A Recap of the Week

I would like to begin by thanking my friends for reading and keeping on top of me! Thanks Christine for noticing that I haven't written in a few days and for sending me an e-mail to check in. That's why I have invited you all to read my blog. :) I am very lucky to have such supportive friends. I will say that being motivated in the winter to exercise has been extremely difficult, but once again I have a brand new week to begin once again! Yay! I am going to start today talking about my successes in the category of Food. Here goes!

Food:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I began the Paleo 45-day challenge on Tuesday. My goal is to follow it strictly in order to measure my progress accurately at the end. March 1st is the last day of this challenge. I didn't weigh myself until Friday morning and I had John take my measurements on Saturday, but its close enough to determine results. I am embarrassed by the number on the scale, but I am going to post it here now so we can all see my progress in the end. Here is is: I weigh 205 lbs. Yikes! The good news is that although I am supposed to wait until the end to weigh myself again, I couldn't resist checking the scale one more time and it had gone down to 202 in just a few days. Part of this was because I was bloated when I first weighed myself, but I'll take it any way I can. Ha ha!

Before I tell you about my progress this week on my diet, I would like to talk a little about my goals with this Paleo Challenge. This diet is pretty restrictive and does not allow sugar, dairy, grains, or legumes including soy. That leaves out a lot of the things I like to eat but it also allows for lots of meat and veggies, which I love. So, my goal with this diet is to try to curb my cravings for sweets and bread type carbs and to develop healthier eating habits. I came across this diet through the boot camp that I belong to and they say that it can be a lifestyle change, but I'm not sure that I would be able to maintain it completely because I do love my sweets. But, I am hoping to modify this and have limited sweets rather than eating tons of junk like I sometimes do! (Which is probably why I gained around 20 lbs.) Yikes!

So, now for the synopsis of my diet for the week. I am happy to say that other than my unintentional cheat of peanut butter on a banana in the beginning of the week, I have not cheated on my diet! Woot woot! I have been drinking coffee with coconut milk, which is non-dairy and no sugar. This has been a challenge for me, but I am getting used to it. I have also begun to really enjoy the taste of coconut milk on its own, which was surprising to me because I never really liked coconut.  Today I even had half a cup of coffee black because I was so cold after running outside and then standing out in the cold weather for two hours as a volunteer. It wasn't my favorite, but it warmed me up!  I made a salad every day from Tuesday to Friday and made my own salad dressing with olive oil, vinegar, and spices. I generally use walnuts, craisins and when available leftover cooked meat such as chicken or steak on my salad. I have been eating lots of veggies and since I am not allowed to eat regular potatoes, I have been making sweet-potato fries (coated in coconut oil with salt, pepper, and seasonings), which I surprisingly love as well! :) This is surprising to me because I have never before liked sweet potatoes. Oh, and I am able to use almond butter on my bananas and it is yummy! All these things that I never would have tried! I think I need to stop talking about food because I am getting hungry! LOL

Fitness:
Other than today, this area has been a difficult one for me. The winter weather has made me so unmotivated. I need to get over this and get my butt out the door to run and to go to boot camp! I missed every day this past week and it starts again tomorrow. I will be there! Today I ran 3 miles on the SUNY Albany campus for Winter Series #4. Then I went out and volunteered flagging runners in for the 15K and 30K races and was out in the cold for 2 hours! The good news is that my time improved from Winter Series #1 3 Mile Run. That means something is working! :) I will keep you posted tomorrow regarding my fitness regime and hope to have good news!

Finance:
My finances have been OK, but since it's winter the heating bills are higher of course. I am working on getting my mom to pitch in, since she lives here too but as you know I can ask her one moment and she will forget the next. This is why I mentioned it to my brother as well, hoping he can help me with this point. Overall, I still have not spent any outside money, but the bills still come in every month as you all know too well! I have some things I need to do to decrease some of my larger bills and need to work on that soon. I will keep you posted if I figure anything out! LOL