A food addict's travels on the road to recovery.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

My best NSV yet

This is the 3rd day in a row that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous.  I'm not sure what the temps are exactly but it's been sunny blue skies w/ no clouds in sight!  I decided I better get out of the house and take advantage of it today.  I skipped the gym and opted for sunshine and fresh air.  I grabbed my sister Amy and went hiking at Kolb's Farm Loop.  The whole thing is 5.5 miles and I've never hiked the whole thing.  Dwayne and I have been hiking on this trail 2x before, and we've hiked 2 miles in, turned around, and hiked the 2 miles back out.  We had Scarlette with us both times and just wasn't sure how far her little legs would carry her, so we didn't want to push it.

Today I was determined to do the whole thing, mainly out of curiosity.  First of all, I wanted to see what the rest of the trail looked like, and secondly, I wanted to see if I could walk a whole 5.5 miles w/o dying!  Well, it didn't happen.  If I would have rememberd to take my book with me, I probably could have figured it out.  But I forgot my trail book AND my camera.  Amy and I passed the 2 mile marker and eventually ended up in a parking lot.  I was confused....I thought it was supposed to be a loop, but it was like the trail just ended, and I didn't see any signs pointing me onward.  I figured we had walked about 2.5 miles by the time we reached the parking lot, so I told her we'd just turn around and walk back the way we came and at least I would have gotten 5 miles of hiking in. 

When I got home I looked at my book, I realized we had walked 2.4 mi before we turned around, so we hiked a total of 4.8 miles today.  Not bad!  But I'm still determined to go back and find my way around the whole dang trail.  I'm not sure still where to go once I hit that weirdo parking lot, but I'll take the book with me the next time and try to figure out what the directions are talking about by the landmarks it gives. 

Here's the really cool thing.  When Dwayne and I walked this trail the first time, it was last summer, not long after I started my blog and FINAL attempt at weight loss.  I started blogging in June, and I think we did this trail in August.  We didn't even reach the 2 mile marker I don't believe before we turned around to head back out.  There's one really steep hill that you have to climb on the way back out and it seems to stretch out a good ways...a steady incline.  I've named it the Hill of Death.  I remember the first time I did the trail, only 3 miles worth total probably, I absolutely thought I was going to die.

I had to stop at least 3x, maybe 4, while trying to climb that steep hill.  I could hardly breathe.  Dwayne had to keep stopping and waiting on me, probably wondering if I was going to fall and roll back down the hill.  He kept asking, "Are you okay baby?  You're doing great, just hang in there...you can do it baby.  Do you need me to help you?  Do you need to hang onto my arm?"  I hated that shit.  I hated the coddling, I hated that it looked like I had to be helped.  Of course I didn't accept his help.  I just stood there until I could catch my breath, walked a little further, and stopped again.  I was overheated, sore as could be, incredibly worn out and tired, and was really starting to wonder if I could make it back to the car.  I didn't say that to Dwayne, but I was worried.  And embarassed to be in such bad shape. 

Today, I'm proud to announce that I walked a total of 4.8 miles.....further than the 3 miles I walked that day.  I'm extremely proud to say that I climbed that Hill of Death w/o stopping a single time, and did not even stop when I reached the top.  I just kept on moving!!  Huffing and puffing, yes.  Further behind than my sister, yes.  But I was too proud to be embarassed in front of her, who by the way, is 5'7 and maybe 120 lbs soaking wet.  I kept thinking back to the first time I walked it (this was the 3rd time), and just being blown away at how much my endurance and strength has improved over these last few months.  I had a smile on my face that I just couldn't hide.  There was no controlling it.  I really NEEDED this today. 

This has got to be one of the best NSV's I've had so far.  I really haven't been very impressed with myself where the food and the weight loss is concerned.  I've lost 41 lbs. so far.....but so what.  That's taken me 9 months to do, because I went backwards, gained some back, and now I'm having to re-lose it.  I had gotten down to 222.4 lbs at one point, and then climbed back up to 240 lbs.  I've still got a ways to go just to get back to where I WAS.  My eating this weekend has been kind of bad, too.  I still struggle so much with the food and making consistently good choices. 

