Weekend Workout

Over the weekend, hubby and I hit the trails for a couple workouts. We started out at Gifford Pinchot State Park on Saturday for a three mile hike. We had gotten in a few two mile walks around our neighborhood, plus all the walking in TX a few weeks ago, but this was the first intentional three miles in ages.

It was a warm day, but it turned out that under the trees it was really nice. It was shady and a nice breeze blew through helping keep us cool. We had a little trouble at times staying on the right trail, but we were able to get a nice 1.5 miles out before turning around. The walk back was nice and we got a full three miles in.

Pinchot State Park is really pretty

Sunday, we hit the York Rail Trail to get in a bike ride. I had taken our bikes to the bike shop earlier in the week for some maintenance and picked them up Sat. We hadn't ridden the bikes in a couple years, but we thought it might be a good workout to test hubby's legs.

The goal was to go 4-5 miles depending on how he was feeling. It was a warm morning, but biking is always nice since you build your own breeze. We headed south since there were less crossings to worry about. We went through the tunnel and got to two miles and hubby felt good, so we chose to go on.

We made it to 2.5 miles and took a break.

My new bike. Sunday's ride was it's inaugural trip!

Hubby did well! No pain!

The Rail Trail is so pretty.

The obligatory selfie.

After our water break, we rode back super fast! On the way down we took it very easy so hubby could test his legs and I could test my bike. As we headed back to the car, hubby picked up the pace. On the way down we did our 2.5 miles in about 20 minutes. When we got back to the car, we did the second 2.5 miles in 14 minutes. Not too shabby.

We celebrated with this yummy lunch.

BLT, carrots, blueberries, and mixed fruit

Did you get a fun workout in this weekend? What did you do?

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Motivational Monday

Sometimes it is not enough to do our best,

we must do what is required.

~ Winston Churchill ~

Yesterday, I read this on Twitter and it hit home. I say all the time I am trying my best to eat healthy and workout, but my best is easy to stray from. It's also easy to say my best may not be enough. I may not have it in me to to reach my goal with my best.

But, if I think about what is required to succeed, well that's a whole 'nother story. I know what's required for me to lose weight, to run strong, to tone up. That's easy

• eat less crap, eat more healthy foods
• work on core, work on speed work, stretches
• lift

If I focus on what's required to reach my goals rather than looking at my goals as something I can finagle to fit my definition of best, I can finagle to fit into what I want to do, then I may have a better chance of success. 

Because yea...that's been successful so far. What I consider my best hasn't been...then again, I can acknowledge I haven't been giving my best lately. I'm caught in a downward spiral cycle where I'm frustrated over my weight gain/hip pain, so I eat to feel better about myself. But, what happens? I gain weight and feel even worse.

But, I can recognize what is required to lose weight, run strong, tone up. If I focus on it being a requirement - like wearing my seat belt when driving, turning off the lights when leaving a room, and wearing deodorant daily, then I can do it. I'm good at following the rules. And at this point, my best isn't cutting it, but following the rules? Yup. That I can do.

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And I'm logging food and exercise again...

Last year I ran the Sole of the City 10k with hubby. We had a fun time running through Baltimore and we had a fun post-race party time with friends. We even took a pic pre-race:

This year we did our self-portrait in the parking garage. Yea...yea...We were cold and tired.

You can't tell too much from this photo, but I am much bigger than I was last year. I noticed it in the race photos. Ugh. Awful. So awful that I have finally figured out what I need to get my ass in gear. Yes. I do not want photographs of me looking like that anymore. It's awful. Did I say that already?

Last August, while in Las Vegas I looked like this:

And now?

How about a closer comparison?

Shamrock 2013

 

Shamrock 2012

 

I want to get back to what I was in August of 2012. Then I want to lose 12 more pounds. Because yes, I was 12 pounds away from my goal before gaining about 20 pounds in 8 months. I'm annoyed with myself. It's frustrating and sad. But, today's Sole of the City 10k photos made me see myself for what I really look like right now. It's not pretty...

