Day 2: Stepping Up

Today was surreal. Running on about 5.5 hours of sleep, I dragged myself to barbell class this morning. Then I ended up with Finn hanging out in my office for part of the day, so he went with me on my lunchtime walk, which wasn't quite at the same pace I've gotten used to. But hey--we were still moving, so it counts. The dog had surgery and needed to be picked up. The boys had swimming lessons. There was nothing but running around all over the place.

And also today, my good friend's husband, who is 42 years old, slim and fit, and an all around healthy-seeming guy, had a heart attack and had a stent put in. Sobering and frightening. Yet another reminder that the time to do things is right-exactly-fucking-now.
Whew.

Log:

Exercise:

• Barbell Strength Class with Tracy at the Apex gym
• Lunchtime walk: 1.71 very, very slow miles with Finn
• Evening walk to knitting:1.98 miles
• Day 2 of the 30-day Abs Challenge: 20 sit-ups, 8 leg raises, 8 crunches, 12 second plank

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 fresh farm (thanks, Sharon, my farmer friend!) eggs over easy, 2 links of chicken sage sausage from Applegate Farms, chopped fresh tomato, 1 slice of whole wheat toast with a bit of butter, 4 oz fresh OJ, and hot tea with milk and sugar
• Lunch: wasabi tuna wrap from Chelsea Cafe with LOTS of veggies inside--so good,very nutrient-rich, and not too many empty calories: win!
• Dinner: knitting at Panera: 1/2 soba noodle and chicken salad and a small Fuji apple
• Snacks: This was cleaning up after Kieran because 1) I can't resist whatever crack the Chick-Fil-A people put in their chicken, 2) I hate wasting food, and 3) I was STARVING before I took them to swimming class: 1/3 of a chicken sandwich and 3 or 4 fries

Stats:

• Steps:15,009 (BOOM!)
• Calories: 1401 consumed (stupid Chick-Fil-A),961 burned
• Weight: 195 lbs--bleh, but I'll fix it

Day 180: Twice the Days

Today is the end of the second set of 90 days since I started down this path toward a better lifestyle for my health. The first half was focused on weight loss. The second set has been focused more on maintenance,  getting through the holidays without a ton of gain, and setting up some appointments to take care of other aspects of my health--especially the dentist. I have lost only a few pound during this period, but that's OK. I am happy to still be headed down and not having slipped back up to a much heavier weight. That said--it's time to get going again in that steadily downward moving direction. This morning's refusal to get out of bed for barbell class (sorry, Tracy!) notwithstanding, I am feeling pretty motivated.

I had a hair appointment today, which meant missing my lunchtime walk. It also, however, meant that i got to have a spontaneous lunch date with Jason at one of our favorite farm-to-table restaurants in downtown Raleigh. Kimbap is an indulgence, but one I don't feel too bad about. Kim sources her Korean-inspired foods from the local farms we personally know, and her food is nutritious and delicious. I can't recommend her place enough!

But. I was feeling like a slug by 5pm. In a fit of inspiration, I was determined to find some way to do something active, so I decided to walk to knitting tonight. The Panera where we meet is just over 2 miles from my house, so I managed to get in a 4+ mile walk by doing something fun and social. I think I am going to plan to do that again, whenever the weather will cooperate with me. My friend Jennifer even got her husband to drop her off so that she could walk home with me, which was amazing. I hope she'll do it again, too!

Log: 

Exercise:

• Walked to and from knitting: 4.08 miles
• Day 10 of the 30-day Abs Challenge: 50 sit-ups, 30 leg raises, 50 crunches, 38 second plank

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: steel cut oatmeal with slices almonds and dried cranberries, tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: Kimbap with Jason: 2 pork and ginger dumplings, beef bulgogi tacos with kimchee fried rice, Asian sauteed collard greens, 2 tiny beignets with semi-freddo and chocolate for dessert with a small cup of French press coffee with sugar and cream (SO DELICIOUS!)
• Dinner: Panera for knitting: 1/2 a chicken soba noodle salad and a small apple
• Snacks: no snacks today

Stats:

• Steps:11,637
• Calories: 1583 consumed, 537 burned
• Weight: 188--maybe even a little bit under

Day 175: Low Activity Day

This morning, when the 5am alarm went off for barbell class, it was just not happening. I could barely open my eyes enough to turn the thing off. My head was hurting, and I was just too exhausted to do anything but keep sleeping. Now, of course, I feel like a wimp, even though I know better. This whole thing is about balance, and I didn't fall asleep last night till almost midnight. And folks, 5 hours of sleep more than one night a week definitely counts as not enough sleep.

