Pretty Thing(s) From My Walk

Day Eighty-Two: Rest Versus Exercise

I tried so hard to make it to my barbell class this morning, but I was so tired, and I woke up with a screaming headache--I swear I think I am fighting something off over here. So I got up for a minute, but then failed to go anywhere and fell back asleep for 2 hours. I clearly needed more rest, so I guess I did the right thing, even though I feel like a failure for missing class. I never know whether rest or exercise is more important, but I was so sleepy this morning, I really didn't have a choice. Tomorrow, however, is another day.

At least I made it for a lunchtime walk and got in all my steps for today. I even did a plank without it being part of a class or a challenge. That right there is a triumph of will because, as y'all know, I hate those things. Small victories...

Tonight, I am going to bed early!

Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime walk: 2.03 miles
• Ab work: 25 sit-ups, 22 leg raises, 40 crunches, 30-second plank
• Evening walk to finish steps/miles: 1.04 miles

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 cups of tea with milk and raw sugar, a Trader Joes fig cereal bar (I was in a HUGE rush and had no time for anything!)
• Lunch: baked chicken breast, French green beans with olive oil and porcini salt, 1/2 a large baked sweet potato
• Dinner: pan seared salmon with lime, stir fried veggies
• Snacks: a handful of holiday grapes--so good! 1 Babybel

Stats:

• Steps: 11,235
• Calories: 1302 consumed, 394 burned
• Weight:194

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Day Eighty-One: Finding a New Normal

I am so tired. I am getting into the new groove of working out, working and dealing with Finn's issues, and today was in many ways, just a normal day. It rained, so I couldn't get Finn out for a good walk, which was disappointing to both of us. He kept asking me about going on our "nature walk" and yelling at the rain to go away. So cute. I am so glad he likes getting out and moving.

I made it to Zumba tonight, only to be met with a sub, but was fine, but no Tiffany. I was really looking forward to that class, and it was kind of a bust without her. I came home and squeezed in a short walk and a bit of ab work to round out the day.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully get in another good workout day. But for tonight, I am about to pass out--too tired to write anymore. Whew.

Log:

Exercise:

• Zumba at the Cary gym (with a sub)
• Evening walk (in a light rain) to finish steps: 1.22 miles
• Ab work: 20 sit-ups, 15 leg raises, 30 crunches

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 cups of tea with milk and raw sugar, 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, little tomatoes, and 2 Applegate Farms chicken apple sausage links
• Lunch: I was feeling a little bit yucky at lunchtime (PLEASE don't be getting sick!!!), so I kept it extremely simple: whole wheat toast with peanut butter, a small banana, and some 2% milk
• Dinner: baked chicken breast, French green beans with olive oil and porcini salt
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps: 11,599
• Calories: 1349 consumed, 940 burned
• Weight: 194

Day Eighty: More Walking Needed

Today it rained and rained, so my intentions of walking were de-railed. I did get up and get to the barbell class this morning, however, and that was great. My legs are already getting sore after two weeks of no squats. Tomorrow, I will do better on the steps, and I plan to start re-adding ab work.

I was delighted this morning when I stepped on the scale to see that I had only gained back 2 pounds over the past couple of weeks. That could have been MUCH worse, and I was braced for a much higher number. Now I just need to reverse that and get it moving down down down.

Log:

Exercise:

• Barbell Strength Class at the Apex gym with Tracy
• Note: Lunchtime walk aborted due to rain :-(

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 cups of tea with milk and raw sugar, 1 boiled egg and 1/2 a honeycrisp apple
• Lunch: garden salad with honey mustard, crock pot chicken/onions/tomatos/peppers and cilantro, a handful of grapes
• Dinner: pan seared salmon with lime, stir fried veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper, onion, ginger, garlic, soy and sesame)
• Snacks: 1 Mozzarella Babybel, about 15 peanuts

Stats:

