Cheese Puffs, Ice Cream and Bakasana

Last night was rough.  Myra got sick on Sunday and was up four times last night with a fever.  I stayed home with her today and we both muddled through the day.  Being home all day is hard when it comes to food!  I just wanted to munch, munch, munch.  I had my normal breakfast (Kashi Go Lean) but a couple hours later, after an apple and string cheese, I had a bowl of Miguel's cereal (Frosted Flakes).  I also snacked on all of Myra's snacks (crackers, cookies, etc), although I kept it to one or two.

We had to run out for more children's Tylenol and I resisted all the junk I wanted to buy in the drugstore.  But I didn't resist fast food and picked up a 2 piece meal at KFC for lunch.  While I was ordering I noticed the calorie range on that meal went all the way up to over 1400.  Wow!  I can't imagine which choices for the two piece meal could be that many calories.  I got it home and they got the order wrong, instead of extra crispy they gave me original recipe.  So I ate the thigh and decided that since it wasn't my favorite I'd leave the rest of the meal for Miguel.  Plus I was still a bit freaked out by that calorie count.  I just checked and the thigh had 250 calories (extra crispy would have been 340).  But since I've never counted calories those numbers don't have a ton of meaning to me. 

Not too long after that I had another bowl of cereal.  This time it was Nature's Path Optimum Power (whatever that means) Blueberry Cinnamon Flax.  I got a sample at the Marin Triathlon and I actually liked it.  I bought it to use as my weekend cereal.  Let's see...I'm pretty sure I ate some other stuff but I can't remember.

Myra was crying more and more so I finally decided to take her to the doctor, despite knowing they were probably going to say it's a virus.  And it was, a type that includes mouth sores.  So I stopped at a drugstore on the way home to pick up ice cream for her and was still feeling munchy myself so I bought a bag of cheese puffs.  Yes, cheese puffs.  I think I was just tired and cranky myself after being home all day with a sick baby.  I ate most of the puffs on the way home but when I got home I read the bag and noticed the whole thing was four servings!  What happened to the good old days of double serving bags? (let alone single serving).  One serving had 160 calories, that x4 seemed like a lot.  So I dumped what was left, hopefully about one serving, in the garbage disposal.  It's never too late to make a new decision.

But...moving on.  I ended up eating a 1/2 of an avocado and a bowl of Myra's ice cream (rainbow sherbet) for dinner.  Oh dear.  Things just went from bad to bad to bad when it came to my eating today.  I was hoping to get to the gym, though by the time Miguel gave me the green light to go I wasn't feeling a lot of pep in my step.  But I changed clothes and went anyway.

And good thing because I had a great workout!  This is Week 4 - a rest/recovery week.  I started with 25 minutes on the upright bike followed by legs/shoulders/core.  I did a lower level on the bike and fewer sets of my normal stuff.  But when I was done I still felt an energy buzz and decided to run.  I hopped on the treadmill with a plan to run for 5 minutes at 7.2mph.  But as the minutes ticked off I decided, "why not make it a mile?"  I wasn't sure if I could do it but I did.  One mile in 8 minutes, 27 seconds.  Whew!  I went to stretch and somehow started messing around with the crane pose.  I've never been able to hold it before but today, voila!

Bakasana (Crane Pose)

I've only taken a handful of Yoga classes over the years but this pose has always seemed so cool to me.  I'm sure my form is terrible, I think my knees are supposed to be in my armpits, but I was sure able to hold myself up there!  This stuff never gets old.

Myra will probably need to stay home again tomorrow so I'll have another chance to make better choices.  We'll see.  Today's choices weren't stellar but they weren't absolutely horrible either, just not very good nutrition-wise.  I was hungry when I came home from the gym (what, 1/2 an avocado and sherbet isn't satisfying?!) and in an effort to balance out all the crap I munched on green beans.  Like I said, it's never too late to make a new choice. 

p.s.  how do you like my new header?  I love it!!  Thanks to all my facebook peeps for approving!!