I was stunned to step on the scale and see the 188 below. I checked to see if something was wrong with the scale, but it was right! I have had problems with consistency since the holidays started, but that's a sure sign that decent eating and consistent exercise definitely still work!

It's supposed to start sleeting/snowing any minute and keep it up till Saturday, so we'll see what the next few days hold. I tend to go into full-on hibernation mode if I get snowed in, which may mean very little logging and more cleaning, cooking, reading, knitting, and playing with kids.

Log: 

Exercise:

• Day 7 (since I forgot to do it yesterday!) of the 30-day Abs Challenge: 40 sit-ups, 20 leg raises, 20 crunches, 30 second plank

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: a slice of homemade banana bread, tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: multi-grain wrap with grilled BBQ chicken thighs, smoked gouda, roasted red peppers, avocado, and cilantro (so awesome!), sliced cucumbers with honey mustard, a small blood orange
• Dinner: We went to Salem Street Pub for dinner in anticipation of getting snowed in and eating at home for a few days--tuna salad wrap and a side salad with thousand island dressing
• Snacks: Siggi's 2% coconut yogurt (This was meh, by the way. I wanted to try it because it has like half the sugar of most brands, but it was super thick, and it felt more like eating sour cream than yogurt to me.)

Stats:

• Steps:4780
• Calories: 1429 consumed, 0 burned
• Weight: 188 lbs

Day 169: Eating Out on an Insanely Busy Day

Today was a day of running around pretty much all day long. There was no time for a lunchtime walk, since I went to a retirement lunch for a friend whose last day was today. That meant eating out at a pub-type restaurant where I didn't make awful selections, but I also didn't eat a salad. I skipped the fries in favor of apple cole slaw so there was more in the way of vegetables. If I am not going to be conscious of caloric intake, at least I can try to give myself more nutrients, right? For dinner, I had a salad from Chick-Fil-A--again not awesome, but not god-awful either. It was the best I could do with today's busy schedule. 

I dragged my tired kids to the gym and went to Zumba class, for which I am very glad--that was over 6000 much-needed steps in an hour! I also did some yoga at home--I desperately needed to stretch, and I kind of surprised myself by actually remembering the flow and order of things from class. I could hear Cathy's voice in my head telling me what to do. I think I am even accidentally learning the names of the poses and forms without really trying. More yoga == good.

Log: 

Exercise:

• Zumba with Tameka at the Apex gym
• Day 2 of the 30-day Abs Challenge: 20 sit-ups, 8 leg raises, 8 crunches, 12 second plank
• 30 minutes of yoga in my living room floor

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: steel cut oats with brown sugar and cinnamon, sliced almonds, and fresh blueberries, milk, tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: Work lunch at Carolina Ale House: Buffalo chicken wrap with a side of apple cole slaw--probably a million calories
• Dinner: Asian salad from Chick-Fil-A
• Snacks: 1/2 of a tall classic hot chocolate from Starbucks (I split it with Kieran)--HUGE treat and no way to break that 190 pound plateau. lol

Stats:

• Steps:11,424
• Calories: 1513 consumed, 865 burned
• Weight: 190 lb and holding--at least it's not going UP!

Day Ninety-Five: What a Day!!!

Kieran's school was closed today for Veterans Day, so Jason and I both worked at home to field our rowdy kids and still get work done. We both ate lunch while working, and then decided to take the boys on a walk in the woods so they could burn off some energy. Unlike most of our family walks, which are awesome, this one seemed to consist of one annoying thing after another, culminating in Finn throwing a huge tantrum in the middle of the woods. So we cut the walk short and headed back to the car to discover a big puddle of coolant underneath it. It overheated on the way home, so we located a mechanic close to home, and now, it's in a garage. This means working at home tomorrow (again) because we're down to one car till this mess gets worked out. And none of that has anything to do with getting in shape, but I am brimming with frustration, so here we are anyway. 

