On Concerts, Running Shoes, and Food on the Go. NSVs are Great!

Jul 22, 2011

This has been a busy week for me, but not having to do with work at all... except for a class I attended on Wednesday, my week was totally free (but flanked by working both weekends which I'm not looking forward to tomorrow) and I've done a lot!

On Monday and Tuesday I went to the gym for 60+ minutes each day and had awesome workouts, then watched DVRd episodes of Hoarding: Buried Alive and used it as motivation to clean up a little at my apartment.

Tuesday night my best friend came to town-- she didn't feel like cooking in the hot weather so I picked up chinese for dinner. Normally this would be a very bad idea (horrible for you sauces with tons of sodium and added sugar and fats, etc) but I picked a not-as-bad option and ate my home on-plan food first, then just a few pieces of vegetable and protein of the take-out.

Wednesday I went to a work education day and brought with me a cooler filled with baby bell light cheese, low fat string cheese, smoked gouda, egg salad, marinated tofu, veggies and some cherries. I ate in moderation and drank a liter and a half during the day.

Wednesday night my friend and I went to see U2 play at the new Meadowlands complex in East Rutherford, NJ-- it was a GREAT Concert! I hid more cheese in my pockets and handbag and bought bottled water and a G2 inside of the stadium... more good food options! My friend bought a beer, a blondie brownie and ate some corn chips. We both had ice cream. (Whoops!)

Then Thursday morning, with my friend sleeping away in the next room, I dressed and headed to the gym to do another great workout-- and I did running intervals, the eliptical machine and the stair machine! Then I went to my surgeon's office and had an appointment with the registered dietician who said I looked great, was glowing and full of energy, and was right on track with everything I was doing. AND I lost 2 more pounds since my last visit with the surgeon the week before. Hooray!

After that I went back to my apartment, picked up my friend, and we ran errands (I am in desperate need of a pair of shorts that doesn't fall down when I put them on, even with a tight belt!). I did get the shorts, as well as an awesome pair of running trainers to wear since I'm now a runner (who would have thought??!?!?!?!)! While being helped by the salesman at the running store, I had on about 5 different pairs of trainers and each time I had them on, plus a couple of times with different shoes on each foot, he encouraged me to go outside and feel what they were like on the pavement-- so I did. I ran around the block each and every time before deciding on the best pair for me.

I'm going to repeat that-- I RAN AROUND THE BLOCK about 7 times. After having already done an hour long workout in the morning. Yeah, that's right-- I'm hard core! :)

Every time I came back into the store, my girlfriend would comment "Geez-- you're so sweaty!" and I was thinking what else would anyone expect? I've just been running and it's 98* outside!

Anyway, throughout the day I got hungry... so I ate some pepitas and cheeses that I had packed with me while my friend ate snack bags of chips and doritoes. I drank sugar free drinks. She drank soda.

Then last night we met my boyfriend for dinner at a Greek restaurant. We ate family style and ordered a bunch of appetizers/sides to share-- I had a bite of spanikopita, a serving of gigandes beans in tomato/onion sauce and a couple of spoons of chunky vegetable sauce with feta and grilled shrimp. Also on the table was rice, lemon chicken soup and a beef pita thing, which I didn't eat because I'm a vegetarian. I felt good limiting the carbs and focusing more on the proteins and vegetables.

I'm so proud of myself for the life changes that I've been making. I'm far from perfect, but am using my head, my muscles, my sleeve and my newfound sense of conscious eating to help me along my way.

I love my sleeve!

Side note: one other thing I noticed at the concert, aside from making mostly better food choices, walking up all of the stairs to the top of the stadium for our nose-bleed (but U2 nonetheless!) seats, I did not huff and puff... also, my seat was next to a very large man. He must have been 6'5'' tall and weighed at least 350. At first I was thinking oh man, two great big people-- how will we both fit next to each other? But then I realized that I fit so much better in the seat that it wouldn't be a problem at all! And besides, I was up most of the night dancing in front of my seat getting smaller and smaller as the minutes passed! :)

Hard work and a lot of energy make me feel great, and feeling great enables me to do even more hard work and gives me more energy-- it's an amazing cycle!

Life is good.

 

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