 

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 Oh yes. The ultimate battle - food vs. exercise. Who will win?  Sadly, there shouldn't be a "winner" per se. It should be a balance of eating healthy and exercising to stay healthy. The problem I'm having is I seem to be able to do one, but not both. I can eat well, but not workout or I can workout, but eat crap.

Right now, I seem to be getting in my exercise (thank you 100 Day Challenge), but cannot get the eating under control. I have been either working out at home (stationary bike, weights, walking) or at the gym (treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical machine, trainer sessions). The exercise thing I've been getting the hang of. I set myself a challenge and I really want to accomplish it. 

 

The problem is, I can't seem to get the eating under control. I can't stop snacking. I can't stop eating crap food. I can't get into the mood to cook. I can't be bothered to turn down food I shouldn't eat. I take my Friday night and Saturday eating habits and allow them to take over my weekday eating. I can't seem to stop "cheating" throughout the week. A little piece of chocolate here, an extra serving of chips there. I know I shouldn't, but I keep saying, "I'll do better tomorrow." But, I don't. 

I need help. Any suggestions to help me get over this food issue? I've been out of it for so long now I really am having a hard time getting back to it. I could use any help/suggestions you might be willing to offer.

 

"If you had cancer, would you take two hours for chemotherapy?"

                                                              The Biggest Loser

If you watched The Biggest Loser last night, you heard this quote (or thereabouts) spoken by the doctor to one of the male contestants. They were talking about his medical testing results and the doctor made that comment. When he did, you could see the surprise in the contestant's face and his response was he would.

It made me think. If I had cancer or some medical issue that made me change my habits, would I do it? Obviously, I would do what I had to in order to stay healthy. I would do chemo, I would take medication, I would do whatever I needed to so that I could live as long as possible. I would even do needles (I hate needles, with a passion). I mean, I base this on my little issue with milk. I found I'm slightly allergic to milk, I break out around my mouth and cheeks when I drink milk directly or eat ice cream. I know it's nothing earth shattering, but it is a random "medical" issue I've been dealing with for the last year and a half. 

Being overweight is a medical condition. There is a "cure" - eat healthy and exercise more. It's not always a fun one. Who wouldn't rather be eating donuts and sitting watching tv...or in my case reading a book? But, the doctor was right. If you had a medical condition, you would do what you needed to. If you were diabetic, you would reduce your sugar intake. If you had a heart condition, you would limit your salt and reduce stress. If you had cancer, you would do chemotherapy as prescribed  by your doctor. 

This quote is what I need to remember when I want to eat something I shouldn't (like the Hershey's nuggets I had after lunch...) or when I want to bail on my trip to the gym. Why do we not consider being overweight/obese as a medical condition? Is it because so many people are now overweight/obese we think it's the norm? According to the American Cancer Society, 1.6 million people would be diagnosed with cancer in 2012. The number of overweight people in the U.S. is approximately 103.8 million (based on the CDC estimate that over 1/3 of Americans are overweight/obese and the U.S. population based on the U.S. Census numbers). If those 1.6 million people are doing all they can to combat their diagnosis of cancer, why are the 103.8 million people not doing all they can to combat being overweight/obese? 

I need to remember this. I need to remember, I don't need two hours of exercise a day to combat the extra pounds I carry around on my body. I need to make better health choices and I need to be active 4 days a week for 30 minutes. If I can do more, great. If I can't, then I need to be forgiving and move forward. 

Does this quote make you think? Do you think it will help you make better choices?

Getting back on track

I have a post to come that will come once the camera comes, but for now this quick little one.

I ate a little too badly yesterday and today I'm trying to make up for it.  I started off by doing some core work - push-ups, sit-ups, and bicycle scissors.  Any other ideas are welcome.  I was able to do 100 sit-ups today, which is double what I was doing.  :-)  Not too shabby!