By the time we got everything settled, the timing had derailed my dinner plans, and we ended up at our local pub, where there is, thank goodness, something relatively healthy for me to eat. I had to work hard to resist drinking about 100 beers instead of going to the gym. Thank the sweet baby Jesus it was Tiffany's Zumba class tonight, or I would never have made it. That said, I feel a lot better after going! Zumba = stress relief. Now, I'm off to bed so I can hopefully make it to barbell class tomorrow morning, too--that's the hardest one to make it to by far. I like the teacher a lot, but man--sleep is dear. Y'all say a prayer.

Log: 

Exercise:

• Family walk in the woods: 1.74 miles
• Zumba with Tiffany at the Cary gym

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs with cheese, 1 slice of banana bread, 2 cups of tea with raw sugar and milk
• Lunch: butternut squash soup, muhammara with TJs pumpkin cranberry crisps
• Dinner: Salem Street Pub's tuna salad wrap with a garden salad and thousand island dressing and a boatload of pepper
• Snacks:N/A

Stats:

• Steps: 14,170
• Calories: 1404 consumed, 1070 burned
• Weight: 190 lbs and holding

Day Fifty-Two: Whaaat???

How in the world did I miss so many days of posting??? It's hard single parenting and traveling and all that. I have so much respect for people who are single parents all the time--I do it for a week, and it's almost more than I can handle. Whew!

So I am not sure how I stopped writing. I was keeping up with decent eating and getting some walking and exercising in last week until, apparently, Thursday. Still--that day was ok. Friday, I packed up the kids and we drove to my mom's house. I took more food than clothes with me this time, and I cooked a lot while I was there. Instead of eating processed whatever on this trip, I ate things I had made like radish top pasta, butternut squash soup, roasted chicken, and stir fry with skirt steak, shitake mushrooms, eggplant, and tatsoi. I scrambled eggs for breakfast, and I packed microgreens and tomatoes from my garden to eat with them. MUCH better than my last visit, when it all just kind of fell apart.

That said, Sunday's eating was pretty terrible--eating out at chain restaurants on the road. It's the kiss of death. I did have a salad for dinner at least. Then Monday was ok, but not awesome. It's been raining, and I have had some weird nausea (maybe from the chain restaurants??) that has kept me more sedentary than I prefer over the last couple of days.

Anyway--I am, once again, getting back on the train here. I am hoping for some breaks in the rain at some point this week so that I can get outside and walk. I think walking is truly the centerpiece of my whole mindset about this endeavor. I need it mentally at least as much as I need it physically.

This morning, I tried and failed to get up for my 5:45am barbell class, but I did make it to a class this afternoon called Strictly Strength. And surprise! My favorite Zumba teacher, Tiffany, was the teacher for the class. It was really great, and not remotely easy, so yay for that. I don't think I can make it part of the regular routine once Kieran is tracked back into school, but it's a great back-up/track-out option. The kids love the kids center at the Apex gym location, so that was an extra bonus--they had fun, too! No walks today because of pouring rain. Boo.

Log:

Exercise:

• Strictly Strength class at the Apex gym with Tiffany

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, half a honeycrisp apple, 2 cups of tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: a big salad with champagne caper vinaigrette, butternut squash soup, a mozzarella Babybel
• Dinner: Panera pick two (at knitting): half a turkey avocado BLT and some black bean soup--both just OK, but not very satisfying. Bleh.
• Snacks:half a honeycrisp apple with some mission almond butter from Big Spoon Roasters, one Hershey's dark chocolate nugget with almonds

Stats:

• Steps: fitbit syncing fail--something around 6000
• Calories:  consumed,  burned
• Weight: 198 on the home scale (Holding steady after a few mediocre days--I'll take it.)

Day Forty-Five: Half Way!

I am determined not to let the Hippie's absence this week affect my attempts to get back on track. I rearranged my work day a bit today to accomodate a 10:30am Zumba class. It actually worked out well, but only because my bosses are traveling this week and are both in time zones that make this a good idea. Shifting my work day later puts me more in line with when they are awake and need support. Granted, it's the end of the day now, and I am Wiped. Out. Whew.

So after one day back on track. I stepped onto the scale this morning to see a number under 200 for the first time in a long time. It may have been a fluke, but I am really hoping it's not--it's been incredibly motivating today! Today I ate pretty well and exercised plenty--I am so hoping tomorrow that I see even more progress. I have some lost time to make up for here, after the last two weeks of half-assed-ness...

