Stronger Every Day

That's how it's been feeling lately, like I am adding a bit more strength (and endurance) each day.  It sure is rewarding.  On Friday I went to the gym and did Week 7/Day 1 for c25k.  Week 7 is the same as Week 6/Day 3, a 25 minute run.  I ran outside again and it was ok, not a fabulous showing, but I felt good about it.  I wasn't feeling strong enough to even attempt The Hill, plus it was hot out.  Back at the gym I did chest/triceps/core for strength training.  One thing that's not getting easier are the modified pushups I do on the smith machine.  About a month ago I lowered the bar down a notch and I have been struggling ever since to get through all three sets of 10.  Maybe I should drop down to three sets of 8 until I get stronger.  You know I hate to suffer!  I wrapped up with the stairs for 5 minutes and this time I was able to do the whole 5 minutes at 50 steps per minute!  See?  Stronger all the time.

My mom and grandfather came over for dinner on Friday night and boy did I eat!  Mom brought steaks to grill and potatoes to bake and artichoke dip with crackers, and, and, and...you get the idea.  After they left and the kids went to bed I went to a champagne tasting event at a friend's house.  I vowed that, after that dinner, I would not drink any champagne.  1 - to save the calories and 2 - to keep me from indulging in the fabulous desserty food I knew she would be serving (including a chocolate fountain!).  I stuck to my guns and did not drink, or eat, at all.  It was sort of easy being I was so full from dinner :o

I ate light on Saturday not only because of the steak dinner but also because Saturday night we had a date night planned!  Saturday was also a day off from the gym so I wouldn't have the calorie burn to help balance things out, though we went out for a leisurely hike/bike ride with the kids.  Miguel pulled Myra in the wagon and Marek and I rode bikes (sort of, he was off and on his bike every 5 minutes).  It was fun to get outside with the kids, as always.  And, of course, I was feeling grateful for both the ability and the interest to do this sort of thing.  Toward the end Miguel asked if I was tired, "heck no".  Maybe a little bored at times with our .2 mph pace but not tired.

Date night was a calorie explosion!  I had fish and chips for dinner (totally worth it, thank goodness) and took a dessert of banana pudding with nilla wafers and whipped cream to go.  I ate the dessert during the movie.  Sadly, it wasn't so worth it, too sweet for my taste, and I kind of wish I'd skipped it.  Once I started eating it though, I couldn't didn't stop.  We saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was fun.  It was nice to get out for an evening alone.

Today (Sunday) I planned to eat really light to balance out date night.  I promptly forgot to eat breakfast and ended up eating a burrito around 11:30am.  It was a curry shrimp High Tech burrito from their "healthy" menu.  429 calories (except more because I got a regular flour tortilla instead of the low-cal wheat version).  All in all probably not bad for breakfast and lunch combined.

I went to the gym in the afternoon and rode the bike to start.  I'd been feeling like I might be ready to push up to Level 6 (on the random route) so I gave it a try.  Now, instead of topping out at Level 8, it tops out at Level 9.  A new challenge indeed.  But I was able to do the 25 minutes and felt good.  Unfortunately I decided to make this level increase on a legs day so some of the subsequent strength training exercises were painful, like leg extensions.  Ouch!  Lunges again went well, only wobbled a couple times.  I wrapped up with 5 minutes on the stairs at 50 steps per minute.  And it wasn't even killing me.  I'm putting the master in StairMaster!  Hee hee.

For dinner tonight I again went light.  I cooked black beans today so I had some of those, a 1/4 of an avocado and a couple slice of chicken breast.  I'm feeling hungry still so I might have another little bowl of black beans before I go to bed.  If I were only trying to maintain weight I wouldn't think twice but with trying to lose weight I have to be tight with the calories.  Ah, what the heck, it's a bowl of black beans and I'm hungry.  Like I said, I'm not into suffering!