Then it was off to my arm weight lifting routine.  It's nothing fancy, but I'm trying.  I use an eight pound weight for my 15 minutes of arm exercises (not this one.  Mine is gray with a rubber handle).  I'm trying to tighten up my arms and whittle my waist a little.  The goal is every other day.  I'm not always successful, but I'm trying...

Then I did an exercise video. 

I'm trying to do a variety of exercises, while running.  I recently read that walking helps keep the muscles you use to run in shape without putting the stress of running on them.  This is the only video of her's I have, but not because I didn't like it.  I do enjoy using it.  I have it on my workout schedule about once a week.  Today, I used it without sound, which actually made it harder.  LOL!  It's a low-key exercise that I enjoy mixing in.

I'm debating whether to use my little stationary bike tonight as well. 

Sadly, mine does not have that fancy monitor, but that's the basic bike I use. I bought one about three years ago before starting grad school.  I knew that working full-time and going to school part-time would make working out hard, so I found this little bike that I could read for class and still work out at the same time.  I still use it a couple days a week as an easy workout, but the one I bought in 2008 had some problems last week.  The pedal kept coming off.  It was time for a new one.  Which was supposed to be Friday's workout, but I thought Target would have one.  Nope.  I was able to pick one up at Wal-Mart on Saturday, but with being out all day on Sunday I didn't get a chance to use it.  So, I'm still debating doing my Friday's workout tonight.  It's still possible.

Welcome to September...

...a day late!  LOL!  Sorry about that.  I had every intention of posting the last day or so, but nothing really exciting to post about.  Then I realized September started and what better thing to post about?  Well, I'm sure there's lots more exciting things to post about than September, but...

I've decided to set up some goals for the month.  I'm usually pretty bad at setting goals and following through, but what the heck?  New month.  Can't hurt to try, right?

1. Lose 5-7 pounds.  I'm a little behind in my weight loss efforts and need to kick in the butt.
2. A friend of mine challenged me to a 30/40/50 this month.  What is that you ask?  30 push ups/40 squats/50 crunches every day this month.  I'm on day two.  I messed up yesterday and only did 20 push ups (I read my post-it note wrong. Oops!)  But, on track today.
3. Follow my training plan for Philly.  Those Thursday runs are harder to get in than they were.
4. 2 "real" meals a week.  I've been having a hard time making real meals lately.  Since we had to throw most of the fridge contents out, it's a new start. 

So, those are my health/fitness goals for the month.  I suppose I should put other goals in here too, but honestly, I'm so focused on getting the remaining weight off that I haven't even THOUGHT of other goals for the month.  Maybe that's ok?  Maybe I need to focus on these things before I can really focus on anything else.

Though September could be shaping up to be a fun month:

* We get to see our friends who live out of state this weekend!  Her dad lives in town, so when they come to visit, we get to hang out.  Yea!
* Our local baseball team may be in the play-offs, so we'll have some late Sept. baseball games to go to (hopefully!)
* Possibly heading to Philly to see the Phils on the 18th.  I miss Phillies baseball games...
* Definitely heading to Philly for the Eagles home opener on the 25th.  :-) 
* Boardwalk Empire is back this month!

And I'm sure there will be a few more things along the way!  I'm debating a 5k this month.  After two of my last three races were kinda debaculish, I'm skittish about doing one.  We shall see.  Maybe I'll just concentrate on my half training.  We shall see.

Run/Bike Recap

Outside the last 1.5 miles of workout this week, I had a kick-a** week of exercise!  I think it may have been the best one week of exercise I've EVER had.  Yes, I say this after having trained for a half marathon.