• Steps: 5031
• Calories: 1097 consumed, 267 burned
• Weight: 195

Wild Child

I have mentioned before that we really notice the effect of going for walks in the woods on the boys. This is something I have been thinking about and that Jason and I have been discussing a lot for a long time. One of the main reasons I want to be fit and healthy and active is to set a good example for my children so that THEY will be fit and healthy and active. It is my fervent hope that if Jason and I set this example for them, they will have a good chance of enjoying lifelong benefits from the foundation we are building for them now. I want them to see for themselves how good it feels to be outside, to move, to run! I want Kieran and Finn to recognize the benefits of exercise and movement on not just physical health, but also on mental health, especially the attention issues that run in both their parents' families. We certainly see direct correlations between how well Kieran performs at school and how well Finn controls his temper when we get them out into nature. Jason and I both grew up playing in the woods nearly every day, and we really want the boys to have the same opportunity. Clearly, they love it, and it's so good for all of us!

If you are thinking about getting your own family outside more, I highly recommend this great book by Dr. Scott Sampson (the paleontologist from the PBS kids' show Dinosaur Train) called How to Raise a While Child. Jason's been reading this book, and we have been actively working on implementing some of its recommendations in our lives with these crazy boys. To be fair, we already were doing a lot of what he says, but it's still good to be reminded about why it's so important.

Partially to this end, and also for our own fitness goals, we started a tradition of going on family hikes on the weekends. We are fortunate to live in an area where there are many parks and semi-wild spaces around us, and we are trying to take full advantage of them. We seek out trails at the beach, in the mountains, and wherever we find ourselves. As the boys grow bigger and stronger, we are able to go farther and farther on these hikes, and it's getting glorious! And we are trying to let them lead us to a certain extent. Even on the greenway through our neighborhood, there's a stream in which they can stomp around in rain boots and get muddy, which is awesome. They are learning about our native trees and plants and animals--things that, as a child, I took for granted, but have realized as an adult that many people never know.

This weekend, we drove down to Raven Rock State Park and hiked almost 5 miles, our longest one yet, up and down big hills, along cliff tops and creek beds, and deep enough into the forest that we couldn't hear anything but the sounds of the trees and streams and critters. The weather was beautiful, the woods smelled like fall, and the dappled sunlight coming through those trees was absolutely rejuvenating. We were treated to stunning views of the Cape Fear River, and we saw many beautiful details along the path. Kieran ran almost the whole way, and Finn was a boss--he finally started to tire out at around 3.5 miles. We will definitely go back there.

As a bonus, my fitbit was so happy with that hike that it gave me a new badge. I always get excited by these, even though I know it's a little silly. :-)

Day Seventy-Nine: Where Did the Time Go???

The fact that it's day 79 is a revelation. I have been overwhelmed the past two weeks with life's complications that have left me with little time or motivation. I am determined, however, to climb back up onto the hill and finish this thing strong. I can't believe there are only 11 days left to go!!!

Since I last bothered to track anything, I've packed and unpacked my office at work, spent a tremendous time with my 5-year-old, who was expelled from his school, worked and met a bunch of end-of-fiscal-year deadlines, maintained basic care for myself and my family, dealt with a sick dog, and been to the gym like twice. I haven't been walking enough or exercising nearly enough, though I have tried to maintain the weekend hiking with the family. I have been eating OK, but not great, and that needs to change. The day we spent at the NC State Fair was particularly bad in the food department. So I am sure that I have gained back a few pounds, but I can't tell you how many, because I completely forgot to weigh this morning. The last time I stepped on the scale, it was an astonishing 193 pounds. Tomorrow morning, I will find out how much backsliding the past two weeks have wrought.

Today is a reset. 11 days left. I will kick their butts. :)

Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime walk with Finn at Hemlock Bluffs: 1.99 miles
• Yoga Class at the Apex gym
• Short evening walk to finish steps/miles: 0.67 miles
• Note: I had planned on some ab work, but man, did yoga take care of that for me. And then I ate too much for dinner...ab work sounds like a disaster right now.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: steel cut oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, and banana, 2 cups of tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: lunch at Toast Cafe with Finn: omelet with avocado, tomato, turkey bacon, and parmesan, a little bit of fruit, and half a piece of whole wheat toast with butter (Finn at the other half.)
• Dinner: quesadilla with crock pot chicken/onions/tomatos/peppers, beans, cheese, and cilantro on whole wheat tortillas, guacamole (Note: I ATE TOO MUCH AND AM SO FULL!)
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps:
• Calories: 1386 consumed, 641 burned
• Weight: ask me tomorrow...

