This last week in my journey to a healthier life presented a few challenges.
Our town was devastated by a macroburst, we unexpectedly lost power for four days and relocated to my parents’ house, school has been cancelled since last Wednesday and at least for one more day tomorrow (making it a total of five days so far) and we are still without internet service.
All of this unplanned stuff put a big kink in my routine, and I was not really not prepared.
I didn’t completely fall off track with exercise, but the Y was also closed for three days because they had no power so I only swam once last week instead of my usual three times.
I am registered for a triathlon in less than three weeks, and last week was the week I was going to finally get my bike out of the shed where it’s been sitting for the last four years collecting dust, but then we had the storm and there were (and still are) so many trees and wires down all over the place, that I have to travel somewhere else with my bike to ride it.
So I’m way behind schedule on that.
Eating was also a challenge this past week.
My parents have plenty of chips and cookies and non-whole wheat bread and Klondike bars and Oreo cookies at their house and boy did I want to stress eat the shit out of that stuff.
But I didn’t!
I didn’t do a very good job of staying on top of portions, and didn’t eat a whole lot of meals sitting at the table like a civilized human being, but I also did not go completely off the rails.
One thing I learned is that I still don’t eat enough vegetables, and I need to do a better job of getting them prepped so I can just grab them.
An apple is easy to grab.
But vegetables are a different story for me. I’m not sure why.
I guess grabbing a head of cauliflower as you walk out the door isn’t quite the same as grabbing an apple.
I know I could buy the already-cut-up stuff, but that costs about five thousand dollars, so I refuse to do that.
The other thing I learned this week is that I need to have healthy options prepared for emergencies like the one we just had. Because on Tuesday night I found myself with almost no options, and it was only by some serious efforts to stay under control that I didn’t binge on the garbage at my parents’ house.
The need to have better options prepared also presented itself at the swim meet I was at this weekend with the kids.
We had to leave the house at 6:45 a.m. and we didn’t get home until about 2:30 p.m. I didn’t want to spend money at the concession stand, but it didn’t really matter, because there was literally nothing there that I could eat.
I was about to cave on Saturday, and then something happened.
We were driving home from the meet, and it was about an hour drive, and the kids were watching Dinotopia which is pretty much the longest and cheesiest movie about a Utopia where dinosaurs and people live together, and I was trapped in the front seat listening to this movie and in the movie two brothers somehow end up in Dinotopia and one of the Dinotopian chicks is explaining the Dinotopian Code to the brothers:
1 – One raindrop raises the sea.
2 – Survival of all or none
3 – Weapons are enemies, even to their owners
4 – Give more – take less
5 – Others first – self last
6 – Observe, listen and learn
7 – Do one thing at a time
8 – Sing every day
9 – Exercise imagination
10 – Eat to live, don’t live to eat
11 – Find the light
And there were so many things on that list that I LOVED, but I especially loved #10 —
Eat to live, don’t live to eat.
It was exactly what I needed to hear to remind me of how I want to live my life and how I want to treat my body.
So something good came from that cheeseball movie.
And I’m still making progress.
The scale did not move this last week. I am still down a total of 8.5 pounds which is where I was the week before.
But other things are changing.
I wish I had taken that first picture from the front with my hands at my sides, but oh well…
The unhealthy belly fat is slowly disappearing. From the front it’s not as obvious.
But from the side, there is a big difference.
I feel good, and now that we have power and are back at home, I’m looking forward to getting back on track with all my routines.
This week my goal is to actually ride my bike and more importantly, find ways to improve the food prep department and get more vegetables into my body.
If you are looking for more support in the being healthier department, join us over at Not Your Average Fitness Group — it’s a closed Facebook group where you can get a little support, ask questions, and post about your victories to inspire all of us. Just click here and request to be added!
If you want even more support and motivation, the next session of Not Your Average Fitness Course.. Be on the lookout for registration details.
That’s all for today from the fitness journey, but tomorrow I have another little story about my dad to share.
Now I think I better go dig my bike out of the shed.
Nineteen days until the Seaside Sprint Triathlon!
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