Day 56 - Morning Check-In

Sunday - May 3, 2015

Tomorrow is by 34th birthday and tonight my family and I are going out to dinner to celebrate. I haven't eaten out in over 56 days since starting eating healthy so I'm a little apprehensive about dinner. I am confident that I won't go overboard. The challenge will be finding a lowfat meal on the menu. To prepare, I'm going to see if I can find their menu online. That way, I can look up the nutrition content in some of their entrees to make sure I select a lowfat healthy choice at dinner tonight. It's safe to say that I'll probably be eating an entree consisting baked chicken breast since that's most likely to have the lowest fat content but we'll just have to see. 

I was planning on getting a sitter last night to go out dancing with my friend but I decided against it. Not only was I super tired from housecleaning topped off with a four hour run/hike but I realized I wasn't mentally prepared to drink alcohol yet. When I have dieted in the past I would be doing super great... My confidence would be through the roof and I would feel super sexy and ready for a night out in the town. It was always the icing on the cake, all of the hard work I had put in was paying off and I looked and felt great. I would go out with friends to celebrate some occasion (usually a birthday) and also to celebrate my weightloss. We would have some drinks, laugh, dance, have some more drinks, and laugh some more. Everything would be going great, that is until we left the bar ... I don't know about you but I always get super hungry after a night of drinking and I don't crave carrot sticks and apple slices. No, I crave greasy fat and salty carbs. This meant that a night of drinking was almost always capped off with a trip to Jack in the Box (the only fast food place open in my area). When I drink I find it almost impossible to say "no" to my vices. This means that I ALWAYS end up smoking (I quit six years ago) and binge eating on the fattiest, most unhealthy food imaginable. But it wouldn't end there. The next morning I would wake up SUPER hung over (I can't drink without getting hungover anymore). I would sleep half of the day (wake up early but take two to three naps throughout the day). I would be so tired and feel so crummy that I wouldn't have the energy to get up and make food. I always managed to snack on crackers and other lowfat food. I'd make the kids mac and cheese for lunch... And then around 6pm Id be starving and trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Did I really want to eat baked bones skinless chicken for the umpteenth time? I would ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS order a pizza at this point. Pizza is my hungover food and I can't ever seem to get away form that. Mentally Id reason with myself that I didn't eat all day (except for s few crackers) so I'd be under my daily calories so it was fine. This was always the start of the end for me. 

So you see why I'm not ready for a night of drinking yet. Of course there's a chance that Id do okay. I may only have one or two drinks (which would make me go over my daily calories). And maybe I would opt for healthy snacks when I got home. And maybe I would not be super duper hung over so maybe it would be easier to make good choices the following day. But I'm not risking it. 

I looked back at older posts from 2009 and 2011 and what the both have in common is the fact that I would fall of the wagon soon after a night of drinking. Coincidence? I think not. 

In the past I wanted to be healthier but that was only about 1% of the reason I was trying to lose weight. These days it more 70% is about being healthy while 30% is about losing weight. Drinking alcohol, especially in excess is NOT healthy and never will be. Most importantly though, I feel like complete crap the day after I drink, even if I only have s glass or two of wine. Sometimes I can get away with having a glass of wine with dinner and not feel like complete crap the next day (like when my friend came over for dinner a few weeks ago) but other times I'm not so lucky. I'm sure I will drink alcohol at some point but the longer I can go without it the better prepared I can be when that day finally comes. 

Day 49 - Weekly Update

Sunday - 4/26/15

It has been about five days since my last post but that's not because I fell off the wagon, it's just because I've been extremely busy.  I was so excited that I dropped 3.4 pounds this week I used it as motivation to keep going strong.

Because I was so busy this week I was only able to make it to the gym on Monday. Tuesday was a day off because I had to be at work so early and didn't get off until 6:30pm.  Wednesday I had a client in the morning so I was planning on going to the gym afterward.  My appointment took longer than expected which meant I didn't have time for the gym.  Instead, I went on a run and tried out my new water bottle and my new wireless headphones (which I love!!).

