Progress Comes in Small Bites

It is easy to want and wish for weight loss to come quicker than reality.  It has taken many years for me to put on these extra pounds and inches.  In past years, I slowly watched the numbers grow bigger and pushed that number that I said I'd never go past.  I pushed it further and further up the scale or measuring tape.  I finally hit my wall and am pushing the reality of that scale and measuring tape back the other way.  I'm working hard to see progress in big bites only it comes in small bites each week.

I'm happy with this slow progress even though I still dream of a quick magical fix.  I really don't want all the baggy wrinkly skin that might come with a quick fix.  I don't want drugs and chemicals in my body.  I don't want surgery to fix me.  I don't want temporary life style changes.  I am so happy to be feeling so strong.  I'm thrilled to be making progress through blood, sweat and tears.  Okay, not really, just sweat, commitment, perserverence, dedication, hard work, awesome nutrition and pure enjoyment of what my body feels every day. I am in this for good.  I'm in it for life long habits that will carry me through the rest of my long years ahead.

I'm glad progress comes in small bites so that I can savor and enjoy every single bite along the way!

Vacation - Day 10: Driving, Riding and Balancing Choices

Riding in the car for 22 hours provides one much room to be careful and make smart choices.  Here are some good and bad choices I have made during our drive.

Smart choice - Swam 100 laps before we left.
Poor choice - First gasoline stop; bought mini bag of fresh roasted cashews and ate them all.  So salty and good.
Smart choice - Bought V8 to go with my cashews.
Smart choice - Chicken at bbq restaurant with turnip greens and ...
Poor choice - Fried okra
Smart choice - Ate a few okra and boxed the rest immediately with the cornbread and garlic toast served with meal.
Poor choice - Snacked on the okra later while driving and a few bites of the garlic toast.
Smart choice - Gave away the corn bread
Smart choice - Ate part of a leftover organic dark chocolate bar made with real cocoa butter and beet sugar.
Poor choice - Didn't stop nearly enough driving.  Needed to stretch more.
Poor choice - Didn't drink enough water while driving.
Smart choice - Did some online ordering for some healthy organic grass-fed beef, pastured chicken, eggs, coconut oil and more.
Poor choice - Spent too much money on my healthy orders.

We're still driving as I type this and I'm sure I'll be faced with several more choices before we get there.  I will do my best to make good ones!  And when I don't, tomorrow is a new day to start again.

Life is full of choices.  We have to learn to make the best choices we can with whatever the given circumstances.  Today, I made some good and some not so good. I continue to work on balancing these decisions with everyday life.  It is a work in progress and will be for a lifetime.  I will have ups and downs as I continue to balance the healthiest lifestyle I can make for myself and my family.  However, I will be consciously thinking and making decisions that will continue taking me down a path of being strong, healthy and fit. 

Vacation - Day 9: Swim Swam Swum, Time to go Home

Today I swam 2500 yards (100 laps) and 4000 yards (160 laps) this evening.  That makes it 3.6 miles, 6500 yards, 260 laps of swimming today.  I usually swim in increments of 20 laps for counting purposes.  I have no pattern other than always starting with 20 laps freestyle.  Then I'll usually mix up 50's or 100's of breast and free but always more freestyle than breast stroke.  It makes it easier to count laps when I do split it up and helps work different muscles.  If I'm trying to get in as much as I can in a shorter amount of time I'll just do freestyle.  I don't watch a clock or stop longer than to take a sip of water in between my 500's.  

I don't swim fast but I'm not the slowest one around.    I swim because it is fun, I can do it easily and I love it!  Now that I've swam a few days in a row and my shoulder isn't bothering me, I'll be adding more swimming back into my exercise routine.  Maybe I'll even look into joining Masters Swimming so that I can swim in meets and work toward a timed goal.  

Here's a quick shot of me jogging on the nature trail at the resort.  It felt nice on that squishy soft ground rather than hard concrete.