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Day Sixty-Eight: Searching for Time and Inspiration

Lord, this is the week that won't stop smacking me around. Today, there was a serious lack of time. I had a hair appointment this morning, which meant no lunchtime walking in spite of gorgeous weather. Work was slammed, due to the fact that I am packing my office in preparation for new furniture being delivered this weekend--plus, Thursday is always my busiest day. Then there's the kid commitment. One kid is unexpectedly home full time as of this Monday, which means Jason and I are tag-teaming him between work commitments until we figure out our next steps for him. The other kid is doing well, thank goodness, but is still inundated with homework and time-demands. Sometimes, those kids mess up your health goals.

I did manage to go for a walk this evening, but not enough of one to keep the wheels on the bus. I somehow must find a way to do better. Tomorrow will be no better than today--maybe I can make up for things this weekend...

Log:

Exercise:

• Evening Walk: 2.04 miles

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: Stoneyfield low-fat vanilla yogurt with Hudson News Good Times Cashew & Coconut Granola and tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: 2 grilled chicken thighs, cut up veggies with honey mustard, grapes
• Dinner: cheeseburger: 5-oz 90/10 grilled beef pattie, 1 slice of TJs smoked gouda, 1 tsp mayo, whole wheat bun, green beans in tomato sauce with onion and bacon fat
• Snacks: 1 Mozzarella Babybel

Stats:

• Steps: 8581
• Calories: 1310 consumed, 263 burned
• Weight: 194 (still moving SLOWLY in the right direction at least!)

Days Sixty-Six and Sixty-Seven: Mixed Bag

To say this week has been stressful is an understatement. Yesterday was a complete wash for both eating and exercise--this is due to a combination of stress and hormones. I don't like it, but that's life, and sometimes the stress is just too much to overcome. No sense beating myself up about it.

Today was somewhat better, though somewhat limited by circumstances. I worked at home today with Finn. After lunch, we tried to go for a big lunchtime walk, but alas, Finn fell about a block from the house--one of those bad falls in which he scraped all knees and elbows. So, we gave up and headed home, and the poor guy wasn't really up for a walk after that. I did make it to Zumba tonight at least, and it was extremely fun, as always.

Now, I can tell you definitively that I am not going to make it to the barbell class in the morning. It's already too late at night to get enough sleep, and I am utterly exhausted. I will just have to find time to do some strength training at home instead.

Day 66 Log:

Exercise:

• Nada

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 homemade buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, 2 links of Applegate Farms chicken and sage sausage, and tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: Babymoon Cafe's grilled salmon salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Dinner: cheeseburger: 5-oz 90/10 grilled beef pattie, 1 slice of TJs smoked gouda, 1 tsp mayo, whole wheat bun, serving of creamy cole slaw
• Snacks: a little slice of homemade lemon cake

Stats:

• Steps: 4649 (pathetic!)
• Calories: 1500 consumed, 0 burned
• Weight: forgot to weigh this morning

Day 67 Log:

Exercise:

• Zumba at the Cary gym with Tiffany

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 homemade buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, 2 links of Applegate Farms chicken and sage sausage, and tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: turkey and havarti on whole wheat with lettuce and mayo, grapes
• Dinner: 2 grilled chicken thighs, green beans cooked with onion in tomato sauce with bacon fat
• Snacks: 1 Babybel cheese

Stats:

• Steps: 11,352
• Calories: 1302 consumed, 443 burned
• Weight: 194.5

Day Sixty-Five: Great Fun Weekend, Bad Monday

This weekend, we had some awesome friends in town, and the weekend was full of people, chaos, eating, hanging out, drinking, and uttery laid back frivolity. I would not trade weekends like this for anything--they are so rare and so valuable, and we miss our friends so much. It was worth spending every minute of our time with them focussed on them and our neighbors and celebrating our town and our village so much! But...it doesn't exactly make for a weekend chock of healthy eating and exercise! So, I wasn't great, that's for sure, but it's also worth mentioning that it could have been quite a lot worse. I had a few cheats on the food (carbs!), and on the alcohol, too. I guess I just need to be extra good this week to make up for it. I feel like I say that more than I should. Witness that I haven't written anything in days.

