Happy Hump Day

I have made it 1/2 way through the middle of the work week. Hurrah!

Me and my son continue to make adjustments to our morning routine. The evening routines have been thrown off a little because my husband is prepping for a colonoscopy tomorrow - tonight is the worst of it - I'll be sleeping in my daughter's room! But hopefully next week we'll be able to get into a groove, though it will be thrown off a little by 4th of July activities through out the week.

By Monday night I had already turned off my alarm for Tuesday morning! I found myself sucked into a Netflix Original Movie and didn't want to turn it off at 10:00.
But Tuesday night is "Younger" which is on at 10:00 and even though I needed to get up at 4:30, I stayed up until 10:40 watching it. I really thought I would fall asleep immediately, but I tossed and turned all night which I usually do before getting up that early (because I am paranoid of sleeping through).

My running friend took this picture on the way to our run. I know, sadly, that the longest day of the year has passed, and while we have a few more days of longer evenings (by seconds), the mornings have already started to get earlier. But I am really hoping to make this a habit again. We went 3 miles with run/walk 5:1, though one of the intervals I needed to stop before 5 minutes.








My goal is to be able to run 3 miles by the end of July and 4 miles by the end of August, even if I have to slow down my already very slow pace.

Depending on how the evening goes, I'd like to get up at 5:30 and ride the bike. We will see!

As for the eating, I've brought my same old food the last 3 days. I've reverted back (temporarily) to my Lean Cuisine pizzas so I can concentrate on the other aspects of my eating. Today, being tired and hungry, I ate my snack at 10:30 (instead of 11:30) and had part of my afternoon snack in the morning. I forced myself to wait until 1:00 for lunch. Which leaves a fruit cup (normally part of my lunch) and a hard boiled egg for my afternoon snack. Could be a long afternoon!

Summer Routine

It's been a long 2 weeks and pretty hectic.

Thursday June 14, after dentist and orthodontist appointments, me and the kids drove to NYC. It was the first time driving in the city (not that I had to drive that far into the city) without another adult, but my almost-12-year-old was a great help!

We spent 3 fun filled days - we walked 35 miles!! (13.5 of them in 1 day - though we did have a 3 hour break in the afternoon). The first day was perfect weather, the 2nd day a little hotter, and the third day (the day we were leaving, so we were on the road by 2:00) was hot as heck. But we had a blast! I ate pretty well, and while I didn't get a ton of sleep, overall I was thrilled with the trip.

Last week was exhausting though. We got home at 7:00 pm Sunday and I was in bed at 9:00. All day Monday I was in client meetings and after work as well - I finally left the restaurant at 8:40, just as our food was arriving (we have been there for over an hour!) and my head hit the pillow at 9:05! Tuesday I had more client meetings, had to run out to get to a hair appointment, and then run to a softball game (the season that kept on going....until that night, in the semi-finals). I was supposed to do some work, but was too tired (and when I checked on Wednesday - which was supposed to be a day off, they were okay with me not doing the work until the evening).

I had Wednesday - Friday off - the kids got out for the summer mid-day Thursday. Immediately my son and husband took off to Maine until Saturday. And my daughter went to a pool party that turned into an overnight, so I had an unexpected night to myself. But I wasn't feeling great last week, so my days off were pretty low-key and a lot of time relaxing on the couch (and eating like crap :( ). But I did get the majority of my organizing done so I feel pretty good going into the summer.

Sunday I took my daughter to overnight camp for 4 weeks. And today was my son's first day of day camp (it is his 5th year going and when my daughter gets back from overnight camp, it will be her 6th year going). So we have started our 8 week summer routine.

I am going to TRY to work out in the mornings.
The time me and my son will leave will remain the same as during the school year (8:00)
He gets up at 7:15
I get in the shower at 6:45

Up until March, I had been sleeping until 6:45 (with the occasional running at 5 am). Since March I've been getting  up at 6:00 to assist my daughter getting up and getting ready (she wasn't getting up, my husband was supposed to help and it was just a battle) and then I get in the shower when he and she would leave.

With needing to be available from 6:00 on, I wasn't working out in the morning. I am going to experiment with workout out this summer - I've set my alarm for 5:30 on Tuesday and Thursday and 4:30 on Wednesday and Friday (with the hopes of getting back to running with a friend) and Mondays I get to sleep in until 6:30.

I am hoping that in the fall that I won't be needed, but I have little faith that will happen. But even if I could not be available until 6:15 (ie help her with breakfast and lunch and getting out the door, but not helping her get up), that could allow some time to work out. But I really don't want is to have to get up before 5:30 those days in order to be done by 6:00.

