On Point

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I think I can officially, finally, after the sickness, the slump, the whatnot...I can officially declare...

I AM BACK!

And let me tell you something, it feels good. 

The last time I blogged was Tuesday, which was a day off from exercise. Since then...

Wednesday:

Gym - 25 minutes on the upright bike level 8, legs/shoulders/core

Thursday:

Gym - I was pressed for time so I could only run 2 miles. Given that, I did intense intervals, 2 minutes at 6.5mph followed by 1 minute at 7.0mph. I did those 3 minute cycles until I'd run 2 miles, which I think was around 18:30 or so. Just as I stopped running a regular gym-guy got on the treadmill next to me, I was panting and felt faint, "long one, huh?" he asked. "No, just intense." Whew. After the run I did back/biceps/core. That was a tough workout, partly because I was moving so fast and partly because I don't friggin' know.

Friday:

Gym - 25 minutes on the upright bike level 8, chest/triceps/core

I can't tell you how good it feels to be doing my weight training and have it not be painfully difficult. That's how I know I'm back. I'm feeling so good, I even snapped a gym pic to share.

So my gym mojo is on fire. That, and my eating is on point. 

I mean, On. Point. I have some examples for ya...

Last night I apparently felt like SuperMom so I took the kids to a local pub/restaurant that had a singer/guitar player guy doing all John Denver songs. I love John Denver and I thought it would be a fun adventure for the kids. But it started at 8:30, half-hour after the kids bedtime. So the adventure was stay up late, go to the show and have desserts while we listen to music. Here's the thing...none of the desserts interested me. Not even after a glass of wine. None of them really appealed to me and I had no interest. None. 

Not the bread pudding, not the chocolate brownie sundae, not the pecan tart... I didn't even know what to make of that. I didn't want any of it and I even thought, "Well, maybe after the wine something will sound good." Nope, it didn't.

The kids ended up asking for a plate of mac-n-cheese and since they'd already had dinner I split an order between them. Turned out to be a big order so I had some of that, which actually did sound good.

The second thing is today. I had lunch plans at a burger spot. Come midday a burger was sounding delicious! I ordered this...

A hamburger with jack cheese, bacon and avocado. And we also shared an order of these...

with ranch dressing, which I also used on my burger. You might be asking yourself, "How does eating a burger and fries prove she's eating on point?"

Because I planned it, because I stopped when I was full (I ate half the burger), because I knew in my heart that I was enjoying an indulgence and not eating out of emotions or any other unhealthy motivation.

Finally, my weight is dropping, I was 141.8 this morning. Getting back down, though my body fat was 30%, I'm ok with that. I just need to do what I know is right and good for my body and my weight/body fat will fall where it does. 

I wish I had time to write more about how great I'm feeling but I have to wrap this up. 'till next time!

What? You want one more gym pic?

Booya!

Cooking Up a Storm

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Anonymous

Love that you are getting back in the groove. I miss you when you are out of 

your groove and not your normal self in your posts! 

That's the first comment I received on last night's post. And my response? ME TOO! I miss me too when I'm out of my groove. The secret to dealing with the down times is a combination of patiently waiting for my mojo to return while simultaneously seeking it out, if that makes sense. You can't force it but you also can't sit on your rumpus and wait for the magic to happen.

Today was good. It was a day off of exercise and I've stayed focused on my eating. I got hungry in the afternoon and struggled to find satisfaction. I had an orange, a string cheese, some carrots...still hungry. My energy was dragging so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have a soy latte before picking up the kids from preschool.

After picking them up we ran a couple errands, including buying chocolate to use in favors I'm making for Marek's party. Once we got home I was still hungry and found myself taking a few bites of banana raisin bread and having another string cheese.

The bread reminds me, I've been focusing on cooking this week. I'd gotten really lazy in the kitchen lately and decided to try and spruce the meals up a bit. To that end, early this morning I put all the ingredients in for a white bean dish with smoked chicken sausage. Very much in the comfort food category.

And the good thing is, the kids liked it too. Part of my lame cooking lately has been because they weren't eating anything. But cooking the same foods over and over for them is exactly the wrong thing to do. Their poor little palates won't develop that way.