Today was...well, it was not a good day. My kid is doing his best to derail the whole dynamic of our family. These kinds of days (and thank goodness they are rare) are the kind where there's a huge temptation to eat ice cream and crawl into bed. However, my only indulgence was a little slice of homemade lemon cake. And while I didn't get as much exercise as I wanted to, I did take a walk and eat decently for the rest of the day. Again--it's worth celebrating the small victories. Tonight, I'm going to bed early so I can make it up on time in the morning.

Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime walk: 1.6 miles 

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs with cheese, a small honeycrisp apple, and tea with 2% milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: a big salad with honey mustard dressing and two grilled chicken thighs
• Dinner: a small pile of BBQ and some leftover homemade cole slaw
• Snacks: a little slice of homemade lemon cake

Stats:

• Steps: 8500
• Calories: 1233 consumed, 207 burned
• Weight: forgot to weigh this morning

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Day Sixty-One: Sore-ness and Indulgence

Today was lovely again, and my friend Lisa came with me on my lunchtime walk. That's seriously one of my favorite parts of the day--getting outside for a little bit in the middle of the work day. I was planning to go to a Barbell Strength class this morning, but my quads were so very sore from Tuesday that I could hardly walk when I got up. I really don't want to injure myself, so I opted out. I hate missing class, especially when I actually make it out of bed for it at 5am, but I would hate losing a whole week to injury even more, so...

As for food today, well...that's a mixed bag. We went to the Durham Performing Arts Center tonight to see Neil deGrasse Tyson speak--a lovely date night in the middle of the week. Before the lecture, we met some friends for dinner at Bull City Burger & Brewery, and I had the tremendous indulgence of a pimiento cheese and bacon burger and duck fat fries.  That's certainly not something I plan to make a habit of eating, but it's hard to regret an occasional splurge like that for a special occasion. And I definitely count seeing NdGT as a special occasion!

Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime walk: 1.72 miles 

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: spinach and mushroom frittata, 9th St. Bakery Omega 3-Seed bread with homemade apple butter, and tea with 2% milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: chicken noodle soup, half a honeycrisp apple, and half a yellow pepper with honey mustard dressing
• Dinner: pimiento cheese and bacon burger at Bull City Burgers and Brewery with duck fat fries--OH THE DECADENCE!
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps:11,462
• Calories: 1589 consumed, 221 burned
• Weight: completely forgot to weigh this morning

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Day Sixty: Two Thirds of the Way Through

Today is the 2/3 mark of the 90-day challenge and I'm down  about 16 pounds--this means I am averaging a loss of 1.87 pounds per week so far and that I've lost 7.56% of my starting body weight. I feel like it's flown by, honestly. The first month was strong; the second month--well, not so strong. I am determined to make this last month the strongest yet! My long term goal is 165 pounds, but as I have said before, this is about so much more than the number on the scale. I want to be strong and healthy! I am building habits and routines that I can maintain for the long term. And really, so far so good. I feel better, both physically and emotionally, than I did on August 8th, and I feel like I look better, too. I am happy to be setting a good example for my kids. There's so much room for improvement, too--at this point, I can't help viewing this whole journey with a ton of hope and optimism.

It was fantastically beautiful outside again today. I walked a little faster and farther than usual with some great music and a light breeze. I didn't have time this morning to pack a lunch, so I stopped at a little local cafe near the end of my walk to grab something. I know the people who own this place are very particular about the quality of the food they serve, and that they are, themselves, very healthy-conscious. Their ability to find good produce year round is amazing. I got a wasabi tuna salad wrap that was one of the best things I have eaten out in a long while. It was packed full of veggies and very light on the dressing. I'll definitely get it again! I am grateful to have a good backup place near my office for days when I don't have something from home.