Bike: 5.5 miles ~ 30 minutes ~ 386 calories*

Run: 2 miles ~ 29 minutes ~ 442 calories

Bike: 12.5 miles ~ 1 hour 13 minutes ~ 959 calories

Walk: 3 miles ~ 49 minutes ~ 252 calories

Bike: 11 miles ~ 57 minutes ~ 746 calories

Run: 3 miles ~ 41 minutes ~ 609 calories

* All information entered into Daily Mile, which calculated calories burned

Had a great week out on the roads between running, walking, and biking.  Very happy with it.  Would have been more happy had I not fallen on my run Saturday.  Knee is still sore and more swollen than I would have thought.  I'm currently icing it.  Elbow isn't that bad, but I tend it bang it into things which causes some pain. And for some reason the muscle in the arm that's scraped up is sore. I feel like I'm an 8 years old again.  LOL!

So, I have a feeling this week isn't going to be a banner one for running, walking, or biking.  I will probably skip Monday's 12.5 mile training ride.  Hope to get out Tuesday for a run or walk.  Hoping Wednesday will permit a bike, though probably not the 14 mile ride that's scheduled.  I need to keep some in reserve since I have a 5k race scheduled on Saturday and I'm really excited about doing this one.  I want to run on the race course with the horses!

Lenten Resolutions

I will admit, I'm not the best Catholic in the world.  I am Catholic.  Attended Catholic grammar and high school.  I have had all the sacraments and was married in a Catholic church (the same church I grew up in).  But, I have never been a go to church on Sunday person.  I go in spurts, but never stick with it.  I do go to church at Christmas (usually Christmas Eve), Ash Wednesday, and Easter. 

As today is Ash Wednesday, I'll be going to church this evening for ashes.  It's also the beginning of Lent and the time of year where Catholics give up something or vow to improve something.  It's similar to New Year's Resolutions, but with an end date.  What's great about Lent is that it is 40 days, which is long enough to form a habit.  So, every year, I make my resolutions and hope for the best.  This year I'm sharing with you what my Lenten Resolutions are.

1. No meat. I will go with being a pescetarian for 40 days.  This means no meat except for fish.  I've done this before and I believe this is a good one for me.

2. No commercial sweets/desserts.  For the past several years, hubby and I have given up sweets altogether.  Then, at the end of Lent, we go back to eating sweets/desserts like nothing happened.  This resolution is to get us to concentrate on making a change on how we view sweets/desserts.  Rather than buying donuts/cake/cookies/ice cream, we will make healthier options, whether it's a healthy recipe or a recipe where we switch in healthier ingredients for not so healthy ones.  I want to get us off our dependence on commercial desserts and start making our own, healthier ones.  Hoping that the 40 days sets this as a habit for when Lent ends, so we continue doing this rather than always counting on the grocery store.

3. 30 minutes of exercise daily.  I've had such a hard time with this the last several months that I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to focus on moving.  I have so many options that it's really stupid that I don't do something everyday, so Lent will make me push myself to get in 30 minutes of moving a day.  I'm hoping it will do what Resolution #2 does for me, gets me in the habit of exercising and make it like second nature after Easter. 

4. This resolution is one I'm having difficulty with (hence why I should probably make it!).  I eat way too many French Fries.  They are one of my favorite foods.  It's right up there with pizza.  I chose meals when we go out on whether they come with fries or not.  So, I'm keep thinking I should give them up for Lent.  So, while I'm not sure if I can do it, I think I am going to try.  There are lots of options to eat that are healthier that I should be focusing on and yet French Fries always call to me.  My thought was no french fries, but sweet potato fries would be ok.  I say this because there are only like two places locally that make them, whereas everyone makes french fries.  We shall see how this goes.  This may be more of an awareness resolution than a hard and fast resolution.  See how it goes.  I think it will make me think twice about what I order when we go out and try to come out with other side dish ideas when I make dinner as we do make frozen fries at times with dinner.

So, those are my resolutions.  Are you making any resolutions?  What are they?

September

It is back to school time for a good many people.  This is the first September in two years that it's not for me too.  Strange...

But, I still feel like it's a time for new beginnings.  Why, I'm not sure.  For some reason when I woke up this morning I felt like it being September 1st was an omen...a good omen.  One in which things might be turning around for me.  There's really no reason to think this, it's just a feeling, but it's a nice one to have.

