I did not want to work out alone today, so I waited until my little sister was available. My god brother needed to use my car and cut my grass, so he dropped us off at the Park and I told him to come back in an hour. It was much hotter outside than either of us realized. Initially I said I was only going to walk, however since I had Week 3 playing in my ear I decided to go ahead and run anyway. My sister thought I was crazy. I actually felt kind of crazy running in the extreme heat and humidity, but I was really sick of Week 3. Today was going to be my last day of 90 second and 3 minute running intervals. After each of my casual jogging intervals my sis would do a quick sprint to catch up with me. Then I decided to just walk back to my parent’s house. She thought I was even crazier at this point. But, I could not motivate myself to walk in circles around the Park, it was so hot that I felt like I needed a destination. Nyah was with us and she looked pretty hot and tired in her big black fur coat. At one point on the walk home, we saw one of those digital signs that told us it was a scorching 94 degrees. We walked and walked some more. I called my brother and told him to meet us at mom’s house instead of the park. My sister really gave me a good laugh when she told me that she was so hot and out of breath that she actually felt like she was getting fatter as we walked. We got so warm that we started to get a little snippy with each other, and we couldn’t really complete sentences or think straight. The sun was baking us. She over hydrated and had a little bit of an upset stomach. Luckily, I think while training for the half marathon I learned the delicate balance of hydrating enough not to pass out but not too hydrated to the point that you feel the water sloshing in your stomach.
By the time we got to the front door the Nike tracker said we had completed just under three miles, but realistically it felt like six. We got some cold ice water and cooled down. My great aunt, my big little sister, my niece, and some of my cousins were there, and to my surprise they had read my post about fruit water. They said that it looked so good and recommended that I make a business out of it. I had to tell them that I was “a day late and a dollar short”, and explained that some lady already had the stroke of genius a couple years ago and got rich from bottling Hint natural fruit flavored water. I decided not to take the fruit out after the first day, and it tastes even better. Anyway, I have the joy of saying I’m finally finally finished with week 3 and can move on to Week 4. I’m walking in the Komen Race for the Cure 5K on June 11 and attempting to run a 5K on June 25. I really need to put forth more effort to stick to my training schedule, as I’m already about a week and a half behind. Well, that’s about it! I hope you have a good Memorial Day holiday weekend.
I’ve been doing a good job of sticking to drinking only water. Although, I probably should say mostly water. I actually drink about 80% water throughout the day. Every once and a while a tea or a juice will find a way to sneak in. One of my commenter’s recommended that I make fruit water. I have no idea if there is a special way to do it. But, I bought a pretty pink drink set for $5, cut up some strawberries and lemons and added some water. I let it sit in the fridge for a day to let the fruit infuse with the water. And guess what? It was surprisingly refreshing. It had just a hint of lemon and a hint of strawberry. The flavors blended nicely. It does not taste anything like strawberry lemonade, but it is a nice twist on basic water with very few, if any calories. I think I’m going to take to the fruit out today, because the lemon flavor could become overbearing and make it too tart. Have you ever made fruit water? What fruit combinations do you use?
Strawberry Lemon Fruit Water
I’m convinced that the hypnosis sessions are not making me crazy. I think after just 2 days they are actually helping. It changes your cravings if that makes sense. I now have this nagging sensation that I need to go to bed at night, when normally, I’m trying to figure out if 11pm is too late to start watching a movie. The only problem I foresee is taking the time to listen to it every day. It’s only 20 minutes, but I could see how you can think of so many other things to do other than sit in a chair with your eyes closed. It’s all natural, and it has no bad side effects. Luckily, it’s just Me and Nyah, so I don’t have too many distractions in my house. It’s almost like meditation, which is something I’ve been trying to do recently, but couldn’t focus on for more than a few minutes. After about a week or so, I’ll see how many changes I’ve actually made before I promote it. Of course you can try one that you find, but I realize that with nearly 8,000 people visiting my blog every week, I should be mindful of my platform and things I recommend. Since I went to parties all weekend and ditched my workout routine; I was determined to get back with it today. I went to the park and attempted to run with Week 3. My calves hurt so bad after the 3 minute run. My legs started screaming at me with an Old English accent “Carli, why doth ye cause us to endure such pain?!” LOL! I pushed through as much as I could. About half way through my little sister called, very upset that I didn’t invite her along. “No worries” I told her, “I’ll come get you and we can go back together.” I finished Week 3 (as best I could) and picked her up. We went back to the park, and walked to the cool tunes of Twilight Tuesday, a free outdoor summer concert series in the park. At the end of the evening, I ran/walked a total of about 4 miles.
