Back in the Saddle Again

Looking back over the past several weeks makes me feel like I've been living in a "Phineas and Ferb" episode trying to accomplish creating an endless summer.  I've been on a steady downhill slope with my eating and exercise habits since before vacation.  However, vacation spun me completely out of control.  I've slipped back into some habits that I've not had since I was at my heaviest.  I'm eating desserts far too often, drinking sodas when we go out to eat, choosing less healthy options when we eat out, etc.  Being stagnant in my weight loss for about a year and a half is bad enough, but I'm not going to accept this 10 pound weight gain without a BIG fight.  Oh yeah, it's ON!  Instead of getting right back to business when we returned home, I've continued in my poor choices.  I find it less than humorous that it takes so long to establish a good habit, but no time at all to slip back into old, bad habits.

I really, really wish I knew why my motivation has waned so much for so long.  Almost weekly, I'll have someone somewhere comment on how great I look.  "You look long and lean!"  "You're still losing, right? You look so great!"  "I can't believe that you haven't met your goal yet.  You look amazing!"  "You've lost more weight!"  I try to take the comments with a smile and a "Thank you," but I HAVEN'T LOST ANY WEIGHT IN OVER A YEAR!  Seriously, I'm not knocking an overall weight loss of 70+ pounds, but I still have a ways to go.  I'm just NOT finished yet.  I have to get to my goal.  I realize that there's a HUGE difference between the "before" pic and the now, but I just want to get there already and more fully embrace those wonderful compliments :)  

So, today marked day one of my training plan for running another half marathon.  My husband and I have decided to do the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Savannah this November.  I didn't get my 3 miles in this morning...or this afternoon.  And I needed to go to the store this evening.  I hadn't had dessert yet today (do we see a problem with this statement??!) and I was already contemplating getting some ice cream while at the store.  Have I mentioned I love ice cream?  Anyway, as I dreamed about ice cream, I thought about chocolate syrup and oooh, maybe some cherries and oh, if I get cherries, I should definitely get whipped cream.  Enough already!!  At 8:15, I was still in my swimsuit and cover-up from a trip to the pool much earlier in the day.  I had to make a trip to the store and I wasn't going in that, so I went to my room to change.  I picked up my clothes I had worn earlier this morning and turned around and put them down.  I got dressed in my running clothes instead!  I grabbed my husband's phone with RunKeeper and off I went for a run through the neighborhood.  

We all know the story of the hare and the tortoise.  Let me just say that I'm NEVER the hare.  You'll never find me speeding ahead of everyone else and deciding on a quick nap while I wait for the others to catch up.  And if I'm completely honest, there are days that I'm not even the tortoise.  Today was one of those days that I made the tortoise look like Speedy McSpeederson.  Now, when I first stepped outside, I thought, "This shouldn't be so bad.  It's late in the day and we just had a rain shower.  It should be fairly cool."  Ha!  You could just about cut the air with a knife.  It was SOOO muggy.  The kind of muggy that you sweat upon stepping outside.  It was difficult.  It was hot.  And it was wet.  And suffocating.  I didn't hate every bit of it, but I didn't like it either.  The last time I ran 3 miles, I was in Bastrop, Texas and it was July 4th.  My time was better that morning than it was tonight.  But I finished.  I did three miles even when it seemed I was not going to get it in today.  I can check day one of training off my list and move on to day two tomorrow.  What a great feeling that is!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, the ice cream was not so appealing once I finally made it to the store.  I did buy some, but I didn't buy all the stuff to go on it.  And I didn't feel the need to break it open tonight and decided to save it for a special treat.  I had a bite, but I didn't sit down with a vat...or even a serving.  It's just time to let go of whatever is holding me back.  I'm refocusing my energy on once again treating my body to a healthy lifestyle.  Don't I deserve at least that?