Teresa's Ponderings

  Not a good week. I knew going in this morning that I would have a gain, but I wasn't expecting a 1.4 pound gain. I did forget to take off my Fitbit, but that hardly can account for the weight I gained. Ugh.  I was able to start running again. My calf is better, but my ankle is giving me a little cause for concern. I think it's a tendon, or something similar, but when I'm taking steps it will suddenly shoot with pain. Especially when I'm going down stairs. It isn't constant, which makes it tough to figure out and also leads me to believe it's some type of tissue/tendon issue.  Things I desperately need to improve upon: Snacking. Veggies with my eggs. More water. Better food options. Portion control. Strength building on my off running days. Things I'm doing well: Not being stupid with my food choices. Persevering. Half Marathon Training: Like I mentioned earlier, I'm able to run again, but because of my calf I'm about 2 weeks behind in my training.

  It's about the trend. This is what my mantra is for my current weight loss journey. I want to live in a way that is sustainable. Because of this, I know my weight loss will be slow, sometimes agonizingly slow, but healthy and something I can do for the rest of my life. Some weeks I'll have little losses. Some weeks I'll have bigger losses. And other weeks I'll have a gain.  This week was a gain. I knew it would be and I went into my meeting knowing I hadn't done the best I could do this week, but I wasn't completely stupid either.  My calf continues to act up. I keep rolling it out, but the little lump in there just isn't going away. This is frustrating. I can't run as long as it is doing this and over a week has gone by now. September 24th will come whether I'm running or not and I prefer to be running.  Hopefully my .8 gain this week will be offset with better choices and a loss next week. 🤷‍♀️

This week I had a few stressful events, which, of course, caused me to want to eat. I didn't, but I really wanted to. I wish I could say I chose to go for a walk instead, but I didn't. I just kind of sat and cried and stared at the walls. I hate how I react to stress. Anyway, I lost .4 pounds. I'm trying to not be discouraged by the tiny amounts of loss I've had and instead focus on the fact that it's the downward trend that's important and the fact that it was a loss and not a gain. If I had gained .4 I would have been upset, SO I'm forcing myself to be excited about a loss. Even if it's a tiny one.  I hurt my calf on my run Monday. I should have run yesterday, but I'm putting it off until Friday. I'm hoping it'll be fine by then. I've been wearing my calf compression sleeve and rolling it out. I can't feel the injury when I walk and I was able to hike a portage last night, so fingers crossed. I can tell in pictures that my body is c

  I'm back from vacation! We had a fantastic time. We were incredibly busy and did several new things. Whitewater rafting being the first on the list. The kids and I took a hike up an incredibly steep, 2 mile hill and were rewarded with zero views. We went to the Lumber Jack Feud where we all ziplined, did a free fall, attempted a high ropes course, walked on rolling logs, and climbed a pole. It was quite the workout.   The kids saved their money for a couple months and played at an arcade after riding go carts.  We hiked up Max Patch <sigh> I just love the AT We completed our hike into Hot Springs. We hiked just over 20 miles in about 28 hours. Our reward was a hot lunch at Smoky Mountain Diner. We spent 2 days at Gatlinburg after our hike. Not sure I care to go back here in particular, but it was a kid's paradise. I'll stay at the towns just north (Pigeon Forge, Sevierville) any day though.  The weeks I was away from my meetings, I hiked/walked/ran a total of 111 mi