Hiking up the mountain

The last few days were spent hiking up a mountain. It is the 4th highest mountain east of the Mississippi (I think). So total our hike was about 6.5 miles.



The previous weeks of working out really paid off on this trip. It was beautiful, and I was able to enjoy it without feeling the pains in my body as I have on past hikes. I am looking forward to doing more hikes like this in the future with my family. One of the neatest experiences about hiking to such great heights is the serenity and calm you feel, that you worked so hard and only a precious few have experienced these same things.



I am headed off to the beach tomorrow to swim, kayak, build sand castles, walk the beach, bike ride and anything else that is pleasant and wonderful. I hope that I can be equally as successful with my eating habits as I have been with my fitness. It has been hard, but I am trying to do my best.

Bees on the brain

For the last number of weeks my mind has been on my goals of healthiness and trying to keep track of everything I have been doing, well not today......

This morning, I did a relaxed exercise of biking, and I today I tried to eat well. We ended up eating at a place called Sharky's where you can order "naked" items. This means they use fat free sour cream, fat free cheese, cook with no oil, and have limited carbs. It was very tasty. I will probably go there again (my meal was only 398 calories).

Most of the day, however, was spent dealing with the overwhelming amount of bees that showed up at my doorstep with in about 3 hours...







Yes, I know. Now you know why I was more consumed with this problem at my door step than eating right or working out (which luckily I was able to do anyway). We got a nice beekeeper to come out with a hive and transfer them. So any that are left, after he takes his hive, we will just kill with our killshot spray stuff.



p.s. I spent the day at my friend's house so to avoid the bees that had come into my house. She has let me borrow her hand weights (3 lbs, 5 lbs, and 7 lbs). I am excited to use them during my strength workout. Stretch bands are hard to use for certain exercises.

You are my inspiration.....hiker babe

I woke up this morning with out the inkling of desire to exercise. I was thinking that I have worked out everyday this week, whats one day? Well, then I looked at my inspiration pictures.
Thanks to www.divavillage.com

Thanks to www.hubpages.com - which has a great article about hiking as a woman.

and the third picture, thanks to www.alaskainpicture.com

If you hadn't noticed, I would like to be a hiker babe. I want to be the mom at 60 who hikes the whole AT or something (it probably won't happen), but I loved growing up experiencing the outdoors, and I want to pass that on to my kids. At least I can give them the opportunity to love it. So I look at these pictures to give me a goal of what it will be like to do a hiking tour of Alaska or the Alps.

With my motivation in hand, I decided this morning to change things up a bit. I wanted to go swimming. With my baby around, it doesn't happen very often. I called someone to see if they would watch her, and as my back up plan I figured I could always go get a "trial membership" at the YMCA :) In the end, my friend babysat and I got a fun excursion to the pool, what great refreshing exercise.

As far as progress is concerned, you will all be proud :) I have lost two inches off my waist :) It is probably just that my stomach is not stuffed, but none the less, IT COUNTS! Whahoo! I think I have lost about 2 pounds, which is fine by me. I will weigh myself on Sunday to give you the loss for the week. I just have to keep looking at those pictures......

Calories in Bread

Do you know how many calories are in a slice of bread? What about a foot long sandwich from Subway or those gargantuan sandwiches from Wal-mart which could possibly feed you for a week?

For just a normal slice of bread it is between 70 and 100 calories. So to make up a sandwich with the two slices it uses up more than half of my calorie goal for lunch....

I say this so you can understand that today was difficult :) I did have a sandwich for lunch but used the sandwich thins which only have 100 calories together. But since Roger was flying out to South Carolina today, I had bought him one of the gargantuan sandwiches from Wal-mart. Alas.... I ended up eating the extra sandwich bread with honey. It was very delicious, but I am still amazed at just how many calories are in bread products.

There is a new philosophy I have...
You choose your lifestyle and you are sized accordingly. Of course, there are proabaly a few exceptions, but it's also proabably a very few.

If you choose healthiness 100% of the time, you are a stick.
If you choose healthiness 50% of the time, you are medium.
If you choose healthiness 0% of the time, you are rather chunky.
And there is everything in between.



I came to this philosophy while thinking back to my mission, where I ate beans and rice everyday, didn't really snack a ton, and walked miles upon miles. I figure if my life were like that again, I would lose the weight like I did there, but currently my life is sitting in my kitchen with Ginger while something is playing on the computer from netflix or hulu snacking on cake or fruit, etc. So right now, I am trying to change my life style from a 50% to a 25%. I figure that I will still eat a slice of pound cake occasionally (just not 5 slices). I don't think I want a 100% lifestyle, but I think a 25% would be great!

And though today was difficult and I might have eaten too many dehydrated apple slices... I just have to take it one day at a time and know that every step counts.

Before Pictures

The Before......