There is a bridge connecting the two sides of the resort across a lake.  Here's me and the sexiest man around striking a pose so we could get pics of the resort.

Half the gang left this afternoon.  I'm left with son Ethan and girlfriend Juliann. 

Since it's the last day I  had to use up what I had left to make myself a healthy dinner before my last swim.  I brought coconut oil to make popcorn so I used some of that to heat up some of my leftover chicken breast concoction that was grilled with tons of garlic and onion.  We had a few shrimp leftover so I mixed it all together and grilled it with the coconut oil and pepper to spice it up a little.  I amaze myself.  It was very tasty.  Who needs to eat out when I throw together these amazing delicious healthy dishes?  :)

We enjoyed our last evening here.  Saying goodbye to a fabulous vacation and resort.  We leave in the morning for our trek home.  Check out is by 10 AM.

Vacation - Day 8: Cocoa Beach & Thai

After my 11 PM run the night before I was wired and went to bed late so no early morning exercise for me today. It was beach day so we had to get out the door early so we could make the most of the day.  Packed my cooler with tons of water, salad with grilled chicken, an avacado, grapes, and apples & pbj's for the family.  It was tough making those squishy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches last night and not eating a slice.  It looked soooo good.  But it was 10 pm and I definitely didn't need to eat a dollop of peanut butter and sugary jelly at that late hour.

We had a BEAUTIFUL day at the beach.  Temp was mid 70's with a mix of sun and clouds.  The ocean waves were fun and the breeze was perfect.  I really can't think of anything better than lying by the ocean listening to the waves, or better yet playing in the waves!  The water was cool but not so bad at all.  We had a fun time jumping around and playing on the waves.

Here is my daughter and I playing on the boogie boards.

My younger son joined us late Thursday night with his girlfriend.  This was her first time seeing the ocean.  I'm sure she enjoyed it but not as much as me.  I'm an ocean freak!  (This is my son who is also working on running for the first time in his life with me.)  In the pic on the right we told her to stand on one foot while posing.  Hehehe, she did.

We all tried something new tonight at a delicious Thai Restaurant.  I chose sea bass with grilled shrimp, served in a curry coconut milk sauce with green beans, red and green pepper.  It was DELICIOUS and worth every bite!  The best part is that I have leftovers for tomorrow.  I splurged and shared a dessert.  It was customary Thai sticky rice with fresh mango.  Yum, it was also worth every bite.

For fun, here are some other shots from dinner tonight.  :)  I love vacation!  NO MAKE-UP since before I left home!!!  Love it.  Here's me and my AWESOME WONDERFUL LOVING MARVELOUS husband that I love so much!!!!!

Here we are again, with daughter Olivia in the pic.

Here's my oldest son, Adam and his girlfriend "putting their heads together" like I asked.

Younger son Ethan, and his girlfriend.  Ethan got a little pink today and was dripping sweat during dinner.  He ordered his seafood plate fiery hot!

Last but not least, my most favorite daughter in the universe Olivia is here eating her fried cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner, we went for a late night swim with my boys and their girlfriends.  Olivia decided to stay back and pack since she leaves today with my husband, oldest son and his girlfriend.  I have one more day with younger son and his girlfriend.

No formal exercise for me today.  I think jumping around in the waves and walking on the beach and the hour and half in the pool tonight must count for something.  It was after 11 when we got back and I wasn't about to try that 11pm running thing again.  No worries though, I'll make up for it!  I enjoyed every second with my family today.

Vacation - Day 7: Chillaxin'

Not much to report today.  I swam 50 laps this morning then ran to a Zumba class.  Chilled the rest of the day.

My son Ethan and his girlfriend joined us late last night.  Kids all went to Animal Kingdom.  Came back and joined us at the pool in the afternoon, then headed to Hollywood Studios this evening.  Hubby and I were on our own chillaxin' today for the most part.  Other than a trip to the grocery store and the pool and a nice long walk this evening, there wasn't much more excitement going on around here.  Now we're waiting for all the kids to return and get packed up for a day at Cocoa Beach tomorrow.

