Five Up

I've been Missing in Action for a couple of weeks. Work sent me out to back to back conferences when a colleague who was supposed to attend had a death in the family. I only had a couple of days to prep for the trips so I packed some LaraBars, nuts, Almond milk and steel-cut oatmeal and hoped for the best.

The first conference was held in Nowheresville, far from civilization. It's meant to be a conference centre to concentrate on your organization's issues and not be distracted by the city's temptations... Anyway, the food was bad, just lots of processed crap everywhere, but I tried to make the best out of it by choosing veggies or fruit. The suppers were carb-laden nightmares.

There was a basic gym... no windows, not very good air circulation, a couple of treadmills, ellipticals, body balls and a range of hand weights. A super-chlorinated indoor/outdoor pool was also available... but I didn't use it. They had also a few easy trails around the woods, so that made for nice brisk walking circuits.

Wow, the days were so long and draining... sitting, talking and taking notes. Then break for food and repeat with the blah blah blah, argh!

Second conference was about the same, except more nutritious food served and held in a hotel in a major city. But no on-site gym or pool so they gave vouchers to go five blocks away to a regular gym. Thank goodness it had everything one could wish for. I was able to re-stock some almond milk and pick up organic dates and natural almonds at a health food store.

Upshot is I've gained five pounds. And I feel every five of them. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't exercised each day and actually ate all the crap food that was on offer?

I'm happy to be back home now and back to my regular food and exercise routines. I know the pounds will fall away pretty quickly in the next week or two. I've a three hour hike planned for tomorrow rain or shine!

Pushing myself

Got an hour in of yard work today, but afterward, I just felt sweaty, tired, less stressed but very deflated. I didn't want to mow the lawn and yank weeds but I knew that if I didn't get my fat ass in gear, it wouldn't get done. I'm feeling guilty that I don't have the energy to do my strength workout or yoga tonight.

Although I'm healthier than I was last year, my goal of being lean and fit seems so far away right at this moment. I know we all have these moments sometimes... and the trick is not to wallow like a pig in the muck and think that it is time to give up....because it's not. 

"Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."

- Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

Not working it

Being back at work from vacation this past week has not been a joy.... personality clashes in the team have been escalating. My job is very sedentary, I'm at the computer all day and for the most part I'm responsible for my own work and getting my projects completed on time. There are some projects that require teamwork. The consequence of this situation is that we've had to work longer hours to cover a Passive-Aggressive colleague's work that has been left undone. Sigh.

 

By the time I get home, have supper, run errands, get stuff ready for the next day, get some yoga in there, I'm just wiped out and sleep way into the morning.... and yes, missing my morning workout. This has to change! Since the Labour Day weekend is coming up, I'm hoping to de-stress and get back on track.

 

Eating has been okay but I'm not getting enough water during the work day and drinking too much coffee. Bad combo, I know it! Also not getting enough veggies in and now is the best time to take advantage of farm fresh produce. One cheat: I did eat some bread and paid dearly for it with major gas and nasty intestinal disruptions.  

 

The dial on the scale hasn't moved this week but that could be the dust and grime in it. It's one of those old-timey dial scales that I bought in 1999. This coming week, I am going to spend $40 or so on a digital scale to get more accurate results.

Back from vacation

Being back in my own bed feels so so good! But I do miss the sounds of the crickets and tree frogs at the campsite. I do not miss the noisy weekender campers but thankfully I brought along my earplugs and sleeping mask. We spent our days mostly swimming and hanging out at the beach, a couple of days hiking and one day it was so rainy we found a mall and shopped.

We had over 14hrs of driving one way, so we did have to stop for meals and sleep. Although I did bring some provisions with me, they were mainly healthy snack foods. We stopped at roadside diners for the most part because the cooks in the kitchen can be way more flexible with their menu than any fast-food place could ever be.

Close to the campground was a farm with a huge variety of fresh fruit and veggies as well as big fields to "pick-your-own" berries, peaches or cherries.

We did go out a few times for supper at restaurants. I was surprised that many of the menus in New York State had a calorie count beside every item! That was an eyeopener. I had grilled chicken and salad and at another chain restaurant they had a spaghetti squash instead of pasta with a meat sauce so I went for that.

For our main meals we'd go into town every couple of days and buy meat or fish for grilling on the BBQ.

Otherwise here is a typical camping day:

Breakfast

Protein powder shake with water or Scrambled Eggs

Peaches or Pluots (crazy hybrid of a plum and an apricot, tasted more plummy) or other fruit

Snack

Natural Almonds or Dates

Lunch

small tin of Tuna on Lettuce

Cucumbers and Tomatoes

Carrots

Supper

organic Sausage on the BBQ (or other grilled meats or fish)

roasted Corn on the cob

Salad

If still hungry, I ate fresh fruit.