I can say that I've made improvements with the food.  That would be a true statement.  For instance, I very rarely ever eat fast food anymore, whereas before I started my blog, I was the Queen of Fast Food.  You'd have to go back and read at the beginning of my blog to see just how bad it was, but trust me.....beating that part of my addiction was HARD.  But I did it.  I no longer feel controlled by fast food.  I used to drive down the road and could smell each different restaurants food that they were cooking.  I smelled Big Mac's, Whoppers, fried chicken, french fries, Wendy's double cheeseburgers, and don't even get me started on Krystal's....it was a horrible addiction.  Just horrible.  But it's gotten to the point where I now think most of it sounds downright nasty, and can't believe I ever liked it.  I've gotten to where I'll be out somewhere, starving, and will drive right past 10 fast food restaurants to go home and make something to eat that I know will taste better and be healthier.  That is HUGE for me. 

But I still struggle in a lot of ways with the food.  I have a lot of days where I don't feel good (thank you PCOS for being my living hell on earth)....where my emotions are tied up in knots from the job situation, no extra money to do ANYTHING,  living so far away from Dwayne etc.  Most of the time I'm just cooking for me, because Shane (my roommate) has made other plans or something.  I get TIRED of cooking for just me, and I still find it hard to cook a small amount for just one person.  I grew up in a family of 5 and that's the way I learned to cook...usually enough for everyone to have seconds.  Huge amounts of food.  Shrinking recipes down for one person is a pain in the a$$.

And I get lazy....that's easy to do when you've been out of a normal job routine for so long...a YEAR now.  I don't have any daily responsibilities, nobody to answer to, it's just me and the dog most of the time, so why cook?  I tell myself sometimes that I'm going to be like Sean or Jack and purposely put myself in an eating rut where I eat the same thing day in and day out.  Hey, it works!  You always know the calorie count and there's very little room for error that way.  But that only lasts a few days....I get bored with it.  I like variety too much.  I like food WAY too much.  Different tastes, colors, textures.  And then I get stuck in the bad thinking pattern that I'm doomed forever.  That I'll never get it right no matter how many different things I try.

This post isn't about being in a depression, or losing my focus again.  I don't have either one of those problems right now.  It's just about trying to press on and do better with the negatives (the eating), and accentuating the positives (the exercise).

So I was thinking today that I need to just keep trying to do the best I can with the food...maybe one of these days I'll get it all right.  But what I CAN do is concentrate on the positives for me, which seems to be the exercise department.  I've been doing pretty darn good in that area.  I've been working out 5-6x a week for months on end now.  It's really become a habit.  A lot of it has to do with getting out of the house every day and actually having somewhere to go, something to do, and people to see.  But who cares what the motivation is, as long as it's working.  And it seems to be working great.  I realized today just HOW great when I walked all that way without stopping, even up that hill that nearly defeated me the first time I tried it.

It really made me feel fantastic.  I know for a fact now that I'm actually, really, truly building endurance and gaining strength.  I'm getting better, no matter how many fat rolls I still have hanging off my body.  I was telling my sister today about my first time on that trail, and then compared it today's hike and she was really happy for me.  I told her that since I have this free time with not having a job, that I should take more advantage of it.  I decided that I'm going to do some kind of exercise 2x a day, every day, for the rest of this week.  What I'm not sure about is how it will affect my nights at the gym.  I'm a little sore after my hike today, so I'm not sure if that would have taken away from a workout if I would have gone to the gym tonight.  But I'm going to try some different stuff and see how it goes.  I mentioned to Amy that we might go on another hike tomorrow morning.  Some days I may just go to the park and walk around the trail there.  I'll be doing something to move more.  As my trainer says, you can never get too much cardio.  My brain might be wanting to do more than my body can actually handle, but I'm not going to know unless I try.  So I'm going to get out my hiking book tonight and see where we can go tomorrow.  Dwayne bought me this book for my birthday last year in July.  He knew that I wanted to lose my weight and do more physicial activities, so it was a very thoughtful gift and I just love it.  I need to take more advantage of it and that's exactly what I'm going to do. 

