Reflections & Tools Learned

My apologies for not keeping up to date with this blog this past week. No good excuses - just life. I sort of fell off the WW wagon this week and I'm quite scared of what little red digital number is going to pop up tomorrow at weigh-in. I learned something though, that even when I'm "bad" so to speak, I'm still making slightly better choices than I would have before starting WW. Friday - I'm pretty sure I ticked off the people behind me in the drive-thru at Toxic Hell (taco bell) as I just couldn't decide what to have. Finally decided on those new soft corn tortilla tacos that come with a slice of lime. But it had wayyyyy to many onions to be edible in my book so I stopped at the next exit and got Wendy's chili. I was on my way to an all day/night scrapbook event where buying food once in is like buying food at Disneyland. You know its not going to be really good to begin with and then you get the double pleasure of paying triple the worthy amount? So I had half the chili on my way there (yeah you want to talk about talent? Try eating hot chili while starving while driving Hwy 17 in the middle of the day). For those that are not familiar with said Highway 17 -- its probably the worst stretch of highway in our county/area. Its windy and twisty and for those of us that know the road well -- we test our limits on it. Easily pushing 85-90 in some areas. Its really easy to get going. But in the middle of the day, you are sharing said space with i-d-i-o-t-s who don't realize that yes, Virginia while you are in the fast lane, you MAY pass the big scary truck to your right. If you don't? I will scream obsenities at you from my car. Phew....thank you little subaru for pulling over and letting the rest of us speed our way to our destinations.

I'm sorry -- this isn't about speeding or driving is it? Its about the choices I've learned to make. So at the show, couple of hours in, I'm hungry and facing those lines. I opt for one of the pre-made sandwiches with turkey and cheese. Pull the cheese off, mustard and turkey is always good. Instead of chips which provide little to no comfort. I instead, trade those points for a candy bar. I know -- I can hear the groans now. But its 8pm people and I've got 5 more hours to go and I need that second wind. But with the choices I've made today, that butterfinger bar fits easily within my daily range. I'm pleased with myself.

Saturday - I'm dead tired and we order pizza for dinner. Whole wheat organic crust and yummy veggies make for a delicious change from the typical cheese and crap from RoundTable.

So I'm sitting here reflecting on my week and wondering what tomorrow will bring and knowing that I have strayed a bit from the diet portion of my journey. But I'm somewhat comfortable knowing that these are everyday situations that I am going to have to face as time goes on. I'm happy knowing that I know better choices to make now and how to handle set backs. If I gained back some weight, sure I'll be dissapointed but I know how to reflect back and know what didn't work and what I need to work on. WW has taught me those tools.

I do know that going to the gym is absolutely vital for me - and its funny, I feel yucky when I don't go. I really enjoy going there and pushing my body to see if I can do more than last time. If I can pass up that number from last time, burn more calories, etc. For awhile, I've been told to spend most of my time on the eliptical machine until my achilles tendon stretches out and heals. I have very strict instructions on how to stretch before and after -- hopefully this will help alleviate my whole foot sensation problem. And...I'm really really wanting to get back to that weight training class that hurt so bad 2 weeks ago - I'm wondering if I've made any progress in my lunges. I've been practicing here and there.

Who knew proper lunges were so hard to do? I still wonder why that wasn't covered in PE? I mean seriously? They taught us to bowl and how to shoot basketball granny style but they couldn't spend 15 minutes teaching us the proper way to lunge? Or did a I cut Ronnings class that day? All my SCHS peeps will appreciate that. I've been walking at lunch time with a co-worker and we laughed until we cried when we learned that even though he graduated 27 years before me - we had the SAME PE teacher. Classic.

Day 3 - Feel the Burn

Wow - so I tried a new class at the gym yesterday. Club Power. Involved 2 different sets of hand weights, a bar weight, a step thing on 2 risers and a lady in front of the class wearing a speaker headset that I swear couldn't count to save her life. LOL -- We'd start doing these reps of lunges and just when I thought we're done? Oh no...she'd bust out with "all right - thats a good start, 20 more". ?? Whah??
Hour long class and about 15 minutes in, I'm looking around wondering just how un-couth it is to sneak out the side door and go hide? Being the sucker for rules that I am, I stuck it out. Thankfully the class did seem to pass quickly and we were ALWAYS moving! I had a really hard time in the begining with using the risers for one leg while doing evil lunges with the bar weight. The most intense pain evah came apparent in my arch. I had to stop and rub it out. It freakin hurt like hell. So I modified the movements and didn't use the riser. Still not quite sure what caused it but damn - that hurt. I might go back to the running store and buy those inserts.
Oh -- and after we did all those hundred million squats and lunges and pulses with that evil weights? Then came the ab work. We laid down on the riser (really..how clean can that be? People step on this thing & we're laying on it?) Gross. Anyhow, we're laying on this riser and raising the bar weight up and down and up and down. Good god. Then it got better! Oh yes it did. Grab the heavier of the sets of the hand weights and Right out, left out , both out ...holy crap! When did it become so hard to do this? Finally after a few more reps with the weights and push-ups and sit ups which I have to admit I swore my way through, it was over.
After *every* single class I've been to, I'm able to make my way upstairs and do at least a mile or two on the treadmill or the bike or the evil eliptical. Not today buddy boy. My legs were lucky to make it out of that studio and back to the locker room. Where....I encountered the lady herself. The teacher of the class. She recognized me as new and thanked me for coming. I thought about it and decided to ask her about the pain in my arch and what I was doing wrong. She watched me to a lunge and id my problem right away. Wow -- she was good. My feel weren't spread far enough apart and I wasn't really "lunging" I was more like bending over in half trying to kill myself.

Wow...does nobody ever teach us how to do lunges properly? Was I absent that day in PE? It takes a shitload of concentration to do a proper lunge. Straighten up, butt out, straight rod - and down and up. I damn near fell over! I really really need to work on my balance!

Well there was no going to do any more work that night. I packed up my stuff and left the gym. Walked a few paces only to stare down at the 2 flights of stairs down to the parking lot. Oh my god -- was I going to be able to leave this place? With every step I took, I think I said a new curse. The burn! The pain! The sheer terror of my legs giving out and me falling down the stairs! Finally finally I got to the bottom and I'm pretty sure I sort of shuffled my way to my car.

I'll leave my experience of having to use the potty for another post -- all I know is they really really need to make toilets a lot freakin higher!