Thank goodness February is over!

You've got to know I am struggling when I don't post. February started out so well and the collapsed.

The one good thing about February was the weather - while it was chilly sometimes, we really didn't have any snow and the 14 day forecast for the first half of March is showing higher than regular temperatures.

This was taken last Monday when it was 61 degrees - It had been 20s and 30s over the weekend and was predicted to be cold this past weekend, so I couldn't resist getting out at lunch time for one trip around the reservoir.

My activity has started to pick up in the last week. I've walked some on the treadmill, did one morning of Beach Body Upper Fix. Yesterday, even though it was chilly, me and my husband did 2 laps around the reservoir and this morning I walked on the treadmill for 1.75 miles (at 3.0/3.1 and 3.2 mph).

But the eating, the eating is pretty out of control. I finally weighed myself yesterday 239.8 :( I am awaiting my monthly visitor but not waiting for it to come in order to make changes.

Baby steps, so this month I am going to concentrate on:

1) Drinking my water
2) Getting up more at work
3) Exercising at 7:20 am
4) Tracking my food
5) Daily weigh ins (didn't do it today :( )
6) Lights out at 10 pm

Now that I am WFH full-time I need to get into a routine (okay, it's been 3 1/2 months....of which I have gained almost 10 lbs). I am going into the pantry too often and eating crap in there.  So I am thinking of creating a rule for myself that I don't go into the pantry at all until it is time to make dinner, which would mean that every morning when I am getting ready, I would pull out anything in there that i would need - for instance my Shakeology powder, or spices or tuna fish or PB. For the most part I eat out of the fridge/freezer so wouldn't need to pull out much. Plus it would force me to think about in advance what I was going to have to eat like I did when I went into the office.

We will see how it goes!

A week of struggles

The work week started out SO well! I was thrilled with my work outs on Monday and Tuesday. But the rest of Tuesday I felt like I was dying.

I don't know exactly what I did to pull muscles in my upper abdomen. Tuesday they hurt so badly. They were swollen and protruding. I felt 12 months pregnant. I wondered if I had a hernia. I couldn't really eat because expanding my stomach hurt, but since Aunt Flo had also arrived on Tuesday (3 days early, thanks perimenopause) I also had cramps and lack of food made my stomach growl. Overall a bad day.

Finally I got into bed at 6:00 pm, yes, 6:00. I thought I would be uncomfortable and have a hard time sleeping (not that I was trying to sleep at 6:00) but lying down fixed everything. My abs didn't have to work so even before I went to bed everything was back to normal. Very freaky.

The weather the rest of the week has been pretty blah - snow and rain and freezing rain. I haven't worked out the rest of the week. But I am okay with that. Can't expect to go from 0 to 7 workouts in a week.

Friday was supposed to be my day to take a Peloton class but then I remember I needed to take my cat to the vet so wouldn't have time to also shower so skipped the workout.....But then I postponed the vet appointment because the weather is still crappy - slushy, foggy, raining but almost freezing rain, and the route to the vet is normally busy anyways, throw in bad weather and it was not something I would want on a miserable Friday.

Eating....not been great this week. I skipped any meal prep on Sunday in lieu of Super Bowl food prep. Most of the Super Bowl food was thrown away Sunday night but some lingered into Monday - perhaps lingered a bit too much into my stomach (hello brownies and cupcakes)

Then we really had no snack food at all until last night when I got some for the rest of the family. We are on a tight budget right now - but wow, junk food is expensive!

I haven't weighed myself at all this week, but I am going to work my hardest to have a "normal" pre-WW day today. It's only 9:20 am. Is it 5:00 yet???!!

Weekend: WW and a Run

Happy 3rd of February - The day everyone seems to be dragging a little bit even if you didn't have anything invested in the game.

I had a great weekend and already wishing it was Friday. Last week was such an insanely long week and I was pretty busy over the weekend so not a ton of time to relax.

Saturday morning I went to Weight Watchers. I was 238.4 at home and 240.0 there :( But that is just the starting point!

The rest of Saturday was spent doing housework. Mainly re-organizing our pantry which is desperately needed. While I didn't do any organized exercise, I was moving a lot. I did end up at Bertucci's with my daughter where I had 2 rolls, salad, spaghetti with meat sauce.


