An Amazing Thing

What's so amazing you ask? 

Could it be that I've taken down my Christmas decorations? Yeah right (maybe tomorrow)... Or maybe it's that I ran 3 miles today even though I haven't run that much in almost two months? That actually did happen, but it's not the most amazing thing!


Nope!  The most amazing thing is that when I went to Giant Eagle (for those of you not familiar, GE is a grocery store in my neck of the woods) after the gym and  instead of heading straight to the Hostess section to pick up my usual pack of orange cupcakes... wait for it... I got an orange instead!!! It's no wonder I never lost any weight when running before, since I would negate all the calories I just burned by eating something ridiculously calorie laden - like Hostess Orange Cupcakes, or a Chicken McNugget meal.  Today was a huge breakthrough!!! I didn't even think about it.  I walked into the store and thought to myself: "self," I thought, "self, you need to get some fruit, you have none in the house." 

Who is this person?!?!?  It's shocking really!

I'm really trying to watch my health this time around, especially since I dropped my health insurance (don't ask, it's a long story involving a $5000 deductible).  Also, I figure if I lose some of this excess weight then I'll be able to run faster since I won't be lugging all that flub.  Today also marks the 7th day I've gone without a Diet Coke, and you wanna know a secret?  Promise not to tell?  Okay, here goes... I'm not really missing it.  I did have horrible headaches for the first few days going though caffeine withdrawal, but I'm fine with it now.  I've been mostly sticking with water, but on two occasions I went with some juice.  One thing I did find though was the fruit punch I had last night I found to be almost syrupy so I watered it down.  I haven't even been mixing the water with Propel mix like I did when I was training before.  Nope!  I'm just sticking with plain old wonderful water.

Really.  Who is this person who has invaded my body?  It's like I'm adopting (I almost hate to say it...) HEALTHY HABITS.  Wow.  My tummy is not always happy with the amount whole grains and lack of processed crap I've been eating, but it'll adjust.  I also took my lunch to work everyday last week!  I made three recipes from my vegan cookbook (broccoli with figs and pine nuts, cannellini beans with garlic and sage, and a yummy cabbage soup filled with lots of other veggies too) and have been having those for lunches.  Last night I made a really delish whole wheat BBQ chicken pizza (with pineapple of course, and minimal cheese). 

This is not to say that last week was at all perfect.  No, but it was close.  Tuesday night, after I drove through horrible traffic to get to class only to have it cancelled, I stopped at McDonald's and got a Chicken McNugget Happy Meal (with water!).  And Wednesday night I had 4 slices of super buttery garlic bread (and felt horrible after).  And Friday after being strong and walking past goodies on people's ledges all week and boxes of cookies brought to the copy center, and after having walked 45 minutes at lunch only to have to walk another 30 minutes to do a hand delivery, I stopped at Prantl's Bakery and got a Toasted Almond Cup (the smallest version of their Burnt Almond Torte that they make).  BUT, in my defense, I waited until I was back at work and then I shared it with a coworker, so I had two bites of yumminess to help curb my cravings.  I think it worked, I didn't go and eat tons of chocolate after that.

All in all, I'd say I'm sticking to my resolutions fairly well.  AND, aside from missing one short run due to snow and temperatures in the teens, I've been sticking with my training schedule.  Yay!!!  Here's hoping next week will be as successful!