A Balancing Act with Eggs

Things have been all, the good, the bad & the ugly around here the last couple of days.  The good has been related to exercise, the bad, of course, is about food.  Oh, and so is the ugly.

I took that CrossFit class on Monday and I was pretty sore on Tuesday.  Fortunately it wasn't enough to disable me altogether but I knew I should take it easy at the gym, which meant no weight lifting.  I planned to only do a little light cardio but when I got to the gym a Zumba Gold class was about to start.  If you're not familiar with Zumba Gold here's how they describe it:

Zumba Gold targets the largest growing segment of the population: baby boomers. It takes the Zumba formula and modifies the moves and pacing to suit the needs of the active older participant, as well as those just starting their journey to a fit and healthy lifestyle.

Sounds like just what I needed.  So I took the class and it was perfect, nothing too strenuous but still enough to make me sweat.  And some of the floor stuff was even a real challenge, like the one where you get on your hands and knees and then straighten one leg, and the alternating arm.  Then you pull both in and touch your elbow to your knee under your midsection.  Like in this picture, but then you pull your arm and leg in until your elbow touches your knee under your body, then return to this position. I think we did 8 or 10 of those, slowly. 

After the Zumba class I felt like I should do just a bit more so I hopped on the treadmill and ran a mile.  Then I got on the elliptical for 10 minutes before going to stretch.  The amount of exercise felt perfect.

I was supposed to take the leftover Easter chocolate to work yesterday and I forgot.  They started calling my name after I put the kids to bed.  I resisted them for a while and then I didn't.  I ate 3 chocolate Easter eggs, and I tracked them too (they were 3 points each, so 9 total).  Unfortunately they sent me over my points for the day and I didn't have enough weekly points left to cover them.  So I'm 4 over on my points.  I put the rest from that package down the disposal.  The worse thing was I felt like a bit of a loser for giving in.  But I got over that quickly.  Other than those eggs I'd eaten well all day, including a ton of broccoli, and I exercised.  With all that good I wasn't going to let a bit of bad define my whole day.

Apparently I didn't learn a thing though because this is where the ugly happens. Today, Wednesday, is my day home with the kids.  There was another box of chocolate eggs that I hadn't touched.  Until this afternoon.  The kids were down for their naps and I again started thinking about chocolate.  Next thing you know I'm eating those darned eggs.  I feel like an idiot even writing about this.  In my own defense, they are really, really good.  And there's a reason I have a blog about trying to reach a normal BMI.  Anyway, this time was a bit better in that I only ate two of them and put the rest down the disposal.  Two happens to be a serving size, which for some odd reason made me feel better about the whole thing.  I tracked them (6 points) and felt sort of ok about the whole ordeal.

I don't normally go to the gym on Wednesdays and I hadn't thought too much about dinner when Miguel came walking in the door a couple hours earlier than normal.  And then he says, "you've been working hard lately, why don't you take the rest of the day off [from parenting] and do whatever you want."  Perfect!  So I changed to go to the gym.  I knew exercise would balance out those two chocolate eggs and that made me feel a lot better about having indulged.

I got to the gym and, despite my sore legs, did 25 minutes on the upright bike.  Instead of my normal RPMs though I just did what felt comfortably challenging.  I like to be able to walk and would like to not be crippled tomorrow.  Plus I had legs/shoulders/core for weight training after the bike.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to do all my weight training.  Squats and leg extensions were the hardest but I got through them.  I did some serious stretching afterward and boy was I stiff!  I think it's going to be a few days before my body gets back to normal.

After the gym I was feeling super-motivated and decided I'd have a salad for dinner to balance out the chocolate calories and maybe even stay under my points for the day.  So I came home and made a salad with lots of veggies and a half of an avocado.  That put me at 28 points for the day.  Two over my allotted 26 but my activity points covered those 2 extra so I was fine.  I went from feeling sort-of okay about my food intake today to feeling like I did a good balancing act.  I certainly don't see this as behavior to aspire to, but anytime I can fix a mistake through making better decisions later, especially ones that lift my mood, confidence, self esteem and motivation all at the same time - well, it all comes back to good.