Sunday morning I slept in until 7:30 and did my first run since November 22nd. 3 miles on my favorite rail trail. It was a little slippery with black ice and I was going slow anyways (hello, 238.4 lbs, hello no run since November 22nd) But it felt fantastic. I wasn't thrilled with my pace but it is just the start.

The rest of Sunday was spent doing chores and getting ready for the Superbowl. I could have eaten worse, I could have eaten better:

Drink - 1 cranberry juice with seltzer and lime juice (no alcohol)

Eat: 2 cupcakes and 2 brownies, 1 mozzarella still, few chips and salsa and guacamole, couple chicken wings, buffalo chicken dip with veggies, 2 stuffed jalapenos.

In my effort to move my body every day at 7:20, today was a day to try yoga. While most people do their long run on Saturdays, I do mine on Sundays so Monday is a considered my rest day. But I want to try to do yoga and stretch and move my body in ways I am not used to.

I tried Day 1 of Beach Body's 3 Week Yoga Retreat. I modified quite a bit but it felt really good.

It is almost noon and I have posted this. The day isn't going so great. I had Shakeology for breakfast, but the leftover brownies have been calling my name :( Tomorrow is trash day - While we haven't thrown everything away, I hope to do it tonight.

Spring is next month!

Thursday was for practice

I've definitely learned that with starting a new healthy routine you just can't start all at once. While my list of what I want to do to have a healthy life is long, I know they all can't be done perfectly every day.

Just putting on workout clothes Thursday morning when I woke up was a good change. After dropping of Kid #1 at school I walked on the treadmill for a mile (3.0, so 20 minutes) while listening to a Half Size Me podcast. I listened to these for 2 months last year and they really helped me - hearing people's stories are very inspirational.

I had breakfast at 10:00 - 2 vanilla Greek yogurt with blueberries and 1/2 a cup of granola - too much breakfast but I was measuring it - easing into it.

Work was pretty busy and I was in meetings from 10:00-12:30 so no walking breaks. I had leftover spaghetti with marinara sauce and cheese - probably too much and I ate it in front of the computer since I had a few hours of stuff to catch up on.

I only got 1 other walk break in and it was 10 minutes. And then the day went downhill from there. More meetings and work all afternoon. No walk breaks, no snack.

At 5:00 I went grocery shopping on an empty stomach - not the best idea. Seeing that it is Super Bowl weekend I was already buying some not-so-healthy eats for Sunday dinner and picked up 2 bags of Popcorn chips.

Dinner at 6:30 was a Lean Cuisine pizza....and then TWO bowls of chips :(

Days aren't perfect but today is a new day.

AND TOMORROW JANUARY IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January From Hell

Like everyone, January feels like it is a million years long. It is by far my least favorite month of the year.  One and a half days to go and it is time to celebrate February. I always buy myself flowers over Super Bowl weekend. While New England has had lots to celebrate 4 out of the last 5 Super Bowls, I will admit it is kind of nice not having to stress about it and enjoy.

So like many people I had lots of intentions at the beginning of the year. I worked out on the first 3 days of the year. I tracked for the first 4 days of the year. And then nothing, nothing at all...except too much stressing and too much eating. The stress is work and living with a 13 year old.

I did have some fun. From the 8th to the 12th I went to Florida where I originally was supposed to run a Half Marathon, but do to illness, weather, work and the holidays I wasn't able to train above 8 miles. I haven't run since November 22nd. I am not upset I didn't get to run the Half Marathon. Our trip was fabulous, except for looking at the pictures of myself. The race would have been awful - It was incredibly hot. It was 74 degrees at the start of the race at 5:30 am. Instead we walked 13.1 miles our first full day and went to all four parks in one day. The other 3 days were a little more relaxing but still a lot of fun.

But life since we got back hasn't been a lot of fun. Thirteen years old is no fun and it stresses me out.

But I've got to take care of myself. In 15 weeks I am back to Orlando for a 50th birthday party and I can not look or feel the way I do now. So now I am under the gun and I usually do not react well to that.

I will confess I did something "bad" - I was supposed to have my physical in 3 weeks and I just moved it July!

