The long and winding road to fitness,day 45

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Another wild and crazy work day has come and gone.  Yesterday I felt like I accomplished a lot.  Today I felt like I didn’t finish a single project that I started.It was just one of those days where someone was needing something every five minutes.  Then I’d find myself wondering what I’d been doing before I had to go show this person how to do something, or that person where something was, or answer a phone call about an application…and so on and so on all day long.  But the day is over, I did the best that I could, and that’s just going to have to be good enough.

I was much more successful with my eating than I was with getting any work done.  Once again, I totally followed my eating plan, didn’t eat any candy or anything from the vending machine, and didn’t have a soda of any kind.  And no headaches from caffeine withdrawal.  Of course, having iced tea helps with that.  I read a fabulous blog about how the sweetener in diet soft drinks can cause symptoms similar to MS and lupus (there’s a link to it on my previous blog)…now if that’s not enough to scare me and keep me from drinking a diet Pepsi, I don’t know what will be.  I pretty much ate the same things that I ate yesterday.  I do that frequently.  I know all the experts say to vary your diet, but when you live by yourself, it’s hard to cook just enough for one meal.  So I always have leftovers to take to work for a few days.  I don’t mind, it makes meal prep quick and easy.

I walked for 45 minutes today, no strength training.  But I did do a lot of ladder climbing once again.  See, there are health advantages to my job.  Yes, I know, the stress is a disadvantage, but I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of coping with it lately.  At least I haven’t been using food to relieve the stress.  Now there’s some progress!  Speaking of progress, I forgot to mention that I lost another pound last week…total of 13 pounds dropped since I’ve been doing this little fitness blog.

 I do a lot of walking, lifting, and ladder climbing for my job.  I tend to view it as extra  exercise, not my real workout. What kind of exercise do you get in your every day life…exercise that most people don’t think about when they think of exercise?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 34

What a wild and crazy day this was.  The auditor is in a nearby store, we have to be prepared…our district manager is coming for a visit,  more preparation.  Run, run, run…oh, no auditor today.  Oh, the district manager will be visiting on Saturday instead of today…so, another day wasted without getting any real work done…ahh…gotta love that!!

But I also had another good day with the eating and exercising…finished the day with 1625 calories and walked for 40 minutes,did lower body strength training, 8 exercises, 2 sets of each…not bad, not bad at all.  There was one time that I thought about heading to the break room for a bag of chips from the vending machine, but I ate an Icee  (I don’t know if that’s what they’re really called…maybe not…it’s those frozen slushy kind of things in the long tubes.)  that someone was nice enough to bring for all of us…and on a hot day like today, that tasted really good.  Totally satisfied me.

I also had a nice visit with a good friend (hey, Margaret)…she moved out of town, so now we don’t see one another like we did in the past.  We’ve got to get together and do something fun before summer ends.  We used to go to auctions and festivals frequently, now we see one another only occasionally.  So today was good.  Isn’t it a blessing to have good friends?  And have you noticed, the best of friends can pick right up where they left off no matter how long it’s been since they were together?

What fun things do you do with your friends during the summer?

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Coffee, anyone?

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It’s funny, my mom drank coffee every day, black.  Several cups.  I tried it a few times but just didn’t care for it.  So, for several years, I just assumed I didn’t like coffee.  Then a customer brought me a flavored coffee from Starbucks…oh my…how could I not have known how delicious this was?  Of course, it wasn’t calorie free like the black coffee my mom drank.  But it sure did taste worlds better.  Being the frugal gal I am, I wasn’t going to pay for coffee from Starbucks every day. Then I saw the little tins of Maxwell House International blends…when I tasted those, I knew I could have coffee-house coffee without the coffee-house price.  Yum!!  One cup most mornings.

I didn’t have a coffee maker, so I didn’t try any of the ground coffees on the market, just the instant.  But this week, someone gave me a brand new coffee maker that they didn’t need (yes, I could have bought a coffee maker myself, I just never got around to it.  I mean, how do you decide which one to buy?).  Oh my, I’m afraid this may be the beginning of a new addiction.  Today I stopped at Wal Mart after work and decided to look at all of the coffee and try to find something that I thought I just might like.  Wow!! Who knew there were so many options?  Then I saw one that caught my eye…

How could this not be good?  Do you see those words?  Chocolate truffle…oh my word.  I haven’t actually tried it yet.  I hate to admit this, but I’m not really sure how to use a coffee maker so I’m going to have to read the instructions (what’s up with that, right?) and maybe experiment a little.  But with a name like chocolate truffle, how can I go wrong?  So who has suggestions about what kind I should try next?  I’m excited about coffee…is that wrong?

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Celestial Seasonings tea giveaway

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I entered a giveaway on Facebook a few weeks ago.  Celestial Seasonings was giving away several cases of tea, and I thought “why not?  I like their gingerbread tea.  What have I got to lose?”  Well, nothing at all to lose and an entire case of tea to win.  And win I did.  I was pretty surprised when I read that I’d won.  I contacted them with my address and let them know what my favorite tea is.  Earlier this week, I answered the door to the FedEx guy and excitedly opened the box.

How fun to be able to get the gingerbread tea out of season (it’s usually only available during the Christmas season).  As much as I love their tea, I think I’m going to put a couple of boxes in my donation box for the Stamp Out Hunger campaign next month….I want to share my good fortune with someone who might not be able to afford a treat.

So, thanks, Celestial Seasonings, for the great gift of tea and for allowing me to bring a smile to someone else!

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No Soda Challenge, Day 5

Woohoo!!  Made it through a very busy, stressful day at work without giving in to the soda!!  I was on my feet all day, running here and there…just gotta love retail at Christmas time (I know, I know…it’s only Halloween, but have you been in the stores latey?  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas).  I worked out before work (exercise bike, walk and strength training for upper body), then ended up walking miles at work.  I came home hungry, didn’t get fast food, didn’t eat junk…made a delicious pumpkin smoothie..I’ll definitely be making that one again…like tomorrow!!  Yum!!  Now if only I can get enough sleep tonight to do it all again tomorrow…then a glorious day off on Tuesday!!  Ahh…