Last Post

This is my last post before I head off to Africa for the wedding... wish me luck with all the food!

My body fat measuring scale arrived this morning. Good news and bad news. Good news: I weigh 147.5, which is less than the 149 I weighed last week. Bad news: I have 27% body fat. That seems awfully high for someone who is as active as I am. Don't you think?

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Happy trails,
Jen

Leaving...

...on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again. OK, I'll be back on Tuesday, and I'll be around tomorrow morning, but you get where I'm going with this.

I had a shitty night last night. As you may already know, the fiance and I are leaving tomorrow to go to a wedding in Africa. Which means it will be hot. Which means I can't hide in baggy pants. So I went shopping last night. For shorts. SHORTS. The bane of my existence. I would rather wear a G-string in public than shorts. Shorts make my legs look stumpy, my ass look wide, and my mood head south. I shake my fist at you, shorts! I found one pair that I hated marginally less than the other 2000 pairs I tried on. Sigh...

Today has been pretty hectic. I spent most of the day trying to get caught up on all the stuff I needed to do at work before I left. I had lunch out though--pizza. Just what I need, right. Man, am I ever down on my body after the shorts debacle.

You know what, though? To hell with it. My fiance likes me how I am. I'm in good physical condition. I am going to do my best not to obsess about every little dimpleof cellulite and just enjoy being in AFRICA. Jeez.

Headed to Pilates now, then will try to squeeze in a 4-mile run. Then another 4-miles tomorrow morning for good measure because I don't know when/if I'll get to run in Tunisia.

Wish me luck with the food and drink, ladies...

Mixed Bag

So this weekend was a mixed bag... I was very, very active--I did my 8-mile run on Saturday and my 8-mile hike on Sunday. Great, right? But I ate SO MUCH. It's so hard for me to manage my appetite and cravings. The big challenge in leading a healthy life for me isn't and probably never will be exercise--I actually like exercise--it's the damn food. Man, do I ever love food...

My fiance and I talked this weekend about wedding dates, and I think we've pretty much settled on December 15 of this year. I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO! I'm a little worried about how the wedding will affect my eating. The eating disordered part of me (I was bulimic for a long, miserable ten years) is convinced that I should diet myself down to a size zero for the wedding. The healthy part of me knows that no one--my fiance included--wants me to look like a walking skeleton coming down the aisle. So hard to have a realistic body image in this day and age!

I can't remember if I wrote about this before, but our scale is all messed up. After I miraculously lost 3.5 pounds overnight, I did a little experiment. I weighed myself four times in a row and got numbers ranging from 140 to 150. I refuse to weigh myself until the new scale I ordered (with a body fat monitor built right in!!!) arrives.

We're leaving on Wednesday for a wedding in Africa (I have some CRAZY friends), so I'll probably be out of touch from Wednesday until Monday night. It will be good to get out of the city and have a change of scenery, but I'm a little worried that there will be a lot of eating and drinking and not so much exercising. Do you have any tips for traveling healthy?

Have a great Monday!
Jen

Orange

So the craving for something sweet was beginning to be overpowering. I ate an orange, and I'm hoping that will hold me over.

Orange you glad I didn't eat the Kit Kat?

(Yes, I am very very corny.)

Have a great weekend all!

Uh-Oh

I'm having my Kit Kat craving. Right now.

It's very powerful. EEEK! Resist, resist, resist! The Kit Kat will not bring me happiness. Only chubbiness.

A girl in my office took me out for lunch to celebrate my engagement. I did pretty well--no bread from the bread basket (SO HARD), and I ordered polenta with mushrooms and spinach for lunch. The portion was small, but restaurant food is almost always heavy on the oil and butter, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't low-calorie.

AND I'm going out to dinner tonight at a vegetarian restaurant with some friends (we all eat meat--just wanted to try something different). I looked at the menu online, and the entree dishes all seem very high in fat and calories. Maybe I'll just have a salad.

Ugh. Don't you hate worrying about this stuff incessantly? I do.

