Well then...

So I had made my plans to be healthy come the new year....I made them a week or so before New Years...and vowed to start on day one.    So how did that plan work out for me ?

The last few days of 2017, I ate like a wild boar that hadn’t seen food in three years!   I’m telling you...It was bad!   Cakes, donuts, candy, cookies and pie!  It was ugly!  In my mind I kept saying ‘one last hurrah before the serious healthy stuff begins’.   And that was the mistake. I should have started immediately and not thrown my hands in the air and commenced with a foodapalooza!  Still not convinced it was bad?   I ate and ate and ate.  Each night I would feel stuffed...I would have slight stomach aches.  But I trucked on...remember I’m an addict...food is my addiction!   Every night got worse.   And then finally...I hit rock bottom.   New Year’s Eve...we ate dinner.  I wasn’t overly hungry when I came to dinner time...but I ate and it was delicious!  I finished dinner and I made the comment that I was stuffed...that I felt like I needed to go for a long walk or run or something!   Yet a half hour later I ate a huge piece of cake...and shortly after that a donut....and right around midnight I found myself eating tortilla chips!   Is it wrong that while I ate all this I kept saying ‘this is the end...healthy tomorrow!’   We went to bed at around 12:30 or 1.  I was ready to start the new year with healthy eating!

I woke up at 3am...my stomach was in knots!  I remembered the feeling well.  I used to have stomach aches constantly way back in the day...once I got my eating under control the constant stomach aches disappeared....but it was back.  A trip to the bathroom and then I curled up in a ball and slept until 5....a trip to the bathroom and then some more sleep!  I was miserable until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon!  I know my body just had had enough of the gorge of food!!!

Maybe I had to hit rock bottom to see the light and finally be ready to roll into the new year and to form (re-form) the healthy habits!

So day one was an incredible success in terms of eating.   January first i couldn’t even think about food until about 8 PM...and I had a light sandwich!  

Yesterday January 2...I didn’t do too bad.  Not perfect but I’m happy with my choices and how I managed my food!  Even better...on my breaks I rode the elevator down to the lobby and I carted myself back up all the flights of stairs on foot!  It’s not a lot of exercise...but 8 flights of stairs twice a day is better than riding the elevator!!  I’m sticking with the 8 flights twice a day for a while.  I am seriously out of breath after the 8 flights.   When that gets easy I will add more floors just keep goinbg up and then walk back down until my whole break is steps!  And right now I’m leaving my lunch mostly intact.  As it gets easier I believe I may throw in the steps on my lunch...but right now I’m just proud to have done the steps twice!!  (The steps should hopefully help when we get back to hiking heavy...as soon as the weather breaks!)

Now I head into day three....I’m sure I will rock this day!!!    

It begins......

Happy New Year!   

I celebrated quietly, with the person that I've been hanging out a lot with.  We didn't do anything special, just watched some tv/movies, had a nice dinner (ok, we ordered delivery food....it was horrible...but the companionship while we picked at the lackluster meal was nice at least) and watched the ball drop.   I typically drop off to sleep about 10:30 and around 11:15or so I wasn't sure I wasn't going to make it to see the beginning of the New Year.....but I got my second wind and entered a deep and fun conversation with him....so deep  that out of the corner of my eye I saw the countdown on the TV......seven seconds and counting.  Yes, we almost missed the stroke of midnight.  Luck was with us though.  I think for maybe the first time ever I actually collected a kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Years.  (I worked New years Eve for quite a few years.....and well......new year...lets not talk about old hurts!)

The first day of the year we headed down to the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly.  I had been there once or twice before, but he had never been there....so off we went.  It was CROWDED (apparently the best way to watch the new Star Wars Movie is in their I-MAX theater....and apparently they have been sold out since it opened)    We had fun...just strolled and looked and talked.  A nice relaxing day (even in the midst of a butt-load of people)    Not exactly strenuous exercise, but I did get  10K steps in for the day! I'll take it!

My ankle still has some twinges if I twist....and I notice that after walking a lot, the muscles that go up my leg are really tight.  But it's definitely slowly getting better.....I just may be able to get some running done in the next week or two!!!!!!!

I have to get back to running (as soon as I am properly healed!)  I just wrote the check today for the hotel room for my stay in Charleston!  Two nights....Friday and Saturday night...with the 10K run on Saturday morning.  Still undecided if I am going to tack on more vacation before and/or after the weekend or just make it a three day weekend with a LOT of early  morning and late night driving.  :-)    I'm in no hurry to make a decision....Originally I was thinking about heading through a more north westerly route and hitting up The Biltmore Estate......that still may be an option....depends on a few variables.  We shall see.....I'm in no hurry to make a decision.

Not celebrating yet...but the scales looked 'friendly' this morning....got a few more days until my weekly Wednesday weigh in though!!!!!

Ready, Set, Go!

The new year is here!   I started out the year strong.  I started out with running a 5k this morning.  It was the last 5k that I had to run to complete the trilogy of holiday 5k's that I had committed to completing.  These were set up as virtual events.  (although my Thanksgiving 5k was an actual organized Turkey Trot).  

Seriously, what was up with my head band.......

While I was running this morning I was actually thinking about riding my bike.  Last year I rode my bike.  I enjoyed it...but stayed to pretty much the same route.  I pushed through the first (dare I say awful) few rides on my new bike.  I got to the point where I was out riding.  I rode and I'm not going to say that it was all easy....but I will say that I was out there.  Yet I hesitated to leave my normal route.  I hesitated to hit the open road.  I struggled.  Today I figured out exactly what was the problem?   I was afraid.  I was afraid that I would come upon a hill that I couldn't climb.  I was afraid that I would get a flat tire.  I was afraid that I would get too far from home and get so tired I couldn't make it home.  Looking at it realistically (and of course it helped that I was far removed from either of my bicycles at the time) I am once again blown away at how irrational fear really is.  So what if I can't climb a hill....I walk.  No, I don't want to walk and I've pushed myself up hills, slow as molasses sometimes but I pushed myself up every hill I came across.   If I get a flat tire....well that is rough.  I know HOW to change a tire, but I have issues with changing them.  (my brother did give me a lesson...but I still struggled to get that darn tire back on).  But seriously, even if I get a flat....is it the end of the world if I have to call for a ride???  And even more unrealistic.....if I run out of steam....there are two options...calling fora ride but in all reality I'm pretty darn sure that I would find a store of energy deep within myself.   Once again it turns out my fears are totally irrational.    So what do I do with this knowledge??   The first chance I get (once I get my legs back under me on my bike) when the weather gets warm....I head down a road that I don't know and I RIDE!