Wrapping up Thanksgiving

I worked on Friday, and to be honest, it was a nice break from all the holiday food.  After work I did a little shopping at a local second hand store that was having a sale.  I got a bunch more clothes in my current size.  I also got a winter jacket and a zip-up hoodie.  It's nice to have clothes that fit.  Especially when you've worked so hard to get smaller.  After that I went to the gym.  I didn't have much time at that point but I started with 25 minutes on the upright bike, which is my normal routine.  After that I did back/biceps/core for strength training.  I couldn't finish everything in time but I did most of it.  I was just happy to get there given the holiday weekend and all.

Saturday was a day off from the gym.  We lounged around the house all morning and then took the kids on a short hike to a little waterfall.  It was a gorgeous day. 

Boundless energy!

The area was so beautiful it reminded me of movies I've seen.  The trail had a gradual incline leading up to the waterfall but hardly any sections that you would call steep.  Perfect for the kids but also, it occurred to me, perfect for running.  I made a mental note to come back for a short trail run sometime. 

Taken with my camera phone but you still get the idea.  Gorgeous, right?

The kids made it the whole way with only being carried a little bit.  They played in the water for a while, we just let them get as wet as they wanted.  It's only water, right?

Free-for-all!

After the hike I was starving!  We took the kids to a local taqueria for a change of pace after all the Thanksgiving related food.  I ate A LOT.  I had a bunch of chips, salsa and guacamole while I waited for my nachos.  Not just nachos, super nachos.  At least I had them with black beans and shredded chicken.  But I'd eaten so many chips I could only eat about 1/2 of it.  It was good but I made a mental note to eat a light dinner.

In the afternoon I went to my friend Michelle's house to look at the official "After" photos.  I was SO happy with them!  So many beautiful pictures, it's going to be hard to choose the one I want for my blog header.  I might have to post them here and ask for opinions.  Here's one of my favorites that wouldn't work as a blog header.  By the time this blog makeover is done you're going to be sick of looking at me!

Yours truly

In the evening Miguel and I went out for a date night.  I'll admit, I was dragging a bit so our first stop was a coffee shop for a small latte.  We just lazed around there for a bit before going to Chipotle for a quick bite before the movie.  I had the kids taco plate, which is the perfect amount of food.  And then we saw Argo.  Interesting movie, I liked it.  Slept like a baby once I was finally in bed.

Today I was up and out early to shoot some photos.  Then off to the soccer field to meet Miguel and the kids.  We watched the first half of his game and then headed home for lunch.  I had my last Thanksgiving leftover meal, turkey, some mashed potatoes (no gravy) and brussels sprouts.  And I had a few bites of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. 

When Miguel got home I got ready to go for a run.  This is a recovery/rest week so I didn't want a long run.  I remembered the trail, the weather was still nice, so I went for it.  The trail was so short I parked down the street to add some mileage.  The run in that direction was all with a slight incline.  I was working hard!  Once I got on the trail, the slight incline continued almost the whole way to the waterfall.  I just reminded myself that the run back was going to be fun. And it was!  I felt like I was running so fast!  Here's all the news that's fit to print.

Mile 3 was the payoff!

The incline made for a nice challenge, I'll do this run again for sure.

After the run I debated going to the gym and in the end decided to go and do some core work for fun.  I got there and thought, "what can I do that will be fun and different?"  Burpees!  I did a set of 10, man they start off so easy but get hard pretty quick!  I ended up doing sets of burpees and sets of core work in between.  I stretched and then headed for home.  What a fun little workout!

I wish I could tell you I ate healthy the rest of the but the darned pumpkin pie kept calling to me!  Ah, I know I'll be ok as long as I get right back to my routine tomorrow.  And so far I'm still all good on the scale front so I'm not going to worry about it.  That's it...I'm off to bed.  It's 9pm and I hope to be asleep by 9:30.  Night all!