Weekend Wrap Up

 I had a busy weekend.  It actually started off on Friday with a trip to the gym. I walked a little over a mile (see numbers at the bottom of the page) and did some upper body work, too. I have really weak shoulders. They are so week, I have trouble holding my arms above my head even for one minute. So I hoped on a couple of weight machines that work the shoulders. I only did a couple of reps at 10 pounds. I felt pretty good about my time at the gym.

That is, until Saturday morning. I woke up with incredibly sore shoulders. I couldn't believe that I was so sore. I really didn't think I'd done that much with them. I'm actually still sore today. Anyway, after my normal morning chores, I made the 45 minute trip to the YMCA to get my body analysis.

I forgot what the machine was called, but it measured my weight, how much of my weight was water (cellular and extracellular), the weight of the muscle on each limb and my torso, and how many calories I burn at rest. It was really cool. I'm going to be looking over that print out for a while.

The thing that surprised me the most was how many calories I burn at rest. According to the machine, when I am at rest--no exercise, just laying around watching TV--I burn 1648 calories per day. I really expected something lower. For some reason (maybe just because I'm fat), I had always assumed I must have a slow metabolism. But 1648 calories a day by just existing? That seems pretty normal to me. So there goes one of my excuses.

My father lives in the same town as the Y, so I spent most of the day there with him. He is renovating a house he bought, and he showed me some of the progress he's made. The only other time I've been there, it was night, so he took this opportunity to take me on a hike around the property. I'm counting that as my outdoorsyness for the weekend. We were out there for 30 minutes climbing up and down hills in the mud. I did not have fun, but I was pleased that I was able to keep up with him. My dad is 61 and broke his hip a couple of years ago, but he can usually run circles around me.

Sunday I spent the day indoors, catching up on laundry and reading. I picked up a copy of It Starts with Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, the proponents of the Whole30 thing I'm going to try. I'm about halfway through the book now.

I'm thinking about starting the Whole30 earlier than January. For one thing, the sooner I start, the sooner it will be over. I can find out what foods are bad for my system (hopefully not beans and legumes), eliminate them, and be done with them. The other reason I'm thinking of starting early is the same reason I was going to put them off: the holidays. After all, if I'm going to conquer emotional eating, what better way then to be on this strict food program during them. I won't be able to just grab some cheese when I'm trapped with people I don't like. I'll have to actually deal with them. Maybe I'll get in a fight, but that could be good in the long term.

Anyway, I've started some prep work for it. I made some chicken broth yesterday (the whole house smelled like chicken; super gross) and froze it. I've made my meal plans for breakfast and lunch. I'm still working on dinners. I may be able to start this as early as next week.

Whenever I do start the Whole30, I'll be sure to report about it here. I'll give an idea what I'm eating and how I'm feeling.

I won't be going to the gym today, but here's my end distance from Friday:

 I'm getting closer and closer to Walden! I've gone over 22 miles so far!

1307.51 / 1.21 / 1285.23