Forgive me for being so brief this evening – I’ll reward you with some awesome video tomorrow night. I have to head out at about five am tomorrow morning, for a very cool 5K in San Francisco. I’m actually going to go to bed early tonight, although I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep for the excitement.
I’ve been waiting for this one for a while! Be sure and check back tomorrow for a full recap.
I’ve really slacked off on menu planning while I was on hiatus, and I need to get back to doing it as quickly as possible.
Over the past few months, there have been far too many impulse buys on my shopping trips, as well as a plethora of sins when dining out and ordering in. I’ve also been slacking on cooking healthy meals, and the results have not been pleasant.
It’s been a while, so I guess I need to start by taking a new fridge and freezer inventory, then figure out what we’re eating for the next week. From there, I can build a shopping list for tomorrow’s after-work stops.
What’s your process for keeping dietary indulgences at bay?
OK, it’s been far too long since I’ve been here.
Life’s had some major ups and downs – my job was burying me inside my black hole until I got a different one. However, that most awesome event caused me to go crazy in the other direction – I was so ecstatic that I sort of decided (without really deciding) that I deserved to celebrate every day. I really really LOVE the new gig, and am now getting settled in, and settled down. I get to do so many interesting things!
It’s a good thing that I’m coming back to earth – I’m heading for a major milestone bigthday in just 30 days. I am doing my best to avoid letting that little event – what is often considered the entry into “middle age” – send me into another tailspin. It’s far too close to being old to suit me.
To that end, I’m really doing everything I can to focus on getting rid of my aging middle! In the next 30 days, I’m promising myself that I will lose at least five pounds. That strikes me as a good achievable goal that will encourage me to keep on going when I achieve it (notice – I said “when” instead of “if”!).
I’m also going to shoot for 30 blog entries in that time – I really really need to get back in this habit, as it helps me to really see things clearly, even if I’m the only one that ever reads these thoughts. Also, I need to get my blogger vibe back before Fitbloggin’ in September, right?
I’ve just realized – I guess I need to revamp my point of view here. I missed the booking window for my Hawaii 5-0, but have scheduled the trip for the second half of April. Not a bad thing, as I’m nowhere near bikini-ready. With the trip pushed out to April, I still have hopes of being able to wear a non-fat-lady swimsuit, at least. OK – I can either write an entry or work on reworking the site each day. That seems like a reasonable plan.
So – there’s the goal: 5 pounds and 30 days of blog updates. Very doable, right? Now – to figure out a good reward/birthday present for myself! I’m open to suggestions…
It’s amazing how quickly the pounds can come back when you lose sight of your goals.
Wait – no, it isn’t, really… That’s what got me here in the first place.
Monday was the last day of our cleanse, and hubs and I were both craving meat. We had decided some time back that, on Tuesday, we would hit one of our favorite local restaurants for their truly awesome tri-tip sandwiches. Since I had also mentioned that I wanted to see The Hunger Games, so we decided to make it something of a date night, in light of the fact that we didn’t have to get up at 4 am the next morning to drive to Oakland for work. We could actually sleep in until 5:30.
Tuesday ended up being quite a nice evening for the both of us. We enjoyed the dinner and the movie – including the fried onion rings and pear cider that ended up joining in on dinner, and the popcorn and Icee that ended up being our double dates for the movie.
The rest of the past week has featured more of the same – too much indulging in less-than-healthy foods and little or no purposeful physical activity. I think I managed to backslide about half of the progress I made during the cleanse.
Part of it, I’m sure, is that I had been letting myself slack off while doing the cleanse, with respect to my self-defined healthy checks:
Meditation, exercise, and hypnotherapy can have multiple smilies. I want at least one each on mediation and exercise, and at least two for hypnotherapy. In order to achieve a successful day, I need to have a total of eight smilies. If I miss on some point or other, I need to make it up with extra meditation, exercise, or hypnotherapy (or a combination).
I also need to be honest with myself regarding what constitutes healthy and unhealthy or uncontrolled eating. Indulgences are OK, as long as they are controlled, measured, and in moderation – I don’t believe in making any food off limits, but it is necessary for me to realize I can’t just have them at my whim, nor can they be a reward for anything related to my goals.
