Road trip!

Hello friends!

So, I'm off on an adventure... Going to a family function tomorrow near Charleston, WV (which is like 5.25 hrs away) and I decided, what the heck, let's travel the extra 2.5 hrs to visit friends in Lexington, KY. While it's a good idea in theory and I've definitely driven that long up the I-95 corridor, I forgot how exhausting such a trip is. Some may even say it's a little crazy (I don't have that long off from work), but nevertheless I am here. And it was a treat to see Megha and Sameer last night, even if it was through very tired eyes.

I didn't do the best job planning for the weekend as far as my fitness and nutrition go. I think I am going with the "it's vacation" mentality. To me this means, lighten up about my rules and just make wise decisions. Don't go overboard, but don't deprive myself either... And DRINK WATER!!!

The goal of the weekend is to have fun and not do too much damage in the process...

Happy Friday!
LP

Proper Planning Prevents P*ss-poor Performance

I was just reading my last post... I may have spoken too soon! While I was doing really well the first half of Sean's vacation, the stress of work got to me. Too many late nights prevented me from planning out my meals for the day. And I convinced myself that it was okay to forgo the gym in the name of getting some sleep.

Well, Sean came back Monday and I got back into the swing of things. I did a really good job with working out. I managed to get to the gym before FT to do some extra cardio each day. However, the food tracking is quite another story... I start off each day strong with writing down my nutrition but then I fizzle out. I think I really need to plan out the entire day. Maybe if I write down everything the night before it will go better.

It is so important for me to get on top of this jounaling... when I don't do it correctly I fall victim to stress eating, which I'm beginning to think had more to do with me getting to be the size I was than I originally thought...

And according to GI Joe, "Knowing is half the battle", right???

Happy Sunday!
LP

Quick update...

What a week it has been! Work has been crazy this week (it's only day 3 and it feels like day 6) and I am exhausted... 2 more days to this stretch and then a couple of days off. :)
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I wanted to check in and let you all know how things have been going on my own. I must say, I miss Sean and can't wait to start my workouts back up again. But I have been doing a fairly good job with those goals I've set:

- Journal everything I eat everyday: Done. I have been not only writing what I've eaten but the nutrition info as well. If I ever make it to that nutritionist (that I really need to find), I'll have some good starting info...
- Allow myself to have 1 cheat day: Sunday I had a cheat dessert. I was actually really good most of the day, but then allowed myself to indulge in some pistachio ice cream. And the nice part of it was it was guilt-free...
- Exercise 5-6 times: Well, I was a slug this weekend, but I've been getting up at 4:30 so that I can get to the gym and come home to get ready for work. I'm contemplating not getting up tomorrow (I finished work at 9pm tonight), but if I sleep in, I will try to do something that evening...
- Drink my water everyday: Well, if crystal light counts, then I have been doing this too. I have cut the diet cokes out all together and I've seriously cut back on the coffee, too.

Tonight was not the best of nights... I think it was a combination of not eating enough of an afternoon snack and being super-stressed out, but I was ridiculously hungry and ate too much. Luckily, nothing in the house is considered a "cheat" food but I don't think I needed as much "dinner" as I had... oh well, live and learn!

Happy HumpDay!!!
LP

Lazy weekend...

I did absolutely nothing this weekend... I feel like a slug!
I guess it was needed, since I worked 17 of the 19 days before it.
I watched movies and barely kept up with my chores... I still have a ton of laundry to do.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day... I'm working all week and so hopefully I will be productive.
Gonna go plan my meals for tomorrow so I'll stay on track!

Have a great night!
LP

When the cat's away... the mice will work harder???

So Sean is on vacation this week, which means I am on my own with the fitness and nutrition. It's going to be challenging for me since I am just getting myself back on track. And it probably isn't a good sign that it's the first day and I decided not to go do cardio this am...

Here are my goals for the "week" (7/3 - 7/12):
- Journal everything I eat everyday
- Allow myself to have 1 cheat day
- Exercise 5-6 times. I'm going to take the week off from weight training, so this will mostly be cardio.
- Drink my water everyday.

I think if I do all of these things, I should be in good shape when Sean comes back...

Happy 4th everybody!
LP

A promise to myself...

A few Christmases back I received this very pretty sapphire necklace, ring and earring set. I really liked it, but of course I couldn't wear the ring because I needed to get it re-sized (something I never got around to doing). I came across the ring the other day and tried it on... and wouldn't you know, it fits!

I've decided that I'm going to use this ring to help me on my journey (no, not in a dorky, "this ring has magical powers" kind of way). I'm using the ring to symbolize my goals -- both in terms of how far I've come as well as how I've promised myself to keep going and never give up... This way, I can look down and remind myself of what I'm doing when facing temptation and remember that whatever indulgence is calling my name is just not worth what I am working so hard to accomplish.

I haven't quite decided what to do about work since they discourage ring wearing in their "bare below the elbows" campaign to prevent the spread of infection -- maybe I can use the necklace in the same manner??

So far, doing a good job of getting back on track. I bought a real diet journal, so for now I'm tracking nutritional values as well as what I'm eating. I'm trying to see if I can identify patterns so I can fix them. Sleep (or rather difficulty sleeping) continues to be an issue -- I keep waking up in the middle of the night (mainly by aches and pains) or by not being able to breathe because of congestion. Grr...

Happy Wednesday!
LP