Log:

Exercise: 

• Zumba with Tameka
• Lunchtime Walk with the Dawg:1.3 miles
• Ab work: 50 sit-ups, 20 leg raises, 60 crunches, 1 minute plank 
• Evening dog walk: .76 miles

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: spinach and mushroom frittata, chopped heirloom tomato from the garden, microgreens, a cup of tea with milk and raw sugar, slice of high-protein, low-carb bread from Great Harvest with homemade apple butter
• Lunch: A piece of grilled salmon and some superfood salad (kale, edamame, blueberries, etc) from Whole Foods, some sunburst melon from my CSA
• Dinner: Took the boys to La Rancherita (their fave), where i got a somewhat healthy bowl with fajita chicken, black beans, Spanish rice, lettuce, and guacamole--delicious and not too huge or awful for me
• Snacks:1 Babybel

Stats:

• Steps:14,580
• Calories:  1448 consumed, 1101 burned
• Weight: 198 on the home scale. YAY for dipping under the 200 mark!

Day Thirty-Eight: Facing Challenges

This morning, I was supposed to go to the gym for a barbell strength training class with Tracy (my favorite) and have an official weigh-in. However, I instead slept till past 7am, and then raced around like a crazy woman getting ready for work/school/camp. We barely made it out the door alive. I am pretty bummed out about that, as I will miss that class all of next week, too. Jason is traveling for work, which means 5:45am classes and 8pm classes are not a possibility. I will have to figure out a new strategy for that whole week. Boo.

Meanwhile, the weather continues to be glorious for walking! Low humidity, not too hot, sunny and breezy--just delightful to be outside. And while I was walking on my path at lunch today, I hit a patch of honeysuckle, of all things. In September! I smelled it before I saw it, and I really thought I was walking through a cloud of some other walker's perfume or something. Such a cool surprise on this very late summer day.

I had good intentions for some after-knitting exercise, but I was am just too exhausted, and it's too late! I'm going to bed...

Log:

Exercise: 

• Lunchtime walk: 2.06 miles
• Annnnnd...that's it. I got home late from knitting, and I just didn't have anything else in me.

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: cup of tea with 2% milk and 1/2 a tsp of raw sugar, steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon, a little brown sugar, pecans, and banana
• Lunch: baked chicken and French green beans tossed with olive oil and porcini salt, a medium honeycrisp apple
• Dinner:a tuna salad wrap from Salem Street Pub with a side salad instead of fries
• Snacks: two more cups of tea with milk and sugar at work, a Babybel

Stats:

• Steps:8378
• Calories: 1327 consumed, 267 burned
• Weight: forgot to weigh in the hustle this morning--oops!

Day Twenty-Six: Resisting Serious Temptation

Today my company had a team event at an Irish pub with a reputation for delicious food and a huge menu covered in things like open faced roast beef sandwiches with gravy and mashed potatoes, burgers, sweet potato fries, etc. But I was good--I ordered some grilled pork loin with cabbage and applesauce. It came with a roll, which I gave away, and a salad, from which I removed the croutons. Go me.

Meanwhile, I have hit a failure point on the plank situation. I can hold it for a minute and 21 seconds, and then my wrist gives out. I can finish it out on my elbows, but it feels like wimping out. Further, I am frustrated as all get out that I haven't had time to go on walks this week. It's making me tense, and I feel like I am falling behind. We're going to the beach on Saturday, and I am hoping I can walk and walk and walk on that shoreline while I'm there...

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Barbell Strength Class with Tracy at the Apex gym
• Day 26 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (110 sit ups, 170 crunches, 60 leg raises, 100 second plank--I was 20 seconds short)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 cups of hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar each, two egg omelet with tomatoes, avocado, turkey bacon, and Parmesan, served with a pile of microgreens
• Lunch: work lunch at O'Malley's Irish Pub & Grill in Raleigh: grilled pork loin chops, stewed cabbage, applesauce, a garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette, iced tea
• Dinner: a small grass fed ribeye, French green beans with olive oil and porcini salt, sauteed mushrooms
• Snacks: 1 mozzarella Babybel

Stats:

• Steps: 4012 (UGH!)
• Calories: 1219 consumed, 280 burned
• Weight: 201 (home)

Day Twenty: A Little Shopping

Today was a lighter than usual work day for me, so I took a long lunch with my friend Sonya and did a little shopping at the mall, where I had a whole bunch of birthday coupons that need to be used before the 31st. I never seem to be able to find time to shop. My body has changed dramatically since having babies, which means it's not really an option to shop online since I need to try everything on. The end result is that I almost never buy anything new to wear, and when I do, I get as excited as a little girl at Christmas. I came away today with new pants, two tops, a new dress, some lotion, and some heavenly smelling new soaps. But I digress--my point here was supposed to be that, rather than my normal lunchtime walk, I walked all over the mall instead. Not sorry.

