Day 44 An Overlooked Blessing

Wow what a day. I was on the go all day till 3 o'clock, then I actually took a nap in the middle of the afternoon for like 2 hours! I really needed the sleep, I could tell.

So my morning started off with my inherent inability to sleep in! I woke up around 4:45 and it was immediately obvious I was not going back to sleep. So, I caved in and got up and fixed coffee, kinda puttered around this here internet, and then, after my second cup o' joe, I headed out to hit the mean streets of Shadow Mountain Village. I had a plan. I think I talked about how my block has one long sloping hill and one steep uphill climb that is kinda short. I usually go clockwise around the block, which leaves me going down the sloping hill and up the short steep hill. Today I decided to got counter clockwise and have to deal with the long sloping hill and see what that does for me. It was a challenge folks! But, and here is the part I am proud of, I set a record for a three mile time today! I got all three miles in in 52 minutes, 24 seconds. But wait, that's not all (I watched a lot of commercials on tv, it had to be said) not only did I get it in record time, it was because I jogged the final stretch! It is like 200 yards and I know that is not huge, but I did it and was only slightly out of breath when I got here!! Can I get a woo hoo!!

After I finished that, I did a little walking around the yard to cool down. I love that it is so cool in the mornings and I can linger outside when I am done walking. It has been so hot and humid the last month. So I came in and sat for about 20 minutes reading the paper and I realized I had not eaten breakfast yet. So I did my usual of one egg fried, one egg white fried, a bowl of cereal and this morning I finished off the plum I had left. After that, I realized I needed gas for the lawn mowers, so I ran out to the store. Back in the day, that would have equaled a soda, prolly a twenty ounce Diet Mountain Dew, but I have totally gotten rid of that habit! Not only is it good for me, it is saving me some money too. Sodas are getting just outrageous. So I got back and got the front and side lawns mowed, the drive way edged, the yard weed eated and the drive way blown off (love my new blower). So I had told Lauren that if we got our work done fast enough today, we would go out to the driving range and hit some golf balls. She did her chore of weeding the rock bed out front and blowing off the driveway sorta, so I kept my promise and we loaded up the drivers and headed out. I had a great time hanging with Shorty. I think she is the next Michele Wi!



So after that, we met Kathy at Firehouse for subs and I had the turkey with no mayo but kept the cheese for some reason. It came out to 490 calories and was well worth it.

When we got back to the house, we had a car washing party. Both vehicles got washed and Kathy's got the inside detailed. By that time, I was bushed and couldn't hold my head up any longer. I zonked out for a couple of hours between 4 and 6 and it was a refreshing nap. I was totally re-energized after that. So I fired up the grill and cooked us up some chicken breasts and Kathy made them into salads for each of us and they were yummy. I am shocked at how much salad dressing I used to use as opposed to how much I use now. We buy the light italian with like 50 calories to each tablespoon and I used two tablespoon worth rather than a 1/4 cup like I used to. I have seriously made some big changes.

I got a bit of a wake up call today about a blessing I may have been overlooking. I was reading Michele's blog and how she talked about how she is at a disadvantage considering her being a woman and her age, and she has realized it will be a long slow journey for her to get where she wants to be. I have to admit, despite all my bad genetic traits, the one thing I have on my side is that I am able to quickly put on muscles, get in cardio shape pretty fast, and I am able to pull of weight pretty quickly without getting extreme in any facet. I mean I am eating less but I get around 1500 to 1800 calories a day, I workout with weight for about 20-30 minutes every week day morning, I walk about a mile and a half a day on weekdays and try to get two 5k's a weekend in. That is not pushing any amazing barriers. I mean Doctor F kicks the crap out of me in the exercise realm! I love to read her blog but man do I feel like I am lazy when I do! But, in 43 days, I lost 29 pounds, and I realize that is amazing! It took work on my part, but again, not as much as some would have had to do to get that number. I will remember this from now on after Michele made me realize it.

I am stealing an idea from Dr. F and I have started trying to keep up with the calories burned in my activities. I did that this morning and I was in a calorie deficit for the whole morning. I burned 505 calories walking this morning but I had 200 for breakfast and 110 for a mid morning snack, then I burned 305 mowing the lawn and 200 at the driving range for a morning total of 905. I didn't surpass that number until my afternoon snack of tuna at 2:30. Wow, how cool is that? I am at 1595 after supper and a celery stick with peanut butter. Which brings me to another point, I also don't slather the celery with peanut butter like I used to. I get a table spoon worth of peanut butter and spread it out over the celery stalk. ON the bigger outside ones, it just barely covers, but when you start to get the smaller inside ones, it is a bit more satisfying. I am debating about what snack I want to finish off the day. I wish we had more fruit at the house but we don't. If I can't find anything good, I may just call it a day and leave the other 205 on the table.

Kathy got the pictures from last weekend's Silver Dollar City trip downloaded to the puter and I have to admit, it was a bit of a reality check. I was not impressed with my appearance, and it really made me think if that was me 20something pounds lost, what the heck did I look like before! So to illustrate, here is one that is fairly typical of the batch:






Here is me with some cool hair!



So while I have all the markers of having lost weight, I got a visual cue that I am on about mile 3 of a 26.1 mile marathon, and I gots a ways to go! In the past that may have derailed me but now, it just makes me more determined!

OK, it is Finding Nemo time!! Catch you fine folks later!!