Day 182: Accidental Rest Day

Today, I woke up with an annoying throbby headache--this happens to me every couple of months. That means I missed yet another class this week. Joy's going to think I don't like her class, but it's really just that Thursday is my hardest day to get up because I work out so late on Wednesday. This headache has been haunting me all day, accompanied by a general malaise that makes me feel like I may be fighting something off. Ugh. When I feel like this, all I want to do is sit down and knit and eat whatever is available and not a lot of effort for me. Thus, I didn't say no when offered a beautiful sour cream doughnut. And when the kids wanted Chick-Fil-A for dinner, I ate it, too. Today is an accidental rest day, and a bit of a fitness waste.I'm going to go to bed early and get back on track tomorrow. Whew.

Log: 

Exercise:

• Day 12 of the 30-day Abs Challenge: Rest Day

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: a slice of Great Harvest honey whole wheat toast with Big Spoon Roasters' Mission Almond Butter and half a banana, tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: Leftover pan seared pork chop with mushroom gravy, basmati and wild rice with herbs, Swiss chard gratin
• Dinner: Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich and fries dipped in Chick-Fil-A sauce
• Snacks: half a homemade sour cream doughnut (People at work need to stop giving me things like this! At least I just ate half...)

Stats:

• Steps: 5688 (pitiful)
• Calories: I can't even face this, plus I have no idea how to calculate lunch.
• Weight:186.5

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 Eighty-Nine: Preventive Medicine

I had my yearly physical today, which was all good. I even got a flu shot! I talked to my doctor about my exercise and weight loss regimen, and I was a little shocked to have my level of exercise classified as "heavy" by both her and the nurse. In the past, it's always been light, and I think of it now as moderate, not heavy. Heavy to me is training 3-4 hours a day, which I am certainly not doing. I still say moderate, no matter what my doctor's office thinks.

Exercise was a bust today--I was entirely too asleep to make it out of bed at 5am this morning, and then I was slammed for the rest of the day. Plus I gave the doctor's office a bunch of blood and let them give me a flu shot. It seemed like a good day to take it a little easy. Tomorrow will be better for sure.

LAST DAY OF THE OFFICIAL CHALLENGE TOMORROW! 

Seriously, it's flown by!

Log: 

Exercise:

• Teeny tiny evening walk to do SOMETHING today--0.56 miles (Note: This would have been slightly longer, but I got stopped and heckled by the neighbors.)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: tea with milk and raw sugar, a super-indulgent blueberry scone from Starbucks (390 calories!)
• Lunch: London broil and grilled asparagus/peppers/mushrooms
• Dinner: roasted chicken breast, rosemary lemon goat cheese, half an Aisan pear, and a few Trader Joes pumpkin cranberry crisps
• Snacks: Trader Joes red pepper hummus and cup up raw veggies, a Mozzarella Babybell with a few more pumpkin cranberry crisps

Stats:

• Steps: 4624
• Calories: 1334 consumed, 72 burned
• Weight: 191.5

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

Day Forty-Three: Lazy Sunday

Today, we slept in, which is unheard of around here! Then I got up and made buttermilk pancakes (pig shaped ones for the kids!) and bacon from Holland Brothers in PA, which is equivalent to family treasure. I had some, but I held back on the portion. Then, since we ate breakfast at something like 10:30am, I didn't really eat lunch.

The grandparents showed up for a visit at around 2, and I made us a big cheese plate with two lovely hard cheeses, some pecans, fig preserves, apple butter, and crackers. We opened a really good bottle of wine and had a glass or two while chatting. It's hard to feel too bad about all that--I think we all needed it.

For dinner, I roasted a chicken over some tiny delicious fresh potatoes, and served it with roasted carrots and French green beans tossed with porcini salt. Delicious, heavy on the vegetables, and again--I held back on the portions to keep it from getting too crazy.

No exercise was had beyond the carrying of laundry and the family dance party we had right before the boys' bedtime. Tomorrow is my big reset and the day that Jason leaves for the Netherlands for a whole week, so today was just a day of puttering around the house getting things done.

