A Cautionary Tale

[Veronica]

One year ago I weighed 148 and had 18.5% body fat.

April 2010


I looked pretty good, training was going pretty well and then my confidence took a hit and an old injury resurfaced. I suffered my way through the World's Toughest Half, in May of last year, just making the official time cut off of 8 hours.

I have lots and lots of reasons, all of which seemed good at the time, for why I pretty much did not train the rest of the season and suffered my way through another Half Ironman, Barb's Race, in July. I was stressed, my quad hurt, it was too windy, too hot, too cold...whatever.

I was eating three thin crust pizzas nearly every week and a small container of ice cream pretty much daily. Really, that's not that bad, a little daily indulgence of 250 - 300 calories. And it was thin crust pizza. By November 1, I weighed 155 and my body fat had jumped back up to 27%. When Shawna, my trainer, ran my numbers, I was shocked and p!ssed. It was only seven pounds, how could I have gained so much FAT! Well, it was seven pounds of fat, and my diet and lack of enough exercise were doing nothing to maintain my muscle mass.

Pictures don't lie - Nov. 1, 2010.


It's been six months. I have a training schedule that works for me. I've worked at getting my food intake more properly aligned with my needs. I've lost 11 pounds and now have 17% body fat.

April 3, 2011




I still struggle with my sweet tooth. Cake with good frosting is my weakness. I have an occasional pizza - every four to six weeks. We drink a bottle of good champagne every weekend.

What I have learned is that losing weight is only the beginning of the race. Maintenance also takes work, focus and effort and in some ways is harder than the actual weight loss. It NEVER ends. It helps that what I am really focusing on is performing well in my Half Ironman event this year.

I know it's easy to look at thin women and think, "It's easy for them, they've got good genes. They don't really have to work at this like I do." I know that's what I thought when I lost my initial weight back in 2000. Maybe it's true for some women. But I think most fit women are like me, they are working at it every day. Some days we have setbacks, or we indulge. But if you want to keep that fitness once you've got it, you can't stop the effort. That's why it's so important to find exercise you like and make nutritional changes you can live with.

And really... Discipline is remembering what you want.


Veronica

[Pedal Wench]

I know it's easy to look at thin women and think, "It's easy for them, they've got good genes. They don't really have to work at this like I do." I know that's what I thought when I lost my initial weight back in 2000. Maybe it's true for some women. But I think most fit women are like me, they are working at it every day.

I have to work at it. Every, single, day.

[Biciclista]

oh Veronica, you're beautiful!! I am extremely impressed. I hope you can keep it up..

[warneral]

way to go! Very impressive

FYI - my favorite way to indulge in pizza (b/c I love it) is a trader joe's whole wheat pita as the crust. I personally like pepperoni so I use turkey pepperoni. I toast it in the toaster oven on the rack and it tastes SO good!

I am trying to lose about 7 pounds and it has been a struggle. I lost 35 a few years back and it takes a lot of work to maintain! I have been working to learn to eat sensibly by intuition after developing some unhealthy food issues through my weightloss and early maintenance.

I, too have a sweet tooth and find it is a slippery slope to junk food-om!

[nscrbug]

Wow...you are truly an inspiration! Especially for those of us that are finding it difficult to get "back on track" (including myself in that bunch). Real quick, here is my story - back in 2008 I decided to do my first triathlon (a sprint). I trained using my own plan. I'm not really sure what my weight was for that first race, but if I had to guess...I'd say I was somewhere in the mid to high 140's. My sprint was on June 22, 2008...I did okay, finishing in 1hr, 30min. I had such a great time and was so proud of myself, that I immediately decided to sign up for another race...this time, an Olympic distance in August. My Oly was on Aug. 10, 2008...and in between my sprint and oly, I managed to drop down to a very muscular 138lbs. I too, have photos...and there is a clear difference in how I looked during both races. Flash forward to the present, I haven't done a tri since then...kind of "lost interest", I guess. My main focus now, is cycling...but I still do some running and swimming here and there. I weighed myself yesterday, and I am now 156lbs...I still have a fair amount of muscle, but I certainly don't look as lean as I did back in August of '08. I've been struggling ever since, to get back that lean, slimmed down "me"...but it surely hasn't been easy. Especially since I'm also 3 years older and everything just seems harder the older I get.

Anyways...just wanted to share that. YOU ROCK, Veronica!

Linda

[spindizzy]

..every single day.....it's really hard work, but your shared very poignantly what can happen and how easy it is to make excuses. Good for you V for sharing..it's easy to post the good stuff, much harder when we falter....

[indysteel]

Veronica, you look so awesome!!! You really are an inspiration. A couple of months ago, you shared some of this story and your most recent stats. I had already been toying with starting back with running, and it was that thread that pushed me over the edge. Thank you!!! Granted, I haven't been back to it long enough yet for it to be totally engrained, but I'm making progress. I feel like I'm getting back to my old active self bit by bit. I still need to up my bike mileage, but the weather refuses to fully cooperate. My yoga practice is improving and I'm feeling far fewer aches and pains than I was this time last year when my hip was giving me fits.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your story with us!