The last few days were rough on the motivation.  I don't know why.  Just got in a funk.  I slacked on the exercise and good food choices.  Guess those two weeks of maintaining hit me harder than I thought.  I kept a calendar of the days I exercised

Yea, it turned out pretty sad.  I'm not thrilled with my lack of dedication last month.  I don't know what happened.  I was all revved up when I got back from Vegas.  But as you can see, the last few days of the month kinda sucked.

But, I have a new calendar for a new month and I have new goals.  Here's this months calendar:

And what's this month's exercise goal?

I'm hoping the calendar will help make things move.  I also have a goal of 8 pounds by Oct. 9th. (which is my birthday).  I have officially 39 days to get there.  Doable?  Hope so.  Especially if I hit my goal of 20 days of exercise in Sept.  I have one 5k scheduled this month - Sunday, September 19th in Baltimore.  There's one day down...19 to go!

Aught

It's been a few days, but Friday was weigh-in day.  This week was one of those weeks where I really had no idea if I would be up or down.  I've been trying not to weigh myself everyday, just on Fridays before I go to WI.  My theory is I don't get all crazy during the week with ups and downs and at least I should have a feeling going in if I'm up or down.  The numbers aren't always the same, but at least I'll be prepared.

With that being said, the scale at home was finicky.  It said I was up and down.  Ugh.  So, I had no idea what to expect.  Got to the center and weighed in.  And I stayed the same.  And I'm ok with that.  I did expect to see a gain, so I'm really thrilled that I stayed the same this week. 

Why did I expect to see a gain?  It's a really stupid reason.  I exercised more this week.  No, I am not blaming new muscles for my "weight-gain" theory.  But I am blaming my "oh, I exercised today.  I can eat a little more." attitude.  I did run more this week than I have in ages.  12 miles to be precise.  For many people that's nothing, but to me, 12 miles in one week is crazy!  Especially in this heat.  And so, I ate more than I should have.  :-( 

The good thing is I knew exactly what I did.  I used exercise as an excuse to eat.  It's not.  And I know that.  So, I have committed myself to tracking this week.  I have been really slack in that department, which is partly why I ate more than I should have last week, I wasn't keeping track.  Well, I am tracking now.  I have tracked all weekend, even with it being a holiday.  I had funnel cake and tracked it!  And would you believe I still have flex points?  I do.  I also plan on having ice cream tonight.  And will track that.  So, here's to a good weigh-in this Friday!

Challenge

I haven't exercised at all like I thought I would this week.  I can't seem to get up the motivation to do anything.  I swore I would run some day this week, but hasn't happened.  I was going to go yesterday.  Nope.  I was going to go today.  Nada.  It's really quite disappointing really.

So, I got annoyed with myself for waiting til later afternoon to get myself up and moving.  I realized by the time I was going to do something that I couldn't run, I didn't have enough time with what I had to do tonight.  *rolleyes*  So, I grabbed the Wii and thought it was better than nothing.  Before heading to Europe I bought the My Fitness Coach 2, which I had forgot.  I grabbed that and threw it in, why not?  It's better than nothing, right?  I decided to do an evening workout, since I was between lunch and dinner.  It was ok.  I really didn't feel challenged.  Once it was over, I checked out what the "challenge" workout was.  There were five options and I decided to try the boxing one.  Oh my poor body.  Why do I do such things to it?  It was not lying when it said it was a challenge.  I was DYING.  I was sweating.  But, I passed.  Yes, it tells you at the end whether you passed the challenge and I am proud to say I passed.  I can't believe I passed as I was about to keel over.

Lesson learned.  Remember to exercise more often so as not to fall over when exercising with the Wii.

It's FRIDAY!

If you know anything about the mid-Atlantic/Northeast this year, you know we've been hit with a TON of snow.  Today is no exception.  LOL!  Well, we lucked out this time and maybe got 3".  Thank heavens!  It's just been k-RAY-z with snow this year.  Unfortunately, the snow meant I did not go to weigh-in this morning.  I will go tomorrow morning and stand in the big line of Saturday morning peeps.  I am anticipating a loss.  Fingers crossed I'm right!

