The Positive Talk Breaks Through

I'm in the middle of a (well-earned) lazy Sunday afternoon.  The kids are napping and I'm watching bad TV.  Yesterday was an action packed day of fun that wore the whole family out.

But before yesterday there was last week so I'd better catch up with that first.  Wednesday was a rest day so I didn't exercise, though I did take the kids for a little stroll around the neighborhood.  Toddler pace doesn't cause me to break a sweat but at least we moved some.  My eating last week was so-so, I stayed within my points but I didn't always make the best choices.  I know a calorie is a calorie but I feel such a big difference when I eat healthy, wholesome foods.

Thursday I was feeling a bit run down.  My body was sore and I felt tired.  I started wondering if I should skip the gym.  I don't do that sort of thing very often, the gym is a priority for me.  But I know my body pretty well by now and when I'm feeling sore and tired it's more rest that I need, not more exercise.  So I took the day off and felt certain I'd done the right thing.

Friday was weight-check day, 152.8 pounds.  Almost lost the whole 3 pound gain from the week prior, still .2 to go.  I think this weight loss thing is getting a bit tougher.  Or maybe not, who knows.  Anyway, I was happy to be back in the 152 range.  I went to the gym on Friday and had a fabulous workout.  I rode the bike for 25 minutes, level 7.  Any day now I'm going to give level 8 a try.  Then I did legs/shoulders/core.  I threw in a few of the moves Bridgett (the trainer) taught me.  I did curtsy lunges and jump squats.  Oh, and I did some brutal core stuff - namely, the double crunch.  You lie on your back with your knees up and a medicine ball between them, with your hands back behind your head holding a dumbbell.  Then you crunch up, reaching the dumbbell toward your knees and your knees up toward your chest.  Ouch!  This is the closest video I could find, but put a dumbbell in his hands and a med ball between his knees (with bent legs).  I also took my hanging leg raises from the captain's chair to those arm hangy things - much tougher.  I'm sure I'm forgetting something, which reminds me I need to update my current workout page here on the blog.    Anyway, I had a fabulous workout.  After that I had to run some things over to a friend's house and...wait for it, waaaaiiiit...I wore a tank top.  In public.  First. time. ever.  And my friend was so nice, "you should wear tank tops more often because you're stacked."  Ha!  (Thanks Laurie!)  Anyway, I think people telling me that my arms are not as bad as I think finally helped me to settle down.  If you tell enough people about your fat arms and all those people squint back at you like you're crazy, you start to think you might be crazy.  So I did it.  And you know what?  I felt a little weird but I survived.  And not one kid pointed and yelled, "look at that lady with the fat arms!".  Don't get me wrong, I know my arms are disproportionately big, but they are not that big and certainly not so big that I can't wear a tank top.  Gasp!  Thank you to everyone who's given me positive feedback about my arms, it helped me have a breakthrough. 

So I was feeling groovy on a hot Friday afternoon.  And then came Friday night.  A friend (Hi Wendy!) called about going out for a drink, which sounded like fun.  Her husband came over to play poker with Miguel and his buddies while she and I headed out.  I'd had dinner already but it was fairly light and by this time, maybe 8:30 or so, I was hungry again.  So we shared two appetizers, a wedge salad (with vinegar as a dressing) and bruschetta (with avocado on it, that's a first).  Thank goodness I ate.  We had a few drinks and came back home.  That's when I made my mistake.  I started drinking beer.  I think I had 2 but I can't be sure.  All I know is I was drunk.  Really drunk.  Before I went to sleep I tried to drink water and have some bread but my body wasn't having it.  I'll spare you all the ugly details and just say I ended up paying for my reckless alcohol intake.  That's a lesson I won't forget for a while.

Thank goodness Saturday is a rest day.  I woke up feeling groggy and with a headache.  Food was a tenuous venture and I felt nauseous for most of the morning.  I managed to have breakfast though before heading out the door.  We actually had a busy day planned.  The local athletic club had an open house for my mom's group so we took the kids.  It was a super hot day and they had tons of fun in the pool.  I had a burger and some chips for lunch.  That and some pink lemonade and I was starting to feel better.  Playing in the pool with the kids all day was work but we had a fun time.  We headed home for a quick turn around because we had plans to go to a friend's house for a bbq dinner/pool party.  Yep, more pool time.  I can't tell you how much more I enjoy the pool when I'm not busy feeling self conscious about my body.  Fortunately these friends are super healthy so we had grilled chicken, grilled veggies and other healthy stuff for dinner.  And I stayed away from the alcohol, obviously.  What a day!  So much fun, and friends, and sun, and water - I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Sunday swim session at IVC college

I woke up this morning thinking maybe the 8am swim workout I'd signed up for was a bad idea.  I had intended to ride my bike the 5 or so miles to the pool but that didn't happen.  But I did make the swim workout.  It was a beautiful morning and swimming was a nice change of pace.  I was talking to another swimmer about how frustrated I am with my swimming, I just know I'm wasting a ton of energy because of poor form.  She suggested I do a video coached swim with Coach Neil.  She said she did it because of her own frustration at being so slow and not being able to get faster and that it made a huge difference.  You do the first session, watch the film, make changes.  Then you go out and practice your new swim for a week and do another video session.  I'm seriously tempted, I need to make some serious breakthroughs if I want to step it up in the swim department, which I do.

After the swim workout it was back home to spend some time with the kids while Miguel played soccer.  Marek ended up going to a friend's house for a while so I took Myra to Goodwill to look for, what else?, tank tops.  I found a couple but nothing to write home about.  But I did find a really cute J.Crew bag that's perfect for beach days.  Score!  I hope to have at least a few more of those before summer ends.

Well, that's it for me.  I'm getting hungry and the kids will wake up any minute now so I need to get back to my movie (Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead) and grab a snack while I can.