"Exercise: Necessary Evil or Untapped Enjoyment?"

I am late. My meetings are, as you know, on Wednesdays and now it is Monday and I'm finally getting around to writing about the "Exercise: Necessary Evil or Untapped Enjoyment?" meeting topic. Regardless, here goes nothing:

Exercise. Ugh. The bane of my existence. Even growing up, when I tried to play sports as a kid, I was never very coordinated or skilled at anything. I got used to the idea that my brother was the athletic one, and I was the smart one. It's funny how those early memories stick with you and influence your adult life. Still today, when I try some new form of exercise, there is that little voice of doubt in the back of my mind reminding me that I am not athletic and will probably suck at whatever I try. It literally took me months of psyching myself up before I could set foot in a spinning class. I was sure there was no way I was in good enough shape to keep up. Turns out, I was! Plus I really enjoyed myself!

This week I have earned exactly 0 activity points. I have not lived up to my promise from last week that I would keep up the great workouts even though I am going back to school. I was tired and my schedule was hectic and I used that as an excuse to be lazy. I am positive I will see a difference on the scale in the morning... and I hope it will be enough to motivate me to do better this week.

On a related note, I am ending my gym membership and I am totally okay with that! At my meeting last week I came to a realization that although I really detest going to the gym (sometimes enough to make me avoid going altogether!) I actually really enjoy many other types of exercise. I got caught up in the mindset that unless I was slaving away on a cardio machine at the gym (and hating life) I wasn't actually exercising. Last week, I realized that was not true. I had that huge loss and I did not set foot in the gym. I hiked with my dog, I ran intervals on the power line through the woods, I rode my bike. I loved every minute of it, earned a ton of APs, and had a huge loss on the scale. That was a real light bulb moment.

I decided that I am done treating exercise as a necessary evil and that is the attitude I have when I force myself to go to the gym. It doesn't make sense to do something I hate, just because it burns calories. I wouldn't force myself to EAT something I hate, just because it is good for me! Instead, I would find a substitute healthy food that would give me the same benefits but that I could actually enjoy. My new fitness goal is to tap into the enjoyment side of exercise. I will continue to try new things in order to find activities that burn calories and work out my heart, but I will require they are activities I actually enjoy! Plus, it sure won't hurt to have an extra $35 a month that I am currently spending on my gym membership!!

Week in Review

Wow, I was NOT expecting another large loss this week! Down 3.2! I am getting so close to my all-time adult low and I cannot wait to see that number looking up at me. Hopefully next week.

Accomplishments of the Week

This week I kicked ass because:
1) I made exercise my priority - I incorporated a ton more cardio into my usual lackluster fitness routine. I started doing intervals of running and walking on the power line trail near my house. It is literally a trail cut through the woods so a power line can run across the hill so I walked from my road to the first electric pole, jogged from the first to the second, walked from the second to the third, and so on. I am by no means athletic, and certainly am not a runner, but this was a great start! Guess who also really enjoyed it?

I also had some really great bike rides this week. I went a different way on my usual trail and look who I saw:

There was this entire swamp that was so beautiful and there were about five beavers playing around in there. They didn't seem to be too concerned that I was there, so I stopped and watched for awhile. The one in the picture seemed curious and swam right up to me!

2) I tried some new recipes - I have been trying to beat food boredom, so I plan to try a couple new recipes every week. This week, I tried three.

The first was a "Buffalo Chicken Pasta" recipe I found on the WW message boards. It consisted of chicken breast and whole wheat pasta, in a sauce made of vinegar, light whipped butter, celery seed, Franks Hot Sauce, and Laughing Cow Cheese (it called for Herb and Garlic, but I only had the Sun dried Tomato so I used that... I threw in some garlic powder for a little garlic flavor).  Being a Buffalo girl, I enjoyed the flavor of the Frank's Hot Sauce a LOT! It had that chicken wing-ish flavor without all the deep frying and butter. Not entirely the same, of course, but enjoyable nonetheless. It was a bit too spicy for the hub though.  I forgot to take a picture before we ate it all up, so it will have to suffice that I say "yum!".

The next recipe I tried was one of the recipes of the day last week on the WW website. It was "Grilled Margherita Portobello Mushrooms":

Looks like a burger, right?! It was pretty good, but I'm a fan of portobellos in general. This was a grilled portobello topped with a mixture of fat free mozzarella, garlic powder, and oregano. I put it on an Arnold's Sandwich Thin and topped with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, some fresh basil from my garden, and tomatoes. This was crazy low in points and so satisfying! I would suggest NOT eating it on a bun though, unless you're into the whole wet bread thing. I am not a fan of any kind of soggy bread and between the mushroom juices, the balsamic, and the tomatoes this meal was just too wet to come anywhere near a slice of bread!

The last new recipe I tried this week was "Grilled Corn and Avocado Salsa", again a recipe of the day last week on the WW site:

Every recipe I tried this week was good, but this one was my favorite! It is made of grilled corn (cut off the cob), scallions, a jalapeno pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic, cumin seeds, salt, pepper, avocado, lime juice, and cilantro (my favorite herb, by the way!). I loved this recipe because it was super versatile. I used it the following ways:
- To eat with tortilla chips, like you would a tomato salsa
- As a condiment in a burrito-like wrap
- Mixed in with a Mexican-style chicken bowl (with black beans, chicken, a little cheese, and some sour cream)

I'm sure there are more possibilities, but I ran out of salsa! I will definitely be making this again. It was super delicious, a little spicy, and a great new flavor to add to a lot of dishes. Plus, it kept for days, looking as fresh as the day I made it.

Goals for Next Week

Next week I will kick ass because I plan to:
1) Mix up the exercise - I know it is inevitable to lose some muscle along with fat every week, especially with these large losses I have been having, but I am not a fan of that "Body Fat %" number going up on my scale. I know I need to continue the great cardio I have been doing, as well as get back to strength training. I hope to work that in this week.

2) Get back on a schedule - School starts again this week so that means I am back to work for the school year. Summer is great for a lot of reasons (warm weather activities, fresh produce, a carefree attitude) but being on a schedule is not one of them. I'm a bit of a control freak, so the school year is good for me because I can plan more regular meals and exercise since I am on a set schedule. Sometimes, this throws me off right at the beginning of the school year since it's hard to figure out how I ever had time to work, exercise, cook, clean, etc (I've often fallen victim to ordering a lot of pizza during the first couple weeks of school). I'm spoiled in the summer and can use all my time to care for myself and my home! It's a lot harder when I suddenly have to convert back to the working woman! My goal this year is to not let the transition phase me and to keep up my recent success!