curse the vacation

I so love actual vacations but jimminy crickets they do a job on a person's attempts at dieting and exercise. last week saw all of one day where I did push-ups. while at the beach I went out running three days in a row for which I am quite pleased; HOWEVER, the running lasted no more than 10 -15 minutes as I ran out of interest and was busy collecting shells. and forget the diet. I am not looking forward to getting on the scale again.

continuing

reached push-up number 16 today. I only did my push-ups twice instead of three times last week, but I figure once every four or five weeks it won't hurt to blow off one day. ran on saturday for all of half an hour. (one day this blog title will actually be accurate, I hope) haven't been able to get the squat exercise integrated into my daily routine yet. and the veggies haven't quite made it into my daily diet, but I am getting 5 & 6 days out of 7 which is so much better than never.

5 and another 15

it's taken me precisely two months, but I have now lost 5 pounds. certainly no fast track weight loss going on here. and I was able to get out another 15 push-ups today. had I not done so last saturday, I think today I would have stopped at 13, but I wanted to reach that new level again just to prove it wasn't a complete fluke (0r that I wasn't asleep while counting). I'm heading in the right direction, I just got to keep on....

what?!!

this morning I cranked out 15 push-ups. yes, that's right - 15. where on earth did they come from? it's not like I've been taking it easy on myself other days and stopping before my muscles are straining. maybe it was the extra day in between (mon.,wed., & fri. are usual push-up days, but I ignored them yesterday.) maybe it was the the solid 9 1/2 hours of sleep I got last night. maybe I counted wrong....
I did notice that when I got into the push-up position this morning it finally felt right as opposed to a little awkward/off. perhaps after 7 weeks of doing push-ups my body has gotten used to the form of push-ups (about freakin' time). previously, the entire process has been a struggle - including holding my body straight (too much gut and butt). perhaps my back muscles are finally strong enough to keep a straight back despite the gravitational pull on my round front side.
whatever the reason, I DID 15 PUSH-UPS TODAY!!!! HOORAY FOR ME!
it'll be interesting to see if this feat is repeatable come monday...

yeah well

my food intake has been not so good the past couple days. yesterday was the worst with a couple candy bars and a soda, besides other stuff. today was a bit better (no candy bars or soda). man, pms food cravings are rough. but this month's pms diet was significantly better than the usual week long, junk food binging to which I'm accustomed. progress, however small, must be celebrated :) !

love the veggies

at this point in my diet alteration program, my favorite from-the-can vegetable is french-cut green beens. I was reading the label on the can and did you know that a single 1/2 cup serving has 1 gram of protein, 1 gram of fiber, 4 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 grams of fat? but best of all, that little serving has all of 20 little calories. dag, I could eat the whole stinkin' can and only consume 70 calories! dude - I think I'm gonna need to eat more of this stuff.

inching on

made it to push-up number 11 today! at this rate I might reach 20 before my chronological age reaches the point in which my physical ability begins to significantly decline :0
But gosh darn it, I'm gonna reach that 20...

blah, blah

while I didn't get my 1/2 cup of veggies every day this week, I did have a 75% success rate. I've stuck to allowing myself soda only on the 4th and I actually ran a bit today. this running once every two weeks is just not doing anything for me (imagine that). instead of getting in some run time just twice a month, do you suppose I could get myself to run twice in the same week? what if it was just for a simple, single mile (I'm trying to bargain with my unenthused self)? tomorrow starts a new week and if my dates are right, I'm due for some PMS rather soon. a little extra running just might make that fact a little more manageable.

onward

three days now of eating my aforementioned veggies, stuck to the two soda quota for yesterday (and one was even diet), returned to no soda drinking today, started my squat combo thing, and am still faithfully push-upping 3 times a week (though wednesday's 10 were noticeably more difficult than usual). I do believe the waistlines of my pants aren't fitting as snuggly the past couple days. *big smile*

simple goals

after having gone 9 straight days without soda, I have decided I am allowing myself 24 ounces of carbonation on the 4th of July (which means I'll have gone 10 days soda-free). but on thursday, it's back to soda abstinence. today was a good diet day - not a single soda, candy bar, potato chip, or fast food item. I think it's time to add to my diet daily consumption of veggies as I severely lack this food group usually. I actually very much like vegetables but for whatever reason don't eat them much. So starting tomorrow, I will have at least one 1/2 cup serving of some kind of vegetable. I know I should be eating more, but I got to start small or I'll never get started. after 5 weeks of faithful 3 days a week push-ups, it's time to add something to the exercise list. I think I will try doing simple squats while holding 15 lb. dumbbells and at the top of each repetition I'll do a hammer curl followed by a shoulder press and then back down into a squat (and repeat). my upper body will get more of a workout than the lower, but, again it's a small step in the right direction. it's a slow process trying to break myself back into the habit of exercise ;) I could develop a full blown exercise routine and be all gung ho, but given the various demands on my life right now, after the oh, third workout session, I'd be thinking about all the things I need to get done that I could do with that hour I'm spending exercising. within two weeks I wouldn't be exercising at all. so I'm gonna add 5 minutes, 3x a week to the 3 minutes I'm in the habit of spending on push-ups and we'll see if that sticks.
so, summary for self:

• continue minimal soda consumption
• add 1/2 cup of vegetables to daily diet
  
• continue push-ups 3 days a week
• begin doing squat/curl/press 3 days a week

ok, I can do this (I think)

July assessment

weight: 147.6
waist: 37 (so I've lost weight from where? maybe I should reassess where I'm measuring my "waist")
diet: soda consumption notably decreased, not much else has changed
pushups: 10
running: recently covered three miles in 33:39 (yes a crawling speed for some, but for a usual 12 minute miler - quite good)