This is an Other

Some days are better than others. Today was an other. Funny thing though, the last few times I've had monster-bad days, I haven't wanted to eat. In the way-back past I would've wanted a bag of chips and a pint of ice cream - for an appetizer. But now, it's as if I can't really enjoy food when I'm feeling like crap. At least in the initial jolt of pain or sadness. Unfortunately, it doesn't really last. Give it a day or two and I'll probably want to dive head-first into that ice cream.

Aside from the state of my personal affairs, food and exercise are going well. Last week, the week following the half-marathon, I hit my goal to exercise four days. I went to the gym on Monday and did a light, post-half recovery workout. Tuesday I was hit with a wave of exhaustion in the late afternoon and thought it smart to get some rest. I did just run 13.1 miles on Sunday after all.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday saw me hitting the gym after work and doing my thing. I'm still not doing what I used to do before this whole divorce/life-change thing reached a peak, but that's ok, I'll get there eventually.

Jumping back to Wednesday, I lost 2.2 pounds this past week. It was no surprise given I'd gained 3.2 pounds the week prior. Something crazy is happening with my weight, jumping around like that. I'm curious to see what it will be this week. So I'm 149.8, which is .8 pounds over what I'm allowed to be to maintain free Lifetime status at WW (my official goal weight is 147 and we're allowed to be +/- 2 pounds of that weight). I'd really like to stop paying that $40 monthly pass fee so I hope this is the week.

But I'm definitely not starving myself to get there. Friday evening I had dinner in a restaurant. I had a few sips of wine, a bit of bread, shared fried calamari for an appetizer (I know, I know, but it was so good) and ordered grilled salmon for the entree. The salmon came with steamed veggies and the smallest portion of roasted red potatoes I'd ever seen. And a small cannoli for dessert. I entered in everything into my tracker and came to 26 points. Not too bad.

We had a family Easter party on Saturday (the only day that worked for everyone) but I made smart choices there (including no candy), knowing I was attending a dinner party that evening. The dinner party was over the top, with one of the guests being a bona fide chef who prepared the food. He served everything small-plate style and we all stood around the island eating and drinking while plate after plate of yummy stuff emerged. Oh.my.calories was there a lot of food. And it was good. Check out the spread.

Deviled eggs with smoked salmon, grilled lamb, bison burgers, beef carpaccio...and the list goes on and on. Anyway, I comforted myself by mentally increasing the mileage in my planned Sunday run by 1 mile with every passing hour. Points-wise I decided to just wipe out all the Weekly Points I had left plus any unused Activity Points (including those I'd earn on Sunday's run). Who knows if this is right, but it's too much to attempt calculating.

Sunday came around and it was time to pay the piper get outdoors and experience the joy of physical exertion. A trail run was just what I needed to clear both my head and my body. I did a loop route in the Henry Coe State Park, a trail I hiked for the first time about a year ago.

The loop is 6 miles. Some parts were either too steep up/downhill to run - up being too hard, down being too scary - or the trail was too rocky/narrow. So where I could run, I ran, otherwise I hiked, quickly, to keep the exertion at workout levels (vs Sunday stroll level). Check out the elevation profile.

It was a beautiful day, a little chilly and windy at times but the scenery more than made-up for the cold.

Henry Coe State Park in April

That brings us to today. I made good food choices, balancing out the weekend's bacchanalia, and went to the gym after work. I was a little stiff from the trail run but mentally, I really needed a workout. I started with the hill loop around my gym, 2.34 miles in 10:26 pace. Considering the size of the hill I ran over, that's darned good. Actually, it's good no matter how you look at it!

Then I went inside to do legs/shoulders/core. That was asking a bit much from my body. I had to cut short the number of lunges because my legs were just not up to it, and after about 2/3 of my total workout, I just stopped altogether. My body wasn't happy and I wasn't in the mood to push it. Aside from my being emotionally tired, I probably didn't eat enough to fuel what I was trying to do either.

But I closed out the day eating all 26 of my Daily Points, leaving the 6 APs I earned in the gym for tomorrow if I want them. It's a sad day, to be sure, when I'm ambivalent about eating all my Points.