Camping @ Lake Mendocino and a Weight Watchers Decision

You might not believe this but I got up at 5:30am on Friday morning to go to the gym. That's how it is when you're motivated, things just come easier. I did a 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill and then 25 minutes on the bike. The bike was MEAN! There were plenty of level 6 bars to go around but I stuck it out and liked it. Well, maybe I didn't like it exactly, but I did it and felt good afterward. It was a shoulder and leg day for weight training. I did 3 sets of squats and moved on to lunges. Remember how I said lunges were finally becoming doable? I lied. They were hard as hell again. I could only sort of do 2 sets. I say sort of because I both couldn't dip all the way down and I had to help myself by pushing off my thigh for the last few. That's ok though, at least I did them. I will look forward to when they really are doable. I worked my shoulders too and mixed in my core work and came home feeling energized and ready for the weekend. Camping!

We packed the car (and by "we" I mainly mean Miguel) and got the kids in and left only 1 hour behind schedule. Not bad. It was a successful drive up to the Kyen campgrounds at Lake Mendocino other than Marek having a meltdown at lunch. We arrived around 1:30 and it was almost 100 degrees! As soon as "we" set up the tent and unloaded the car we headed for the lake. How fun! We got to the lake every day we were there and the kids just went nuts for the water. Fortunately Saturday and Sunday were cooler, closer to the 80's I think. Two other kids (and parents) were able to come too - triple the fun! The kids were buzzing with excitement every moment, even at 2am when Marek couldn't sleep. That was a rough four hours for me but I survived. I SO enjoy seeing the little ones having fun, being outdoors and non-stop with activity. We're planning one more camping trip in August to the coast - with no lake. I'll have to do some research to see if there's some kid-friendly water around that area. And I'm hoping some friends can join us on that trip too, makes it even more fun for all of us!

Food and exercise were not great. There were cookies and mayonnaise, pesto cream sauce and beer, wine and potato salad - I sort of just gave up on avoiding anything "bad". And I didn't feel like exercising at all. We were uphill from the bathroom and the lake so any walk from the campsite meant a walk back up this hill. But it wasn't really a hill, hill so I wouldn't call it exercise. Of course I still noted it in an attempt to make myself feel like I was getting some exercise.

We came home freshly exhausted from our successful camping trip. I tried to get to the gym but Miguel was tired and wouldn't hear of me leaving him with both kids. I told myself it was ok and that my body could use two days off from the gym to recover from all the weight training and c25k/bike, etc. The good news is I feel great today (Monday) and can't wait to get to the gym. Any time I have a break in my routine I worry about my motivation going away but I still feel fired up so that's good.

So I made a decision about Weight Watchers. If I don't lose for three weeks in a row I will re-join Weight Watchers. Maybe three weeks is not enough, maybe I should make it an even four? No loss for one month and WW it is. My thinking is this - if I'm exercising and not losing weight it must be the food. The best thing I know to get the food in check is WW. I want to wait until what I'm doing isn't working though before I add more to my plate (er, less?). I'm very curious about the new plan and how fruits/veggies are zero points. I could use the help getting more veggies into the diet.

Oh, pictures from this weekend! I only have a handful, I was too busy chasing little ones and pulling tree bits out of my Myra's mouth to take very many.




Well, there you have it, my weekend all wrapped up. Feel free to send some "Oh my!" and "Atta girl!" and "Way to go!!" my way in response to getting up at 5:30am to hit the gym on Friday. I am duly impressed with myself but it's always so nice when you are too :)