This was a rough week all around. Every run felt tough, my diet slipped, and I didn’t keep up with the exercises my knee needs. Bad weeks are going to happen, and this was one of them. The key is not letting one bad day turn into three, and not letting one bad week roll into the next.
Intermittent Fasting & Nutrition
Monday and Tuesday started fine — I stuck to my fasting schedule in the mornings — but by the afternoons I fell back into an old habit that had fueled my weight gain before: secret eating.
On Monday I swung through Taco Bell for a cheese quesadilla and a Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Not as much as I used to order, but still a lot of calories. I tossed the evidence at a gas station before heading home. Later that night, I grabbed a king-sized Reese’s peanut butter cup on the way back from the grocery store and buried the wrapper before anyone saw it.
The next day, same pattern: Taco Bell again, this time with a Doritos Loco Taco added on, plus an Oatmeal Creme Pie from the gas station. By Wednesday I was already off track. I even broke my fast early, convincing myself it was okay because I had “stopped earlier the day before.”
When I weighed myself Thursday morning, the scale hadn’t punished me. I know why — I probably ate less at dinner because I’d already loaded up earlier in the day. But I also know this won’t last forever. As I lose more weight, the margin for error shrinks. Mistakes like this will catch up to me.
I finished the week with one more slip on Saturday. After my daughter’s cross country meet, I ate a white bread sandwich closer to noon than I should have. I should have just waited until I got home.
Takeaway: Slip-ups happen, but letting a bad day turn into three bad days is the real danger. The more quickly I can recognize the pattern, the faster I can break it.
Weight Progress
- Starting Weight: 320.3 lbs
- Last Week: 306.8
- Week 3 Weigh-in: 303.5
- This Week’s Loss: 3.3 lbs
- Total Lost: 16.8 lbs
- Pounds Till Goal: 83.2 lbs
Even with the slip-ups, I lost 3.3 pounds. That’s partly because I still have a lot to lose — but I know these kinds of mistakes won’t always be forgiven. For now, I’ll take the win, remember what went wrong, and move forward.
Run 1: Consistency Over Excuses
Conditions: 60°F | 90% humidity | 57° dew point | 1 mph wind
Distance: 2.29 mi | Pace: 14:55 | Elevation Gain: 50 ft
Avg HR: 137 | Cadence: 129
Splits: 12:47 | 12:18 | 12:29 | 12:25
Music: None
Before I even left the house, I didn’t feel like running. It was 5 a.m., earlier than normal, and I had every excuse to skip. Instead, I chose an easier, flatter route through town and went anyway.
The mistake was trying to force both pace and distance at the same time. I aimed to hover around a 12:30 pace while also bumping up my run-walk ratio to 4/2. That combination pushed me into “tolerable misery” the whole way — sustainable for one run, but not smart long term.
Then came a full-circle moment. Just as I finished my third segment on the highway, I saw someone I knew from high school — someone who went through the same cancer I did, but unlike me, never put on 100 pounds afterward. She still looks like she did back then, while I felt like a shell of the athlete I used to be. But she had once reached out to me when I was first diagnosed, and crossing paths reminded me: my story isn’t locked in. I’m rewriting it.
Takeaway: Consistency beats excuses. Even when the pace isn’t smart and the mental game feels heavy, just showing up creates the moments that remind me why I’m doing this.
Run 2: Floating, Flying… and Crashing
Conditions: 62°F | 96% humidity | 57° dew point | 5 mph wind
Distance: 2.64 mi | Pace: 14:26 | Elevation Gain: 104 ft
Avg HR: 146 | Cadence: 131
Splits: 12:06 | 11:58 | 12:27 | 12:31
Music: Muse – Simulation Theory
This run went from my best of the year to my worst in the span of 30 minutes.
The first two segments felt incredible. I was floating, flying, breathing easy. My stride felt smooth, my pace was quick, and I thought something had finally clicked. But then reality hit. By the end of my second walk break, my heart rate hadn’t dipped below 150. The next segment included the biggest hill on the route, and by the top I was at 170, gasping for air.
Even after the walk break, my heart rate wouldn’t come back down. The final run segment was all misery. It took six minutes of extra walking just to feel normal again.
The numbers surprised me afterward — I held the pace better than I thought. But the truth is I’m not ready for four segments at a 12-minute pace with hills in the mix.
Takeaway: Sometimes the line between breakthrough and breakdown is razor thin. The early miles felt like progress, the last ones like punishment. Both are part of the process.
Run 3: Misery, Missteps, and Moderation
Conditions: 50°F | 86% humidity | 47° dew point | 3 mph wind
Distance: 2.26 mi | Pace: 14:44 | Elevation Gain: 49 ft
Avg HR: 138 | Cadence: 132
Splits: 12:33 | 13:28 | 12:46 | 13:16 | 13:27
Music: Muse – The Resistance
After two tough runs, I wanted this one to be easier. Instead, it turned into another grind.
The 4/1 run-walk ratio meant shorter recovery breaks, and my second segment — the slowest of the run — was one long uphill. That climb pushed my heart rate up and carried over into the rest of the workout.
At one point I passed a group of people and pushed harder than I should have, just so I wouldn’t look slow. That decision came back to haunt me, because the last two segments were brutal. Then I made a mental mistake: I thought the run was over after four segments, only to realize I had one more. That final push was rough, and it showed in the splits.
Diet played a role too. I have gout — the meds prevent flare-ups, but I still swell and bloat when I eat the wrong things. Saturday night I had two Angry Orchards, and brewer’s yeast is one of my worst triggers. Add in ice cream earlier that day — which I’ll explain more in an upcoming blog post about my new diet plan — and I probably stacked the deck against myself. My dad has lactose sensitivity, so I may be heading down the same path.
The good news: I haven’t missed a run in three weeks. Six weeks out from my first 5K in years, I’m still on track. If the tough runs keep piling up, I may need to swallow my pride and do a week of Zone 2 training — even if that means power walkers passing me.
Takeaway: Not every run is a breakthrough. Sometimes the lesson is that the little things — food, drink, mindset — matter as much as the miles.
Perspective
This week also made me think about my dad. He’s overweight, out of shape, and pre-diabetic. Even though he works part-time as a janitor, he struggles with simple physical tasks. I don’t want that to be my future. I can’t do the work for him, but I can use his struggles as motivation to keep doing mine.
Final Thought
Bad weeks are part of the process. This one tested me with diet slip-ups, tough runs, and skipped exercises. But even at my lowest, I still showed up. I still ran. I still moved forward.
Progress isn’t about being perfect. It’s about refusing to quit when things get messy. And that’s what makes this week, as frustrating as it was, worth it.
Catch up on all my other post here.
