Day Six

My workout today brings my total to four days at the gym this week! That is a new high! I worked out on the treadmill with the personal TV. The cardio cinema room was busy and they were showing a dumb movie. I only had two walking segments that were one minute long. That is one less than last time. I managed to travel 2 miles in 33 minutes and 48 sec. and my left knee didn't hurt while I ran today. After the treadmill, I did crunches and leg weights. I also got a pretty cool looking bruise on my knee when I tried to get into the hamstring weight machine. It immediately went bright purple, probably because my blood was already pumping pretty good. Its almost gone now, but it was fun to look at.

My eating habits haven't been any better. My friends and I went to Olive Garden last night. I ordered the Chicken Alfredo (I know, lots of fat...) and I consciously ate slowly even though we were starving by the time our food came. I was surprised how little I ate of the meal. I felt like I could have eaten the whole plate, but after a while of slowly savoring every bite, I was full with less than half of my plate cleared. So, I have lots of leftovers! Anyway, I know I can eat less, I just need to be more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth and how fast it goes. I think I will give myself one more week of total gym focus, and then I'll be able to concentrate on food. Hopefully by then, the gym will be more of a habit rather than a duty and I can focus on something else.

Day Five

Today's workout went much better. I ran/walked up a sweat while watching Elizabeth Swan become the Pirate King on "At World's End." I walked at 3.5 and ran at 4.2. I even kept close score on exactly how long it would take me to recover from my runs. I counted three walking intervals where I had to walk for 1 min. instead of 30 sec. The rest were only 30 sec. My left knee started to ache by the end of the 30 min. and I was sweating pretty bad, but I just kept thinking that when I run my marathon, I will feel even more pain than this. I couldn't let that stop me. Hopefully, I can run through my achy knee instead of making it worse. When I finished, I was surprised to see that I had traveled two miles. I hadn't reached the two mile mark during my workout until today. I think that means I'm making progress. I also weighed myself and I'm back down to 233.1 lbs. Its interesting that I can gain 4 lbs just by eating dinner.
As for food today, I ate my usual bowl of Life cereal for breakfast. I haven't been to Einstein's in exactly 4 weeks. I had my usual homemade turkey sandwich, small bag of cool ranch Doritoes, and a can of diet coke for lunch & I ate at Paradise Bakery for dinner. I had half a Tuscan Chicken sandwich, a cup of tomato soup and two cookies. Again, I think chocolate chip cookies are my weakness. If I was on The Biggest Loser, chocolate chip cookies would be in my display case. But, I felt like tonight's dinner was healthier than Wendy's, and I drank Caffeine Free Diet C0ke instead of the regular Diet Coke. That has to be better, right? Anyway, the good news is I have worked out three days this week, so far. I don't think I have been able to do that for several months now, possibly a year. I'm feeling really good.

Let's Count Today As Day 4.5 Instead

Today was one of those days that you wish you didn't have to blog about. It was a rough day at work. I ran out of lunch supplies in my fridge, so I ate at Wendys for lunch. After I ate my contraband, I didn't want to go back to the school, so I stopped at Albertsons to restock my fridge. Hopefully, that means I won't eat out for lunch again for a while. After school got out, I left pretty early to get some business done at the music store. I found what I needed, but when I left I was hungry. I stopped at TacoTime for an early dinner. I was tired, it was late, and I almost talked myself out of going to the gym. But I realized this was the same mental language that kept me out of the gym for the last four months. If I was really going to change my life, it needed to start today. I made it to the gym, but it was later than I usually get there. I had also just eaten a big meal. It was difficult to find an open machine because the gym was so busy. (You got to love New Year's Resolutions!) I ended up on a broken elliptical machine in the cardio cinema room. It wouldn't show my heart rate, so I have no idea how many calories I burned. I worked out for 30 min. and was sweating by the end. But my muscles didn't feel sore & I'm not sure how great of a workout it was. I saw a sign in the locker room that said something like, "Getting here is half the battle." I thought that sign was especially appropriate for me today. After my workout, I weighed myself, even though I should only weigh myself once a week. I was shocked to see I weighed 237.3 lbs! Had I really eaten 4 lbs worth of weight today?! Oh my goodness! I had no idea that my eating decisions could have such an immediate effect on my life. That definately gives me something to think about. I felt like today was productive towards my goal, but it could've been better. So, I'm not going to officially count it as Day Five. Lets count it as Day 4.5 instead.

Day Four

Good news: I went to the gym today. After a long day back to work & a frustrating drive home in the snowstorm, I still made it to the gym. It felt good to not have to think about much during the hr. at the gym. I had a good workout, too. I didn't plan on exercising hard today. My legs ached from standing all day and I was tired from the change in schedule, but I knew that I wouldn't work out on Tuesday and I would feel really bad slacking two days in a row. As my legs loosened up, I started to push myself. I walked at 3.6 and ran at 4.2-4.3, depending on how I felt. I almost kept the 30 sec walk/30 sec jog schedule the entire time, but slacked to 45 sec walks a couple of times. I even ran for a minute during two time segments. I didn't do any weights today, just crunches. I also weighed 233.2. I think that means I lost 1 lb. this week. We'll see if I can keep it off. OH! I also ate an apple today! It was the first whole, raw fruit I have had in a while (I think the last fruit I ate was two oranges the Tuesday before Christmas, about 2 weeks ago).

Bad News: Driving home in the snow after my work out took so long, I finally gave into my hunger pains and stopped at the 4th Wendy's I drove past. I was trying to find a healthy place to eat, but Wendy's was the best I could find. I did order the grilled chicken sandwhich instead of the fried chicken sandwhich. I also had a little chocolate chip cookie binge when I got home. I ate six small cookies I baked. I was going to stop at three, but I ate the whole plate before I realized what was happening! I think it was a silent rebellion from the stresses of the day. I guess if I have alot of rebellions, I should start to worry.