And I've got all the ingredients ready for tomorrow's dinner, lasagna made with ground turkey and eggplant. Yum! Now, if I can just keep my hands off the banana raisin bread I made over the weekend.

Alright, that's it from me. I'm off to SLEEP! Tomorrow is a gym day, looking forward to a bike session and weights. 'night!

Bring on the Buzz!

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Ah, Monday. Always a fresh start on Monday, right? I took full advantage of that today.

I had my Kashi GoLean for breakfast and a banana for a morning snack. Lunch turned out to be a HeartThrive bar because I was too busy to make anything else happen. I can't remember what I had for a snack in the afternoon? Maybe nothing but I can't be sure.

Work ran a bit long today and by the time I got to the gym I only had about 45 minutes to work out. I considered how to shorten my workout and in the end decided to sacrifice cardio time. So if I was only going to do a bit of cardio I'd better make it good. I ran a mile at 7.0mph, which took me at about 8 minutes, 40 seconds, then I lowered the speed to 6.0 (mainly because I was going to DIE if I kept running at 7.0) to round out 10 minutes.

After that I was off to weight lifting. I had chest/triceps/core on the agenda. I was seriously rushed so I hurried through, allowing almost no rest between exercises. My heart rate even got up into the 150's, which doesn't normally happen during weight lifting. Almost like more cardio and weight training.

Oh, big news. Not sure if I mentioned this or not but I am officially, 100% back on coffee. I tried the caffeine-free lifestyle and it just isn't for me. Bring on the buzz! I had coffee last Wednesday, then again on Thursday, and there was a notable difference in how much better I felt on the coffee days. So the downsides are money spent on coffee and cream, calories spent on cream. But the upside is feeling better. Totally worth it.

If you can't already tell, today was good. I feel myself coming out of a fog. Work is still crazy busy, and increasingly stressful, but I'm doing what I can there. I'm only one person, with only so many hours in the day; there are limits to what I can achieve, though sometimes I feel like I should be able to do more than I can. But I'm becoming more accepting that I can only do so much. I have to let the rest go.

On the personal life front it's all about change and adjustment. The new normal. I'm finding my footing, each day feeling a bit more balanced and self-assured. It feels good to feel good. Add to that, I had a mothering win. The kids' bedtime has been a bit embattled lately and I realized today it's because I've not been investing enough time in their bedtime routine. They needed more quiet transition before tucking in. So tonight I accepted that it would take nearly an hour to put them to bed, but that hour would result in a peaceful transition with all of us happier in the end. That beats two hours of fighting it out any day.

Speaking of the kids...I'll close with a couple pics from this weekend.

My little angel inside a redwood tree.

Marek and his buddy monkeying around in a tree.

A New Week

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Things continue to be a bit of the good and a bit of the blasted around here lately. I wrapped up last week with a gym visit on Friday. Because of my sore hip I did a short, easy outside run. I think it was about two miles and I know it included a big hill. At some points I could've walked faster than I was running but no matter, I was running. After the jaunt I did back/biceps/core for strength training.

Friday marked the fourth day in a row that I went to the gym. Normally I avoid going more than three days in a row but I really wanted to hit the goal of four gym visits and given that I bagged Monday, that was the only way. This weekend, sadly, included no formal exercise. I tried to get out for a run today but it didn't happen, other things took priority. Such is life sometimes.

I did keep busy though. Yesterday I took the kids to my mom's office for a lunchtime visit (she works in a tax office and they're on overdrive this time of year). Her office is crazy in that they keep giant bowls of candy in every room of the place. I had some...with a side of regret. After that I ran some errands getting things for Marek's Lego party. It's now only two weeks away!

Today was a morning trip to Bay Area Discovery Museum with my best mommy friend Michelle and her two little ones. The weekend weather was GORGEOUS here so we took advantage. When we got home I opened the windows, put on some music and did some housekeeping while baking a loaf of banana raisin bread. I felt so good, I could hear the kids playing, the sun was shining, the music...all felt right in the world.

Eventually mom stopped by for more grandma time. I could have gotten a run in then to be honest but, like I said, other priorities. We all went out to Indian food for dinner. A run would have been a nice balance to all those yummy calories. But, since I can't go on and on about my amazing run today, I'll reflect on last weekend's runs with some Garmin stats.