A negative of the summer routine is not getting in the steps going to the bus stop.  I've been literally sitting at my desk since 9:00 (not a typical day - but since I'm just back from PTO, I've got a lot of meetings and emails) and here at 11:30 I am at 994 steps!!!!

Another negative is having to actually be in the office until 4:45 - But  I packed my afternoon snacks again and I should be able to get in more step breaks. Today isn't a typical day.

The evenings will be interesting. I don't get home until 5:45 - 6:00. In years past, my husband would have dinner waiting for us (though I would be the one to decide on the meal). Based on his behavior this whole school year, I doubt that will happen (he will get home at 4:30 and most likely will spend that time to do yard work and his own work out). But I will have to talk to him - Me and my son will be starving (I eat my snack at 3:30).

I also want to do stuff in the evenings (another reason to get dinner done with quickly) - There is very little TV on in the summer, so no excuse to be outside or go out and do stuff. 

This week won't be completely normal. My husband is having his first colonoscopy on Thursday, so meals and evening will be a-typical. Next week with the 4th being on Wednesday, we will be busy earlier in the week as our town has a 4 days 4th celebration.

And the best part is at the end of this, another vacation - a relaxing vacation!!!!

Sunday hike

I did a great job of tracking on Saturday, even though I went completely over daily and weekly (not good when your week starts on a Saturday) - We had a soccer party for my son and it is amazing how easy it is to rack up points with 2 pieces of cheese pizza and a piece of cake (the app had the piece of cake as 23 points!)

Sunday we finally had a free day and our last full day together, all 4 of us, for a long time. So we decided on a hike (okay, me and my husband decided on a hike - the almost-12 year old was less than pleased). It was a beautiful day - low 70s, low humidity. It was a new hike for us, and was beautiful.



He's enjoying the views - we could see all the way to Boston



I am trying to take pictures together on all our hikes - hoping that my next year I will look very different!



I didn't want to bring my real camera, but was having fun with my phone












This site always makes me happy - 4 Camel Baks hanging in my favorite part of our finished basement.


Eating wasn't great, but not horrible yesterday.
I had Greek yogurt with blueberries and a little granola for breakfast.
On the hike, I made a trail mix of pumpkin seeds, unsalted whole almonds, beef jerky, and dark chocolate.
We stopped at an ice cream/restaurant for lunch - I had grilled cheese on wheat (not white), coleslaw (not fries) and didn't order ice cream, but neither of my kids could finish there's, so I did.
We were going to grill for dinner, but we were all tired and had things to do to get ready for Monday, so I just made some pasta and we will grill tonight.

Monday, Monday, Monday. I work 3 days this week (2 in the office) and 2 days next week (both in the office) - the kids officially have 9 days of school but they aren't going 1 day. We are just hobbling and limping along until the end - which is why I always take a break at the end of school to recharge for the 8 weeks of camp before vacation.

Happy Monday!

Friday again!

I started out Friday in a good mood - scale said 227.8! But the good mood was also brought on that I felt good about getting on the scale - even though I didn't have enough water or fruits and veggies yesterday.

I went grocery shopping this morning and realized I didn't need to buy too much - we are trying to be diligent with the budget so I tried not to buy foods we didn't need. And I didn't buy "much" junk - yes I bought Mint Oreos for the kids and I will try to stay away from them because I don't really love them. They were cleaning out the freezer compartment where they usually have the Klondike bars, so I didn't pick up any for the kids (again, food I don't really liked).

The junk I did buy, stuff to make s'mores, and dark chocolate for our potential hike on Saturday, I tied in a grocery bag and hid in a chest in our dining room. My daughter keeps eating all the s'mores fixings) and I have been known to too. I am hoping out of sight, out of mind for me.

After tracking well last Friday, illness and busyness kept we away. So I am going to try it again today and this weekend. The goal is to be mindful through Thursday afternoon, at which point I am taking a mini vacation.

Here is to a great weekend! It is supposed to be the first weekend in 7 weeks with NO rain!

How quickly I forget to write

Woops, a day went by I didn't get to write and before I knew it, it is mid-day Thursday!

Saturday was a busy day with lots of kids sports. I ate pretty well during the day but then went out for dinner (something we haven't done as a family in a while and probably won't again for a while as we are trying to be good with the budget) - It was a beautiful evening and they had Blueberry Lemonade Sangria on the menu- 2 glasses of that tasted so good! I had a couple small pretzel bites, 3 chicken wings, all the carrots and celery that came with the wings, and my dinner was a Mediterranean Bowl and pretty healthy. We did have dessert though :(

Sunday was drizzly weather and I slept in and didn't run (despite my clothes lying out - story of my life!). Most of the afternoon was spent starting to get my daughter ready for camp and that included a big trip to Target. And then a wonderful lazy evening reading.