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime Walk: Does shopping count? I think it kind of counts, but I didn't exactly map it.
• Day 20 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (Rest Day, THANK GOD!)
• Zumba class with Tameka at the Apex gym

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: 2 cups of hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar each,steel cut oatmeal with 1 tsp brown sugar, chopped pecans, and 1/2 a banana
• Lunch: 1/2 a Thai crunch salad (without the rice sticks) at California Pizza Kitchen with avocado and an iced tea--I honestly don't know how anyone eats a whole salad here. I was so full after the half salad that I ate no snacks all day long, even with Zumba class!
• Dinner: 1/2 a chicken breast sauteed in olive oil with garlic, lemon, mushrooms, spinach, and french green beans with a little broth added; 1/2 a cup of homemade apple sauce
• Snacks: no snacks

Stats:

• Steps: 12787
• Calories: 1256 consumed, 904 burned
• Weight: 202.5 (home)

Day 17: Official Weigh-In Miracle

OK, so I had some LOW expectations at the official weigh-in this morning, given the weekend's cheater-y extravagance. Imagine my surprise to see my weight down this morning! Not insanely so, but still down. I am so relieved and pleased. What I am less than pleased about is the fact that i STILL have to drive my results over to the Cary gym to get them properly recorded. I attempted emailing the picture to a trainer at Cary, but received no response, so off I went. This time, I could find no trainer to enter my info, but I finally went and pitched a fit till i found out who was in charge. I emailed that guy, and all is now well. He's going to take care of entering my info every Tuesday from now on. Again--it's not like I think I am going to win this thing, but the whole point of joining was for more accountability, right? I want my credit, dammit!

Today's lunchtime walk involved a snake sighting, as you will have seen from the pictures below. Poor guy wasn't doing too well, but I did my best for him by moving him off a busy path into a little secluded grassy area. We'll see if he's still there tomorrow.

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Barbell Strength class with Tracy at the Apex gym
• Lunchtime Walk:  2.28 miles
• Day 17 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (75 sit ups, 100 crunches, 42 leg raises, 65 minute plank)
• Evening Walk: 0.76 miles

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar, steel cut oatmeal (.2 cups before cooking) with 1/2 a banana, 1/2 cup of milk, a handful of chopped pecans, and a teaspoon of brown sugar (which I didn't really need and wished I could undo)
• Lunch: salmon and squash baked in parchment with lemon and basil, tomatoes from the garden
• Dinner: Panera for knitting--a half chicken Caesar with no croutons and a cup of black bean soup--tasty and not too bad
• Snacks:1 medium honeycrisp apple

Stats:

• Steps: 11287
• Calories: 1213 consumed, 678 burned
• Weight: 203.5 (home), 207.7 (official, -6.6 lbs)

Day 13: Road Trip

Today, I made it on my lunchtime walk, though it wasn't quite as long as I wanted because of an all-hands meeting at work. There are just not enough hours in the day sometimes. I wasn't able to attend my afternoon Zumba class today either, because we drove to my mom's house to go apple picking in the mountains this weekend!

Driving means road food, where it's SUPER hard to be faithful to my restrictions. We went to Chick-Fil-A, and the best I could do was grilled chicken nuggets with a side salad and an unsweetened tea. Of the dressing options, I went with avocado ranch, but only used half the packet (MORE than enough for a side salad), and I admit, I did not resist the BBQ sauce for dipping the nuggets. All in all, it could have been a lot worse (fried chicken sandwich with mayo, waffle fries, sweet tea, and a big old chocolate chip cookie worse), so I am pretty happy with my powers of resistance tonight.

Definitely looking forward to eating an apple again--the lack of fruit is the hardest part of this phase of my nutrition plan. Sunday is my birthday, the end of the first two weeks of the challenge, and eating a big, beautiful, freshly picked, Honey Crisp apple is totally going to be my reward!