Check out the route of my 6 mile run last weekend.

Running along the coast is the best.

Ok, well, I'm VERY committed to getting more sleep so I'm off to dreamland now. Oh, and I'm also very committed to getting my butt moving so tomorrow I will officially kick off the exercise for the week. Night all.

A Time for Maintenance

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Hey there stranger, it's been a while - nine days since my last post. I haven't been silent for that long in quite some time. It's a combination of things. As I said in my last post, I've been grouchy. Add to that, I was sick. Add to that, the lack of sleep I've been getting lately is adding up. Plus, the life stress. And working more days. Oh, and I've been getting headaches again lately.

It's all too much sometimes. I allowed for the blogging to slip on the priority list while I focused on other things, like sleep. And getting over the cold. These days I seem to be either getting sick, sick, or recovering. Why the non-existent immune system? I think not enough sleep is at least one factor.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm still recovering from the cold, I'd say 85-90% well. I'm still coughing a bit here and there, my nose gets stuffed up now and then too. Oh, and the headaches. I've had more headaches in the last 10 days then I've had in the past two years combined. One night my head woke me at 4am hurting so bad I had to dig out some old pain pills for relief. I think it's the stress.

In the remote past I got headaches all the time, with a standing order for pain meds because they were so intense. I'd assumed that I was just a person that got headaches. Back then it didn't occur to me  they could be related to my lack of fitness and poor diet. But when I got in shape, started exercising regularly and eating better, they all but went away. I got minor ones now and then but nothing Excedrin can't handle.

So now they're back, and since I'm exercising fairly regularly I'm assuming it's stress, and not enough sleep, and not-so-great food choices. I'm not going crazy on the food or anything, but I'm making kinda crappy choices more often than I'd like. At the very least I know that's not helping. What is helping is the exercise, it's my saving grace right now. Seriously, I think it's keeping me out of a padded cell.

On that note, how about a quick run-down of my exercise feats of late? I took all of last week off from exercise on account of being sick. On Saturday I finally got out for a run.

Saturday: What a run it was; 6 miles along the northern California coastline. Here's a pic looking down on the area in which I ran. The miles were flat, some rain and wind at times, but I hung in there. I think my pace was in the 10:15 range but I can't remember and haven't uploaded my Garmin stats yet.

Sunday: Another run, this time 3 miles in better weather. I had to drag myself out for this one, I really just wanted to rest. But after a week off I gave myself the needed nudge out the door. After the run I did a few exercises outside, some pushups, squats, and a plank or two - just to remind my body.

Monday: Rest. I was tired from all that running after being sick. Not to mention I was still kind of sick. And I got to spend some time in a hot tub with a book.

Tuesday: Gym visit - upright bike for 25 minutes (level 8), back/biceps/core. It was tough. And I was still coughing. So that night I went by my nurse buddy's place and had her listen to my lungs. No pneumonia but still plenty of wheezing. Also, my pulse was a tad higher than normal and my oxygen saturation was a tad lower than it should be. She told me to SLEEP and take better care of myself, in no uncertain terms. Thanks Catherine!

Wednesday: Gym visit - treadmill run. I ran at 6.5mph for most of the run, then in the last half-mile I increased it to 7.0mph for a total of 3 miles in 27:27. I haven't run that fast on a treadmill in a while. After that I did chest/triceps/core.

My right hip started really hurting both during the run and through my workout. I powered through as best I could but I was bummed out to have it hurting again, I thought I was past that. Today I was walking funny as a result. But it wasn't so bad that I couldn't workout.

Thursday: Gym visit - upright bike for 25 minutes (level 8), legs/shoulders/core.

So that's my exercise of late. The eating has been so-so, nothing stellar but nothing I feel terrible about either. I'm not out of control or using the stress as an excuse to go off the rails. My weight is in the 143 range, my body fat is at 29%. I'd like to see both of those go down a bit but now is not the time to be striving for that.

Now is a time for maintenance. So I'm maintaining. I'm not losing, I'm not gaining, I'm not throwing my hat in the ring nor am I throwing in the towel. I'm doing what I can to stay where I am. Because when it comes to my body, my weight, my fitness level, my eating habits - where I am is a great place to be.