UPDATE TO MY POST:   My son talked me into going to the fitness center at 11 PM and I ran my 27 minutes!  

Vacation - Day 6: Day of Relaxation

Today was a perfect relaxing vacation day.

I swam 2000 yards again this morning.  That's 80 laps in a standard 25 yd pool.  I would have kept going but I went too late in the morning and there were too many kids starting to come around and were starting to jump around my lane.  There are plenty of lounging and play pools around.  Do they have to come hang out at the lap pool!  Darn those people.  Usually I swim in sets of 20 but today I knew I got a late start and would be pressed to get done so I didn't stop till I hit 80 laps.  And as soon as I stopped and took a sip of my water on the side of the pool, I lost my lane.

And to make matters, a kid pooped in the lap pool!!!  Come on!  Can't the kids that can't control their bladder go to the kiddie pool?  Or the big play pool?!  But pooping in the lap pool!!  UGH.  It was cleaned up, shocked and closed off the rest of the day with caution tape.

I lounged and read the rest of the day.  There were more clouds than sun but I managed to stay by the pool until 5 anyway.  The temperature was nice, not hot, not cold.  Cloudy and sunny mixed with more clouds that sun for sure.  Probably a good break for my skin.

It was a perfect evening for another run.  Maria posted on my last post that I had to do 22 minutes today.  I had all intentions of incrementing 1 minute at time which would have taken me to 21 minutes but decided to go for it when she posted that challenge.  But I'm a competitor and had to beat that so I ran 25 minutes straight tonight!  I'm still laying here recovering with ice on my shins, again.  Dinner is done so I should probably get off my butt and go eat.    We're having wheat sketti with onion, garlic, pepper and spaghetti sauce.  (86 on the biscuits for me.)

A pretty mellow day all in all.  Here's a picture of one of the other pools.  If this doesn't say peace and relaxing, I don't know what does.  :)  Loving vacation.

Vacation - Day 5: Swim & Steps

I'm splurging this week with International Delight Chocolate Carmel Coffee cream.  1 Tbsp = 45 calories.  I'm only using one in each cup of coffee.  Yum.  After coffee, I dragged myself to the lap pool where I swam 2000 yards, which is 8 laps more than 1 mile (72 laps).  It felt SOOOO GOOD to be in the water swimming.  Swimming is my exercise of choice but my shoulder starts to act up when I over due it so since starting my new life routines I have not been swimming much.  I miss it and hope to add it back in to my routine more.  It is 24 hours later when I am writing this and I feel no shoulder pain so that is a good sign.  I'll be back in the lap pool as soon as I'm done with my coffee and this post.  Lap swimming is posted from 7-9 AM but I'm not making it by then.  Hopefully it's still empty when I get there a bit after 9.

After my swim, I had to quickly eat a healthy hardy breakfast and get ready for a long day at the parks.  I grilled up an organic wholesome chicken breast with real butter, garlic and onion.  I served it over a bed of spinach along with a smoothie (berries, plain yogurt, ice, splash of oj, water, tad of strawberry protein whey, and Nouriche Live).  I was stuffed and off to Magic Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom was INSANELY crowded so we grabbed a couple fast passes and switched to Epcot during the day.  There were two places I wanted to visit at Epcot, one was United Kingdom to get fish n chips.  This is thanks to my lovely step mother who always raves about them there.  I am not a fish-n-chip person at all.....but I tried them once there and they were very tender and good.  The order comes with 2 fish pieces and fries.  I ate only one and was satisfied and passed on the fries.  It was just enough to satisfy the desire and fulfill it for a long time.  It wasn't quite as good as I remembered and a whole lot greasier!  But as for fish and chips, I think it is still a great place to get them.  The second place I wanted to hit up was Japan.  There is this candy (yeah, food again!) that I really enjoy.  They are some sort of rice cake candy.  A light coating of powdery sugar on the outside and a mellowy creamy inside and a chewy outside but not too sweet.  So my trip to Epcot was complete.  :)  I ate two of these candies (87 calories each) and one fish filet and was more than satisfied. 

