Week 24: Sunshine & Super Moon

This past week has been really lovely - wish I'd been on vacation! Still, we've all enjoyed it. Monday night I went to Zumba, but Tuesday & Wednesday evenings I got out and enjoyed the weather. It's really perfect at the moment: sunny, but pleasant temperature, not many bugs of the black fly/mosquito type yet, so you can be outside without being bitten.

Wednesday night I may have overdone things a bit though. I wasn't sore after my very first TRX class last Friday, which I thought I might be, because if I'm going to get sore it is usually after trying something new. I wasn't sore after spending most of Sunday planting my garden. Wednesday, I did one of my usual DVD workouts right after work, had dinner, then went out and did some weeding. I enjoy being outside in the good weather, but I like to have something to do, and there are still plenty of weeds out there to pull. I thought nothing of it.

Thursday morning I woke up with screaming quad muscles. Possibly some other as well, but the quads were the loudest. I hobbled about on my sore legs all day, was exhausted by mid-afternoon. By 8 pm I was actually contemplating going to bed, except I had to wait for the cats to get in their evening romp. I was actually tired on Friday too, but over the weekend I felt better.

I happened to see mention of the fact that the full moon this weekend was going to be the closest full moon of the year. It certainly was looking big and bright in the sky last week.

 

 

 

 Of course on Saturday when I went out to look, it was behind the trees. Still made for a bit of an interesting photo once I cropped it.

And  last night (Sunday) it was foggy, so I couldn't see anything.

The forecast for this week is not looking so great at the moment, hoping that will change. It was foggy in town all day today, but when I got home it was nice and sunny in our neighborhood, so I was able to get out and finish my planting. I actually feel like I accomplished quite a bit this week; everything is planted, now I just have to sit back and wait for it all to grow. More or less. 

We had a  slow start this spring, but it's amazing how quickly things fill in once they get started. So once my seeds and transplants get going, I'm sure it will be the same; it always seems like they are hardly growing at all, then suddenly everything takes off.

All of this to say, basically, that I had a really good week. It wasn't about workouts or diet plans, but it was about living and enjoying the things I like to do. Which is the point of this healthy living thing after all.

Week 23: Let's get this garden started!

Monday
Sun is shining! Forecast calls for rain Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. :(

Opted to skip Zumba and spent the evening in the garden instead - have to take adavantage of these short bouts of sun.

Tuesday
I've been doing a lot of the internal "I hate that I'm fat" thinking lately....coming dangerously close to "I hate myself for being fat" even. It does funny things to a person. I walked into the drug store this morning, to buy a bottle of water, the negative fat talk ringing in my head and thought "I want a chocolate bar." What? How does that even make sense? I did not buy a chocolate bar.

It did hit me though, that since we've moved office buildings I am around mirrors a lot. The elevator walls are mirrored. That walkway into the mall is mirrored and there are mirrored pillors in the mall itself. Don't know who decided all those mirrors were a good idea, but I think maybe they are doing bad things to my head. Must start ignoring the mirrors.

Wednesday
Pouring down rain. Again. This is getting depressing. And exhausting.

Thursday
Ended up working from home so I could drive Husband to the doctor. Wednesday morning, Husband was feeling what he thought was a kink in his back from sleeping wrong. The the pain moved and got worse, and was still bad this morning so he called the doc. Very likely kidney stones (ouch!) and he is waiting to hear from the hospital to go in for tests.

I normally work from home on Fridays and staying home today is throwing me off because I keep thinking it is Friday; gonna be a bummer to have to wake up and work tomorrow.

On the up side, the sun actually came out this afternoon. It was still kinda gloomy this morning and I was cold almost all day, but it was nice to see the sun.

Friday
Finally got around to trying a TRX class. It's been in the back of my mind for a while, they offer them at the fitness studio where I go to Zumba. You have to call ahead to reserve, and the class times are 5 & 5:30, so that means I have to: a) think ahead to reserve my spot, and b) be sure I can  get out of work on time. Kinda totally missed the part where they have a class at 5 pm on Fridays; I work from home on Fridays and the studio is a 5 minute drive from my house. Totally doable. Of course, this was the last Friday class; reduced summer schedule is starting.