Log:

Exercise: 

• uhhhhhh...

Nutrition:

• (Late) Breakfast: two homemade buttermilk pancakes, 2 slices of bacon, 1/2 a honeycrisp apple, a cup of tea with milk and raw sugar
• Lunch: N/A
• Dinner: roasted chicken breast, French green beans with olive oil and porcini salt, roasted carrots, baby potatoes roasted under the chicken
• Snacks: cheese plate with 2 cheese, fig preserves, pecans, and crackers, 2 glasses of red wine

Stats:

• Steps: 4615
• Calories:  1277 consumed,  0 burned
• Weight: 200 on the home scale (shocking!)

Pigs & Crossbones for Breakfast

Day Twenty-One: "Rest" Day

Saturday--official rest day, though I spent the day on my feet. I went to the farmers market, made lunch, then spent the afternoon being farm wife-ish--processing apples and basil. I have walked very little, done no dedicated exercise other than today's abs challenge, and yet I am totally worn out from all the "rest."

I am also, as I write this, giving in to a massive chocolate craving. I am having some dark chocolate covered blueberries--I checked first to make sure it's not going to drive me over the caloric limits I have given myself, and I am still good. But it still feels so odd to be eating chocolate--I don't even feel all that guilty... :-)

Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Day 21 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (90 situps, 130 crunches, 52 leg raises, 80 second plank)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar, spinach, mushroom, and red pepper omelet with cheese, homemade applesauce
• Lunch:salad with lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, and chicken, watermelon
• Dinner:chicken breast with roasted red pepper, cilantro, and BBQ sauce, French green beans with olive oil and wild porcini salt
• Snacks: 1 Babybel, 1 serving of TJ's dark chocolate covered blueberries (SUCH a chocolate craving!)

Stats:

• Steps: 4024
• Calories:1155 consumed, 0 burned
• Weight: 202 (home)

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 Seven: Rest Day

Today was an official rest day for me, though honestly, I had to force myself to do it. It was all i could do not to find a class at the gym or go for a hike or something. I am reminding myself that rest is important, and I don't want to burn out or risk getting hurt.

The grandparents came over and watched the boys for a bit this morning so that the hippie and I could go to the farmers market without them, run a couple of errands, and go to a belated hippie birthday brunch. We went to Toast Cafe in Cary, and I am happy to say that I resisted things like blueberry pancakes and corned beef hash in favor of what turned out to be an AMAZING omelet. Its listed ingredients were Parmesan, avocado, tomato, and bacon, and it came with grits, hash browns, or fruit on the side. I asked them to sub turkey for the bacon, and by some miracle, they had turkey bacon--so good! And I subbed a salad for the fruit, and that was good, too. Highly recommend that place. Lunch was an exercise in using up things in the kitchen than needed to be eaten, but turned out to be surprisingly good. And dinner was a bit of an adventure--I handled some whole fish for the first time ever. I admit I was intimidated, but I muscled through it, and it was totally worth it! Delicious!!! I am stunned that, though I feel like I've been lazy and eaten like a pig today, I have come in under the calorie goals recommended by MyFitnessPal.

 
Today's Log:

Exercise:

• Day 7 of the 30 Day Abs Challenge (40 sit-ups, 20 leg raises, 20 crunches, 30 second plank)

Nutrition:

• Breakfast:  (brunch really) omelet with leftover avocado, turkey bacon, tomatoes, mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette, unsweetened iced tea
• Lunch: sauteed zucchini with garlic, pepper, onions, and chicken breast, Trader Joe's Giant White Beans in tomato sauce
• Dinner: whole grilled vermillion snapper, steamed broccoli
• Snacks: hot tea with 2% milk and 1/2 tsp raw sugar, 24 almonds

Stats:

• Steps: 4321 (Not one line on the fitbit log is green--that hurts, even though I know it's needed.
• Calories: 1283 consumed, 0 burned
• Weight: 207 (home scale)