Side note on today's walk: the jersey knit skirt I was wearing today kept sliding down as I was walking, a rather amusing combination of curse and validation. I rigged it up with the clip on my card keys for work. I think I am half way between sizes, which is a little rough. I don't want to go shopping, but I may have to get some interim clothes to keep from a) looking like a hobo, and b) ending up pants-free in the middle of a walk. Lol.

I did too many split squats yesterday, and my quads hurt so much today that I nearly need assistance to sit down on the toilet. However, today's big triumph is that I overcame my temporary disability, and I went to my Zumba class anyway. My hope was that doing some dancy cardio would loosen things up a bit, and it kind of did. Still hurts though--I am hoping it will be OK by tomorrow's strength class. I really want to make all my classes this week, but I also don't want to hurt myself.

Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime walk: 2.22 miles 
• Zumba class at the Cary gym with Tiffany (still my favorite!) 
• Ab work: 35 sit-ups, 24 leg raises, 50 crunches, 1 minute plank

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: tea with milk and sugar, steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, and half a banana
• Lunch: a wasabi tuna wrap from Chelsea Cafe with a small side of broccoli salad
• Dinner: homemade chicken noodle soup and half a honeycrisp apple
• Snacks:1 Babybel

Stats:

• Steps:15,551
• Calories: 1311 consumed, 1088 burned (which is why I love Zumba!)
• Weight: 195.5 on the home scale

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Note: This isn't the best picture, but this is a beautiful monarch butterfly--the first I have seen in ages--so I am including it even though I couldn't get a great photo.

Day Fifty-Nine: SUN! and an Official Weigh-In

I'd love to tell you that I hopped out of bed at 5am this morning feeling energized and ready to go, but the truth is that I dragged my sorry self out of the bed with a lot of mental ranting about the early hour, the warm bed, the cuddly cat on my feet, and the gigantic temptation to stay put till about Thursday. But I made it to my barbell strength class for the first time in weeks, and I am so glad I did! If I had given into the temptation to snuggle in, I would have regretted it and spent the day feeling like I had let myself down. Since I didn't wimp out, I walked outside at 5:25am and was rewarded with a gorgeous navy blue sky filled with stars, a crescent moon, and two super-bright planets floating overhead--so lovely and so VERY welcome after all the nasty weather over the last couple of weeks!

Going to the gym this morning means I actually officially weighed in for the first time in a month. Their scale doesn't agree with mine of course (mine is better), but it's still showing a net loss, which is what counts!

I was so excited to go for a walk at lunch, and my friend Lisa even came with me. I could have walked for hours, it was so beautiful outside! But it was Lisa's first day walking with me, and she's kind of easing in. Tomorrow is supposed to be even better weather than today,  so hopefully I can go farther.

At knitting tonight, I was trying to resist a serious chocolate craving, which actually doesn't happen to me all that often. I had talked myself out of the cookie that I wanted, and I just ordered a cup of tea. And then, damn if they didn't give me the cookie for free! I used 100% of my willpower to cut it in half and give half of it away, but it was STILL more calories than that cookie deserved. At 440 a pop, I will not be getting another one of those for a while.

After knitting, it was too late, and I was too tired to do an evening walk, so I didn't quite finish my steps. However, I am still calling this a decent exercise day, however: my legs are so sore from all the split squats I did in class this morning that I almost can't walk up a flight of stairs.

Tomorrow: Zumba! Yay!

Log:

Exercise:

• Barbell Strength class at the Apex gym with Tracy (who may or may not be trying to kill me)
• Lunchtime walk:1.66 miles (with Lisa!)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped pecans, and half a banana
• Lunch: baked chicken breast, a big salad with Briana's honey dijon dressing, and half a honeycrisp apple
• Dinner: stir fried skirt steak with ginger, tatsoi, and shitake mushrooms, jasmine rice
• Snacks: half a Panera chocolate duet cookie (220 calories! for half!) and a big cup of tea at knitting

Stats:

• Steps: 8851
• Calories: 1607 consumed, 479 burned
• Weight: 196 on the home scale, 201.9 on the gym scale (I sure like mine better!)

