Back to reality + Burgess Falls Pics

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I have to say I definitely enjoyed my week off. I had planned to get back to routine yesterday, but good old TOM decided to give that idea a swift kick in the pants. I know that day in particular is a rough, painful day for me that leads to workout struggles, so I decided to give it one more day.

However, today, it is time to get back to it. I don't regret my "reset" week at all, but rather I want to embrace it as a challenge. I get caught up in routines and the idea that if life goes wackadoo, I can't follow routine and thus everything falls apart. That's happened before. Last fall I wound up getting injured and after a week off just ended up throwing in the towel and not starting back up. I wanted to challenge myself to get back up and do what I need to do after a break.

Life happens. Illness, exhaustion, injury, bad weather, chores, family...and most of the time, we can schedule exercise so that it is a priority in the midst of all of that. Other times, we may have to cut a workout, take a rest day, or in my case, a rest week. But what I have to focus on is staying with it after life shifts back to normal. Which is what I'm doing this week.

One thing last week I did do that was "healthy" was go on a hike at Burgess Falls here in Tennessee. They are an amazing set of falls. The hike to the outlook isn't bad, in my opinion, but it's pretty strenuous to hike to the bottom of the falls.

My last trip to these falls was about 4-5 years ago. I was at 253 and it was really difficult to get to the bottom of the falls. I even had a moment where I thought I wouldn't make it back up and I started to panic and cry. I just didn't have the strength to pull myself up. I had hoped to come back this time around and see how different it would be.

Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain last Thursday and not only was the water level up, but the spray from the falls had soaked all of the rocks and made them extremely treacherous. A few teenagers and college kids (who have no fear) had braved them, but you could tell they were soaked through from the spray and covered in mud.

We made it about two-thirds of the way down. I finally reached a point where I had to check my pride and say, "OK, this is too dangerous and we need to go back." I felt like a big weenie until B said he was glad I decided to turn around. He didn't want to try it either.

But that trip was definitely different than it was 4 years ago. It was tough, but nothing like it was 50-ish pounds ago. But no worries, I will be back one day. And I WILL make it to the base of the falls again.

Some pics for you:

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Recharge: 75% Complete

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

It's been an interesting week. My mini-vacation (a day and a half off from work) was AMAZING! I didn't really do anything exotic. I didn't get a lot accomplished that I had planned. I didn't mow, work on my car, or get teacher applications done, which was the original reason I had planned to take off.

But the cats and I relished the first official days of "open window" season. I did manage to organize my kitchen shelves, which included the dreaded Tupperware black hole. I tossed out some bags full of "I'll throw that away later" stuff like boxes, packing materials, and big empty cat litter packages. I got a bunch of cat beds and blankets washed. I switched out the filter on my room air filter. I got reacquainted with the couch quite a bit, running through some old episodes of the Biggest Loser on Hulu Plus while I spent many hours discovering a new world on Minecraft. I slept in.


Winry enjoying a dose of fresh Spring air.

But you know what? It's really OK. I feel so much better today mentally and physically. I'm proud of what I did accomplish, which is stuff I've been wanting to get to for months. I'm happy I didn't try to get everything done yesterday like I always used to do. I would take a day off, work like a slave all day to get a whole list of things done, and then be exhausted and resentful when my "day off" felt more like work than it should've been.

I've been in a major routine for 3 months now. Work, exercise, meal prep, and sleep. No major time on computer games. No time spent doing anything different. And while that was my longest streak ever of exercise and diet, I could tell I was starting to drag a bit. I needed a recharge moment. And that's exactly what the time off was about. Just kind of doing whatever I felt like doing. And while I felt like being lazy, I got more accomplished than I would have expected.

I ate a LOT of food...and not exactly healthy food either. There was a cheeseburger, chili-cheese fry, veggie pizza, and BBQ nachos involved. A lot of diet root beer. Handfuls of Kashi GoLean cereal. And there hasn't been much exercise. In fact, yesterday was the first day I could walk normally and pain-free after the ridiculousness from the weekend.

But that's OK too. Today I am definitely eating healthier. Oatmeal, greek yogurt, and cocoa roast almonds for breakfast. Probably a Subway roasted chicken sub, low-sodium chicken noodle soup, and an orange for lunch. Apple and low-sodium PB for a snack. Tonight, I'll either go to my parents house or grab some chicken and maybe do a stir-fry.

It's not that I feel like I'm forced back into this though. Honestly, it's because I WANT to. Don't get me wrong. The cheeseburger/fries and the nachos were fantastic. But 2-3 days of food my body isn't used to anymore is definitely making my stomach feel not quite as it should. I think a lot of that is because of all the cheese I've consumed ;) Definitely some bloating going on. But what's weird is that as of right now, I'm not really craving any of that food anymore. It was good, and now that I've eaten it, I don't really want it anymore.

This is something I'm really surprised at. And pleased. Because this gives me more confidence that I can have my moments of indulgence and that they will pass as long as I listen to my body. Today's foods aren't planned because I feel like I have to eat them. They are there because my body is saying, "That was great, and I enjoyed the debauchery same as you, but I need healthier food again." Last week's Captain D's meal started me down this line of thinking, and this has just reinforced it.