Was trying to explain TRX to Husband - I forget that not everyone pays attention to every fitness craze that goes by...I said something along the lines of it being a harness system that attaches to the ceiling and you do body weight resistance exercises. He looked at me and said "why would you want to do that?" I did not know how to answer that because all I could think was "why wouldn't you?"

Anyway, went to the class. It's only a half hour and it went really fast; I was quite shocked when we started the cool down and stretching. I am not super fit, by any means, but the  class was totally doable. There were a few exercises where I had a bit of a hard time figuring out the positioning, and  one arm exercise that I felt was straining my elbow joints (I have issues with wrist/elbow/shoulder joints though, too many years of working behind a computer), but for the most part nothing I couldn't handle.

I knew going in that  I most likely would be fine, the class is meant for all levels after all. Still, there is always that little bit of doubt. And then I feel like other people are surprised when I can keep up. Very likely just me projecting.

Saturday & Sunday
The weekend has flown by as usual. Spent most of today getting my vegetable garden started. The actual in ground garden is almost done. I have a bunch of plants to get put in containers. Hopefully we will get a stretch of decent weather and I can get it done this week. I think I even  managed to avoid getting a sunburn, despite having spent most of the day out in the sun.

 

 

 

 Finally! Time to plant things!

 

 

Herb garden. Garlic is growing really well!

 

Yes. I am a child.

 

I've got cucumber transplants in. That white stuff is diatomaceous earth which is supposed to deter slugs. We shall see if it protects my transplants. In front of that, snap pea and green bean seeds are in. The section at the end is still to be planted.

 

 

Hardly saw the cats at all today; it was pretty hot and I think they were sleeping. They are usually around in the late afternoon/evenings though.

 

Rhododendrons in full bloom.

 

 

 

Week 22: June? Hello?

The weather continues to be disappointing. We get short teasers, a sunny day here, a warm day there, but mostly it seems to be grey, chilly and damp. It's starting to make me cranky. And of course, the nice weather, when we get it, happens during the week and not on the weekend.

We moved to a 16th floor office recently. Uptown Saint John is known for it's fog, and this time of year we are likely to look out the window and see white. But, when it's clear, we do have a nice view.

So goals...I had some...

Actually, fitness goals accomplished:

Monday: Zumba
Wednesday: Jackie Warner One On One Upper Body + Yoga Download Moon Salutations Flow
Thursday: Jackie Warner One On One Lower Body
Saturday: Kathy Smith Lift Weights to Lose Weight 2

Food goals...I suppose I did pay attention, but that does not mean I did every thing right. I guess in this case paying attention equals identifying the problem areas so that I can come up with strategies to do better. So, working on it.


Problem #1: JavaChick confuses Husband
So we tried these par-baked baguettes from Costco, and they are pretty good. Of course, since they are from Costco you end up with a whole bunch of them. They keep for quite a while though, so not so bad. You can't call a baguette "health food" but I believe in moderation. The difficulty would be the application of the word "moderation."

Tuesday night - we are having barbequed sausages on whole wheat buns with sauerkraut, and salad. Husband says we should bake up a baguette because we also have the container of bruschetta that should be eaten up. I kind of agree because we do need to eat this stuff up...but I don't really want to add bread to a meal that already includes bread. Follow my reasoning there? By the time we get around to supper, I conveniently forget to bake a baguette and Husband doesn't mention it.

Wednesday night - we are having Janet & Greta's Chicken burgers on Kaiser rolls. Husband again says we should have a baguette was well. I try to explain why I think we don't need one. Husband is good natured, but I can tell he is exasperated, and he thinks he won't have enough to eat. He ends up barbecuing some extra meat for himself.

Thursday night - We are having spaghetti (brown rice pasta). I see Husband look at the baguettes and then look away like he can't decide whether he should say anything. Now I am feeling bad. I ask does he want a baguette with dinner? He says a baguette with garlic butter would be nice, so that's what we have.

Friday we have fish. And roasted vegetables. And baguette with bruschetta. Because this is where I  think it works into a meal. Is it really that confusing?

I don't really want to make Husband feel like I'm telling him what he can and can't eat. But if we have a freshly baked baguette, I know I will want some, even if I don't need it. And he probably doesn't need the extra bread either. Perhaps I really am just a big meanie.


