Just a Quick Post

Hi everyone! I may not be posting much this week. I sprained my ankle Saturday, so I've not been doing any exercising. Went to the doc yesterday because it was still hurting so badly. I thought maybe I had torn something in there. Nope, just a sprain. He gave me pain meds, and I'm keeping off it as much as possible (one time I'm thankful for a sedentary job).

Anyway, so I'll have to start my 5k training over once I'm back on my feet.

I stepped on the scale today, and I think I'm back down to 289. I'm not entirely sure because about the time the scale finally decided to show a number was about the time I had to shift my weight off my left foot, so I only saw the number for a second.

Anyway, since this such a short post, here are some pics of my four-legged family.

This is the only photo I've been able to get with all three dogs in the same shot. So here is Sully, Sebastian (aka Bash), and Valentine.

And here are out cats. This is Mischief (front) and Mayhem (back).

They are both over 20 pounds and are both bigger than my Valentine. They are also mean to Sully.


Someday, I'll have to post a pic of my two-legged people.

Hope everyone has a great week. I'll check in on Friday if not before.

Back Up Plan for My Back Up Plan

This was one of those morning where I needed a back up plan for my back up plan. This is a short week money-wise, so I was planning to use the gift card I won for my Halloween costume to get groceries this weekend. I spent all morning looking for it, tearing my house apart, going through pants pockets and purses. I finally found it already in my wallet.

I did manage to eat breakfast before I started searching, but the search frazzled me enough that I left my gym bag on the table. That means I can't do my jog after work today. I can't afford the gas and time it would take to drive to my town, get my clothes, and drive back to the town my job, gym, and the college is. And it's dark by the time I get home, so there's no way I'm walking outside.

I'll have to make up the run tomorrow, and since I'm already scheduled for a run on Sunday and Monday, that means running three days straight. I'm not sure I'm up for it, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

I stepped on the scale this morning for the Holiday Scale Accountability Club. I'm still not back to my starting weight for the challenge, but I'm less than half a pound away now. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing, and I'm sure the scale will cooperate.

Tonight Michael, Tori, and I are going to see the high school drama club's play about Lizzie Borden. One of Tori's friends is playing Lizzie. It's a free play, and really, how could I pass up a play about Lizzie Borden?

Since this post doesn't have any pictures yet, I'm going to add one of Sully. He is the oldest of our three dogs (we got him second, though). So here he is trying to be Michael's lapdog. Sully can take up that whole couch by himself. Then again, so can Michael.

1307.51 / 0 / 1281.3

Love Hurts

 I am in so much pain. Who know a little jogging would use so many muscles?

Yesterday after work I headed over to the indoor walking trail at the local college. The Endomondo training schedule wanted me to go 1.5 miles in 25 minutes. During that time, I had to jog for eight 1-minute intervals, with one minute of walking between each interval. I only got .92 miles in that time, so clearly I was slow. But I'm proud to say that I did jog through EVERY interval I was supposed to!
 

 Okay, I'll admit that by the eighth interval what I was doing only barely qualified as walking. More of a Frankenstein's creature shuffle. It was definitely more than walking though.

I'm also proud of myself because there was someone else at the walking track: a fit college student. She looked like a softball player. She was jogging around the trail, too, lapping me every 3 seconds. I was almost too embarrassed to try to jog. I didn't want her to see all my jiggle while I made what I knew would be a slow attempt. But then I realized that she was probably too focused on her own workout to really notice me. And even if she did notice me, why should I care? I don't know her. I'll probably never see her again. So I did it. I jogged in front of a stranger. 

And my little jogs finally put me into vigorous exercise for once!! Thirteen minutes of awesomeness!!!

I'm paying for it today, though. Everything hurts. My legs, my abs, my sides, my back--even my shoulders hurt. What's that about? But even with the pain, I feel good. I feel like I made some progress. I loved to run when I was a kid. I always planned on being on the track team in high school. But before high school, I got boobs. So...I stopped. I stopped doing anything that might make them move or call attention to them, and that included running. I've missed it.

 So I'm looking forward to doing it again on Friday, even though I am still so sore. I'm going to put my heart in it, even though right now my top speed is slug.

1307.51 / .92 / 1281.3

It's That Time Again

It's that time of the month. As a friend of mine says, I'm on my moon. This is usually when any health plans go out the window. My cravings, my husband's cravings (he has a sympathetic cycle), the general feeling of malaise all conspire to make me want to eat Cheetos and pizza while wrapped in a blanket watching Netflix.

This time I have a plan though. Every time I am tempted to send Michael out for Cheetos (we don't keep them in the house; I'm not crazy), I'm going to take a bath instead. A hot bath eases the physical symptoms, and the candles and music comfort me instead of food. If the bath doesn't work, I'm going to paint my nails. You just can't eat Cheetos with wet nails.

I will modify my yoga the next few days to avoid any upside down poses. Normally, I would wimp out of yoga or walking entirely, but I'm not going to let myself do that this time.

I went to the gym yesterday after work, but all the treadmills were in use. I killed some time using the weight machines, but 30 minutes later they were still no free ones, so I went home. The time change means that it's dark when I get off work now, so no walking outside other than on the weekends.

I'm using the Endomondo 5k training program to learn how to jog. Today is one of the interval days. I was concerned with how to do this on the treadmill, since my walking speed and jogging (if you can call it that) speed are different. I didn't want to be constantly hitting buttons on the treadmill. Then I remembered that the local college has an indoor walking track. I will be heading there after work. It's just a concrete balcony around the basketball court, but it's dry (raining again), warm (cold rain), and there are security cameras in case someone tries to kill me (trust no one).

My husband has a part in our community theater's winter play, so he has been at rehearsals most evenings. This is giving me and Tori time to catch up on some Netflixing. We are working our way through Gilmore Girls. Tori believes she is most like Rory, and I am most like Miss Patty, the dance teacher. So I have some girl time to look forward to after my walk/jog tonight!

1307.51 / 0 / 1282.22

Heading in the Right Direction

I'm feeling great! I have done morning yoga three days in a row. I really helps me start the day off right. I've done a different routine each time, and I still have some poses I want to try. Eventually, I'll have built a short 10-minute routine that hits all the stretches and areas of my body that I want. Then I'll pick some yoga music for it!

Yesterday I walked almost two miles with some short bursts of slow jogging. And I did it outside. Me outside is a pretty big deal. I don't like outside. But I did it!

I've eaten breakfast two days in a row. My plan was to have some steel cut oats, yogurt & honey, and a piece of fruit every morning. When I bought groceries, I couldn't find any regular steel cut oats. All I could find is the Quaker 3 Minute Steel Cut Oats. So I gave them a try. Big mistake. It's like oatmeal flavored cream of wheat. I don't understand how it can be marketed as steel cut. Rolled oats have more bulk than this crap. "Hearty texture" my ass.

I'm still eating them because I have them. With my next paycheck I will order some regular steel cut oats from Amazon.

I did my Tuesday weigh-in for the Holiday Scale Accountability Club. I'm down a little. I'm not down to where I need to be for the challenge, but it's going in the right direction. So that's good.

I'm really feeling good with where things are headed right now. I think I'm going to be able to make it through the winter. At least until it starts icing over, LOL.

1307.51 / 1.95 / 1282.22