100 days 2 summer challenge – Corned Beef & French Fries & Cocktails – Oh My

So the first 8 days are behind me and I’m feeling pretty good. Made some tweaks and minor adjustments. I’m back up to 4 #cko classes again. Due to some schedule changes I had gotten a bit lax with showing up at anything other than my consistent 7am classes. I bit the bullet and added a 545am back into my routine – I know for a fact that no matter how I show up, I will leave that class fully spent, yet completely invigorated.. a little #tullytime goes a long way! And I will include one more class each week.

I was able to get in a 6 mile hike on Saturday with some of my #hikingfamily, I am currently sitting at 56.80 miles accumulated towards my #hikers365challenge. I logged 3 miles on the treadmill one day and one I took one day to rest my muscles.

So getting started, I was all gung ho day one. I was going to log and track everything. That lasted a few days and then I lost interest. I like bullet points, but not strict plans. I hate diets, I hate the whole concept of breaking down one of life’s greatest pleasures into scientific, measurable data. Blech…

So since the simple act of logging my food daily is disheartening, the concept of macros is ludicrous to me. Now I am not knocking it as a real way to lose weight, I’m sure it works, I just am not about to go down that rabbit hole. I did of course google and investigate before I determined that it is just way too much work for me. I have a job already. Being healthy to me is not a job. It is a privilege. I am an intuitive eater. I have tried my hand at various weight programs in the past and was most successful when my focus was on what I ate and how it impacted me overall – did it make me gain/lose weight, did it give me energy or drain me, did it calm a nerve ending radiating in my body? How much I ate and when I ate was often a key factor into how my body responded as well.

So that being said, my food intake this week was a balance of some items one might consider better choices paired with some foods some other people might consider off limit; not me, nothing is off limit. I know I said I would not engage in a diet mindset, salad this, salad that, but due to the fact I gave up bread for Lent, I did have more salads than normal, but yummy salads, topped with roast beef and swiss cheese, big mac salads with thousand island dressing, and shrimp with homemade Caesar dressing. I upped my water intake a bit, that had been lacking.

The rest of my menu consisted of meals/snacks such as protein pancakes, peanut butter, oatmeal, cocoa dusted almonds; fresh fruit; pistachio nuts, yogurt, roast beef, mojo pork, rice and beans, poke bowl, caramelized mushroom and onion omelets, tuna fish, an occasional protein shake to satisfy a “sweet craving”. St Paddy’s Day brought the corned beef, cabbage, carrots and a small piece of Irish Soda “Muffin”.. It was a new recipe and was supposed to be bread, definitely not a bread consistency, but yummy none-the-less. Since The Pope gave the ok to break fast for the corned beef, I had a piece of the soda bread too. The only limits I did impose on myself is portion size and I have held pretty strict to no food after 7pm. But there are exceptions to that rule as well, but in order to lose or at the very least not gain, they definitely need to be exceptions. A cheeseburger without the bun with fries dipped in mayo after my six mile hike was heaven sent.. I had to sample those amazing Shamrock butter cookies I made for my grandson and to bring bowling. Bowling generally means cocktails and since I wasn’t driving, well… oh and they had Duck Farts.. if you know, you know!

My phone made this collage of pictures of me, dating back a few years. It shows the evolution of my hair color as well as varying weights. Each picture is different, each picture is of me doing something I love; being the person I love and respect. A few shots perhaps not the most flattering angle.. but that’s the thing about angles, a slight adjustment and you are presented with an entirely different view.

It is important to remember our self love and joy should not be tied to our weight, it is rather a direct reflection of our light!

When all was said and done this is a challenge after all and I do have some goals to achieve. First and foremost my focus is getting trim and toned and better conditioned, secondly moving the scale closer to the number that I know from experience enhances my abilities rather than hindering them. I had a fantastic week. I’m feeling encouraged and invested, mostly well rested, despite the fact that last night my sleep numbers dipped.. Not sure why, I’ve been getting great sleep all week long; and the scale says I’m down 1.8 lbs. I consider that a bonus and it does not change the way I feel about my experiences. If the scale did not move, my week was still amazing. Lifestyle.. not diet.