Problem #2: JavaChick gets tired of same-old, same-old
For the past couple of weeks, I have been eating fruit & yogurt for breakfast, and quinoa salad with avocado for lunch. This works because it's easy to pack up in the morning, I enjoy it, and it fills me up. Except by Thursday this week I was going off the rails - a chocolate croissant at the coffee shop seems like a better idea for breakfast, and I think I'll eat a bag of chips with my lunch...

I think the obvious lesson there is that after a few days I probably need to switch things up. Repetitiveness makes the lunch planning & packing easier, but it does me no good if I don't want to eat what I'm packing for myself.

Problem #3 - All planning & routine goes out the window on the weekends. Don't have an answer for that one yet. Thing is, sometimes it's nice to have a break from planning. And it's not like I binge all weekend, just probably am not as balanced as I should be. Baby steps, right?

On to the miscellaneous photos for the week...

 

 

 Frank's fur is growing in nicely and he seems to be pretty much his old self.

 

 

 

Zappa says hello...

There are signs of life in the garden, it just seems so slow this year. I haven't had a chance to get out and do anything and it still seems so cold!

Week 21: Hey! It's June!

I missed posting last week; I think I just felt like I didn't have much to say. I was pretty tired on the weekend, as well, and it just went by too quick.

Over the past two weeks, we've had a lot of grey, rainy weather, and cool for the time of year as well. I never feel very energetic when we have long stretches of dreary weather.

Yesterday, it was like we suddenly woke up to summer. We went from chilly and rainy to hot and sunny overnight. Not complaining, but it is a bit of a shock to the system. The humidity has been fairly high as well, very little in the way of a breeze, and it feels (to my asthmatic self) like there is not quite enough air to breathe sometimes. I'm also digging around trying to find summer clothing, which two days ago seemed like it would not be necessary for quite some time. I really need to get to the gardening, I'm way behind, but I'm not quite prepared for it.

[That bit was written yesterday, today started out nice but by evening it cooled down quite a bit. We are having some wild temperature shifts at the moment.]

I've been beating myself up over weight issues a lot lately. Trying to find summer clothing to wear did not help - somehow summer clothing seems to be the most difficult to find for my short and chubby self. It makes me even more conscious of the fact that I hate being fat. I also hate using that word. I'm trying to let go and be kinder to myself, while trying to figure out what I need to do to lose weight at the same time. It's a little challenging.

It took longer than I'd hoped, but I seem to be getting back into the exercise routine. I've been tracking food in myfitnesspal off and on. My goals are a little fuzzy, as I never seem to be able to figure out what works. Though, I do sort of feel like I can identify the good days and bad days; by which I mean the days where I felt I ate properly, vs. the days I did not, not necessarily the days where I hit a certain calorie target. Does that make sense?

So goals...I feel like I am forever changing and/or restating; let's say they are evolving...

Fitness wise: I would like to aim for one longer strenth training session per week, and one shorter. The difference being, the shorter ones are usually circuit type workout, which involve constant movement and I find I need to use lighter weights. I'd like to alternate, so I am getting in some workouts with heavier weights. In addition, I'd like to get in one Zumba class and some pilates/yoga type workouts. Trying to keep things well rounded. Of course, once I get going on the gardening, this may all go out the window; there is only so much time in a day to get things done.

Food wise: I do feel like I am getting a better handle on what foods work for me in terms of: a) keeping me satisfied so I am less likely to end up snacking mindlessly, b) having a happy tummy. The challenge would be that what I want to eat does not always mesh up with what Husband wants to eat and I still have this tendency to just go along with what he wants; not so much in a sense of giving in against my judgement, but in a sense of not paying attention. And, to be fair, sometimes I just get lazy.

 So that's where I am at the moment. As usual, the weekend flew by and now I'm staring at the start of another work week. We actually have a bit more of a meal plan this week, so here's hoping I can stay focused on my goals. And if the sun comes out again, I have some gardens that need weeding!

May Workouts

01: Harbour Passage Walk
07: Evening Walk
20: Ellen Barrett Yogini Workout DVD
21: Treadmill Walk + Body weight circuit
25: Kathy Smith Personal Trainer Sculpting
27: Zumba
28: Crunch Pilates Yoga Blend
29: Jackie Warner Power Circuit UB+ LB