Weeks 5, 6, 7

Oof - did things fall apart or what ?

Well, they didn't really fall apart. I continued to do consistently well during the week for week 5, but then weeks 6 and 7 my husband was traveling, or we were all traveling, or there was red velvet cake in the office (my favorite) and I decided I needed a break for a couple of days.

The only accomplishment I can note is that when I did choose to eat something unhealthy or something I didn't need, I only had one serving. Meaning, 1 slice of cake, or 1 cupcake, or 1 Reese's peanut butter heart, or 1 Snickers. This is better than eating 2 servings !

I kept up my exercise every time I had a legitimate opportunity. So, for example, if the husband was out of town, I clearly couldn't leave the kids at home by themselves to go to jazzercise, nor do I want to pay $30 for a babysitter. But I did run at my friend's house several more times.

I also experienced some great workouts on some really quality equipment at my parent's gym when we were visiting them. My parents belong to a beautiful gym connected to a hospital complex type thing and they work out regularly. I did two run/walk workouts on the treadmill and 1 workout on the elliptical. I knew that I needed to have my heart rate up for at least 40 minutes and that I also wanted to go 2.5 miles. I was SHOCKED though at how many more calories I could burn my taking the incline up one level and by running for 65 or 70 seconds instead of just 60. I also tried a couple times to make my run intervals last for 2 minutes. I found that as long as I knew that I didn't have to do it every time, then it wasn't quite as daunting.

I also experienced how my hardest point comes at around 10 minutes into my work out, but once I've passed 20 minutes, I feel some endorphins or something kick in. Man, that feels awesome.

So, my new (optimal) workout routine is this:
Monday: Jazzercise
Tuesday: Jazzercise make-up if need be
Wednesday: Running (morning); and yoga (evening)
Friday: Running (morning)
Saturday: Jazzercise (morning)

Jazzercise includes a weight training segment, so if I can add in another weight training session, then I'll be in really good shape.

I've also cut down on some other community type commitments that had evening meetings. But with the meetings I have left, trying to see my friends (1-2 evenings per month), and date night (1x per month); I'm usually away from my kids 3 nights a week. Luckily I can usually schedule the social stuff so I'm not away from them 4 nights a week.

Of course, that optimal schedule also includes my husband being at home, which is tough since it's a busy time for him.

And doesn't something always seem to get in the way ? For example, look at what's on tap for this week:

I'm having some dental work done on Monday and I'll be under sedation, so I won't make jazzercise that night.
Tuesday night, the husband will be gone.
Wednesday day the girls have a dentist appointment so I can't run then, and Wednesday evening I have a meeting, so I can't go to jazzercise.
I will be able to run Friday morning and go to Jazzercise on Saturday morning, so that's good.

How about you - have you found any creative ways to squeeze in your exercise ?

I'm still here

I'm still here and I'm doing fairly well. I'm going to go and back date several entries because I really do like going back and reading them afterwards.

End of Week 4

At the end of week 4, I noted that I journaled Monday - Friday.

My accomplishment was that I practiced a couple times sitting with my hunger. Really letting myself feel what it felt like and how it wasn't so scary, after all. I know that for some people that can increase the urge to eat unhealthfully, but for me, I needed to remember that a little hunger was okay.

There were several years where I was either pregnant or breastfeeding (or both for a couple months) and getting too hungry could either cause me to get nauseous or could affect my milk supply. So, I definitely had started to eat when I wasn't hungry and it often wasn't the best of choices.

I also saw my weight go down a few pounds by this point. I don't necessarily track how much I lose every week, but I do weigh myself every day to make sure I don't get too far off track.

Probably the biggest accomplisment of this entire week was that I started a new form of exercise. My dear friend is a marathon runner and has a treadmill in her basement with a nice tv set-up to aid distraction. She agreed to sit in her basement with me while I tried to run on her treadmill.

I couldn't believe that I could do it. I ran a minute/walked a minute for 45 minutes and covered 2.5 miles in that time. I still can't believe I got through it. I was so, so proud of myself and those endorphins lasted all day.

It was a good thing that run kick-started my metabolism that day, because that evening was my monthly "Mom's Night Out" and I ate and drank a lot.

My commitments for the next week include:

1. Journaling everything
2. Having a vegetable at lunch every day
3. Having fruit every afternoon