Another trip planned

I now haven't had any soda in two full days. It'll be 72 hours in the morning. Go me! My cousin, who is a personal trainer and fitness model competitor, sent me THIS article about how bad mountain dew is for me. I realize that some of his theories aren't totally proven, but it was thought provoking. It made me feel better about my decision to quit.

Also, a couple days ago, we got word that a trip to Japan is probably going to happen. My dh had been planning on going in October for a big conference for a long time. The earthquake in March made it not as likely. However, it's looking like he WILL be going. We've been saving airline miles so I can go, just in case.

This trip is even more incentive to 1- lose the weight and 2- stay off the 'dew even longer. First off, most everyone in Japan is very thin. Even the "heavier" people in Japan would be considered skinny here. Second, finding mountain dew there is practically impossible. I've visited the country twice, and lived there for a while. All three times, I had to deal with the jet leg AND caffeine withdrawals at the same time. Not pleasant. Trust me. Oh, and two of those trips were also in the first trimester of pregnancy too. Whee!!!

I am bound and determined to not have to deal with that this time around. So, it looks like if I am going to go and get addicted again, it'll have to wait until the end of October at the earliest. How about if I don't ever get to that point? I know it's the wrong attitude, but I'm just not sure if I can stay off of it entirely forever.

Getting burned out

I can see the symptoms- I'm having trouble dragging myself to the gym. Even classes that I ordinarily enjoy aren't enough to give me a good attitude. I'm glad I went when I'm done, but I'm lacking motivation to go there and have a good attitude.

I also decided a few days ago that I would quit my mountain dew habit until after the dirty dash. This month I have been kind of out of control with my soda drinking, primarily because I've spent so much of the month out of town, and I don't monitor as much when I'm out. I have gained two lbs and it's ALL in my stomach. I can absolutely tell. So, I made that decision and then immediately went crazy drinking even more in anticipation of quitting. Whoops.

I have one or two cans left, and I'm not letting myself buy any beyond that until after the dirty dash. I'm hoping that it'll make a difference this time.

Hiking hiking hiking

Well, our weekend away was almost as active as I anticipated.

Thursday was kind of a bust. I wanted to go to kickboxing before we started our drive, but dh was anxious to get going, and it would've put us more than an hour behind, so I let that go. But, we drove alllll day and I didn't have time to exercise at all.

Friday we went to the Zion Narrows. The first mile is on a paved trail; no big deal. From there on out, you are hiking pretty much the whole time in water. The level varies from ankle to armpit, but for the most part, it's about to the knee. Well, my knees. I'm short. You're also walking over bowling ball sized rocks, so your stabilizer muscles are really, really worked. The entire canyon is 16 miles long, but that's really difficult for anyone to do in one day, so people who want to do the whole thing typically backpack in and then spend a night there. We didn't do that. We decided to go until we started to feel a little tired, then turn around and go back. After we'd been going about 4 hours, we decided we should turn around.

Going back was only about 3 hours, probably because it was down stream. By the time we got done, both my husband and I were pretty tired. He had a nasty blister on his pinky toe (his toe looks ready to fall off now, ewww), and I had a minor one on my big toe. Most of my toenail polish was rubbed off. Glad I hadn't just gotten a pedicure! Afterwards, we did the math and figured we went at least 12 miles that day. Pretty good! The scenery was incredible. Hiking at least part of the Narrows has been on my bucket list, and deservedly so. It was amazing.

The next day, we were both pretty sore, so we started off slow. We went on several smaller hikes that weren't as challenging. I figure we went about 9 miles Saturday, but it wasn't difficult at all.

Sunday was the day we had to go back home. We decided to stop at the Kanarraville Canyon because we'd heard the slot canyon there was beautiful. It's only about a 4 mile hike total, and at least 2.5 of that is on dry ground. It lived up to all of its' promises. It was so beautiful, and maybe more bang for your buck than the Narrows. Much easier to access and more family friendly.

I'm finally not sore today. I think I fixed that good though- I had my first ever personal training session today. It was exhausting. I thought she'd yell at me to push me harder, but evidently I push myself hard enough. About the time I felt ready to die, she wanted to back off because I looked pale. My cardio ability is still terrible. I simply don't know what to do about that. I'm curious to see if I'll be sore tomorrow.

This is the thing that was tough for me. After all of that exercise and walking around, I was too tired to eat much at night, so I felt like my calories were pretty decent. I got home and weighed myself, and I'd GAINED 2.5 lbs. Seriously? I'm halfway through the month, and I'm 2.5 over where I started the month? And I'm 2.5 lbs over where I was on June 30th? ARGH!!!! On the plus side, I tried on two pairs of jeans from my "skinnier" collection. They fit nicely, and I'd wear them if it was cold outside. I haven't been able to wear them in at least 2 years. So, that's good news. It won't win me this competition, but I am more concerned about how I look and feel than winning money. I just wish that sort of thing could be measured.

Anniversary Trip

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. We're happier than ever, and I feel so blessed.

We rarely actually DO anything for anniversary, but this year is different. We've farmed the kids out to various relatives, and are going on a mini trip to celebrate. We're going to go to southern Utah. We'll stay in St. George, then drive into Bryce Canyon, Zion's, etc. The part I'm most excited about is hiking Zion's narrows.

I think it'll be a lot of fun, and we'll be so active I think I'll be able to eat whatever I want this weekend without negative consequences.

July musings

July was a difficult month for me.

When I weighed in on July 1, I was thrilled with my weight. You know how sometimes you'll weigh in, and it's suddenly a lot lower than it's been, and then the next day, you're back up again? That was my July 1 weight. All month long, I was very good with my eating and exercise. But, a day or two after my July 1 weight, I suddenly gained 3 lbs, and nothing I could do would shake it.

I was getting really, really upset about the whole thing, and then finally decided to just let it go and stop worrying about it. The weight slowly dropped off, but I could tell that actually having a neutral or negative number would be a miracle.

I finally did the weigh in for Aug 1, and it was exactly the same. So, July was a big fat 0 for weight loss. I was relieved not to have a gain.

When I got comparing my July pic with my Aug pic, I think that maybe I am a little thinner. My number on the scale is the same, but I think I did lose fat and gain muscle. So maybe it wasn't a total waste.

If nothing else, I'm proud of myself for sticking with it, and not giving up.