After 11 days on We.ig.ht Wa.tc.her's

First, thanks again for the comments that were left after my first post on this topic. I expected either a) nothing or b) scathing comments (echoing those in my head) along the lines of "stop being such a whiny obsessive jerk". So thanks. Several people commented that they didn't think W.ei.ght Wa.tc.her's was designed with athletes in mind. My feeling? Yes and no. The program is points based not calories based. Based on my weight and (fake) height, I am allocated 29 points per day. In addition there are 49 extra bopnus points which can be used throughout the week. Just to give an idea, a typical frozen meal (yes, I eat them, terrible I know!!) is 6 points. A frozen waffle (again, terrible, I know) is 2. An egg is 2 points. Or, for the more quantitatively inclined, 10 g of carbs or protein are each 1 point and 10 g of fat is 3 points. There is a place to enter one's activity and under running, one can select anywhere from 5(!) to 10 miles per hour... so clearly they are aware that people can and do run 5 miles an hour so there is definitely allowance for athletes. On the other hand I typically wind up earning 15 extra points through exercise or 50% of my baseline allocation and I am not sure if they really intended people to increase their allocation to that extent - they advise that everyone try to do enough activity per day to earn 2 points (20 minute of slow walking) so I guess the program does account of all kinds of people and activity levels.

After 11 days how do I feel? Well, first I have to admit that I have cheated substantially on 4 of those days (oops). However overall I essentially feel like I am buying willpower and accountability (even if only to the money that I spent). I now feel an awareness of what I am eating and am better able to monitor whether I am really hungry or eating for the wrong reasons. Yes, ideally I should have been able to do this on my own but I haven't been and now I seem to be able to so well worth the money spent. In terms of quantitative results, I am down 3.5 pounds... of course some of this is water fluctuation and noise but my clothes are feeling better and I *was* feeling better on my runs until...

[segue to different topic]

My car broke down. And by car I mean my 1974 Piccola Pine Cone with 80,000 kilometers on it and brand new Nike tires. I have this weird foot pain going on that I have never felt before. It is sharp feeling on impact now both running and walking, it feels like it is at the base of the 3rd or 4th metatarsal sort of  under the ball of my foot. So painful... and hard to be gentle with since even walking is painful. I was feeling really bummed for awhile because not being able to run essentially meant (I thought) not being able to work out since I use my commute to work-out for efficiency. If I have to set aside extra time in the day to work out well... there simply is no extra time for that. Even if I had the time to go to the gym everyday, it only opens at 6.30 am. if it opened at 5 am I could probably go to the gym but that's not an option. Then it hit me.... DUH.... BICYCLE! I HAVE a bicycle. I haven't ridden it in many years but riding bicycle is a lot like (wait for it) riding a bicycle! No one forgets how to ride a bicycle. This will allow me to continue to use my commute as a place to train. I pulled it out. Pumped up the tired, waited, they held. Tested the brakes, they held. Then I ran out of things that I know how to check on a bicycle (stop laughing Mmmmonyka). Anyway tomorrow is the maiden voyage. I'm kind of excited because I know NOTHING about times or routes on my bicycle, I have no idea what is fast or not or what I can do. I have no idea if my bicycle is good or not. I know I have toe clips instead of those scary shoes that latch to the pedal that make me panic. I also have no computer on my bike so I won't be able to get all anal about it. Ignorance really is feel like bliss. Tomorrow morning early I take the bicycle out to the very flat bicycle path along the canal and let her rip. I'm more excited that I thought I could be given that I cannot run.