Great Day

Yesterday turned out to be a great day for eating and exercise. I ate enough to keep me going through a lot of activity (45 minutes of Pilates and a 5-mile run) and I triumphed over the evil Kit Kat demon!

Because my workouts yesterday were pretty intense, today will be an off day. I'm off to a not-so-great start with a pretty heavy breakfast, but I'm hoping it will keep me full until lunchtime, and I'll do my best to make healthy lunch choices. This weekend will be very active with an 8-mile long run tomorrow and an 8-mile hike on Sunday, so I'm going to do my best not to stress about food.

The scale gave me an interesting and pleasant surprise this morning. I was down, overnight, from 149 to 145.5. Hmmm... Possible reasons for this:

1. The scale is broken.
2. I'm dehydrated.
3. I lost actual weight (but seriously, 3.5 pounds overnight is just impossible).
4. I had been bloated and lost water weight.

Whatever. I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm going to be happy!

TGIF,
Jen

Victorious!

Guess what?

I didn't give in to my mid-afternoon Kit Kat craving! *happy dance* It feels really good to triumph over that desperate feeling and make the healthy choice!

In other news, I've decided that there are three big things I need to work on right now in a personal growth sort of way:

1. Always tell the truth. I (usually) don't lie about big things, but I will lie when it makes my life easier or helps me avoid having a difficult conversation. I really want to work on that. Honesty is important!
2. Cut back on the Internet surfing. I think it's fine for me to check this site because it helps my peace of mind. It's also OK to check email. It is NOT all right for me to spend a few hours every workday surfing the Internet. That's basically stealing from my company and it needs to stop.
3. Work on my book. It's been one of my dreams for a long time to write a book. I've started three now--even gotten two-thirds of the way through one, but I always give up. I don't want to give up any more.

Hooray for self-improvement! Help me stay accountable, y'all--I'm slippery...

Could've Been Better

... but also could've been worse (my eating yesterday). I was just under 1000 calories for the day when I left work to go to my book club. Then I had Indian food. Lots of Indian food. And wine. Lots of wine. And it was my off day (no running). Oh well. The good thing is that I hadn't gained any weight this morning. Hadn't lost either, but I'll take what I can get.

I have Pilates at lunch today, so I'll get a good stretching/toning workout in. Tonight is my speed workout (usually about a 4-mile run), which is one of my favorites because I do it with a group. I'm going to do my best to focus on eating well today. JUST SAY NO (to the Kit Kat)! Why does it have so much power over me? Sigh...

This weekend should be a good exercise weekend. I'm doing my long run (8 miles) on Saturday and going on a long hike (probably also about 8 miles) on Sunday. This should give you an idea of just how much I eat--with all the running and Pilates and hiking, I still GAIN WEIGHT.

BUT I'm going to focus on the positives today. I'm healthy. I'm strong. My heart and lungs are in good shape. I have an amazing fiance (God, it feels weird to say that), wonderful friends, and a great family. Life is good!

It's almost Friday...
Jen

Attack of the Kit Kat

The Kit Kat struck again. I just ate one. Why, oh why, am I unable to resist your crispy and chocolately goodness, Kit Kat? Why must you tempt me? Why?

Ah well. I'm still only at about 900 calories for the day, so as long as I have a reasonable dinner, I should be all right.

Stupid Kit Kat.

Engaged!

Wow! My boyfriend of a year and a half proposed last night--I'm over the moon! This gives me even more motivation to lead a healthy life and get in great shape.

I had a pretty good run yesterday, but wound up eating a huge dinner last night (the boy took me out). Today is a rest day from running, so I'm going to do my best to eat a reasonable amount of food.

I've noticed that as I increase my mileage, my appetite increases. Probably pretty normal, right? But I think that the amount I'm eating far outweighs the amount I'm burning with the running. Even though I'm sure some of the weight I've gained is muscle (you're right, weeble42), I haven't been losing fat and my pants are getting tighter and tighter. Not good!

To anyone who is very active, how do you handle the increased appetite? How do you make sure that you're getting enough nutrition to meet your body's needs, but also not using the fact that you're active as an excuse to eat whatever, whenever?

Happy Hump Day!
Jen