Drank lots of water! As an alternative, I drank some flavoured seltzer once in a while.

As we went through New York City twice, I did Plan Cheats:

Two slices Pizza

One Hot Dog

One Italian Ice

Unplanned cheats

One slice of locally made Rhubarb-Apple Pie

One "Whatchamacallit" Chocolate Bar

I was hoping not to gain any weight while on vacation and I didn't. Still the same. My activity level wasn't up enough to lose any weight.

Overall, I do feel so much less stressed for completely unplugging and just putting my mind on vacation. The only care in the world I had was having enough trashy magazines to read at the beach!

On Vacation

My man and I are going on vacation shortly and I can guarantee I'll be aiming for a 90% clean eating vacation. Since we'll be camping, we'll be eating lots of veggies and grilling on the bbq at the campsite. We're not going into the remote woods or anything... we'll be about 20 minutes by car away from civilization.

 

While on the road however, sometimes choices are limited. For snacks, I've stocked up on high quality organic natural almonds, dates and some trail mix. Every town has a grocery store, so there's no excuse not to pick up veggies and fruit.

 

I'll also be tracking and will probably post my food journal when I get back. 

 

This is my first long vacation in eight months so I'm looking forward to hiking and swimming every day and to completely unplugging from technology for a few weeks :)

 

 

Busy and a bit stressed before vacation

Work is crazy these days. Isn't summer supposed to be the time when everyone is on vacation and taking it easy? I'm swamped and need a couple of good days of quiet in my cubicle to plow through the paperwork and wrap up projects. I've got five working days to get my sh!t done before I go off on vacation, so the pressure is on!

I've not been on vacation since.... since Christmas? Wow. That's too long. I'll be able to unhook my brain and the computer for two weeks. My man and I are going camping so I'm hoping for good weather. 
 

On the home front, I've been cleaning and organising like a mad woman. "Spring Cleaning" came late this year, ha ha! Honestly, it's out of frustation because I keep misplacing things when I can't see past the clutter.  

I'm battling vines and hedges that are growing like mad! With all the rain then high heat, they are growing like crazy. I'm going to give up and call in the professionals to do a major trim. I know it's not the best time of year to do this but they've grown so high they are reaching  the telephone and cable lines.

 

Some medical stuff is going on which always stresses me out.  I'm still going through some tests. Doctor has recommended watching my protein intake as he's concerned about my kidneys.

 

Food-wise I've been eating clean, but I'm going back to tracking to make sure I'm not eating too much protein. Especially on vacation I have a tendency to gain, so maybe this is a chance to lose for a change.

  

Weight-wise I'm holding steady. I'm okay with that. After last week's debacle, I thought I'd surely see a gain on that scale!

 

A Fail

I’ve been a lazy ass this week, made two very bad “food” choices and the scale hasn’t moved, as expected. 
 

I was feeling down due to a specific issue and ate my way through a large bag of corn twists. Also had a Camino espresso bean chocolate bar. Even though I always keep a stocked fridge and pantry (eg. a variety of vegetables, some fruit, dried dates and natural almonds), I turned to the dark side… rather than going through my usual steps.

Identify the emotion: fear, loss, stress, anger, hurt feelings, loneliness, ect.

Then do any of these:

• Go for a long walk outside
• Yoga or meditation
• Take a warm bath
• Have a cup of tea
• Re-read a chapter of a favourite book
• Listen to some music
• Call a friend

Alter the situation, accept it or adapt! Do not procrastinate, deal with it as soon as you can.

 

In my case, changing old habits and turning to a new way of dealing with problems is not like throwing a switch.  I really wish it was. It would make life so much simpler. But life is not always easy or fair. I’m thankful that this emotional eating is not a regular occurrence anymore and over time, it’s happening less and less.

Heat and fighting laziness

In this city, we get heat waves all through the summer into September and while the first blast of heat and oppressive humidity comes as a shock to the system, by the second you know what to expect. The temperatures are in the 30 to 35C range and humidity makes it seem even hotter.

 

During times like these, I feel like crawling onto the couch and veg out in front of the television to watch classic black and white movies from the 30s and 40s while eating salty snacks and drinking cola. 

 

Not going to do it!  Instead I'm trying to keep moving as much as I can. In the morning, I've been walking as briskly as I can outside. If I'm feeling the heat, I'll just work out in the basement instead: Elliptical then weights.  After work, if there are no errands to run, or a second workout, I'm tending to the lawn, yanking and whipper-snipping weeds. Once that's done there are always chores to do in the house to keep me busy and away from the television.

 

I keep reminding myself that when I'm lean, fit and healthy, I'll probably be able to handle the heat so much better than I can now.