One last note. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of Brittany Gibbons, but I just found her blog and I ADORE her. She is an advocate of body acceptance and of being healthy and happy at any weight. I love all her blogs, but I think this one is a good one to post here:

brittanyherself.com/2013/01/25/fat-s
hame/

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A week off

Monday, April 08, 2013

So I did a couple of dumb things this weekend:

1) Ended up having a serious cheeseburger craving that has still not been pacified. Today I am going to indulge and that will be it. No more cheeseburger for you, stomach!

2) Decided to walk 3 MILES on Saturday because the weather was so nice and I wanted to get out and about. THEN I did 4 sets of walking lunges after the walk. I haven't been able to walk or sit down without hissing in pain for the past 2 days.

It figures that about the time I think I've got this thing licked, I wound up getting bit in the behind.

No matter. I am not waving the white flag. Never give up, never surrender!

However, I noticed last week I was really struggling with my workouts. Even when I upped my calories, I couldn't quite get to the level of performance I was looking for. I spent 2-3 days exhausted. My eyes were burning, it was an effort to move (I really only worked out because of habit), and I didn't have energy for anything else. Now I also have the pain from overdoing the walking.

I haven't had a real "rest and recovery" week in 3 months. My biking progressed very well until about halfway through March, and it has now stalled. I'm worried the same is happening with ST as well. Plus, I don't quite have the excitement for my workouts like I used to. And there is a lot of stuff I need to get done around the house, my car, and life chores in general that have been ignored because of all the training.

Because of all this, I'm taking the week off. I may do one bike workout or one swim workout, but it's going to be a light one. And maybe one ST routine using just bodyweight. Once I stop hurting, I'm also going to do some (SHORT) walks. I'm also taking the next day and a half off of work to get some stuff done around the house. It is gorgeous and I plan to take advantage of the weather.

I just feel like I'm burning out. And I'm supposed to add running in the next few weeks, which at this point, is not looking likely unless I do something to get myself 100% back in the game.

So I may not be around much this week. I know this is going to be a challenge for me, but I also know it's necessary if I'm in for the long haul.

Have a great week everyone!

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Manatee Gray...Offensive?

Friday, April 05, 2013

So I heard on Bob & Tom (radio show) this morning about this story. Apparently someone was greatly offended because they saw the color name "manatee gray" on Target's plus-size clothing. Now Target's scrambling to fix this marketing snafu.

I have to admit, I laughed quite a bit. Not that the person was offended. But over the fact that someone at Target was dumb enough not to think that one through.

However, it looks like that's the color name they use across the board. Towels, sheets, everything...not just plus-sized clothing. So it wasn't like it was directly targeted at that particular item. So that makes it a little better, I guess.

What do you think? Do you think situations like this warrant that kind of reaction? Do you think the person complaining was being oversensitive or spot on?

I'm kind of back and forth on this one, so I thought it would be interesting discussion fodder.

Link to article:
consumerist.com/2013/04/05/target-ad
mits-manatee-gray-is-maybe-not-the-bes
t-color-name-for-body-conscious-shoppers/

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The fast food indulgence that didn't turn me into a face-stuffing lunatic

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Last night I had my first fast food meal in almost 3 months. I usually go to my parents house once a week to watch Justified (season finale last night...AWWWESOMEsauce!). Usually I budget my calories because I know they end up cooking stuff a little higher in calories/carbs/sodium than I do. But last night they decided to get Captain D's instead since my dad had a doctor's appointment. My parents do not get fast food much, so this was unusual for them too.

I could have went there and ate something different. But you know what? Fish sounded good. It wasn't ridiculously unreasonable in nutrition as long as I was careful. I ended up eating 2 pieces of battered fish, a half-cup of green beans, half a serving of fries, and a stuffed crab shell. And even a tablespoon of ketchup (I used to be the Ketchup queen, so I was most concerned about this). And it was delicious. And yes, I wanted more at the end, but I waited. I kept the plate in front of me and said if in 20 minutes I wanted another piece of fish, I'd get it and not stress about it. And at the end of the 20 minutes, the fish sounded tasty, but I was satisfied enough that I was just "Eh, nevermind."

I didn't go crazy and dive into the box of fries. I didn't grab the fish with my mouth and growl at their cat when she advanced to battle me for it. This morning, I didn't go buckwild and hit up the McD's drive-thru, stuffing my bra with bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits for breakfast and daytime snacks.

What I'm trying to say is, it wasn't the end of the world because I indulged. Or that I didn't think the food was disgusting. And I felt fine afterwards. Other than some sodium bloat, I was perfectly OK other than being exhausted. But I was that way before I ate it.

I think my body understands now that it's OK for me to eat some crazy stuff now and then, but I need to be reasonable about it and make an effort to eat slowly and make some smart choices if I can. Like the half-serving of fries. And even though I want more, I've gotten smart enough to say "Calm down, it isn't like this is the last piece of battered Captain Ds fish you will ever see."

I'm not saying it's SUPER easy. But it's a heck of a lot easier than it was three months ago. I've learned that as long as I don't let myself get too hungry, have backup/prepared meals and go-to snacks, and I try to plan for unusual meals, then I'm going to be a lot less likely to snap up some fast food. But if I do, it really is OK. I may have to nudge my body in the right direction, but it is not my enemy. We can reach a compromise.

So this? MAJOR progress. I'm not saying I will never eat fast food again ever or act like a pig at some point, but my hope is that as long as I stay the course, it will be the 20% rather than the 80% of my diet.

Never give up! Never surrender!

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