The Road Warrior Returneth

Five cities in ten days. Not exactly a relaxing trip, but I had fun all the same. I covered Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston in South Carolina, then moved down to Savannah, GA for a week, and then back up to Atlanta. This was part business, part fun, and the fun definitely won out! Walking wasn't a problem at all in Charleston and Savannah. I also squeezed in one workout in Atlanta. Eating healthy was easier during the vacation part of the trip. The class I was attending included lots of unhealthy snacks. I held out until the end of the week, but then I indulged a bit. Nothing major, certainly nothing to get upset about, but not something I want to repeat any time soon.

I came home to this startling news: Memphis has been designated as the most sedentary city in the U.S. According to this study, about 65 percent of the population here is obese or overweight. I hate being a statistic, and I'm doubly glad I had a good workout before I read the article. :)

In other news, I spent yesterday and today getting rid of Every Single Item of cool/cold weather clothing I own. My closet has been decimated. My thinking on that has shifted (mostly). In addition to being a sign of fitness progress, it's also kind of freeing having only a few things to wear. I'm definitely going to try to keep new purchases to a minimum for a while. If I'm really lucky, it will be a permanent approach.

Struggling Through

I'm in one of those Blech! periods that seem to pop up from time to time. What makes this one marginally interesting (to me, anyway) is how I'm managing it. Once upon a time I would have used it as an excuse to eat non-healthy things in great abundance, but now my reaction seems to be...just blech! No follow-up. No angsting over the cause, the effects, the future. Just blech!

I had a horrible workout last Wednesday. There were actual tears involved. I'm not sure why, exactly, except that it seems like everything is so much harder to do these days. I wouldn't mind the struggle so much because we have added a little weight (*very* little) and a few (and I do mean few) more reps on some things, and I'm not this for the Easy Factor, but I think the combination of feeling like I'm right back where I started and the fact that the front part of my body seems to be melting into one unsightly blob in my midsection, combined with a fickle scale, was overwhelming for some reason and I had a sniffly moment.

But like I said, I didn't resort to a pity fest with Little Debbie as my only guest. Instead, I came home and tried on clothes that I was sure would be too big. They were. I smiled and went to bed happy. The next morning I had to try on even more clothes to prepare for a jeans day at work. All six pairs of jeans were too big! I wore the least big pair to work and beamed when a lot of folks mentioned the weight loss. Snifflies over.

Yesterday I went to Catherines and found new jeans. They're called The Right Fit and I love them. They only had one pair in my size, but I have another pair on order. Life without blue jeans is unimaginable.

This morning I went to walk the Greenbelt, but I was the only one who showed up. The trainers are in Louisiana on an unauthorized field trip, and I think my walking buddy was out of town as well. I walked the shorter of the two trails and a small portion of the other one, but the place was deserted this morning. No bicycles at all, and I only saw three other walkers. It was kind of spooky, to tell you the truth.

So here I am, still sort of blech-y, but not as much as before. I think we'll just have to call that Life.

Where Do Weekends Go

It seems as though we zip straight from Friday night to Sunday night. The rest is just a blur.

Everything's clicking along nicely here on the health and fitness front. Weekends aren't quite as hard since I began scheduling trainer time on Friday night. That helps keep me focused on doing the right things throughout the weekend.

Had one of those blippy moments Thursday night. I was out shopping for new pants, and I was getting very frustrated. It seems I'm between sizes and nothing fits right. Add in a minor heat wave and a lack of dinner and you get one grumpy girl. At one point, the thought that all the workout time was for nothing, since I couldn't find any pants that looked good. I had wasted my time and hard-earned money when I could have just kept on doing what I was doing and my old pants would have fit just fine. No, they wouldn't have looked good, but they FIT!!

Fortunately for me, Rational Girl came running to the rescue to set Grumpy Girl straight. It's been a freaking week of workouts--at that point there had been a total of 3.5 workouts--and I can't expect my body to transform itself overnight. Sheesh! What was I thinking? Okay, I know what I was thinking. I was thinking about poor pitiful me, who hadn't even so much as glanced at a snack cake in six weeks. The one who spent a small fortune hiring personal trainers who made her sweat and chip her nail polish on the weight thingies. That poor girl deserved a Special Dinner. One that would make her feel better. It's the same kind of thinking that has plagued every effort I've made at eating healthier.

But not this time. On the way to the car, I decided my Pants-Don't-Fit Pity Treat would be an icy cold Diet Coke--the largest one I could find. I pulled into a KFC (a safe fast-food choice since I don't eat there, except I forgot about the chocolate chip cookies which I pretended they were out of). I ordered my drink, pulled up to the drive-through window, and awaited my fizzy treat. That's when the neatest thing happened. The clerk passed me my drink and said, "Have a great evening!" I waved my money at her, and she just smiled and said, "Nah, just enjoy it!" How nice is that? I told her so, thanked her enthusiastically, and drove off before she could see that my eyes were getting all blurry. I hope she knows what a generous gesture that was. Not the free soda. That cost KFC about 12 cents. In the space of 30-seconds, that clerk made me forget about my stupid pants. All I could think about was how bright her smile was and how good she seemed to feel doing something nice for someone.

And yesterday, when I tried on more pants at a different store, I couldn't even begin to feel badly when they looked pitiful. I just kept my eyes on the future, because I know that good things--big and small--are always there waiting, sometimes in the strangest places.

Until next time...

Mind Fritz

Okay, so the second workout was harder--nauseating, demoralizing, painful at times. And that's not even factoring in the actual exercises. I knew it would be tough, but I hadn't counted on the mental/emotional side of it. My mind is constantly at war with itself, with one part chanting, "You can't do this," while the other side says, "But you ARE doing it." I'm so busy trying to help the right side win that I find it difficult to focus on the important things like breathing and strength. I hope that changes over time. Next week would be good, since I have three workouts scheduled.

Speaking of other workouts...I bought three pairs of exercise capris today! One of them is even a size large (not XL). Of course, they kind of look like a pair of larges on a still-XL body, but I think it shows a sense of commitment. And won't it be fun growing into them. :)

It's hot here in Memphis and still no rain in sight. Hungry Girl sent out this recipe just in the nick of time: Cookie-rrific Ice Cream Freeze. Seeing that made me realize it's time to head out for dinner. And not a moment too soon.