I'm hard on myself but was given a different perspective

In last week's blog, I mentioned hitting a plateau and being down about it. Yes, there are things within my control that I could do better but every day is an opportunity to start anew.

I've spoken to my Weight Watchers leader on a number of occasions over the past few weeks and yesterday, she gave me a different perspective on my plateau. She told me that it's tough to stay within a given weight for a certain period of time and she commended me on my ability to do so considering all of the "crap" I've been dealing with in terms of a crazy schedule and other personal circumstances. Yes, there are things that I could've done better in terms of tracking and food choices but due to my level of physical activity, I've been able to not regain a considerable amount of weight.

I'm 25 pounds away from getting to Lifetime status at Weight Watchers.

Plateaued and it's nobody's fault but mine

Over the past few weeks, there hasn't been much progress on the scale. In fact, the scale has teetered around one number. It's frustrating but the fault lies within me. I haven't been making very smart food choices but fortunately, I have maintained a decent level of activity.

The next six weeks are going to be challenging because of Thanksgiving, Christmas and all of the holiday-related activities. At a Weight Watchers meeting a few weeks ago, one of the attendees said it's a holi-day, not a holi-month. With that in mind, I will need to make a better effort to be more conscientious with my food. I am training for a half-marathon so activity is not a problem but it's not license to pig out.

Getting stronger/faster

I ran a 5K today and it was personal best so far. When I did my first 5K in 2011, I was basically untrained and my pace was 15:08; I wasn't disappointed with the time considering it was my first race and I didn't put a heck of a lot of effort with training. I was thrilled to see that today's race was done at an 11:24 pace, which means that I trimmed almost 4 minutes from the pace of my first race. My previous PR was hit in August for another 5K at a pace of 12:11. This will be my last 5K until March 2, 2014. I'm registered for other races between now and then ranging from 4 miles to a half-marathon. A lot of my training over the next few months will focus on longer distances. I will be curious to see what my pace will be in March.