Countdown to Abs Update: Runnin’ for the Bun

Earlier this year I had been down in the dumps because I was injured and had gained all the weight I had lost training for Ironman Canada. I felt like a beached whale that has a family size bucket of Ezell’s fried chicken within fin’s reach. But now that my body is mostly on the mend, I’ve established a renewed interest in getting strong and fit for the remainder of the 2011 season and heading into the new year. I recently mentioned my goal of getting abs by the end of May so the bikini beach photos of me with my teammates won’t be profoundly embarrassing. With 262 days remaining, I thought I’d check in with an initial progress report.

I’ve never been fat fat, but I get to a breaking point where my jeans don’t fit, my muffin top is starting to spill over onto Jason’s side of the bed, my increased thigh mass gets inexplicably itchy, and my arms resemble sausagey pterodactyl wings. I don’t like being in that weight window for the following reasons:

1. Race photos look worse than usual (my tri kit probably won’t look good on me when I’m skinny, but it sure as hell doesn’t look good on me when blubber is challenging the load-bearing capacity of every seam)
2. I feel worse than usual
3. I look like an ogre next to my petite female teammates, who are all “Tee hee look at my abs while I eat this lettuce leaf and race a sub-5 hour half Ironman!”
4. My mother would consider me morbidly obese
5. I race slower than usual

So far I’ve lost 11 lbs from my “Good lord you’re a chunker” fattest state. I’m currently two pounds off my “I just ate my way through Puerto Rico” weight, five pounds heavier than my Ironman Canada race weight, and 7.5 pounds heavier than my lightest weigh in last year. My goal is to pull a Costanza and take it up a notch by losing 15-20 more lbs, which would put me about 7-12 lbs lighter than last season. I’m progressing along nicely with the help of the free My Fitness Pal app, which helps track my calorie intake and burn. Seeing the numbers add up has forced me to be more mindful about what I eat. For example:

“Ugh, I don’t want to run today, I’m feeling lazy.”
*checks app*
“Aw shit, if I don’t run I won’t be able to have a hamburger bun with my lamb burger for dinner tonight.”
*sighs*
“Damnit…Jas, where are my running shoes?”

Hence “Runnin’ for the bun.” (And that lamb burger was damn good, too, courtesy of Bill the Butcher.)

Two other factors are fueling me to lose weight (other than having sexy stomach for Honu and being lean and mean for Ironman Canada next year):

1. Jason’s tracking his calories too in hopes of losing 35 lbs for Ironman Coeur d’Alene (we’ve split our races for 2012 since he thinks Idaho will offer a better “big guy” course than hot Canada, whereas I signed up for Canada again because I want the extra two months of training coming off an injured season). Losing weight is always easier when your significant other is on board to take the journey with you and support you. So far we’re both doing pretty well, making more meals at home and being more mindful of portion sizes and not eating like horrible gluttons.
2. I’m visiting Michigan October 19th, which means I’ve got 40 days to slim down to what my harsh Korean mother considers to be an acceptable weight (I don’t know what that weight is, but so far I’ve always failed). The last time I saw her I was heavier and she promptly called me out on it, referring to me as “big” and “chunky” at various points throughout the week. (Note that even when she thinks I’m fat, she still stuffs me full of food. I can’t win with that woman.)

So my first “checkpoint” of sorts will be my October trip to Michigan, then I’ll try to avoid going full-fatass during the holidays and hope I’m at a decent weight for the Seattle half marathon, then after the new year it’ll be lose or maintain, depending on where I’m at, while I train my pooch butt off for Ironman Canada. Here’s hoping I can stick to better eating habits. I know it’ll be hard since food is so glorious, but I really want to try and take this coming season seriously and stick to my workouts and diet. If I succeed, you’ll get some ab-ulous photos to drool over. If I fail, you’ll get some profanity-laced blog posts about how being skinny is overrated and that fried cheese is an overlooked training aid. Let the journey continue!