Hi all!
I am back from house/zoo keeping at my parent's house for the weekend. It was definitely more than I bargained for work wise as it turned out that due to my sister's work schedule, not just the dogs needed tending but so did the Horses, the ducks, and my brother's dog at his house two miles down the main road! LOL Oy! How not a really relaxing weekend as something seemed to need to be done every 2 hours. So there was no flow. I also got a nice big scrape down my right leg Friday night so that was fun, I do not deal well with blood! hehe And to top it off, I caught a cold from my sister! Anyway, there were some positives to the weekend too, I don't mean to sound just like a grumpy gus! hehe Here is my report on my goals for the weekend...
1) My exercise:
I did swim on Friday and Sunday. I was a bit ambitious in my goal when I set it, seeing as I have not really intentionally exercised in a loooong time. So after 25 laps on Friday, in the heat, I was ready to do some casual swimming and floating. I did actually swim for a while after that so I think i did good. Saturday it was 95 degrees and high humidity, after doing all the animal work I was already exhuasted and feeling it in my lungs, I guess the weathermen were not kidding when they said avoid outside exertion if you can! But I did go in the pool, after 5 min I realized I was not going to be able to really try and work out as it was too hot and I was definitely feeling it, even in the pool. Of course the pool is in direct sunlight all day so that could have been involved too. So I went inside and later that afternoon I put on the MTV Hits channel on digital cable and did some arm lifts and leg lifts to the music for 15-20min, so I could feel i accomplished something! Sunday afternoon it was a bit cooler after some very intense rain so I hit the pool after tying out the dogs and feeding the horses. I do have to be honest, just walking their yard to take care of the animals was more than I have been used to, so did I sweat? heck yes! Also showed me in what bad shape I am in! Ug! That was frustrating but I also realized that I am making positive changes and should be proud of that! I did another 25 laps in the pool Sunday. So I did not meet my goal but i do feel that I did a lot of physical activity this weekend, and I can definitely feel it all over today! I think me setting that goal without having attempted to lap the pool first was silly, as I had no idea what it would be like. But now I have experience and context to use and learn from!
2) My food...
Ok now interestingly, usually when I stay at their house they leave us no food at all for the weekend and expect we will order pizza, go out, or shop ourselves I guess. That's just the way my stepmom is, she hates cooking so she assumes everyone else does too. hehe. This time the fridge was stocked lots of chicken, beef, salad veggies, cheese, etc. So I was able to actually use this weekend to begin the transistion to the food plan I will be following, the Carb addicts plan. (If you don't know it, you focus two meals a day and snacks on protein and what they call "craving reducing veggies", aka complex carb vegs that are mostly green, using fat where needed. You also plan one meal where you will be able to have the higher carb foods you like, in balance and eaten in order, ie. You have salad, then a meal that is 1/3 protein, 1/3 craving reducing veg, and 1/3 of any carbs you want. You eat the salad first and eat the whole meal within an hour. Not endorsing it for anyone else of course as I am not a doctor, just wanted to give the gist of it for my loyal readers! LOL) I was able to do well following the suggestions in the book the docs who wrote Carb Addicts Plan wrote to help anyone transition from uncontrolled to more controlled carb eating. This is definitely a plan that works for me in that it does control my hunger and urges to binge, etc. Of course now I am home with bare cupboards and need to get groceries! hehe
and now, maybe most importantly...
3) The Coke Battle...
Well I am sad to report that I indulged in Coke this weekend... NOT! hehehe
I am 112 hours coke/soda free and feel great. I definitely felt the headache this weekend but I think it just ganged up on me with the cold I picked up. I can take and don't really feel it today! I drank nice ice cold water all day, each day this weekend. Not sure if I am up to where I should be water wise yet but I am getting there! The only non water bev I have had is a small glass of pink lemonade with dinner Saturday night. I feel great about this change, I definitely feel better giving my body the water it needs instead of all the junk that comes in the cola!
So that was my weekend...For having a miserable time I feel pretty good about how I treated myself all weekend. I made good choices I think! One question though... do you realize what today is??? It has been ONE WEEK since I made the committment to make myself feel better and started this journal. Reflecting on the week I feel good. It has been a time of transition food wise, did not always make the best choices but did pay attention! For example, on Friday as I was running late to my dad's and assumed there would be no food I hot McDonalds on the way. Now sit down as I share my usual McDs order, you may faint. Normally I would get a Big mac meal with fries and a coke, plus two more cheeseburgers, and a shake. Not a bad order, for a family of four!!! But friday I decided to get a grilled chicken salad and a cheeseburger, oh and a water of course. So anyway, I got up this morning and thought, "It has been a week, should I weigh in? I have not been completely dieting or anything really, but I have had a week of conscious choices to control my portions, and then half a week of beating that Coke demon. What could it hurt to look?" So I stepped on my scale...
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10lbs gone! what? wow!!! I know it is probably mostly water seeing as controlling my food and soda intake also probably dropped my sodium intake, etc. but still, it is 10lbs not on me any more! I do feel a bit looser, if that makes sense. To put this in context though, I have much farther to go then your average dieter, as I have said before I could lose a fat man and still be a very fat man to the average person's perspective. So 10 off of me is not like 10lbs off of the 250lbs guy, etc. I would have been happy with staying the same, or even just losing 1lb, so this is motivating! Let's see if I can continue the downward progress and heck, even keep this 10lbs off would be nice.
Ok, enough about me! I hope that everyone else out there had a great weekend!!! I am going to get caught up on your journals' now, then maybe do some work here (hehe!) and then get back to my trip reporting!
After this week I see that when you W.I.S.H. upon a star, your dreams really can start to come true!
Mike
Looking forward to the rest... 
Though the Pina-Ca-Watah sounds interesting. 
