Pride and small victories

Victories, no matter how small and seemingly inconsequential are still victories.  They are still cause to celebrate and to cheer for each victory for each one is hard fought...and each one is one step closer to winning the long term prize.

Last night I went to zumba.  I went to the early session.  And I did the 1 hour of the early session and voila' I stayed for the second session and did a SECOND one hour session.  It really is just mind over matter.  During a normal hour, your mind knows that it's about done and I find that it sorta lets down it's guard.  I finished the first hour and I knew that it wasn't going to be ending so my guard was NOT lowered and I just plugged right through hour two.  Was I sore?   Heck yeah, we are doing lots of squats and lunges......a new song that is ALL squats and lunges on top of the other songs that incorporate them in.  One session of zumba has those muscles just screaming.  But two?  Ohh yeah, I finished but I was feeling it.  Good fun.  :-)

This morning, I woke up a bit stiff, but determined to push through and get my training jog in.  I planned to run my new route which I think will be pretty close to 3 miles.....I started out...jogged my legs were heavy but I pushed through. My knees hurt, but I knew it was because of the changing weather on my arthritis, so I pushed through.  My feet were a bit sore, but I pushed onward.  About a mile in I knew that my body was just not up to par.....I was beat.  My legs were heavier than heavy.  I knew that pushing myself further was not going to make anything better and it was NOT going to help me in the long run.  So I walked the rest of the way...and went straight back to the car....just about 1.5 miles total for the day...more than half jogging.   SO here I am at work a few hours later, wearing a foot brace.  (yeah, the foot is achy!)...but otherwise, feeling OK.  Better to be OK rather than so beat that I can't do anything tomorrow.

Tomorrow, both Todd and I are off and I hope to get out on our bikes and ride!  WOOO HOOOO

So my victory.  I was getting ready to eat lunch. Didn't know what I wanted....so while I decided pulled out the pretzels and nutella (that stuff is crack in chocolate/hazelnut form).  I ate a few and put it back.  Yes I knew that I wanted more, but I held myself to a small amount. (victory number 1).  I decided to pull a Lean Cuisine out of the freezer.  The Spring Rolls, a relatively new item that they sell I think...VERY good.  There are 2 servings in the box...and I pulled them both out. I was hungry!   I opened the one package and put it on the plate ready to microwave and started the second one...and I was like "NO".  If I really want it after I'm done eating I know that I can ALWAYS microwave the second one, because each one is only 5 points.....so 10 points is actually not bad.  But I held off and just fixed ONE serving.  (Victory number 2).    While I was eating my one serving of spring rolls, I got online and put my food into the tracker to calculate my points.  (victory number 3...not waiting until it was too late).  I put in my meal that I have planned for the evening and my breakfast and what I'd already eaten for lunch.  Plenty of points left over.  8 in fact.  YIPPEE  I could have the other serving of spring rolls.  I mean, that's awesome right.....until I realized that I was a bit shy on the fruits and veggies. SO I pulled out the leftover pears from dinner last night and had that.....AND had some corn.  Yeah, I used a fair amount of points on the corn, but hey, I like corn...and it is after all a vegetable!    I chose healthy....versus the easy and tempting spring rolls!  (victory number 4).   The additional fruit and veggies filled me up and I was quite satisfied.

You know what?  The sense of pride in beating this food addiction...even in this little small way is phenomenal!  I want to feel it more often!!!!