Walking up and down my mother's hallway tonight to finish out my 10k steps. Dedication. :-)

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Lunchtime Walk: 1.65 (very hot) miles
• Day 13 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (60 sit-ups, 75 crunches, 40 leg raises, 50 second plank)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar, 2 eggs scrambled with cheese and spinach, 2 slices of Wellshire Farms Canadian bacon, about 1/3 cup of little tomatoes
• Lunch: small baked chicken breast with lemon and thyme, sauteed zucchini with peppers and onions
• Dinner: Road Food - Chick-Fil-A grilled chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce, side salad with avocado ranch dressing, unsweetened iced tea
• Snacks: 24 almonds, 1 Babybel

Stats:

• Steps:10103
• Calories: 1459 consumed, 207 burned
• Weight: 203.5

Day 12: Off the Wagon

Today was my first total bust. My alarm went off at 5am this morning, and I just didn't get up. I am torn between feeling like a failure, and realizing that I was simply too exhausted to make it today. My knee was hurting a little bit, but mostly, I just could not keep my eyes open. Then I had to take Kieran for a new cast, which took forever, and pretty much erased my lunchtime work. This also meant working later and off hours today, which ate into any later walking time that might normally have happened. It was just a mess all day long. At least I still ate well instead of caving to the cravings for things like fries. (We ate lunch at a place with AMAZING fries, and I had none.)

I know that realistically, there are going to be days like this, where life intrudes and your well-laid plans fall by the wayside. I think the real test is going to be getting back on the horse after a day like this one. I really don't like it when my fitbit isn't all green at the end of the day.

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Basically nothing
• Day 12 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (Rest Day)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar, 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, 2 Applegate Farms chicken sage sausage links, about 1/3 cup of little tomatoes
• Lunch: from the Cafe at Jason's office: mixed greens salad with citrus vinaigrette, cucumbers, tomatoes, and about 3 oz baked salmon
• Dinner: Roasted chicken breast, sauteed zucchini with peppers and onions
• Snacks: 24 almonds

Stats:

• Steps: a pathetic 5339
• Calories: 1313 consumed, 0 burned (under the caloric glad for the day by the skin of my teeth)
• Weight: 204

Day 11: Working Around an Insane Schedule

Once again, no lunchtime walk--this week is particularly difficult for that because of other things going on. Today was the once-a-year day where my work friend Lisa and I deliver donated backpacks to the Durham Public School System and go out to lunch in downtown Durham. We traditionally go to Toast, which is very much a farm to table kind of place. I had a great salad and some straccitella, which is this Italian egg drop soup normally served with bread crumbs. I got it without the bread crumbs, but it contained a handful of forbidden peas. Really though, if peas are my only dietary violation on a lunch out, that's not too bad.

The abs challenge I am doing is seriously ramping up--I have to do it in sets now, but I can tell that I am getting stronger, which is gratifying. Zumba continues to be fun. I realized that I will miss Friday afternoon Zumba because we are driving to my mom's house for the weekend. It's going to be real work not to let that utterly derail everything!

A word on the leaderboard: I am on the board this week for Cary, in 8th place. The person in first place has lost 14.9 pounds, 4.17% of her body weight. The person who is nationally in first place has lost 38.8 pounds in a week and 3 days. I sincerely hope that person is under the care of a doctor and not just a trainer--I just do not see a healthy way to lost that much weight that fast. I am working hard, and I am trying to keep my caloric intake high enough to avoid messing with my metabolism. I want to lose weight, but I truly want to do it in a healthy way without long term ill effects. This is why winning is not so much my goal as is setting up new, healthier habits and sticking to them.

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Day 11 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (55 sit ups, 65 crunches, 33 leg raises, 42 second plank)
• Zumba at the Cary gym with Tiffany

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar, tomato, avocado, and turkey bacon omelet with parmesan
• Lunch: from Toast in Durham: HUGE mixed greens salad with red wine vinaigrette, grana padano cheese, and roasted chicken, a cup of stracciatella soup
• Dinner:cucumbers, turkey roll-ups, and a mozerella Babybel
• Snacks: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar

Stats:

• Steps:11647
• Calories: 1136 consumed, 838 burned
• Weight: completely forgot to weigh this morning--oops!