Did I mention I know NOTHING about web design?  It's become obvious the more I try and play with my web page.  This is going to be a long process.

Applied for another job this week.  A Grant Coordinator for the local YMCA.  See if I hear anything about it.  I also have a museum job I'm applying for.  Have to revamp the resume for that one though.  It would be AWESOME!!!

Have been good with the exercising this week.  Did the WATP DVD yesterday.  Then, we helped friends move, so I was lifting boxes and taking them to the basement.  Not hours of extra work, but probably 30-40 minutes of it.  Today, the shovel and I were friends for about 45 minutes.  While I can call it a day with that, I think I'll do a little Wii Fit tonight.  Can't hurt to add a little more in, right?

And time for education!  Another article at examiner.com!  More Black History Month Finds

Incredibly Productive Day

Wow.  There are days when I feel like I sit on my butt and do nothing but play on the internet all day.  Then there are days like today.  Phew!  It's been busy!

I received my final proof on my logo for my photography business today.  :-)  Sooo excited about that!

But, I had to give the information I wanted on my stationary.  Which means I had to make a decision on a website.  I had looked in January at companies and templates, but never pulled the trigger.  Well, I decided that if I want this to be real and do it right, I better pull the trigger.  So, I purchased a template, a domain, and hosting through Blu Domain today.  Wow.  This is getting real.  Seriously real.

In other employment news, I was woken up by a phone call from the temp service this morning (before 9:00 a.m.) stating the company they sent my resume to was interested in having me come in for an interview.  So, I go Friday at 10:00 a.m. to interview for a temporary fund raising position in Harrisburg.  Wish me luck!  As much as I'm not really wanting to do fund raising anymore, it will be nice to get out of the house.  And since it's temporary, I don't feel  like I'm selling my soul again.

And it wouldn't be a weekday if I didn't have more educational stuff for you!  A new article is up at examiner.com for your enjoyment.

Pennsylvania's Historical Marker Program

What a day!  I feel so accomplished.  Going to try my new My Fitness Coach 2 Wii workout tonight.  Excited because not only does it have workouts, but it has recipes too.  This should be interesting.

What is going right

The whole eating healthy and exercising thing isn't working out as well as I had hoped the last several weeks.  And I have no idea why.  I just can't seem to get the motivation up to do what I'm supposed to do.  It's really rather frustrating. 

And because I don't want to be negative, I've decided to post a few positive things that have happened lately:

* Being the Harrisburg History Examiner has been fun so far.  Finding topics to write on has been a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but it's really been a neat experience.  I'll be posting another article later today.  And if you're in the Harrisburg/York/Lancaster area, you'll surely want to check it out!

* I received an email from a list-serve I belong to about needing judges for a 4th grade history essay contest.  I decided to email back and volunteer to judge.  Yesterday, they emailed back saying they would love to have me and I'll hear more from them at the end of the month.  Yea!  I'm thinking it's resume building.

* I follow a number of photography blogs, in the goal of learning some new things.  One of the blogs the other day listed a website where you can write for AOL and if your article gets picked up, you get paid.  I have so far submitted three articles for consideration.  They have a list of topics and you chose the ones you want to write on.  It's not retirement money, but it's something and experience.

* I received another email from a different list-serve yesterday with a local history position opening up.  I was really excited as I check the website of this organization about once a week or every other week and it is not up.  So, I'm happy that belonging to this list-serve gave me an opportunity I would not through normal channels have heard about.  I'm in the process of putting all the required documentation together - including recommendations!  This is the only organization I have applied to that wants recommendations rather than references.  It makes submitting more difficult.  But, I working hard to get everything in place by Monday's deadline.

