It just hit me when I typed “172” in the title of this post that 172 weeks is well over three years! It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long since I got serious about losing my 2018 weight gain. A little over a week ago marked two years since becoming vegan. And a week from tomorrow will mark three years since I quit drinking alcohol. It kind of stuns me that it’s been this long!

After Eli woke up during his oral surgery in December, I was kind of desperate for answers. I don’t want him to be afraid of anesthesia for the rest of his life (right now, he says he’ll never even go to a dentist again, let alone a surgeon). I’ve always suspected that I metabolize drugs faster than normal, but I didn’t know there was a DNA test for it. And I figured if I am a rapid or ultra rapid metabolizer, there is a good chance my kids could be, too. (I didn’t know if it would affect the anesthesia drugs, but it was a start.)

I’d been wanting to get tested for the breast cancer gene and especially the Alzheimer’s gene for a long time, but was always too scared. Anyway, the point is, I ordered a 23 & Me genetic test–it looks at your genes for a ton of different conditions, diseases, carrier statuses, etc, among things like ancestry and physical characteristics.

I haven’t decided how much I want to share yet, but one thing that I found interesting was my genetic weight:

It said that my genes predispose me to weigh about 3% more than average. According to 23 & Me, the average weight of a 5’4″ woman of European descent is 151 pounds (3% higher would be about 155.5). 

My result makes sense to me, actually; when my weight was at my lowest of 121, I was wearing a size 2. And I could theoretically still lose 13 more pounds and stay within the CDC recommended weight range! That seems so ridiculous. Anyway, what does this result mean for me? Nothing, really. It’s just something that I thought was kind of interesting.

As for this week, I ate really really well. There is nothing I would have done differently. I was a little disappointed in the scale, though, because I felt like I’d lost a lot more than this!

I was at 142.4, which is only down 0.6 pounds from last week. My clothes are looser and I don’t feel puffy, so I thought I’d see a bigger loss. But I’m not going to quit doing what I’m doing. I know, as much as anybody, that you can do all the right things one week and lose five pounds, then do the exact same things another week and not lose anything.

I do feel a million times better since eating healthier, though. I’ve even been sleeping better and running feels easier! Maybe it’s just in my head, but I think I see a difference in the mirror, too. A lot of my clothes are still on the tight side, but that’s because they fit really well at 130-135 pounds–for a while there, I was really worried I might have to buy bigger clothes. Considering how I feel right now, I really don’t want to screw it up for a few Oreos or something; I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing and hope that everything takes care of itself.

Last week, I said I was going to increase my daily run from one block (0.4 miles) to two blocks (0.5 miles). Physically, it was no big deal; mentally, though, I was loving the “just one time around the block” rule. I wanted to give it a week and then decide that I could go back to one block if I wanted.

I ran two blocks every day this week and now, I don’t think Joey will be very understanding if we cut back, haha. He’s so used to our routine every morning. I can already picture the disappointment in his eyes if we cut out the extra block 😉  So, we’ll continue with the half-mile daily runs.

I can’t wait for it to warm up outside. Right now, with all the layers I wear, it takes me longer to get ready to run than it does to actually complete the it!