Progress

This weekend was pretty good eating and exercise-wise. On Saturday, we ran some errands, which meant a little moving. I had a small bowl of mac and cheese, and a couple of bites for seconds, which is less than normal for me.

Saturday afternoon I met a friend for coffee at a bookstore, and even though I normally would have gotten a mocha something or other with whipped cream, for the first time in years, I ordered a hot tea instead. I put a little cream and sugar, but that was a huge deal for me. I also walked almost the entire length of the plaza and back, rather than get in my car to head to another store. Dinner went pretty well also.

Today, we took a hike in the woods, and got about 40 or so minutes of walking in, including quite a few hills. I seem to recall that same hike being easier late this summer/early fall, but that could have had something to do with the snow and mud today as much as it did the shape I am in.

For dinner, although I did not have my usual second bowl of pasta (cheese tortellini in this case), I did have a few additional bites as well as some cheese sticks. All in all, I ate less, even if just a little, than normal.

And before I got ready for bed, I did some lunges, squats, calf raises, and stomach things. I also did almost three push ups. I don't think I will ever get back to the 25 (or maybe it was even 30) I could do in 2001, but I am shooting for 10 in the next few months. 

I am happy to report I weighed 155.5 both this morning and yesterday. I hate that I have to get excited for that number, but it sure beats the 157-157.5 I have been weighing the past few weeks.

Here's hoping I have some more good things to report this week, but with a dangerous cold front coming, I have low expectations. Still, any days I can cut back on eating and/or move a bit are better than days on end of eating a lot/a lot of bad things and sitting around.

A step and a run

I have not been exercising as much as I should be. Since I last wrote, I swam two times, did Zumba twice, and took a short (45 minutes?) hike at Frick Park. I did some running around with the kid at the park, but that is nothing to brag about. Today I was a little more productive.

I walked up and down the 65ish steps three or four times while talking on the phone. Once I ended that call, I ran up and jogged down the steps 10 times. It took me 8:19 to do that, which is respectable. Once I finished that journey, I jogged for about eight minutes on the mostly flat upper lot at school. Then, for the final three or four minutes, I sprinted for about 20 seconds at a time and then jogged slowly in between, for probably 30 or 40 seconds.

I felt okay for most of the running, though I was wishing I had on short sleeves and shorts. At first, as usual, I was thinking it was going to be too much, but since I decided from the get-go I was going to make only 10 trips, it made it easier mentally. As for the sprinting at the end, even that was not so bad. The downside is my heart rate did get up (around 180 bpm) every time I finished a sprint. But I like to think the old ticker is going strong.