Can you believe it? It’s just about time to wrap up April. The Tuesdays on the Run Linkup asks you to grade your month. Did it pan out the way you’d hoped?
For me, April was mostly about coming back from my knee injury. Slowly, I’m building back…up to 6 miles so far…I’ll take it. Let’s get to the grades:
Running: A
Running gets an A because my gradual build back has been smooth so far. Even though some runs have been pretty short, I haven’t missed a single one. There hasn’t been any quality yet but that’s intentional. There’s plenty of time for that.
Crosstraining: B
While I’ve been getting all my strength, CrossFit days and core/rehab/prehab in, I still haven’t made it back to my spin class. Heck it’s time to hit the roads outside on Blanche the trusty road bike. Yoga is still spotty as well.
Clean up Diet: A+++
My biggest triumph this month is right here. Things hit the fan after spring break when I returned 2 lbs heavier on top of the 2 lbs I’d gained over winter break. The hormonal shift of menopause is no joke but refuse to let it win. I’ll talk more about this soon, but for now let’s just say the vast majority of food I’ve eaten this month has been whole and unprocessed, with minimal added sugars. So far there have been two unexpected benefits:
- Remember the hot flashes and night sweats I complained about? Within two days of cutting out sugar they were gone. I don’t even have to take the supplement that reduced them to 2/day instead of hourly. It’s been weeks and I haven’t had a single one.
- My complexion is so much clearer. Wrinkles are minimized, skin tone and quality are improved.
Weightloss: A
While I wish the weight would be falling off of me, that hasn’t been the case. Although I did manage to drop 4 pounds (all the vacation weight) this month so far. Rehabbing my knee in the early weeks of April precluded me from doing cardio so I’m hopeful I can drop more with continued healthy diet and more running. I’m still taking an A though.
Fun: C
Honestly it hasn’t been the most fun month for me. Injury rehab is no picnic. The teenager’s track drama stressed me out. The grey weather and non-existent spring ticked me off. All of that is behind me now so onward.
How would you grade your month? What are you looking forward to in May?
Be sure to join us right here this Friday for the Runfession Friday Linkup!
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Congrats on the weight loss and cleaning up your diet! And it sounds like your return to running is going really well! I think all the things you are doing now are going to set you up for an awesome summer, once the weather finally improves!
Glad to hear you’re slowly coming back – injuries are the worst but you’re getting there and doing it smart! Also, crazythat cutting down on sugar has made such a difference on your hot flashes and complexion – wow! Wtg in that area too.
That’s great that the hot flashes have decreased. For some odd reason, mine have returned. BOO! I’m taking Milk Thistle to detoxify my liver and I read somewhere that it has estrogenic properties. I think that might be the culprit. I’ll put up with it for now–I’m waiting until I go back to the rheumatologist next month to see where my labs are at.
We’ll have to put some fun on the calendar!
Looks like you had a great month overall! I love that you’re being very deliberate with your return to running, and the changes you saw from cleaning up your diet are impressive!
I also refuse to let the menopause weight gain thing win but wow it’s sure challenging. Working on cleaning back up my sugar as well. I could use a little more fun in my life as well!
4 lbs in one month is really awesome! It never comes off as quickly as it goes on. And that’s really interesting about the hot flashes — I actually don’t get many at all, not even daily. I eat a little bit of sugar, but not a lot. And a lot of my sugar comes from fruit, which has the nice fiber to help me from going off the deep end.
It’s been soooooo long since a real vacation, so fun has been rather spotty for sure.
I’ve been trying to clean up my diet a bit as well, and it’s so hard! I’m trying for more complex carbs, and yet every store in America has a chips aisle. That crunch and salt is so tempting!
So glad your knee is doing better and you’re running more! And, big congrats on the weight loss – the menopause shift in metabolism is doing a number on me. I need to follow your lead on cutting out all sugar – especially if it will help with the hot flashes!
I wish I had the will power to eliminate sugar from my diet. Your results give me some motivation though. I didn’t;t run a lot in April, but I had a great time traveling and getting into swimming for the first time ever.
Sugar is the root of all evil (…and happiness). I have had so many issues revert to non-issues with dropping sugar in my diet as well! Mostly just cutting anything that comes out of a box has helped me big time.
Way to go on cleaning up your diet! That is by far the hardest part for me! Here’s hoping spring decides to show up in May! 🙂
Love the idea of giving yourself grades on different aspects of fitness, and especially love that Fun was one aspect that was graded (but sorry you only were able to give yourself a C). I need work on cleaning up my diet. I definitely would not get an A++ like you did in that area!
The hot flashes somehow bypassed me but damn this weight gain already!!!
I hope May is more fun for you and you are convincing me to reduce my sugar intake (yet again)…lol.
Congrats on a solid month! It’s been nice to see you ease back into running while keeping the knee happy. My month has been all over the place, I can’t even remember offhand…and I’ve been so busy the past couple weeks, what “memories” I do have are kind of blurry…..;-) I guess keeping busy keeps me out of trouble (??)
Yay I’m glad you’re doing better with that knee! Congrats on the diet clean up – I am trying to do that myself, it’s tough!