On Thursday I went for a great run in the morning because I didn't have time to go to the gym before or after work.  Friday was another day off because I had a busy work day at my office.  I FINALLY got caught up with work.  And lastly, Saturday, I decided to take the kids on a hike on Mount Tam.

I had wanted to go for a nice long hike all week.  We've been hiking the previous two weekends but each of those was only about two miles long.  This weekend I wanted to go somewhere really far from society, somewhere really beautiful and quiet, and somewhere we could go for a 4-5 mile hike which included uphill portions to get better exercise.  I looked up some trails online before going but couldn't find one that showed the distance.  I decided to just head out and explore the trails once we were out there.

We left the house around noon.  We stopped at Bordenaves to get some fresh sandwich rolls for lunch.  We then stopped at United Market for some fresh fruit (apples, strawberries, and raspberries) and some deli turkey and cheese for our sandwiches.  We arrived at Muir Woods and started our hike around 1:00pm.  I bought a trail map and picked a trail that headed up to the top of the mountain.  Mount Tam is a huge mountain so I was pretty sure we wouldn't make it to the top but that didn't stop us from trying.

We hiked for about an hour and a half taking a break for snacks halfway during our trek up the mountain.  At about the three mile mark I checked the map and found what looked like a perfect trail that would lead the way back down the hill.  The kids were a little tired and wanted to go back down the way we had came.  I on the other hand, didn't want to double back and instead wanted to take a new trail down.  I decided to take the TCC Trail I found on the map, a trail that would cut across the mountain and lead us back down the other side of the creek.  The TCC Trail looked like it was around a half mile long which would give us a little bit longer of a hike back than just doubling back and heading down.

We started on the TCC Trail and kept going.  After about thirty minutes the kids started asking to stop for a snack break again.  I just wanted to get back to the main trail that would head back which I figured we would arrive at any second.  We kept going, and going, and going.  We finally ran into some people on the trail who I was able to ask about this "TCC Trail" we thought we were on.  According to them, we weren't even on the TCC Trail yet.  They said the trail was just around the corner though.  I assured the kids the TCC Trail was short and that we would be on our way back down soon.

We finally made it to the actual TCC trail and I was stoked to finally cut across and then be back on the main trail to head down.  I figured the half mile TCC trail would take us about 15-20 minutes to cut across.  After about 45 minutes though we still hadn't made our way to the main trail.  The kids at this point were getting really hungry so as soon as we came across a bench we took advantage of the opportunity and sat down for a rest break and a snack.

I didn't want to stop for too long so after ten minutes we packed the snacks up and headed on our way.  Another twenty minutes passed and we were STILL on this TCC Trail.  At this point I was getting really stressed out.  I pulled out my phone and kept checking for a signal.  Finally, a signal came up and I was able to pull an actual trail map up.  I saw that we were on the TCC Trail and that we were getting closer to the main trail.  What I also saw was the the TCC Trail wasn't a half mile short cut but instead a THREE MILE trek.  At this point it was too late to turn around so we had no choice but to keep going.

In the end, the 4-5 mile hike I had planned on going turned out to be a 9 mile hike!!!!  I couldn't believe my 13 year old and my 7 year old hiked for 9 miles.  They are freaking rock stars and I super proud of them.

Today is Sunday and the kids and I are a little pooped.  I am not sure what we'll do today, my plan is to just play it by ear.  If it's warm enough we may go to the pool, otherwise I'll probably just grab a book and some magazines and go lay out in the sun in my backyard.

Tomorrow (Monday) I don't have any clients scheduled and instead plan on being at my office.  This is great because I can go to the gym!  I think I'll go to the office early and go to the gym in the afternoon but we'll see how that goes.

For now, I just want to enjoy the rest of the weekend with my beautiful amazing kids.