Weigh-in day

I'll eliminate any suspense right now. I weighed in this morning and I was back to 198 lbs. (from 199 the week before)meaning I am exactly where I was two weeks ago at my first weigh-in. I promised myself yesterday that I would just accept today's number and move on, so that's what I'm going to do.

I know why I am where I am. I'm still not disciplined about what I eat and today was a good example. My ever rationalizing mind convinced me that weigh-in day is an ok day to indulge. Combine that with being on the road for the funeral of a colleague's husband and I had a pile of excuses to pull into Culver's on the way home. And because I had already decided that I deserved this for my efforts and I needed relief from the stress of seeing someone lose their spouse, I went for the double cheeseburger and fries, with Cherry Pepsi. There were of course better choices, even at Culver's.

Until I can make myself decide that food is not primarily a reward or stress relief, my weight loss goals will be difficult. I'm amazed at the amount of situations I can come up with where a cheeseburger or ice cream seems like the answer:)

On the exercise front it was a positive day. I did 37 minutes on the elliptical machine and spent 15 minutes or so focusing on upper body cybex stuff. I was fatigued when I was done, so that helps meet my goal of ratcheting up my intensity. I'd like to add more strength training when I have more time. Picking up my daughter from girl scouts won out today and it's hard to argue with that.
Tomorrow includes a 9:00 a.m. spin class and I'm looking forward to it.

I do have a bit of a mental dilemma going on. My blog is focused on my triathlon dreams and weight loss is supposed to be a happy by-product. However, I feel like I'm obsessing with the weight loss part and under-emphasizing the training part.

On the third hand (see why I drive my wife nuts), I need to lose weight before I can really get back to doing the fitness events that I want without getting hurt or going painfully slow. Which leads me to this question: Should I put another triathlon earlier on the calendar (there is one in 6 1/2 weeks I could be ready to do just to finish) or spend the next month focused more strictly on just trying to get my weight down?

Now those two things should go together right... Well for me it hasn't always been that way. Today's blog photo is an example of a time where I was pretty fit, but not real lean.

In the summer of 2009, I was able to run a 4 mile road race in mid-summer. I wasn't real fast but I was fit enough to do it without dying. However if you look at the photo, I didn't exactly have my weight where I wanted it... I think I used the running I was doing as an excuse to eat that whole vacation... You know, because I'd earned it:)

So, I'm debating: Train for a June triathlon to go with my July and September ones and count on my weight loss focus to remain... or spend the month of May singularly focused on losing weight and start training in earnest on June 1st?

Maybe the answer is both, but I'm open to suggestions...