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Pretty Thing From my Walk

Day Fifty-Eight: Trying Out Some Yoga

Today it rained. Again. We've now officially broken all recent records for the number of rainy days in a row in North Carolina, and I am so over it, I can't tell you. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, and I think if it's not, I will stage some sort of weather-related revolt. I am not cut out for this many grey days in a row.

My food today was good and on track. I made all of it myself, which is always a good feeling. And I resisted the temptation to abandon my leftovers for lunch, which were actually quite good, and go out to lunch, where I would have spent money to eat lesser quality food. I am a little proud of that small triumph.

To combat my slug-like feelings, I went and tried out a yoga class at the gym. The timing of it worked surprisingly well between dinner and the boys' bedtime, so it might actually become a thing. The last time I tried doing yoga was about a year and a half ago when I had actually found a yoga teacher I liked, and before said teacher quit teaching at my gym and moved away (still sad). I only did it a couple of times then, and it was terribly frustrating to me because my core was so weak that I literally couldn't do half the exercises. Tonight was so much better! My core is so much stronger from all the ab work i have done since august and the strength classes I have been taking--I was actually able to hold a plank when she said to, and I was able to get my body into the majority of the positions requested of me. This class is designed to be basic, and I am grateful for that--it's been hard to find one where everyone there wasn't already a full-on yogi, which is more than a little bit intimidating. It was refreshing to have good instruction, low pressure, and a pace that I could follow. I hope I can make this work and add it to the overall schedule.

I got a little bit overheated in yoga class, and I could NOT get cooled off. It stopped raining this evening, and it was breezy and cool outside, so I did manage to squeeze in a tiny little walk after the kids were in bed. It was short, barely a mile, but so worth it. I am finally cooled down, and I feel slightly less sluggish. Now, I am wiped out, and I am heading to bed in the hopes that I can make it up at 5am for the barbell class!

Log:

Exercise:

• Hatha Yoga class at the Apex gym with Beth
• Quick evening walk:1.02 miles

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: spinach and mushroom frittata, a pile of little tomaotes from the garden, 2 cups of tea with milk and sugar
• Lunch: leftover roasted chicken breast with carrots and potatoes, green beans cooked with onions in tomato sauce and bacon fat, red seedless grapes
• Dinner: radish top pasta from The French Market Cookbook, by Clotilde Dusoulier, but made with spinach, as it's what I had on hand (Note: Both this cookbook and this recipe are fantastic--I can't recommend this strongly enough!)
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps:6195--not enough! stupid rain.
• Calories: 1246 consumed,  354 burned
• Weight: 196.5 on the home scale

Pretty Thing From My Walk

Day Fifty-Seven: Finally! A Walk!

After a lazy morning, we got lucky and had a break in the rain today. We immediately hit the neighborhood trail for a VERY MUCH needed walk! We were all getting cabin fever.

It's been eye opening taking family walks on the weekends. I watch the effect it has on the kids to get out into the woods for a little while, even when they don't want to go. They can be full-on hot whine-y messes all morning, and they can resist going to the point that we almost don't do it, but then, the minute we get into the woods and surround ourselves with trees, it all changes. It is extremely rare that we don't end the walks in better moods than we start. And I have to believe that it's having the same effect on me as it does on them. I know for a fact that walking mid-day makes my afternoons better and more productive. More and more, as I go through this process, do I see the effects of moving more and eating better on me, on my kids, on our family dynamic, on my work--everything.

It sure feels good tonight to have done something active today.

Log:

Exercise:

• Family walk on the neighborhood greenway: 2.76 miles
• Short evening walk to finish steps: 0.52 miles

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: spinach and mushroom frittata, a pile of little tomaotes from the garden, 2 cups of tea with milk and sugar
• Lunch: Salem Street Pub's tuna salad wrap with a side salad
• Dinner: vanilla yogurt with this amazing cashew and coconut granola and half a banana
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps: 12,213 (YAY!)
• Calories: 1272 consumed,  461 burned
• Weight: 196.5 on the home scale

Day Fifty-Six: Home Day

Rain, rain, rain, rain...so tired of it.