Magic Kingdom was much less crowded the second half of the day and from 9 - midnight it was easy on and of most all rides so we boogied through lots of stuff during this time.  There was one other park food that I craved and that was one of those turkey drumsticks.  I got one for dinner.  It was way greasier than I had imagined and extremely salty.  It could have been a worse choice for me but I think I did pretty good.  I ate just enough to satisfy and shared the rest.  I followed it up with a red pepper I brought and that helped wash away the greasy salty taste it left in my mouth.  My husband captured us finishing up dinner in this picture.  (Me, daughter Olivia, son Adam and his girlfriend, Danika.)

We closed the park and left after midnight.  According to my Body Media band that I wear, I managed to get in 32,000 steps and burn 4,873 calories yesterday! Wahoo.  All those calf raises I did waiting in lines must have paid off.  And the lap swimming.  And all the rides I didn't go on and instead I walked and walked in circles waiting for family to go on some of the rides.  I was trying to hit 40,000!  Didn't quite make it but 32k is my highest since wearing the band.  Not too shabby! I hit the shower as soon as we got back and COLLAPSED! 

Here are a few more pictures of my family on our magical day!  (Son Ethan gets here tonight! Wahoo!)

 
 Make it a great day everyone! I'm off to the lap pool.

Vacation - Day 4: Condo Lounging

What a beautiful day today.  Low to mid 80's and sunny all day.  I lathered up with sun screen and lounged at the pool all day.  It was heaven.  Hubby brought me lunch to the pool.  Red pepper sliced in half with havarti cheese and plain tuna with some thin slices of sweet onion by request.  It was delicious.   I'm so glad we're in our condo where I am in control of my meals.

 Each time I got in the pool today, I did my own version of lame water aerobics.  My goal was to keep moving.  I brought my water gloves too.  My heart rate never got that high but at least I was doing something more than sitting and soaking.  I'm reading a book called "The Perfect Ten Diet" which is all about eating to keep your hormones in check.  Pretty interesting material.  I'm not reading it looking for a perfect diet to follow but to learn as much as I can about how nutrition/diet affect my body, especially my hormones that in turn affect weight.  Reading in a pool is my most favorite way to read a book!!!  :)   (I can't wait to look back at this picture next summer and see more of those pounds melted OFF!  Pictures don't lie!!!)

I took a nice walk around the complex this afternoon which included a 20 minute run.  I was pretty darn hot and sweaty but it felt awesome to beat my yesterday 19 minute time.  I then did part of a Jillian Michael's workout dvd in the room but gave up half way through.  I just didn't have it in me tonight.  I ate a late dinner of salad, a few rice crisps and a weight watcher frozen dessert, oh yeah, and a smoothie loaded with healthy fresh fruits and plain yogurt.  I know I ate too late and too much at the end of my day.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Vacation - Day 3: Clearwater Beach to Orlando

Alarm set for 7 AM but got up at 8.  I needed that sleep.  The seaguls were incredibly loud this morning outside our balcony.  Rob and I went for a nice walk though to start our morning.  The weather was gorgeous.  We walked the sidewalk one way and the beach coming back.  I grabbed a yogurt and tea, then headed back to the room for a quick shower and repacking job.

After a short two hour drive we landed at our home for the next week.  We're staying at Marriott Grande Vista in a 3 bedroom condo.  My KUDO for the day was going to the main building to pick up some brochures on Disney at 9:30 PM and then deciding to read them on the treadmill in the fitness center.  Then deciding to run for a few minutes.  Then deciding to go one mile.  Then deciding I had to beat my 18 minutes so I ran for 19 minutes.  My family was starting to wonder what happened to me but I got in a 5 minute walk, 19 minute run and a 2 minute cool down before heading back.  It was a nice last minute decision and felt great doing it! 