So this is what I plan on doing
1) Going to WW on Saturday - no waiting until I lose the 5-6 lbs I've gained since November
2) Walk breaks at work - listen to Half Size Me Podcasts and wear my Fit Bit
3) Drink my water
4) Track my food
5) Exercise at 7:20 am even if just walking on the treadmill
6) To bed by 10:15/Up at 6:15
7) Menu plan/Food prep - cook my way through everything in our pantry/freezer
8) Weigh myself every day

My exclusions are small
A) Don't drink my calories (I actually went into the office 3 days this week and bought my lunch every day which included a regular Coke) - I don't drink much alcohol but I am okay having none for the next 15 weeks.
B) Stay away from processed foods - they are such a trigger - I've eaten way too much of that crap this month because I allowed it in the house. The kids are cranky when I don't buy much and I am sick of cranky so I buy it but then I don't stay away from it so then I am cranky! I don't know what is worse, them cranky or me!

Money is tight these days - Christmas will be paid off with payday tomorrow! But we've already put $ on the credit card for upcoming trips. So not eating out is a good thing! And even reducing our weekly grocery bill, which is usually $250, will be a huge help.

I want to get outside more. We have no snow right now, which is great, but us in New England know not to get too complacent, because February and March are often when we get pounded with storms.

Now I just need to get through today and tomorrow and then it is the weekend and February!!!!!!

Starting the year out alright

Well, the first thing I did this year wasn't great. I went to bed at 10:00 on New Year's Eve - I just don't feel the need to stay up past my bedtime, especially when I worked all day Tuesday and need to be at work on Thursday. I had when rotating holidays are on Wednesdays! I decided on a whim to step on the scale. It was horrible, horrendous. 239.6. The last time I weighed myself, a few weeks ago, was 232. I wanted to cry. But just one piece of data. I had eaten a lot of frozen appetizers the night before (to clean out the freezer) and the Christmas candy has been staring at me from my work space. It has either been eaten, throw out, or moved so I have a fresh view from my kitchen island.

Like last year I started the year out with a walk around the reservoir. Last year it was in the 50s and no snow so I got in 2 laps and made plans to get trail running shoes and eventually run it which I did! This year there was a couple of inches of snow and ice so one lap took 45 minutes so I stuck to just one. But got in 5,000 steps in the process.

After my walk I went to the grocery store to get a few things. I have decided that I am going to try to photograph every thing I eat to try to keep myself accountable. Not that I am going to post everything. I had taken a picture of my oatmeal before I ate it so it was prettier, but while I was eating "breakfast" I found an app that records the timestamp so I tried that out with my half eaten meal.

I made a soup that my mom used to make for Christmas day - I had some leftover pancetta to use up but I had too much meat and the soup was just too salty so the rest may get thrown away. Some people sware by soups but I doubt - I feel like the saltiness, even when I use low sodium broth, just makes me feel bloated.

In the afternoon I jumped on the treadmill for 5 minutes to get my steps to 10K.

I asked my husband to make his chicken parm for dinner. Since I am not in the habit of photographing dinner, of course I didn't. And.....I had three helpings :(  I went into the meal way too hungry and his parm is so good (full of garlic). I should have stopped with 2 helpings. Okay, I should have stopped with one. We did have a salad as well (and I purposefully forgot to tell him I bought garlic bread) so it wasn't all bad. Of course I made the salad because he usually doesn't include vegetables with his meal planning.

I did something new last night - I left my phone downstairs. I never used to sleep with my phone next to my bed until about 5 years ago when I started running at 5 am and wanted to know before I got downstairs if people had bailed (which ended up being more often than not so I stopped trying to meet up with people). It really is such a time sucker and everything I read says you shouldn't be exposed to the phone light right before bed. I got into bed around 7:00 and read books - no phone, no tv. It was wonderful.

When I started working from home I realized I could work out between getting kid #1 to school and either dropping kid #2 at the bus stop or driving him to school, but due to the work project I hadn't been able to do it. But I decided to give it a try today.

I turned on the original 21 Day Fix - Total Body Cardio Fix. I was able to get it done, get my son into the car to drive to the bus stop (he can't really walk since the sidewalks are covered in snow and ice), and then jump into a quick shower before sitting down at my computer.

Of course I am procrastinating working by writing this - while it may feel like a Monday to some, it really is a Thursday, so we just have to get through 2 days!