On the Upswing!

I am feeling a lot better, though I am surprised by how long that bad mood hung around!  Kristy, Alice, Meg, Irene, Ingi, Cherelli and Julie -  I appreciate the supportive comments and you guys give me good stuff to think about too.  I'm guessing my better mood has to do with a whole bunch of trips to the gym.  On Friday I went and rode the bike for 25 minutes.  Level 7 is still kicking my butt.  After that I did legs/shoulders/core.  For some reason shoulders were super tough!  Oh, and I'm doing these cool jackknifes/pushup things where you...oh I can't explain it, let me post a picture:

So you get into the plank position, only on the Swiss ball.  Then you shoot your butt in the air (I don't get anywhere NEAR as high as the guy in #2 gets, I'm more like an inverted V when I do it) and then back to plank, then do a pushup and then back to plank for 1 rep.  I did 7 reps on Friday, and that was in addition to 3 sets of 10 of the regular jackknifes.  I'm loving it!  Such a fun, new challenge. 

I almost forgot about weigh-in on Friday morning.  I weighed in at 172.6, a 2.2 pound gain from the previous week.  No mystery there - it was all the camping and birthday food.  Of course I found myself thinking maybe it's time to do WW again.  And after this weekend I should probably sign up.  Two more birthday parties and tons of "bad" food (hot dogs, cake, cupcakes, tacos, nachos - you name it, I seemed to have eaten it this weekend). Something is simmering in my brain though to make some changes.

Anyway, at least the exercise is on track.  Yesterday (Saturday) I went to the gym (after birthday party #1 of the day, one of Marek's friends).  I was lucky to have good enough weather for an outside run so I hit the road and ran 3 miles in 32 minutes!!  Oh yes, I am that fast.  I felt so. damn. good. after that run.  Then I did back/biceps/core for strength training.  I tried a one-armed plank (on the ground, not the ball) and that was cool, I held the normal plank for 10 seconds, lifted my right arm and held that for 10, then switched arms for a final 10 for a total of 30 seconds.  I liked it so much I did it twice!  I also did my normal two planks for 40 seconds each.  Oops, that's changed too.  I do normal for 20 seconds and then I lift one leg for 20.  For the second set I lift the other leg.  Fun times with the plank.

And I broke my policy of not going to the gym more than 3 days in a row and went today (Sunday).  I was supposed to do a long ride with a friend but she had to cancel.  I was already packed so I decided to go anyway, only on my own.  But when I got ready to get going it was windy and cold so I decided to just hit the gym instead. I ate an AccelGel when I started because it was almost lunchtime.  I did 25 minutes on the upright bike, level 7 is still really hard.  Then I did chest/triceps/core work.  I increased the pushups to 6 "real" ones and 2 smith machine ones, 3 sets.  I am getting so close to my goal of three sets of 8 real pushups!  And bench dips are getting more manageable too.  I am getting strong, and I love it!  Oh, and I did more of those jackknife pike pushup things, I did one set of 10 and it was killer.  Of course I like killer (sometimes).  I felt great after my workout. 

When I got home I was hungry.  Guess what I made myself for lunch?  Nachos.  Nachos?!  Really?  Chips, probably 2 cups of grated cheese, guacamole and sour cream.  I don't deserve any sympathy if I gain weight this week.  I bet if I were doing WW that wouldn't have happened.  WW is just a little nudge to do the right thing, make a better choice as they say.

Alright, that's it from me.  Please be impressed by all my working out and try to forget about all the junk eating.  I know that's what I plan to do :)