Monday morning I woke up at 3 am and my stomach wasn't feeling great. Nothing "happened" but I didn't feel great and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to take a sick day. That was WONDERFUL!!! I got so much stuff done around the house!

And the rest of this week has been crazy busy trying to get stuff done around the house, more kids projects and field trips and sports seasons starting to wrap up (we are hoping we are all done this coming Saturday!).

Throw in a monthly visitor and it hasn't been a great week. The highlight was stepping on the scale and having it say 228.2!!! Wonderful sight and completely unexpected. I am TRYING to eat well. I need to stay in the 220s and I REALLY want to get under 225 by the end of June. With my monthly visitor on its way out, means I am in my "good" 2 weeks of the month. Which is good, because in 2 weeks school will be out for the summer!

Tracked Day

I tracked in 3 places today - my HabitMaster, My Water (which tracks exactly that), WW App, and Woops, also FitBit. 

Since it was Friday, I was WFH so NoSoda and DoNotBuyLunch were easy.

I got in my steps - I went down to the treadmill for 3 10-minute/half mile walks which are about 1,100 steps each. But I went to bed (at 10:00!) with 9,600 steps - no, I didn’t want to wander around the house for 400 steps.

I got my water in - with 3 rotating bottles, 1 was always cold and easier to drink.

While I tracked in WW, overall I wasn’t thrilled with my choices. It was a busy work day so I didn’t have a lot of time.

1) I didn’t have my breakfast until 10:30. I have plain Greek yogurt with a little vanilla Greek yogurt to make it manageable. I add blueberries. I chose to not have my 1/2 cup Cheerios. 

2) I love the Chocolate Hummus and while I’ve been know to buy a small tub of it and eat it like pudding, lately I’ve been getting a snack size that comes with pretzels. Scanning it with the WW app - 10 points. Yikes!

3) since I had the 10 points I decided lunch would just be 2 hard boiled eggs - then decided on deviled eggs, hence the mayo

4) An afternoon of conference calls (who does that on a Friday afternoon?) left no time to eat but I did end up having a 5 minute break so I grabbed one of my daughters Carnation Light packets and measured out 1 cup of skim milk - 7 points

5) we got home at 6:30 from soccer practice (after taking my daughter to Dunkin Donuts so she could get a free donut (but required a drink to be bought - so she got a frozen hit chocolate - I didn’t get anything). I was starving so bare myself some spaghetti - but too much - I measured 5 oz and the 3 TB of grated cheese.

I woke up this morning at my normal time and decided not to lounge in bed. But my stomach felt a little, um, bound up. Yes, if you’ll notice, except for the blueberries in my yogurt and the banana I eat while my son eats breakfast at 7:30, I had no fruits and veggies, and perhaps not enough good fats to make things “move along”. 

But over all for a tracked, but not menu planned day, it could have been a lot worse!

June 1st

Here I go again ....
Pretty much I've done nothing in the last week, nothing good. No running, no workouts, but plenty of poor eating. Hello ovulation time.

But I decided to start using some tools to keep tracking - not just tracking food.









Ive had this App HabitMaster for a while, so I decided I would try it again.
Yesterday I bought my lunch (for the first time in a while) along with a soda, so I'll start a streak there.

Healthy Snacks is my way to try to eliminate the afternoon weight gain, which is where all my weight gain has happened this year. I've got to nip that in the butt.

Water - I've definitely found that my water intake has been lacking which makes me feel like crap. I have 3 20 oz water bottles I rotate - I just want to make sure I get them in -
1) Before I leave the house
2) Before I get to work
3) AM
4) PM
5) Dinner/After (but not too late - that was an opposite issue I was having - drinking too late = waking up in the middle of the night

Asleep by 10:00 - Sleep is so important and I have definitely felt better when I've been diligent about turning out the light at 10:00 - I just haven't been getting up early to work out. But once the end of June happens, I should be able to be getting a work out in consistently.

Weigh in every day/Eat and Proud of Myself go hand in hand. I only weigh myself if I know I am going to see positive results. I will  only see positive results if I eat well. Well, I haven't been weighing myself because I haven't been eating well. I need to eat every day like I know i am going to weigh myself the next morning.

Tracking - like tracking my habits, I need to get back to tracking food - even if it is ugly (which hopefully it won't be)

Deliberate 3 1000 step breaks - I've been so busy at work that despite wearing my fitbit, I haven't been getting up at all (hence also the lack of water as well). I am no longer working with my walking buddy, so I need to make sure I do this - 9:00 (ie before I settle for the day), 11:00 and 1:00 is what I will aim for. Once the end of June happens I will need to do more because I won't have the walk to the bus stop to add steps, but I will be at work later, so I'll be able to fit in a 3:00 and maybe even 5:00 (well more like 4:30).

Let's see how it goes!