And Exercise

Day one with no sweets went surprisingly smoothly. It helped that it was a long day at work and I was a single parent for the night, so there wasn't a lot of time to mess up. I also started logging my calories on Livestrong again, and joined a 90 Day Challenge group on a certain beloved social news site that I frequent, so I think I may finally be pulling myself up out of the quagmire of fatness that I've wallowed into. Here's hoping!

I want to thank you, readers, for your comments on my "Diet" blog. Some kind of sweeter flavored tea is a really good idea, since it fills you up and takes some time to drink. Even more helpful now that I'm cutting out carby sweets! Also, the idea of re-structuring my meals is something that really makes a lot of sense to me. I've been thinking about a lot the last couple of days. I'm still going to have to sit down and figure out calorie-wise the best way I can do that. I really like the late morning oatmeal combined with a later lunch idea, so once I finally go grocery shopping, I'd like to start that. And yes, it is hard to clear my house of readily available snacks the way that Frank is, but I'm going to keep working it ... even if it does come down to a padlock! But I'm hoping I can exercise more self-restraint than that. Maybe.

Today, I've been thinking about the other half of that magical weight loss formula of "Diet and Exercise." Exercise has been such a problem for me lately. For starters, I'm by far the most out of shape I've ever been in my entire life. My body is just not capable of doing much at all in terms of physical activity now. My knees ache sometimes and I know it's just because I have the extra weight. My poor body is protesting and I need to do something to get it functioning properly again!

The trouble has been fitting in workouts. Now, obviously some of it is me making excuses, but a lot of it is also legitimate scheduling issues. The exercise plan that I was most loyal to was using my lunch hour to go for a long walk (~3 miles) along the Hudson River. Unfortunately, since I'm still pumping breast milk three times per day, that eats up my lunch hour and then some. Hopefully I'll be able to start my walks again by spring, but I really need to get started before then. Work days are honestly shot -- I get up early and run around getting the baby fed, dressed and packed up for the baby sitter, get the dogs fed and let out, get my own lunch and stuff for work packed, dress myself and go running out the door 15 minutes late. With work and my 45 minute each way commute, I pick up the baby and get home around 5:30. I try to get a snack and spend some time quality with the munchkin until Frank gets home and then usually run around preparing dinner for me and Frank and the baby, feeding the baby and myself, cleaning up from dinner and washing up bottles and whatnot to get ready for the next day. Then it's tubby time, bedtime stories and nursing the baby to sleep. By the time that's all finished it's usually 8-8:30 PM and the last thing in the entire world I want to do is fire up the treadmill. Usually I'm asleep myself by no later than 9:30, and I try to use that little time for reading, writing or occasionally just chilling on the couch and watching some TV and spending time with my husband.

So that's my life four days per week. Does anyone see any ideas in there for getting a work out? Or should I just commit myself to getting a workout done on the weekends and Wednesdays and hope that that's enough? I'm loathe to give up any sleep time (since I'm still doing feedings at least twice per night) or any time the precious little time I get with her during days I work. It's so frustrating to want to do something but just not have the time in the day!

Memorial Day Weekend

I'm up early this morning and for once I decided to put my writing goals ahead of my fitness goals. It also doesn't hurt that my iPod is out of juice so I'm charging it in anticipation of my workout once I'm finished here.

I hit a rough patch at the beginning of this week, but I'm proud to say that it didn't veer me off course with my exercising and eating. It did make me pretty sad and frustrated though. I guess we all have our moments where we let our self-doubts and the pressure from some imaginary course we're supposed to be on get to us too much. Some days I feel happy and really content with my life, but a lot of the time I'm struggling every day with feelings of not having accomplished enough in the last twenty-seven years and of severe hatred for my body. Even though I struggle with these daily I can usually overcome them, but every once in a while it breaks through and I have a rotten couple of days. Luckily, I'm always able to pull through thanks in large part to some wonderful, thoughtful friends who always seem to lift me up. I'm thankful I got through this bump in the road and hopefully it will be a while before I have another one. In the meantime, I've decided that I need to make a better effort to work on my terrible self-esteem, so I'm going to check out a book that a friend recommended to me and see how things go. Just one more thing to work toward to make a better, happier me!

This is a pretty quiet holiday weekend for Frank and I. We had planned to go away to Vermont to visit an old friend of mine for the weekend, but Frank got stuck working second shift for a couple of nights so we had to postpone. We were invited to a pot-luck picnic thrown by a family friend yesterday and we had a really great time. In anticipation of all the wonderful food that I knew would be there, I got up early yesterday and did an hour of cardio on the treadmill and an hour and a half of strength training with my balance ball. All in all, I burned 1,055 calories, so I was pleased. I'm sure I ate way more than that at the picnic, but we didn't wind up having dinner so I'm hoping it will all be okay in the end! I will say though that my eyes were much bigger than my stomach - after eating all that delicious food, all I felt was sick!

Today and tomorrow we don't really have anything planned yet. Frank has to work this evening from four until midnight, so I'm letting him sleep in a little. I'm hoping today that I'll be able to mow the lawn and maybe take the dogs for a walk in the nature preserve for some extra exercise. Tomorrow, I'd like to break out the canoe and take it out for the first time this season! It should be a beautiful day for some paddling!

Well, my to-do list is growing in the back of my head and it's heating up outside so I'd better sign off and get started with my day!