I'll leave you with a pic of my book, and a food pic of a crockpot dish I threw together today.  I took some boneless pork chops out of the freezer and threw them in the crockpot this morning, along with a large can of diced tomatoes, a jar of mushrooms and a jar of salsa verde.  I was going to put in the Rotel, but I figured the salsa would be spicy enough.  I was wrong....I should have used the Rotel.  I cooked it all day long and had a LOT of liquid in the pot, so I threw in 2.5 c of instant brown rice towards the end.  Pretty tasty.  :)

Quote For the Day:

"If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one that comes up on the short end."  -Julius Erving









15 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear you are doing well and I think that is a wonderful NSV! Sometimes I feel like it is so hard to just look in the mirror and see how you have improved, or at least for me whenever I have a bad eating day i feel like I am starting all over again. It is a NSV like this one that is a great reminder that you actually have come a long way!

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  2. Ooh, your dinner looks tasty.

    That's very smart of you to use this free time to get more exercise in. So many people barely have time to exercise, so it's great that you're taking advantage of it right now.

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  3. loved the nsv as it really is/are experiences like that which motivated me to stick to my path when I became...unable to see my own progress.

    MizFit

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  4. Congratulations, Tammy. Maybe while the weather is holding out, just do good walks each day added on to your evening gym routine. Simple brisk walking is so easy on joints, manageable, cheap (just need decent shoes) and gets the endorphins firing. Also lets your body soak up some Vitamin D from the sun! Boy - I need that!

    Wonderful to hear you feeling so positive and motivated. You're doing great. The food will fall in place with time. Just giving up fast food is HUGE. Everyone doesn't do food the same way. You'll find the right balance of healthy and occasional treat. I think I was getting to that place just a little back in the fall. Screwing up the knees and having to curtail so much exercise has messed me up, but I'm confident I'll get back in my groove before summer. Good work! Oh - I featured your last post a lot in mine yesterday. You really got me into a good place and led me to all the other great posts you spoke of.

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  5. Hi Tammy. I'm so happy for you! I know how hard it is when you're out of condition. And how much work you've put in to get this far. I look forward to hearing about many more hikes!

    I'm sure 2-3 miles during the day wouldn't adversely affect your evening workout.

    You've come a very long way with your eating too. Considering that these days a bad day is 2000-2500 calories. How many calories were you eating before on even an average day?

    When you think about it, even counting calories or just not eating every time you feel down is a huge step forward IMO.

    You're doing amazing in every way as far as I can see!

    Have a great week.
    Bearfriend xx

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  6. Well. What a sweet shoutout you gave to me! It always surprises me when people read what I write! Good luck today in all you do.

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  7. Yay for a great NSV. I think being able to do things like this are more exciting than looking better!

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  8. One of the major accomplishments for me was when I could climb my parent's driveway and my driveway without stopping.

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  9. Great job, just keep pressing on. It will happen for you. Hugs, Kathleen

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  10. I like it!! I like it!! I love it!!!

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  11. Sounds like you kicked THe Hill Of Death right in the butt!! Keep kicking it and soon enough it will seem so easy to run up it! Your doing great, don't stop!!

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  12. Don't you love it when you see your body making big improvements like that? That's when you really take notice of the positive changes going on. I ran up five flights of stairs the other night and didn't even stop to think about it. Last year... ummmmm, the elevator.

    WTG, Tammy!

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  13. So awesome Tammy! It is the new and gained freedoms that taste so much better than the good sacrifices that are made to get there. Yes, it feels good to eat better, but that still feels like a sacrifice to me. Whereas, you got to do something you couldn't do before is a true victory...that is what makes you keep going.

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  14. Great job, Tammy! I agree that the advances we make physically are so much more fulfilling then the numbers on the scale.

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  15. Congrats on the 4.8 miles. I shoulda loaned you my pedometer, then taken it back and uploaded the miles as my own!

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Progress Photos

Progress Photos
232 lbs. ~ Size 18/20 outfit

232 lbs.

242.0 lbs. ~ Size 22/24 outfit

242.0 lbs.

Start Weight 06-12-09

Start Weight  06-12-09
272 lbs. ~ Size 26/28 outfit