Well, at least it's some weight lost

I was 146.6 today, which is roughly half a pound down from last week. But when the main number is lower for some reason it feels more like a loss--going from 147.8 to 147.2 doesn't feel as "real" as going from 147.2 to 146.6. I know that's insane. I'm o.k. with that.

So I posted in the comments to April that my new goal is to lose two pounds by next Tuesday, and as a reward I get a full body massage. For the record (and particularly for April, who asked) the reason I set this goal is because if I have a "stretch" goal of two pounds I might actually lose one to one and a half pounds, which is what my usual goal is when I'm trying to lose weight. I'm down to five weeks from Sarah Palin getting my money, and I really don't want that to happen, so I need to keep up with one to one and a half pounds a week to meet this goal. But when I'm at home and dinner isn't ready and Connor has a container of Pringles open and there's a box of Girl Scout cookies on the counter, it's hard to think about five weeks from now. But I CAN think about six days from now and the potential massage, so I'm hoping that'll keep me away from the cookies.

I'm not recommending this plan to anyone (except for the bit about giving yourself intermediate rewards for small goals)--trying to lose two pounds a week is stupid and should only be attempted if money to Sarah Palin is on the line. If you've found a diet and exercise plan that has you consistently losing a pound a week, you should stick with that.

I'm also not fooling myself--I know perfectly well that when/if I meet that 140.4 pound goal I'll gain at least a few pounds back by going back to my normal diet, but by then we'll be well into the spring and good weather and training for the metric century. In the past couple of years when I've been training heavily for something, my diet doesn't matter so much--I'm more inclined to eat well just because I need the good fuel to keep moving, and I'm burning so much that my weight stays pretty steady without dieting. I just wish I'd stay steady around 140 instead of steady around 146.

And speaking of exercise, I had a great run on Friday! I decided to run outside instead of on the treadmill, so I went out on my 3.5 mile route that I did all the time last year. I expected that I'd have to run/walk it as I've been doing all the past couple of weeks, but not only did I manage to run the whole way, but when I entered the information in mapmyrun.com it turns out that my pace was 10 minutes/mile, which I really didn't expect! That's about what I aimed for all last summer, and is only very, very slightly slower than my pace in the Celtic Solstice run back in December.