've commented at your blog before. You are so right that weight doesn't always show bad health. Thanks for reminding us of that with the story of the bike ride.

Selma

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