Actually, I didn't throw away our scale (don't worry, SR). It is a good start for the title of the blog post to be a lie. But what I mean is, I just don't use it anymore. A few months ago Amy made the comment that I should just throw my scale away. Being an obsessive-compulsive lover of numbers and previous sufferer of an eating disorder, this really scared me. But then I thought about it: my scale never helps me and, in fact, only hurts me:
1. My running times don't correlate to what I weigh
2. With a more intense training regimen, including weight lifting, I am going to gain muscle
3. I look and feel better now than I did two years ago, when I weighed 2 kilos less
4. Knowing that I am going to get up and weigh myself makes me do unhealthy things like skip dinner, eat less vegetables (because they weigh more) and drink less water.
5. I have had no trouble fitting into the same pants despite weighing more and that's a better indicator of how things are going than a scale
6. With all of this training (see below), I would seriously have to eat a tofu cow a day anyway to become overweight.
7. Living in energy deficit causes too many health problems - I don't want to lose my period again. Period. Well, I do want to lose it, actually, for nine months...
(BTW, I just read yesterday in the Danish medical journal Ugeskrift for læger, much to my dismay, that the bone density you lose while amenorrheic doesn't ...ever come back)
What a liberating feeling to not even think about the scale! Thanks, Amy.
In other news, I am having such fun designing the optimal training regimen. Take a look at this week:
Sun: Run 30k
Mon: Swim tempo: 35 laps, Cycle 1 hour 15 minutes
Tues: 2 mile warm up, 8 mile tempo run (7:06 min/mile), 1 mile limp home
Wed: 55 min. Body Pump (weight lifting for all major muscle groups to music), 45 min stair climb, 50 min. yoga
Thurs: 16.5 mile run divided into 10.5 miles, 2 hour break for work and lunch (with study friends including a guy who just identified a new retro virus in humans - which he thinks is the origin of some prostate cancer), 6 miles (Tried to do all 16.5 in 9 min/mile pace - which happened the first 14 miles, but then my stomach started bothering me and I got lazy)
---- the above has already happened-----
Fri: Swim intervals, step/core class
Sat: 1 hour spinning
Sun: 26 miles training run (Rudersdal social marathon) - I have decided to switch to the 4.5 hour group since it is on trails and this is just distance training, not a race. Plus I want to enjoy the pretty ruote.
Total running miles planned over 8 days: 26 + 16.5+ 10 + 18: 68.5 miles
What a jam-packed week. Is it too much? Will it work? Only time will tell.
Running songs of the day:
These are both great for running and are Danish, so a lot of you haven't heard them -
Maybellene i Hofteholder by Volbeat (it is in English, despite the title)
Selvmord på Dansegulvet by Thomas Holm
16 comments:
I have to admit, I am totally floored. Right on.
Yay!
From someone who used to weigh herself obsessively and agrees it's an unhealthy habit,
Amy
nice work on throwing away the scales...I know I've been eating more lately and not balancing it with movement so I have chosen to avoid the scales at the gym because I know stepping on them won't make me feel better! Nice week of training....BUT - where's the rest and recovery day? That is training (mental training for an exerciser such as yourself!) too....
OK, I admit, I don't think I can part with my scale. I totally understand what you are saying but I am addicted. Maybe I'll make it my New Year resolution. :)
As a former eating disorder sufferer, aah, I understand the scale issue! But I cannot give it up! I just have to weight myself (no matter how unhealthy) to make sure I haven't gained weight.
What a hardcore week. You are amazing!!!!
What at crazy training week (though I have to second cherelli - where is your R&R for the week?)! How on earth do you fit it all in? :-) Good for you throwing out the scale. I have hidden ours on occasion but must admit that I really dislike giving it up for any length of time. Way to go!
I threw away my clock because - WAIT FOR IT!1! - I wanted to see time fly!1!
Har! I bet that joke hasn't made it to Denmark yet! Probably because it doesn't translate well into Denmarkese. The best Denmarkian translation of it I ever read was :
"Hoonga Doonga Glooberfluss Weltanschauung Die Fledermaus".
Pfffttt! That's not funny.
It's just some fat guy's translation. Idiot probably threw his scale away.
I still weigh myself once a month (and obsessive that I am, first thing on the first Monday of each month), just because about once a year or so I go back to see if there's a trend - I write the number down and forget it immediately. So I guess I'm obsessively non-obsessive about it. That's about as healthy as I can get.
this post makes me so happy. you have such a healthy attitude and outlook.
I haven't weighed myself in...over 2 years. It's terrifying but everytime I so much as get curious and step on I scale relapse driving everyone around me (particularly my boyfriend) crazy.
Actually, if I had to eat a cow, it would be a dark chocolate one, I think.
I like how I spelled route ruote.
Glaven - did you go and learn Danish just for me? But it's actually fledermausen and not Die Fledermaus.
A dark chocolate cow sounds delicious!
Nice job on giving up the scale. I've never been able to do that.
I'm sorry, i stepped away for a minute...did someone say DARK CHOCOLATE???? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Good post. I love reading your blog.
Yeah, you don't need a scale. You can tell enough by how you feel and how your clothes fit. I like your plan- you've got a lot of crosstraining in there and some low impact stuff that looks really helpful for strength building without inordinate stress. Do you have any particular plan to assess progress and fitness or just race performance?
Cynthia
Thanks Anon - super cool you let me know.
Cynthia - oh I am glad that you were not mad at my reply and that we are still friends. It turns out, we probably mostly agree.
The most important measures I have of success are performance times on training runs/swims/bike rides. Races are also really good, but harder to compare to each other or interpret performance from.
yea you!
okay, just my little humble opinion here, but this has got to be the smartest and best thing you've done for yourself in a long time!
surely you will not regret it.
Post a Comment