What Did Carli Eat Today? (Nothing to Brag about, but no sweets)
B- Banana Nut Muffin and O.J.
L- Beef tacos, mexican rice and Beans and too many tortilla chips and Salsa (My sis came downtown and we went out for Mexican my fav)
S- A pack of 4 snack crackers before my run
D- KFC – Grilled Chicken, Green beans, Biscuit (too tired to cook after my workout)
Since the world didn’t end on Saturday, as predicted by “Christian” extremists, life goes on. It’s amazing to me that people think that they can calculate the end of the world. Anyway, this weekend went as planned. On Friday, I went to my cousin’s 16th Birthday backyard BBQ. I heard some great new fast paced tunes that I’ll add to my Bridge to 10K podcast. My Niecey Poo turned 3 on Saturday. She had a fabulous Luau themed party at the mall with 2 birthday cakes and 3 bounce houses. Of course I “had” to try both cakes which were equally delicious. After her party I went to my best friend’s co-worker’s birthday party at a sports bar. My friend tried to get me to try the cupcakes but I passed. I had eaten enough of everything else. The fourth party girl turned 21 and had so much fun that she slept through the scheduled buffet dinner celebration on Sunday. But, unfortunately that didn’t stop me and my Big Little Sister from going to the buffet. During dinner, we had a heart to heart about me and my food addiction, and she actually cried! She almost made me cry, and y’all know I am not a crier. She thought I just “liked food” and didn’t realize how much a daily struggle it is for me. She was astonished at the fact that I routinely eat when I’m not physically hungry and don’t always stop when I full. It saddened her because she didn’t know just how serious of a problem it really is for me. I talk about my love/hate relationship with food on my blog, but rarely discuss it face to face in the real world. She was even further upset by the fact that there was no cure or a pill to fix the problem. Welcome to my world…. She suggested counseling and even hypnosis. I’ve never done one on one counseling, but it could be beneficial. I’m sure insurance won’t cover it though. But, since one of my commenters mentioned hypnosis, and my sister did too, I decided to try it. I’ll tell you guys which program I purchased once I really get to see what it’s about. Please don’t think I’ve completely lost my mind, it works in conjunction with a healthy eating plan like Weight Watchers. As, a nerd I did through research before I bought it, as I was extremely skeptical. However, if these people brainwash me and I become a crazed lunatic, please explain to my family what happened to me. I downloaded the sessions and burned them to CD. I listened to the assigned audio tracks today. Today she focused on eating veggies, drinking only water (Score!) and getting more sleep. Agh, sleep…I routinely go to sleep most nights after midnight. I’ve always been a night owl. I stay up blogging and watching movies, just like I am doing right now. Anyway, for a while I’ve been telling myself that I want to set aside time each day to dedicate to positive reinforcement of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so this might just be the 20 minute break from the real world to focus that I need.
At Weight Watchers they always say to focus on the Non-Scale Victories in addtion to the weight loss. I realized that I don’t celebrate them enough. I had so many opportunities to get off my food plan today, and I didn’t. I’m happy and celebrating. This morning’s breakfast went as planned with Peach oatmeal and yogurt. I tried to eat a banana, but they still make me gag. It’s something about that weird texture and consistency. Anyway, I didn’t bring my lunch as planned, so I decided to go to the Farmer’s Market. I got tons of fruit and veggies. On the way back to the office, Rally’s (burger and fries) looked so good and I was ravenous. But, I skipped the deep fried fat and got a salad from the cafeteria in my office building. Then, later at work I got frustrated when my boss told me the memo I drafted “didn’t make sense” when really, the research just couldn’t prove what he wanted. I was instantly “hungry and irritated.” Instead of heading to the vending machine, I grabbed a Fuji apple that I bought at lunch. It was sugar sweet and delicious! I made the right decision. After work I had to pick up my niece’s birthday present and stopped at the gas station. They had fried chicken. I wanted it so bad, and it was past dinner time. I walked past that case 3 different times. Then I just had to stop in the midst of my insanity. I asked myself do you really want fried chicken sitting in warmer at gas station? Nope. I just ate the protein bar in my purse to hold me over. I felt so empowered making good decisions. I didn’t go to the Weight Watchers meeting to weigh-in, because I’ve been obsessing entirely too much about my numbers. I just wanted to enjoy my healthy day. I went to the gym and ran to day 2 of Week 3. I’m starting to feel like a runner again.
