susannah

Today I woke up at 5:01 and eased my sleepy body into the pool by 5:45.  25 minutes of moderately paced laps - 2 breast stroke, 2 backstroke (modified), and then repeat and repeat.  It almost felt like cheating.  I got out of the pool and I could tell that my heart rate was up, but I didn’t feel sweaty or hot.  I took my shower and dried my hair and got dressed and THEN I started to sweat and feel hot.  Oh well.  I made it through day 1.

Life is about to get real interesting.  My boss’s last day is Thursday and I haven’t been assigned a new one yet, and most of my clients haven’t been notified yet.  I don’t think any will have a major issue, since I’m their primary contact and the one that knows the most about their business and their data, but it just seems kind’ve backwards to leave it this long.  Oh well.  I once had starry eyes that just such an occurance would allow me to step up into that role, but I’m not real sure it’ll happen.  All this just to say:  The next couple of weeks are going to be a challenge for me and I cannot *cannot* CANNOT let that be an excuse to slow my momentum with the exercise and healthy food choices.

Was just thinking that in a couple of weeks I’ll be taking the girls down to Austin to visit my mom - away from the gym, away from my scale(s) and away from my established little routine.  I’ll have to find a way to still move my body that week and not succumb to all the yummy Hill Country Texas food that I miss (kolache! smoked brisket!).  Moderation and movement.  Maybe it wont’ be 100 degrees in the mornings and I can take a walk. (ha ha ha.. Austin in late July, it’ll be 200!)  Oh well, no excuses, I’ll think of something.  My cousin will be with me and she will want to do the same, so maybe we can motivate each other.

To all my buddies:  “The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!”

http://www.fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=susannahcrabtree

I don’t know what it is about Sunday afternoons (maybe the hour we spent at the pool?) but my snack cravings totally kicked in.  I wound up having some chex mix (about 60 grams - maybe 1 cup?) and some cashews (1 oz).  Both probably totally poor choices, but I was kind’ve fruit and vegetabled out.  I also ate a way-too-big portion of brisket at dinner.  Calorie count topped off at 2600 calories.   Made my weekly average 2101.  Yugg.  The scale was a bit punishing this morning too - 362.6 (was 362.3 Friday).  Hoping it was the salt from the chex mix and nuts causing me to hang on to the water - will try to load up on extra water today and flush it.

In other news, my gym days start tomorrow morning - technically it shouldn’t start til Wednesday (July 1), but my membership card will be ready a day early.  I picked up an entire duplicate set of my toiletries so I don’t have to lug everything back and forth, and a cute new pink gym bag and matching flip flops for the shower.  What a girl I am! 

I tried to get out of bed at 5 this morning to simulate what it’ll be like (normally I wake up between 5 and 5:30), but I couldn’t seem to drag my rear end out of bed until almost 6.  My last weekday of sleeping in I guess?  I better not do it tomorrow. 

Got my foods plugged in for today - it really helps me to do it all in the morning and plan it out.  That way I don’t worry about it later.  The food scale I bought is really a god-send.  I like that it has both grams and ounce settings, although I wish the base was a little bigger, so that when I put a plate on it you can still see the readout.  Also another good tool:  fitday.com.  Plugging in my foods over there tracks not just my fat/protein/carbs/calories, but helps me keep track of saturated fats, fiber, and all of the RDA nutrients.  I guess I need to break down and buy a multivitamin supplement.  For the last month, the areas I seem to always lack in are Vitamin E and Iron.  I get pretty close on fiber and Vitamin D - but I’m not 100% there.  I also like all it’s little reports.  As much as I love the community concept at Buddyslim, my actual TOOLS are at fitday.com.  It even gives me a public URL so others can see my progress:

http://www.fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=susannahcrabtree

Kind’ve a cliche - “first day of the rest of your life” I realize, but it’s true.  What makes “this time” different, is my outlook.  This is my healthy life.  This is not a diet.  This is not for weight loss (exclusively).  This is a lifestyle that I’m aiming for.  I want to start living that life now, and the body will come with it.

 I have alot of weight to lose.  But it’s the life I want, not a number on a scale.  I want to shop in stores that aren’t specialty stores for plus sized women.  Since one of my greatest loves in life is to travel, I want to sit in an airplane seat without a belt extender, and with enough room that I don’t feel sorry for the person sitting next to me.  I want to paint my own toenails with little flowers (I can do my kids’, but it’s too hard to reach my own for the detail work).  I want the bath towel to wrap around my torso without embarassing gaps.  I want to walk up stairs without getting winded.  I want my own family to see how healthy and happy I am and want to follow suit.

 I also want my blood pressure to drop without having to take a prescription.  I also want my health insurance through my office to let me have short-term disability coverage.  Because I have blood pressure issues, I can’t even buy the health insurance.

 But mostly, I want my body to do what I want it to do.  What I need it to do.  And that includes living a full (and hopefully lengthy) life.

 On June 1, 2009, I started this journey.    You can see my progress on fitday.com at : http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=susannahcrabtree