I said with my last post that I was going to expound on the idea that becoming healthy is a journey, not an event… I do really want to touch on this because I think it’s important.

Since starting my 90 Day Challenge, I’ve had a few… well, let’s say “health nuts” come at me with “Why would you do this?  Just (for example) eliminate all processed sugar from your diet, and you’ll lose all the weight you want.”

Okay. Here’s the first issue I have with this: I’m not *just* looking to lose weight.  I have horrible eating habits, and so a big part of this challenge for me is just getting some great nutrition into my system that I wouldn’t be getting otherwise.  For me right now, if I eliminated processed sugar, I probably would just waste away to nothing because I wouldn’t be eating anything.

Second: really?  Just make a decision one day to eliminate all processed sugar from your diet?  While noble, and I understand that some can do it – most that do are REQUIRED to for medical reasons… Why would I start on my health journey with a step that would almost definitely result in failure, or at least falling seriously off the wagon a lot.  And I would definitely not feel right about coaching people to do the same.  And besides, one person who recommended this to me did so within 24 hours of complaining about having too much extra “padding” and looking into the challenge.  So, the idea that all the weight I want to lose just fall off rings a little false.

And third: People are more likely to lose weight on a 2 meal a day meal replacement shake then by simply reducing caloric intake alone.  They lose weight quicker than people who simply try to count calories.  They also are more likely to maintain their weight by continuing on a 1 shake per day maintenance plan.  People who didn’t have a maintenance plan were shown to gain an average of 25 lbs back.

It’s not that I think removing processed sugar from your diet is a bad thing – I agree, it’s pretty much poison and doesn’t do anything good for your system.  I have just been a fan of the idea of “all things in moderation” for a very long time and tend to see that a lot of people at the extremes of an ideal find it a very tenuous place to be – I think of it like a pendulum (or those gondola rides at amusement parks)… if you are constantly trying to cling to that point in the pendulum swing *just before* it starts to go in the other direction, you’re dealing with a lot of weight, force and gravity all.the.time.  Commendable and more power to you if you can manage it, it’s definitely not easy.  I like easy.  Starting with easy means you can build to things that are more difficult should you choose to.  But easy works just fine in the meantime.

Last night I started “week 2″ of my Couch to 5k training program… 90 seconds of jogging (up from 60) and 2 minutes of walking (up from 90 seconds)… it was rough, but again, it sucked less than I thought it would.  I think in order to move forward into what they’re looking for in week 3, I’m going to have to do week 2′s program every day instead of just 3 days.

One other thing I’ve noted from the jogging?  Make sure your toenails are cut well, and not left at all jagged – or one can get kinda homicidal on its neighbor. 

So, how am I doing on the challenge all around?  My results are not as shockingly amazing as some other people doing the challenge, but there’s a few reasons for that – I am happy with my results and I truly believe that becoming healthy is a journey, not an event.

I have lost 2.8 lbs and about 2 inches in 8 days.   This does not seem like a lot to most people, but I’ll tell you why it’s great for me:

1)  A lot of people go up and down in their weight up to 5 lbs over the span of a week… I do not.  I’ve been pretty much the exact same weight for the past 6 months.  So almost 3 lbs down in just over a week is solid for me.

2)  I’ve cheated – while it touches on the realm of TMI (too much information), I was dealing with PMS this past weekend.  In addition to water weight and wanting to devour anything with a high salt content, I also struggle with what has been described to me as “cyclical depression” – I tend to get *very* mopey once a month.  My water consumption is up from before I started the challenge, but I was coming from, well… not drinking water at all.  I still have a little more work to do.  I did work on keeping myself in check more than I would normally have, which I’m counting as a win.  I ate Sabra Greek Style Dip (only 35 or 40 calories per 2T depending on the variety – and is it DELICIOUS) with veggies, and only sometimes pita chips.  I also ate a cheeseburger that the hubby made and a hot dog and chips at a cookout yesterday.  So, again – down almost 3 lbs means I didn’t go overboard, and I’m cool with that.

3)  My BMI at 150.2 was 26.7 (at 147.4 it’s 26.2 – half a point down).  In order for me to hit the “healthy” benchmark from “overweight”, I only have to get down to 140.  This will land me at a 24.9 BMI – which is the high end of “healthy” – look at those numbers again.  While my goal is to lose 20 lbs and get down to more the midrange of healthy, I only had a total of 10.2 lbs to get into that healthy range, and my body knows it.  My friend Rachel is 5’11″ tall and started off around 150 lbs – her goal was to lose only 10 lbs, and it took her most of her 90 day challenge to reach it – she was already pretty healthy!  The more weight you have to lose, or the further out of shape you are, the quicker (usually) the weight comes off in the beginning.  This is how another challenger, Dave, lost 77 lbs in 90 days…

So, when I talk to people about the challenge and they say “I want to see your results before I commit”, I admit: it frustrates me.  I totally understand why people say it – a lot of times they’re nervous about committing to something and not having it work for them.  Especially those with a lot of weight to lose or who have “failed” at diets.  But honestly – half of my goal is getting in shape, which you’re not going to “see” from my results…  I’ve got some more before and after photos up on my FB fan page that show a wider variety of results, if you’re interested in taking a look.

In my next post, I’m going to get back to my “becoming healthy is a journey, not an event” comment – make sure to stay tuned!

Have a helpful tip (like the make sure your toenails don’t try to kill you one above) for a newbie to running like myself?  I’d love to hear it!