* And in the spirit of full disclosure, I emailed an organization that I received an email for requesting authors for an upcoming encyclopedia.  I expressed my interest in writing on several topics and had hoped to hear they would be interested in me writing for them.  Nope.  Their policy is to hire professors or Ph.D. students with prior publishing experience on the topic.  Sad.

So, there you have it, things that are going well right now.  Hoping to turn the diet/exercise thing around in the coming week.  Not sure what the heck is going on with it.  If you have any advice, please share.  I'm all ears!

Getting back on the wagon...

is hard to do!  Wow.  I'm amazed at how hard it was to truly get back into the swing of things.  I thought it wouldn't be that bad.  I was craving veggies and fruit and home made meals, so I thought this is awesome!  I'll be able to hit the ground running and have a fairly easy time of it.  But, the best laid plans...

Friday was great actually.  I had a really easy time of it.  For Christmas, hubby gifted me the new Wii Active expansion pack, so I opened it up Thursday night and read the paperwork on it.  Then Friday, I busted it out and decided to go with the 6-Week Challenge.  I like the idea of having to do it on certain days to keep up with it rather than having to pick the routine when I use it.  And it was good!  I enjoyed it (though my body didn't on Sat. when I was sore!).  And food was great!  Ate within my points and did well, drank water, increased fruits and veggies.  I was doing good.

Saturday wasn't good.  :-(  I started off the day sleeping in later than I wanted and missed the chance to run outside.  So, rather than do nothing, I used the treadmill.  We have one, but it's not the greatest, but it suffices when you need something.  I thought I could do my 2 mile run on it and oh no, was I mistaken!  I got 1 mile and was DYING.  It was so sad.  BUT, it was my first run in three weeks, so I'm not too bummed about it.  I recognize the treadmill isn't professional quality and it's rougher than being outside.  I recognize I haven't run in three weeks.  So, I have to build up a little more than I thought.  No biggie.  Food was the killer.  I ate a banana after running, then we were gone all afternoon and I didn't eat again until dinner at 5:00 p.m.  And ate I did!  Ugh.  It was not pretty.  I went overboard with cheese fries and cookies when we got home.  :-(

Sunday was just a total disaster.  I did do the Wii Fit.  The goal was 30 minutes, but I did 45, so I was excited about that.  Especially since I did want to be done at 30 minutes, but I added in some balance exercises that upped it to 45 minutes.  And that was the best thing I can say about the day.  I ate like CRAP!  We have so many left overs from the holidays that I just snacked on them all day.  Especially at night.  Ugh.

I think I got it out of my system though.  Today, I got up and did Day 2 of the 6-Week Challenge.  It made me do more crunches and ugh, push-ups!  I haven't done those in AGES.  I expect pain tomorrow.  LOL!  I also ate a good breakfast (cereal, banana, coffee with soy milk) and lunch was a BIG salad!  Very happy that lunch was veggie based.  We need to get ourselves back into veggies for lunch.  So, we have Romaine lettuce, yellow onions, red/green/orange/yellow peppers, carrots, broccoli all chopped and ready for anything.  That should go a long way towards getting us back on track and moving towards our health goals for the year.

______________________________________________

As to my professional goals - I ordered a refill for my planner, which I will need!  I should have that next week.  I am going to spend the after noon figuring out the next steps in going forward on my photography business.  AND I saw that a local community college is looking for professors, so will head over to their website to see if there's anything I can apply for.  Wish me luck!

Exercise Update

Well, I'm batting .500 in exercise this week. *rolleyes* I have only done 1 of my 2 Wii Active workouts so far this week. I meant to do it before the Phils game on Sunday, but I started cleaning my room instead. Yes, I avoided exercise by cleaning my bedroom. LOL! I did laundry, put away clothes, took the sweatshirts out of the closet, and FINALLY organized my socks. So many had been parted from their mate for too long. But, this kept me from exercising. I didn't realize it until after the game and had plans to go grocery shopping, make dinner, etc. Oops!

