Tuesday night I had the opportunity to head back to Cobb County (and our old apartment complex) to meet up with a friend for dinner. Isn’t seeing old friends nice? Something about good friends, good conversation, and good food just makes my heart satisfied. Interestingly, having dinner with that friend reminded me how much life has changed in the last 3 months. For as long as I can remember I was a student. I was working towards achieving something. Well, all that changed in December-I FINALLY graduated and for now (hopefully they’ll keep me but currently it’s temporary in status) I have a real job where I work M-F from 8-4 and have weekends free. Granted, during my long college adventure I had a real 40 hour a week job (working in a Pre-K classroom) so I saw what “working for the weekend” meant but not anywhere near as much as I understand and see it now. While working in Pre-K is challenging it is also fun and rewarding in a totally different sense then my current job. Sure it was mentally challenging but so is this.
(Pulling it back around to the actual point) My point is this: life changes. What this also made me realize is that our bodies change too-if we put in the right amount of effort and stick to it. What I find interesting is that after one bad week on the scale (as much as I would like to believe it wasn’t related to) and an injured hubby who can’t workout I am struggling to stay motivated-to workout, to eat as healthy as I was. Don’t get me wrong-I’m not going crazy with food or anything, but my food journal hasn’t been as well rounded as it was 2 weeks ago. Part of that is owed to the fact that I work 8 hours a day, I’m in the car 2 additional hours, and by the time I get home I’m zapped. I’ve been trying to be active but I haven’t been as successful as I’d have liked. So what do you do when you’ve lost your motivation? No, seriously, what do you do?
What I’ve come up with is this: I’m reevaluating my reasons for doing this: (1) being a healthier, happier human being, (2) creating an environment that is the healthiest possible for when we try to start having babies, (3) to live a longer, better life! I think I lose track of those reasons often because they are all LONG term and none are really for the RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW part of my life. As such, I’ve decided to adapt the plan a bit and add in some short term goals that will help me reach those long term ones that are the most important. I haven’t exactly given thought to what those are going to be yet (I’m open to some suggestions for reasonable short term goals) so look for that post in the next day or so.
On a separate, yet still related, note I have decided to (for the time being) give up running. Why? (1) I HATE it-I have never been a runner and find no joy in it at all. (2) I struggle to get motivated to do something every day when I HATE it. (3) I get easily frustrated with myself when I’m not improving each day. (4) It hurts. My hips are sore, my knee is dying, and did I mention already-I HATE it. 1-4 tells me it’s time to get a new activity. So, I’m reverting back to my old tried and true method of long, intense walks. I LOVE going for walks/hikes. It calms me and lifts my spirits while also doing something for my health. Now I don’t mean a casual stroll down the street, I mean pace up, really moving, walk. I came to this (I HATE running) conclusion last night as I set out for my evening run. I made it 1/10 of a mile and turned around, headed back home, got the dog and went for a 30 minute walk instead. My walk led me to shooting some hoops in the driveway (Michael still wasn’t home from work yet), which led to a game of H-O-R-S-E once Michael made it home (I won, as always), which led to a game of Just Dance 2 while dinner was cooking. Talk about a workout, if you ever want to “workout” without actually “working out” just get some friends together and play JD2-crazy fun but man it gets you moving.
I’m trying my hardest to get back in my groove. I find eating healthy in the morning and while at work is super easy but my hard time of the day when I struggle the most is between getting home from work and when Michael gets home from work. Knowing that I know that as soon as I get home and get settled in I have to put on the tennis shoes and hit the street (to walk). Again, I’m open to any and ALL suggestions for getting re-motivated and getting back on track. Until next time: good eats!
Tuesday Food Break Down:
Breakfast was 1 c Shredded Wheat cereal (not frosted) with a banana and milk. 7 points.
Lunch was leftover chicken in cream sauce for 7 points (a recipe I found at www.eatingwell.com) with 1 c of rice (5 points).
Snacks during the day included steamed sugar snap peas (I don’t know if that’s what they are called but they are the green pea pod things you get in Chinese dishes), blackberries, and a light string cheese (1 point).
Dinner was sushi (I had dinner with my friend at a place on the Marietta Sq that I’ve been craving since we moved away from Marietta) for 20 points (I don’t believe it was this many but I would rather over estimate than under. We then went to pinkberry and I had a small chocolate froyo with raspberries and yogurt chips. (7 points)
Monday Food Break Down:
Breakfast was a PB Banana Bagel Thin for 6 points.
Snacks included carrots with veggie dip (I mix lite sour cream with a package of hidden valley dips mix you can find in the salad dressing aisle of any grocery store) for 2 points, blackberries, a banana, and a light string cheese (1 point).
Lunch included a salad filled with veggies and blueberries w 1 T of walnuts and a Balsamic vinaigrette dressing for 6 points.
My after work before Michael gets home indulgencewere Doritos. 6 points
Dinner was Hamburger Tater Tot Casserole (a WW friendly recipe passed to me by my old meeting leader) for 8 points (I had just a slight bit more than 1 serving). It’s super easy to make: Brown your hamburger meat (we use 93% lean) and sauté an onion. Mix those with ½ can of cheddar cheese soup and ½ can of cream of mushroom soup. Place mixture in a glass baking dish and top with tater tots (or French fries if you prefer) and let it bake for about 30 minutes on 350.
Some things I've done that help reduce eating burden:
ReplyDelete*Eat now, count later. Enjoy life and then accept what you've done. And don't beat yourself up if you had a much-needed piece of chocolate.
*As counter-logical as this sounds, make food your hobby. Instead of spending the evenings watching TV or going out drinking, Shuo and I spend our evening grocery shopping and preparing meals. We have to with this new way of eating, but it's actually become LESS stressful just shifting our free time mentality to "it's time to prepare food." Eating healthy just becomes natural and I don't feel like I'm trying to squeeze in meal prep in between whatever else I'm doing.
P.S. Just Dance 2 is AWESOME!!
P.P.S. Now that the weather is nice, we will definitely go hiking more. I also have 2 sets of weights at school with me, so if you ever want to come walk around school, we could each carry a set of weights and do some arm/shoulder exercises.