HLSG: Week of 3/36/01.

[lindrusso]

Hi all. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. After teasing us with a week of spring-like weather (in the 50's!), mother nature has hit us with a bit of snow this weekend. Oh well, more time to stay inside and cook!

Last week went quite well for me. My exercising has been good for a while now and my eating is starting to shape up as well. Definitely more fruits, fiber and veggies.

I'm seeing more progress as well. I think I'm down almost a full pant size and am a bit more toned. There's still enough fat there that I might be more toned than I think! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif I have also seen a definite increase in strength - I've always been very weak in my upper body, so it's nice to see progress there!

I also wanted to comment to everyone that perhaps we are too hard on ourselves in the eating area. Each week I see people write that they were good most of the week until a party on Saturday. To me, and maybe my epectations are too low, that IS good!!!! I don't think it's realistic to expect to go through an entire week without indulging at least once!!!! In fact, allowing myself those indulgences keeps me from going into binge mode! So don't be too hard on yourselves and don't view your love of good food as a failure. As long as we eat healthy most of the time, even regular indulgences shouldn't be a worry. Which is all IMHO.

Good health to you all!

[This message has been edited by lindrusso (edited 03-25-2001).]

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by emilycat:
By the way, does March now have a 36th day? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

And the weather here is incredible (70's yesterday, beautiful blue skies, Bradford pears, cherry and tulip trees, daffodils blooming everywhere) -- it puts me in such a great mood!


Uh whoops!!!! No, I'd rather that April come than to extend March!!! Just sounds more like spring!

Jealous of your weather!! The thermometer at one of the shopping strips here in town said 15º!!!! Shiver, shiver.....

I continue to admire your marathoning (okay, am I making up words here?? - but you know what I mean)! And thanks for your words of encouragement!

[emilycat]

Congratulations on your progress, Alysha!

And your point about "doing well until...." is well taken. I need to put that into perspective sometimes. Especially after last Tuesday when several servings of peanut butter and a huge hunk of bread was my dinner http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif Praise Sandy for her 4 T. a day of peanut butter is good for you post http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif ( I think I got in a couple of days, there.)

By the way, does March now have a 36th day? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

Besides that one attack incident with the peanut butter spoon, everything's going well here. Running's going great, and Boston's in 3 weeks!!! I have one more 22 miler to go, and then off to tapering.

And the weather here is incredible (70's yesterday, beautiful blue skies, Bradford pears, cherry and tulip trees, daffodils blooming everywhere) -- it puts me in such a great mood!

Everyone have a wonderful week!

Emily

[This message has been edited by emilycat (edited 03-25-2001).]

[Emdg]

I also had a good week. Got in five days of exercise and worked in the yard for four or five hours.

Food wasn't a problem, as I was in "cooking" mode. I also was able to button a pair of pants that haven't fit for a while...okay, they had actually gathered dust on them in the closet http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

I agree with you about allowing oneself to indulge on the weekend (or whatever day of the week). This weekend we went to a French wine dinner. More cream then I've eaten in a long time...and the wine was sublime! If we didn't allow ourselves to splurge now and again, it would be a dull life, and I for one would probably be quite bitter! It is a necessity to gather with friends; eat, drink, and be merry! of course thats my opinion....I could be wrong!

Looking forward to another good week!

[donleyk]

Another good week. 5 days of working out plus physical labor remodeling on the weekend. Sunday I blew away all my good eating and hard work with KFC for dinner. I couldn't make a good choice (or a not so bad choice, no), I had the triple crunch zinger sandwich and potato wedges. Oh, the guilt! Yesterday I decided I didn't care about the calories. Gotta live a little. I just would have prefered for the meal to be just a little good for me....

[mandarin2j]

I loved your comment about diet, lindrusso!

"I also wanted to comment to everyone that perhaps we are too hard on ourselves in the
eating area. Each week I see people write that they were good most of the week until a
party on Saturday. To me, and maybe my epectations are too low, that IS good!!!!"

While a week with some letting go on Saturday or whenever isn't perfect, it's a heck of a lot better than (at least for me!) it would have been before I became more conscious of my diet/exercise routine. The other day, my walking buddy was saying that walking with me once a week probably isn't helping her become fitter. Well, once a week isn't ideal, and we're working on that by making a commitment to walk twice a week beginning this week, but that once a week is a whole lot better than spending that two hours on the couch. It ain't perfect, but it's better than nothing. As long as we strive to take better care of ourselves, I think we should be more forgiving of our efforts on the way to improved health. Too often, stumbling is seen as a reason to just quit, rather than an opportunity to focus on our progress. I know I'm a lot better off than I was three months ago, and that keeps me going.

Anyhow...

The past couple of weekends have been too busy (family visit weekend before last, then wisdom teeth extraction last weekend!) to permit our weekly snowshoe trips, so I'm really itching to get out this weekend and hit a trail or two. Three weekends ago, we did a monster snowshoe with a 1,500 foot elevation gain in 2.5 miles, and I was feeling like such a superstar that it was a real letdown to have two weekends go by with us unable to get away and do something. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

On the good side, as mentioned above, a few weeks ago, I started walking every Wednesday with a friend. We walk to a park that's about 1.5 miles from my house, and then walk up to the top of the mountain (it's a pretty tiny mountain, as mountains go in the Pacific NW) in the park. It usually takes just under 2 hours to do this walk-I'm not certain what the mileage is within the park, but from the summit of the mountain, you can see most of Portland. We're upping this to a twice weekly walk this week, so this should help me out with my endurance work on the weekends. This is in addition to walking the dog around the neighborhood.

Yoga is now up to twice weekly, with at-home practice scrunched in here and there. I'm retaking my intro class so I have a stronger grounding in the basics before I move onto more complicated poses.

In terms of goals, I've decided I want to hike Mt. Defiance in the Columbia River Gorge this summer. My hiking book says it's the one to do once all the other Gorge hikes begin to seem "easy," which is saying something! Right now, Dog Mountain on the Washington side of the Gorge kicks my behind, and that's rated a "3" to Mt. Defiance's "5" rating. That said, I'm confident that I will be in good enough shape to do it by August or September.

Diet is not ideal yet, but actually one of the best thing about participating in the CL BBs is that I'm inspired to try more CL recipes, so that has to be helping me out (insidious, isn't it, how eating right can work its way into your life when it tastes so very good?!). I'm thinking about going back on WW Points next month, since I'm so happy with where I am exercise-wise that I think I can handle a stronger focus on diet. I'm still a water drinking superstar, and fruits and veggies seldom go to waste in our household anymore. Looks like this lifestyle change is actually taking hold! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Kerri]

Ok, I think I am ready to weigh in, so to speak.

Food is always hard for me to be good at, but I have been pretty bad lately. I had some friends get married and there was the bachlorette party, rehersal dinner, wedding dinner, back from your honeymoon out to dinner, plus there were some other social interaction where we went out to dinner. I never thought I would say this, but I am sick of mexican food!!! However, I think I did well in my eating choices and also only ate about half of what was served on my plate. Maybe I am getting better. Other than eating out, I think I am doing well. I never thought I would be able to say I eat 5 servings of fruits and vegtables, but I have been. Go me! (Now is not the time to point out I am suppose to be eating between 5 and 7. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps)

I worked out 4 times last week. That's pretty good, AND I started running for the first time in 6 weeks. I won't say that it was totally pain free, but I didn't think I reinjured myself either.

For this week I want to keep running, slowly with lots of stretching, and like everyone else, check out my wheat bread to see if it is the right kind of wheat bread. I also want to try brown rice, it does sound tasty.