Being a good girl

So proud of myself.  Last night was Ananda's birthday celebration at a local restaurant.  I did not have any wine, fondue, fried calamari, or dipping sauce.  I didn't want to be an asshole, it was a birthday celebration after all, so I ordered a gin and tonic, nursed it all night and pounded water.  I had some of their sweet potato fries without their dipping sauce.  I had a very small taste of the Tiramisu they gave Ananda for her birthday and tasted the chocolate cake that Nathan got for himself.  A very small taste on the end of my spoon.  The smartest thing I did was fill myself up with the meatballs and sauce I made before we left.  I ate more than I normally would.  The smart thing about that was that I was already over full with good food and only had one or two bites to taste, I wasn't hungry or even very tempted.  It also helped that I finished my workout an hour and a half before getting there.  I'm never really hungry after a workout.
The best part about it all is how freaking good I feel this morning.  Not the way I usually feel after spending a fun night with the group.  And I had a fantastic time!  I didn't have less fun because I wasn't drinking or snacking.  I had a blast!  And I didn't feel like I was getting drowsy when it was time to leave.  I was tired, but it was a good, it's time to go to bed soon because it's late feeling, not a holy balls I'm drunk and need to lay down feeling.  I also didn't come home and snack on every unhealthy food I could find.  I just had some more water and went to bed.  Awesome night.

Bleh

Whoa.  Seriously sore from yesterday's workout.  It feels kind of good.  It's fine until I start walking.  Then my thighs and my hips and my knee hurt.  This morning I prepared quite the paleo lunch and am downing tons of water.  I am trying not to get impatient with the weight loss that I know will come with time.  I just need to stick with it.  I have TKD tonight, and then afterwards I am going out with a friend to celebrate her birthday.  I need to plan ahead.  I know they  have good salads there, and I can drink some kind of seltzer water.  I was eating mostly healthy over the weekend, but I haven't started to feel the effects of eating better until this morning.  I feel less bloated.

The Jungle Gym

Didn't write this morning because I was too busy out and about being awesome.  I made a spur of the moment decision at 6:15am after a brief dog walk that I should go for a run.  I donned the vibrams and took off.  The sun was just rising and I decided to sprint as fast as I could to the closest park.  It's only about 2 blocks away. I then proceeded to kick the jungle gyms ass.  I creamed the monkey bars with my pullups, whipped the castle bridge with my squats and climbed the shit out of the swirly ladder.  The swings took a total beating with my super pumps (aka swinging on the swings).  I climbed a tree, planked and pushupped, dive bombed from a bench and leapt over the chain link fence.  After that I got a quick sip of water and tore off down the road back to my cave.
Get off your ass.  This workout was superfun.  I'm exhausted, all of my muscles are sore, I got to work on time and I'm in a great mood.  Highly recommended.

P.S.- No animals or jungle gym equipment was actually hurt during this episode.

Get Yo' Mind Right Foo!

The past couple of days have been semi-productive in terms of losing weight/getting back in shape.  I am slowly veering back to health.  Yesterday and this weekend, I opted for mainly paleo food choices, but then had a few beers and a few chocolate cookies.  Yesterday I went to the beach park fully intending to work out on the jungle gym, but as I was walking over to it, a police officer calmly got out of his car and wrote me a parking ticket.  I felt like an idiot because I did not understand the signs.  Apparently you are not allowed to park next to the park.  Anyway, I was upset, walked around a little, then drove home.  I picked up the doggies and walked them to a field nearby.  So overall I did a lot of walking instead of the pullups, dive bombers and planks I had planned.  Not horrible, just slowly easing in.  Tonight I have Tae Kwon Do, so I don't worry that I won't get a good workout today.  I also did a quick walk around the school campus.  I've been drinking more water and in doing so, I now realize how little water I had been drinking previously.  It's amazing how much better you feel with a bit of hydration.
What I have been most focused on is getting my mind in the right space.  The guilt about not eating right or exercising is killer.  It sabotages all of your positive forward motion.  I haven't eaten "clean" the past couple of days, but I'm going in the right direction and I want to keep that motion going.

Feeling Very Primal

Yesterday I watched the Discovery Channel special "I, Caveman, Back to the Stone Age and The Great Hunt."  Two episodes of 10 people that are sent to live like cavemen for 10 days.  It was pretty well done, of course there was a lot of focus on any whining and a lot of what I assume was the good stuff was edited out.  However, after 7 days and everyone is starving, they go off to hunt an elk.  It was extremely moving.  It is the only time I've ever actually felt compelled to watch a killing like that.  I can't watch lions hunt on those wildlife shows, but I had to watch as they speared a huge elk, and then dressed it using stone age rock weapons.  It was really sad, and made me think about where the food I eat comes from.  It gives you a whole other perspective.  For me this was more moving and powerful than those movies where they show the horrible conditions of slaughterhouses and stuff.  It was really dirty and, well, primal.  It made me look with more appreciation on farms that raise and slaughter animals humanely.  It is much easier to block out those scenes of dirty cows all crammed into a small room than to block out the eyes of the elk as it died.  