For every seven days that I manage to achieve eight or more smilies, I will allow myself to have some “pleasure” reading – that which has no particular value to my mental, physical, emotional well-being, and is not meant to improve my career-related knowledge.
Every time I reduce my weight by 10%, I will treat myself to a massage. My first logged weight on My Fitness Pal was 222.8, entered on June 4th, 2011. I’ll use that as my starting point, so that means I can go for a massage when I reach 200.5 pounds. A week ago, I was less than a pound away from that – today, the difference is 10!
I’ve also got in mind three special milestones that will net some more significant rewards – reaching ONE-derland, halfway to goal, and reaching goal. I need to sit down and make myself a wish list, though, before I can really say what the rewards for these will be – I also need to define some rewards for my #gothedist2012 goals, and for my running goals.
Finally, I’m going to set myself one more goal – to try to post and share here at least three times per week. Each week that I post at least three entries will result in some new music to listen to while I’m walking, hitting the treadmill, or sweating it out at the gym.
For the last three weeks (well, just short of…), I’ve been doing a dietary cleanse, eating only whole fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, vegetable oils, and protein shakes.
Thus far, I’ve lost fifteen pounds – and I’m within four pounds of finally dropping below 200 pounds, for the first time in years. However, I’ve been stuck at the same number for the past couple of days.
I have one more days, counting today, of being on this restricted eating plan (which is a good thing, as I’m getting grumpy without eating meat or grain!). If I manage to achieve this milestone when I weigh in Tuesday morning, I’ll treat myself to a massage!
What do you like to reward yourself with when you reach a significant milestone, and what would you consider to be such a milestone?
My husband and I had a very nice weekend away, completely unplugged – there is no cell signal in and around Yosemite, and internet service at the hotels is outrageously priced. I had a laptop with me, but only for the purpose of loading geocaches onto my GPS.
We arrived at the hotel just ahead of the rain, but got soaked going to get dinner. Still, the view off of the deck was pretty spectacular. There was a spa in the room, and a fireplace, so we had a nice relaxing evening.
The next morning, we slept late enough that we missed breakfast, so we made a brunch of fresh veggies (with a tasty red pepper hummus) and some smoked sausage and crackers. After our repast, we loaded ourselves and the pup into the vehicle, to head into Yosemite National Park.
With the weather at hand, we didn’t get to really see any of the famous landmarks – the clouds were low and full of snow. Since the gas station in El Portal was shut down, we decided to head up to Crane Flat, where the next nearest station was.
The drive was quite nice, as we were surrounded by absolutely untouched pristine white snow. When we arrived at the station, we were amazed to see so much untouched whiteness.
Harley the Wonder-Collie thoroughly enjoyed getting out to check out the falling white stuff. Unfortunately, since we were in the National Park, she was not able to go off-leash (although there was a fenced area next to the hotel that she thoroughly enjoyed).
Sadly, our tour of the Valley didn’t last long, as it was very wet and too slushy to get out for any hiking, and the tops of the cliffs were obscured by thick clouds, but we did get to see a lovely little waterfall on our way back down to the hotel.
When we awoke the next morning, this was the view off of our balcony at the hotel:
We drove home that day, much more relaxed than we had been in several months. It was a wonderful cleanse for my spirit, and allowed me to be ready to get back on track toward my goals.
For the last while (not sure how long, as it snuck up on me), I’ve been sliding in and out of a funk, in a slow downward spiral into the darkness where all I want to do is sleep. Every time I started to think that I was ready to get back on track, I found that I was mistaken. I even went without meditation and hypnotherapy sessions – it seems I was truly determined to self-sabotage this time.
Fortunately, a planned weekend away arrived just in the nick of time, and I feel I’m finally starting to come out of the hole again. It took a change of scenery and a change in appearance, but something seems to be working… I’m also going through some dietary changes; going (mostly) veg, with whey protein shakes to help keep things balanced, for the next three weeks. It’s going to be interesting…
Tomorrow, I’ll share some pictures from our weekend holiday – stay tuned!