Here's a picture of me on our balcony in Clearwater Beach with daughter Olivia (16) and son Adam, (20).  Then a picture of me in the living room of our gorgeous condo in Orlando.  We have't taken many pictures yet.  Hopefully will get some nice ones in the next few days. 

Vacation - Day 2: Georgia to Clearwater Beach

Lots of driving on our second day of vacation.  We left later than we had hoped.  We ran into TERRIBLE traffic. Here's a picture I took holding my webcam out the window on the causeway.  It might not look like much, but look WAY up ahead and that is a line of STOPPED traffic.  So close but so far!

We headed to the beach after checking in.  I took a nice walk along the edge of the water.  Hubby and daughter took a quick swim.  We didn't stay long though because we were famished.  

Dinner service was slow for the second night in a row but food was good.  I went for a seafood plate with jerk tilapia, shrimp and scallops serviced with rice and broccoli/cauliflower mix.  Salad for a starter with a slice of fresh bread.  I forced myself to go to the gym after dinner.  I ran and walked for a bit and did the weight machines available.  I didn't work that hard but at least I got something in.  I was pretty tired and crabby and went to bed early after that.  Pretty boring, I know.  

Vacation - Day 1: Driving

Today started our family vacation.  We left later than expected, around 9 AM this morning.  We've been on the road for over 11 hours now and will be going as long as we can make it.  We ate a late dinner at Cracker Barrel.  I choose turnip greens which I love but don't cook myself, baby carrots, which I gave away mostly because I had too much food, lightly breaded haddock and veggie soup.  Oh yes, I can't forget the partial biscuit.  It was so delicious and worth every bite.  :)  I didn't eat the whole thing though so that was good.  There's nothing better that having a delicious meal, not overdoing it, and having it be very tasty and worth it! :)

Earlier today we stopped at Sonic for lunch.  While everyone was ordering their food I took off and went for a walk.  I walked 5 minutes and ran for 11 minutes, stretched and then hopped back in the car where I ate my salad I brought with me.   I've been drinking water all day and did manage to slip in one Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha with an extra shot of expresso and no whipped cream.

What good choices I made today!!  I started the day with a 75 minute walk early this morning so I hit 12,000 steps by 1 pm on a day where I'll be in the car for 16 hours! Can't beat that for my first day of vacation.

Not Quite at 60 Pound Loss Yet

I was hoping to hit that 60 pound mark by the time I left for Florida.  Today I leave.  I woke up and weighed but still have 2 pounds to go. I'm okay with that though.  That makes 58 pounds in 4 months.  Not too shabby a number.  Actually a number I am darn proud of.

I leave in a couple of hours for a long drive from Michigan to Florida.  I'll be gone for 11 days.  That's a lot of away from home meals!  On the other hand, I'll have lots of time to swim, walk, and workout every day.  I expect to do well while I am away with all the opportunity for exercise I will have.  We don't have much planned but relaxing and hitting one of the parks for a day or two.  I'm confident that I'll have passed the 60  pound weight loss mark by the time I return back to Michigan.

And on a side note, it is 5 AM and we're not leaving until 7 AM.  I'm not a morning person.  Why am I awake now?  I committed to walking at 5:15 AM this morning with my new friend Maria, who is also my Zumba and most lately boot camp instructor.  I told her I wasn't a morning person, and her response was, "So?".  So here I am, awake, at this ungodly hour in the morning.  Going to walk before my long drive.  Thank you Maria!  Because there is NO way I would have gotten up to do this had you not offered to walk in the morning and I will be REALLY thankful after a few hours in the car that I started my day with this.

Off to the races!