Baby Steps

Happy Saturday!!!!    It has been a loooong week!!!   Both jason and I have lamented about the length!    We have pondered why and I just today realized that this is the first week that I have worked a full work week in about two or three months due to a plethera of vacation days that I had to use by the end of the year!    Luckily only a few hours of work today (Saturday morning) and I'll be free as a bird until Tuesday morning!!...no work in Tuesday due to Martin Luther King day!)

This morning on the way to work I decided I needed a Pepsi.  I don't know if I accidentally hit the button for regular Pepsi versus diet...or maybe they have the wrong one hooked up.....or if i just haven't had a diet Pepsi in so long that I'm not used to it...but man it tastes so sweet.  I am actually choosing the water more often than I am the pop!  Amazing for me!!!

The weather has been nuts!!!  It was frigid cold last weekend....snowy on Tuesday....66° in Thursday and back to snow and ice forecasted for today.  Nuts I tell you!

I talk about the weather because I do plan on getting my be-hind out and running again.  Seriously...I do!!!   But well...  could and snow just make it difficult for me!  In fairness the warm day I did make it out on my bike. We rode on the canal for a while and walked at the city park too!   The ride was brutal as we were pedaling through mud which honestly feels as if you are riding in flat tires....optimum output of energy!  

The ride emphasized the need for me to get to the gym to ride an exercise bike on days when I am not running (when I start!!). That will make riding this spring (or on warm days this winter) so much more enjoyable!!   I swear...this week for sure!!!

My eating... my choices have gotten better since my sarcastic post!  That is good. There is definitely still room for improvement!!!

Here is the total caloric intake.

And of course the intake netted with my activity...see what a different an active day (Thursday) makes???

My eating has gotten better because I am keeping myself busy in the evenings with my dollhouse projects.  It's easier to it want to snack when my hands are covered in paint or glue!!! 

This week I have made a quilt rack...

and I have worked on building my new dollhouse.  

Baby steps in this journey I am on.   Fixing small problems (like the evening snacking out of boredom)!  This is all going to come together and I will start seeing results!   I know it!!! I am determined!!!

I haven't weighed myself since Thursday. On Thursday I was back at the same weight that I was at last week...so who knows.  Crossing my fingers and praying for the best for my next official weigh in!!!

Avalanche

Grrrrr. Somehow my Saturday post didn't go live!   So I guess another day where we have two posts!!

How do I want to die???

Do I want to die at the age of 50 when my hover-round that I may have to use at that point because of severe obesity, gets struck my lightening???

Do I want to die at the age of 60, after living in a nursing home for a few years all because of complications from my weight...diabetes, heart disease, burned out knees and hips...a body that can no longer stand the pressure and demands of an obese body???

But maybe....just maybe I can be 70 years old and standing on the summit of a mountain that I just hiked....and planning on hiking a thru-trip of the Appalachian trail.

Maybe...just maybe I can be 80 years old and biking the whole length C&O canal on a tandem bike with Jason!

Maybe at 90 or 100 or even plus some  I will die. We are not immortal.  But Maybe I will be the death that everyone talks about...the 100 year old lady that was out extreme skiing and died in a freak avalanche!!  

There is no guarantee as to how long we live. I think we all know that. But there are choices that we make in our life that can influence the when and how....so my question is this....

How do I want to die??

I don't want to die when my hover-round /lark/wheelchair gets struck my lightening!  I want to go out shaking my fist at the world and living life to the fullest!  

So what does that mean?  That means that right here and right now I have to make changes!!!!   Now is the time to fix the unhealthy habits in my life. Now is the time to create healthy habits that will increase the odds of a healthy long lasting active healthy life!

I have slowly been implementing these changes.

I've been tracking my food.

I've been trying to increase my water intake (and tracking it)

I've challenged myself to 2017 miles in the year 2017 in an attempt to move more.

I'm really trying!

I want to live...and with Jason in my life, all of a sudden I want to live even more! I want to grow old with him and have a fun active life!

So this weekend I made a vow.  This weekend I decided that my quest for my steps wasn't enough. I needed to step it up.  I didn't aim big.  I knew that there were two days that I would be leaving for work at 7AM and two days that I wouldn't be leaving until 9AM.  My goal?  Exercise two times!   That is two outside runs.  Optimistically I would like to get to the gym early on those 7AM days...but I set my goal at 2 days.  I want to have a victory and not yet another failure!

This morning I woke up and laid in bed.  It was dark outside.  I knew I wasn't going out to run yet.  I laid there and relaxed. And then I started to try to reason my way out of running!  The weather was probably bad!   It was dark.  Was that a pain in my side???   

Then I read a post on Facebook where some people were putting their daily goals out there.   And they were aiming for 5 times this week!  Or even more!  Yeah...I felt like a wuss!!!  I posted and declared my goals...and furthermore announced my plan to run!!   Oh yeah..as soon as I did it, I kicked myself!!!

But it motivated me to get up and get dressed!!!

And then I looked at the dollhouse I am building. I worked on the porch and bay window last night...it was taped/clamped.  I so wanted to see it.  So I sat down, dressed for my run to check it out!!

Yup..looked good! 

But then I thought about the bathroom and kitchen...the first two rooms I will tackle when it is completely done.  I wanted to see how the bathroom stuff that I have would look and get an idea of the layouts!!!

I laid paper and drew some possible kitchen cabinets on the floor..

Yup..before I knew it it was 7:45...and I had to leave the house for work at 9! (my coworkers usually like me to be showered when I arrive at work..so I was really running out of time!)

I flew...because I was NOT failing!  I stepped outside and my heart stopped!

Wet!!!  It was  raining!!!   But I kept moving and got 2.2 miles in!!!

It was rough....slow...and just not a good run...but does that surprise me?  No, my previous run was on thanksgiving day!!!  That's a lot of time and I didn't expect it to be easy!  

So this weekend was another fabulous one...we tried to stay moving and active with antique shops and looking through junk!  (And antiques).  We also spent a day at Arlington National Cemetery. We walked...no tour bus for us!!!

We saw monuments....

The changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown.....

President kennedy's grave....

President Taft's grave.....

Arlington House (General Lee's home before the civil war) .....

More monuments.....

A gorgeous amphitheater where we each took a turn and sat on the marble throne/seat.....

Row after row of graves....

And a beautiful overlook of our nations capital!  I got my steps in that day for sure!!!!

A good weekend!  The weather is supposed to be fabulous next weekend...do I smell a bike ride or a hike????