Snarf99’s BodyBlog

I changed my blog today.

I noticed that I liked my voice better on a private blog that I keep.  So I cut and paste the entries on Week 1 through Week 12 of my training.  If you were to look at previous posts on this blog today, you would see that I added posts labeled Week 1, Week 2, and so on.

I deleted a couple redundant entries.  There is still some redundancy, but I think overall this blog is now more complete and also more honest.

I sound different on this blog, more pedantic, less relaxed, and I think that’s because I don’t know my audience as well.  I guess, just like in making new friends, it takes time to relax and be yourself on a blog.  

Well, I’m going to try using my more honest and relaxed voice from here on.

This week I have been walking every day for 45 minutes and eating low carbs and have started to see my weight shift in the right direction.  

I am starting my new job on Monday, and that means this weekend must be about preparing for the week.  I was going to buy a big igloo lunch box, but my friend Anth suggested I use a regular tote bag to transport my food for the day.  I am going to be preparing my meals in advance and pre-packing them.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am moving soon, and last week, I went to check out the gyms in my new town.  I found one gym I really liked. It doesn’t have many windows, but it’s spacious, friendly, and has my favorite thing — large TV screens high up in front of the treadmills, with close captioning.  I don’t like the personal TV screens on the new machines, because the TV is too close to my face and I get nauseous trying to focus on the picture while moving.  Another gym was all windows, but it was really small and seemed constrained, and there were no TV’s.  

I could work out at home if I could find a cheap and simple bench.  I’ve gone to THREE stores this week looking for a bench, and all I see is complex, expensive benches. I’m going to try the Sports Authority tonight. I REALLY want my own bench.

Last week I had a follow-up appointment with my nurse practitioner. I got some blood work done.  My triglycerides were high, and my NP suggested I go on a low-carb diet and stop eating so much SUGAR!  I was relieved by these results.  It tells me that my medication is working, my blood sugar is normal, and that my main problem is my food choices, which is correctable.

My NP also pointed out that I gained 4 lbs  ever since I started that temp job.  Gee, I wonder how that could happen, when I so rigorously SAT on my A$$.  I made a list of the things I recalled eating in the last three weeks and it looked kind of like this:

Several meals that consisted only of pasta with lots of olive oil and olives (because olive oil just wasn’t enough, I had to add actual olives!) Handfuls of almonds and some peanuts. Greasy pizza one night. Lots of pizza the day we hiked.  Shortbread and cake at a birthday party. A loaf of sourdough, because I started making portabella sandwiches. Quaker granola bars (two a day). Chocolate (a staple in my household). chocolate chips in my pancakes. Cliff bars and two power bars that I got at the Turkey Trot. Tea dunkers from Trader Joe’s. one microwave lasagna. six cookies I picked up at a meeting. cookies with jam filling that my neighbor brought over (because I’m her cookie tester). poppy seed cake with chocolate topping that my mom made to congratulate me on my new job. crackers left over from our Election Party. I actually ate an entire foot-long subway tuna sandwich one day when I failed to pack my lunch. breakfast cereal every morning. marshmellows. And let’s not forget a big Thanksgiving meal.

How I gained ONLY 4 lbs. is the real mystery.  

So I found some books on nutrition and low-carb eating and I have been taking steps to make the necessary changes.  I also started walking my dog Straigh for 45 minutes every morning.  

My goal is to keep all this up while I’m working full time.

Tuesday - warmed up on the treadmill and lifted a legs workout. I was sore the rest of the week. I hadn’t been lifting legs all this time because it’s too hard to run afterwards, but since I’m not running much lately, . . . I wanted to feel the burn.
Wed - walked in the morning and walked again in the evening, for about 45 min each time.
Thurs - walked 45 min. in the morning
Friday - walked 45 min. in the morning
Saturday  -  my sister and I had plans to run 7 miles today.  But E was so tired. She had a long week and had to work late Fri nite.  We ended up sleeping in.  Around noon, we went for a 4 mile walk, which was plenty of exercise for today.
I have pretty much given up on running.  I just talked to my friend Anth and he was encouraging me to keep training for the half-marathon.  He suggested that if I’m already out walking 45 minutes, I could run for at least 30 min. of that time.  I will try his suggestion.  But honestly, right now, it would be a big accomplishment if, once I start my new job, I could still walk in the evening or do anything exercise-related at all.

Sunday - went on a beautiful day hike with my sister and my brother’s special friend, and my dog Straigh, of course.
(Made up for all that exercise by first eating lots of thin-crust pizza at our favorite cafe and then going to a friend’s birthday dessert party and eating shortbread and spice cake with pear sauce).
This was my last week at the temp job, and I continued to not exercise.
However, on Saturday, my sister and I successfully ran, yes RAN, a 6 mile distance.  We walked an additional mile (half for warm up and half for cool down) for a total coverage of 7 miles.

It’s been several weeks since the last time I set foot in the gym…

About 2 and a half weeks ago I started working at a temp job.  Working!  I just don’t know how anyone has the energy to work and then work out. Or to get up early enough to work out and then go to work.  And you don’t even want to know what I ate today . . .  I finally broke down and went to the grocery store and got some edible things to put in my refrigerator.  

I still can’t eat chicken, by the way, or beef.  I managed to eat turkey over Thanksgiving, though.

So I’m pretty frustrated with my apparent abandonment of my workout program.  And I feel it physically — it feels yuck.  I know I will make my way back to my program.  I found a permanent job and I am moving to another town, so I will be joining a new gym and setting up a new routine in a few weeks.  I want my new life to include my workout program.

I really liked what MQuang said in one of his comments to me, about making time for himself. He said he gives himself one hour every day to take care of himself before he takes care of everyone else.  That is a really great way to look at it.