Anyway, the point of all this is that it gave me a boost to think about the food I'm putting into my body.  It made me feel a little more connected to being a human being whose ancestors had to walk for miles to chase down an animal with sticks.   

Rough Start

My Kryptonite

To the right is why my healthy eating kind of started yesterday. I wasn't hungry for breakfast after all the crap I ate Friday night, but I went the healthiest I could think of for lunch at the Windward Mall- sushi. There wasn't much options there. It kept me full for quite a while, the ahi and avocado, and wasabi did a good job. Then I went to the Windward Ho‘olaule‘a 2011, watched a great hula show and looked at amazing jewelry made by local artists. Joanna had bought some cookies, but I was good I had just a few tastes. Dinner was steak that I pan fried then put in the oven to finish, and corn on the cob to the side. For any of my paleo friends reading this, I am not rushing into the paleo side of things. I have stuff in my fridge that needs to be eaten. I think this hurt me the last couple of times I've declared I'm going to eat healthy because I feel guilty that they're in there. I'm going to phase out the non-paleo foods, starting with carbs. That I can avoid easily, especially because I know Nathan will eat anything I don't, so nothing will go to waste. He went out and got a whole bunch of paleo groceries yesterday for me, which. is. awesome!!! So we have lots of meat, veggies and fruits. Much easier for me this time. He also got himself hot pockets for those times I'm not around making dinner.

So anyway, off track, last night I had salad with the ladies after dinner, but also had some guinness and red wine. I snacked on all paleo goodies until I got home and had that "too much wine" feeling in my stomach, which I swear is only fixed by a piece of toast. I had an English Muffin, felt better and went to bed soon after. This morning I am not going to beat myself up because I made a lot of good choices in there. I think that's important for anyone not doing a challenge with a shit ton of support. If you beat yourself up for any mistake it makes you feel guilty and so many of us make ourselves feel better with all of those foods we were just feeling guilty about eating in the first place... not a very useful cycle. So I'm just starting my day with some eggs with veggies. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. Hopefully it includes some hiking/walking with the hubby and the dogs.

Primal Challenge

So far I've had a crazy year health wise.  I started off 2011 with an awesome Paleo Challenge.  It was an excellent experiment to see what foods are healthiest for me.  I was the most fit I've ever been.  After the challenge I slowly started adding back more and more junk.  It wasn't on purpose, it's just happened over time.   Then, the past two months several of my friends had a lot going on and subsequently I drank a lot of wine, and ate a ton of food that I know makes me feel like shit and makes me gain weight.  I did have a hell of a time though, so there's no regrets.  My current belly is a tribute to the great friend I was being.  Now I must face the fact that, for my own sanity, I cannot continue that lifestyle.  It is not only annoying not to be able to fit into some of my clothing, but I feel my emotions begin to rollercoaster again.  I am pretty comfortable in my body, I was 175 a few years ago, and that was okay, I was 120 earlier this year, that was cool too.  At 140, I know I'm a hot piece of ass, but I am not my healthiest.  The month of October for me is going to be dedicated to getting back in shape and eating better.  I think that means paleo.  I know I've said I'm going to start eating better several times in the past few months, but this time I definitely mean it.  I want to buy a dress for Arin's wedding, and I would like to be able to wear all of the clothes that Anna has packed for me for the visit to the East Coast.  There are so many reasons to eat healthier and workout one more day a week than I currently am.  As I sit here I am mentally memorizing what my gut feels like after eating horribly last night and drinking several guinness, so when the time comes to make a choice, I will remember it and go for the food that is going to make me feel less bloated.  After I post this I'm going to see if there's a way to put a countdown on the blog.  I need a visual reminder of how many days I have left until my Journey to the East.  As of today I have 5 weeks. That's 35 days for those of you who can't do simple math.  To my loyal followers:  Any other places I can stick a countdown that you know of?  There must be an android phone app or perhaps a facebook or google calendar application?  Ideas?

Sidenote: I do love the way life throws fabulous little seeming coincidences at you all the time.  I was just thinking that I would like to add a picture to the blog to brighten it up, picked up my phone because I thought it made a noise (which it didn't), noticed my Tarot card of the day was The Fool!  It's brilliant because The Fool represents new adventures.  I quote from the app "the journey begins fresh, innocent, and full of potential."  Quite an apt card for today.