Today, we didn't even leave the house. I cooked a lot. We cleaned a lot--I made Kieran clean his room, which is no small task. There was laundry. I spent pretty much the whole day on my feet doing house things, but my ftbit, sadly, doesn't recognize standing. Lol. My friend Lisa brought her kids over to play and stay for dinner, which was fun--the kids had a Minecraft afternoon while we chatted and hung out.

Oh, and there was wine.

What there wasn't was exercise. I feel very much like a slug. Tomorrow, I will do SOMETHING for exercise, even if it's small--I can't take it anymore.

Log:

Exercise:

• *sigh* I don't want to talk about it.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: my favorite omelet with turkey bacon, avocado, tomatoes, and parmesan, a slice of 9th St Bakery Omega 3-seed toast with homemade apple butter
• Lunch: turkey chili and a few Trader Joe's Black Bead & Quinoa chips
• Dinner: roasted chicken, roasted baby potatoes and carrots, green beans cooked in tomato sauce with onion and bacon fat, 2-ish glasses of wine
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps: 5403
• Calories: 1262 consumed,  0 burned
• Weight: 196.5 on the home scale--not surprising after the past few days!

Day Fifty-Five: Gearing Up for a Super Rainy Weekend

It's supposed to rain all weekend, along with high winds and all kinds of weather yuckiness. People are in panic mode. Our farmers market and farm share pickup has been cancelled for tomorrow. All of this means that I have to get my butt to the grocery store tonight before the madness of the weekend begins.

I am going to spend the weekend holed up with my family cooking and getting some house things done, which means there won't be much in the way of exercise till Sunday, if at all. Such is life, I guess. I am seriously feeling like a lump--I need to get back onto the exercise wagon for reals next week!!! All this crappy weather is supposed to end next Monday, and I am so hoping it does!

Meanwhile, here's today's (kind of pathetic) log...

Log:

Exercise:

• Um--what's exercise?

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: a pumpkin cereal bar from Trader Joe's--season treat!
• Lunch: turkey chili and a few Trader Joe's Black Bead & Quinoa chips, cut up veggies with honey mustard, and a small honeycrisp apple
• Dinner: Kieran's leftover Mexican food, which actually isn't too bad--it's this bowl from our local Mexican joint that has grilled chicken, black beans, lettuce, Spanish rice, guacamole, corn, and cheese
• Snacks: N/A

Stats:

• Steps: 3962--sheesh!
• Calories: 1189 consumed,  0 burned
• Weight: 196 on the home scale

Day Fifty-Four: Healing Up

My ankle and foot are 100 time better today, but I chose not to put any strain on it to avoid accidentally getting a serious injury that would be apt to de-rail me for more than just a couple of days. Today's exercise is nada again, and it's chafing! I feel like a blob moving so little!

It's raining here. It's been raining for a week, and there's no end in sight till probably next Tuesday. There's a big fat hurricane off the coast that's dumping water on my state, so much that our governor has already declared us to be in a state of emergency. My farmers market and CSA pickup are cancelled for this weekend, which means I need to find time tomorrow to get to the store before everyone goes into panic mode. I plan to spend my whole weekend cooking and holing up at home with my family.

Now, off to sit on my butt and watch TV. Again.

Log:

Exercise:

• Nothing--I am determined to get my foot healed up ASAP, so I can get back at it!

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: a piece of 9th Street Bakery's Omega-3-Seed bread with mission almond butter and half a banana, 2 cups of tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: homemade applesauce, baked chicken breast, kale salad with warm cranberry vinaigrette
• Dinner: turkey chili with a little shredded cheese and a few Trader Joe's Black Bead & Quinoa chips
• Snacks:1 Mozarella Babybel

Stats:

• Steps: 4635
• Calories: 1371 consumed,  0 burned
• Weight: 196 on the home scale