Today, I wasn't going to let that happen again. Though it almost did! My plan was to get up and use the Wii Active this morning. The reason? The Phils had a day game, right when I normally would use it. LOL! So, I get up and find out hubby has conference calls at 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Ugh. So, I can't do it until later. Lovely. I did some cleaning up and writing up some recipes in my notebook and watched the Phils. At 5:30 p.m., I turned on the Wii and did the Upper Body (Hard) workout tonight. Yea! I did it. :-) So, I am batting .500 in two days. Hoping my average goes up.

Tomorrow? 3 miles at the park. I'm aiming to get to the park about 9:00 a.m.

It's that day of the week again

It's weigh-in day! Who doesn't love it??? *rolleyes* Got up and headed over to weigh-in. I realized this morning, I must really be committed to this thing because I drive an hour both ways to spend 10 minutes at the WW office. Ah well.

I am down a pound this week. It's not as much as I was hoping for honestly. I was really hoping for 1.4 or 1.6, their scale does not do 1.5. So, a little disappointed in that, but I am now down 26 pounds total, with just 24 to go. I am also down 3.2 pounds towards my Oct. 8th goal of 12 pounds, leaving me with just 8.8 pounds before then.

I have been slacking a bit on the exercise between runs. My friend Crystal pointed this out to me and I thank her for that. She shared with me HER exercise goals for the week and I was embarrassed about what mine were going to be, so I am writing down my exercise goals for the week, for all to see. I will come back and update on how it's going this week. I think I may have done myself a disservice by NOT exercising properly this past week. Hopefully I can make up for it this week!

Saturday, August. 22 - Run 3 miles
Sunday, August 23 - Wii Active
Monday, August 24 - Wii Active
Tuesday, August 25 - Run 3 miles
Wednesday, August 26 - Wii Active
Thursday, August 27 - Run 3 miles
Friday, August 28 - Weigh-in and rest ;-)

So, there you have it. My exercise goals for the week. Here's to an active week!

Wrapping up the vacation/sick time

Alrighty, weighed-in today after three weeks of vacation and sickness. I wasn't sure how bad it would be. It could have been 7 pounds, it could have been 1 pound. My scale this morning said anywhere from 1 pound to 3 pounds. So, heading to the meeting, I knew I was up. I was THRILLED when it turned out I was only up 1.2 pounds in three weeks. Woohoo! That's not even a pound a week. :-) How excited am I about this??

So, now I am officially back on track and since the Vegas wedding goal is passed, I need a new one. I have decided to set Oct. 8, 2009, as that is the day we leave for our next adventure in WI and it's the day before my birthday. My goal is 12 pounds, which includes the 1.2 pounds I gained. That will get me lower than I was before we moved to PA five years ago. I would be THRILLED with that!

In just a little while, I head to the doctor to talk to her about the knee pain I've been having when running/walking. I want to make sure I'm doing all I should to protect it from getting worse. I wanted to know if I should do more than a brace on it, i.e. should I ice it down when I come home? I have no idea. So, I'm heading to the doctor to get her advice. I have a 5k on Sept. 20th in Baltimore and haven't run since the second week in July. I have a LOT to make up for and I want to do it right.

So, here we go. 12 pounds by Oct. 8th. It's on!

Wednesday Exercise

Well, since I didn't go to the Outlets today, I had time to exercise. I did two sessions on the Wii Active. I wanted to check out the Sports Activity one and my goal is to get my arms as buff as possible between now and next Thursday. I know they won't look great, but I think that's the one area I can really make any headway in within a week's time.

So, the sports routine? I was hoping for more of the sports. : -( There was too much of stupid other stuff in between the baseball, basketball, tennis, and volleyball. It was definitely more than usual, but I thought the whole routine would focus more on the sports activities. Ah well. Live and learn, right?

I also did the Upper Body routine today. I did that yesterday and I think I'm getting the hang of it. It really is all the upper arm exercises in one routine, which is exactly what I'm looking for! I'm going to be doing this often over the next week. I have a sleeveless dress to wear in Las Vegas and I want to look good! ;-)