No Pounds Down

(This is another blog about my weight-loss (or lack thereof) frustration. If you're bored of these posts, skip this and I'll work on posting some more New Hampshire pictures tomorrow.)

I weighed myself this morning, which I told myself I wouldn't do until after Swim Across America, but I did anyway, because I was curious. And partly because last year's hiking pants didn't fit when I tried them on last week. Even though I feel stronger from my swimming and am noticing some more muscle, I don't really feel like the fat is decreasing at all. Just that I have a layer of fat over my new muscles.

I was right, of course. I've gained 5 more pounds.

What?

I have acknowledged on here that I haven't been totally Whole30 compliant during this Whole30 experiment. HOWEVER, I'm not that bad. In fact, to hear Jason tell it, he's going to die if I don't stop making him eat vegetables all the time and if I don't stock up the pantry with processed snack foods immediately.

And, as we all know, I've been swimming 4 times a week (and kayaking! and hiking!). Despite appearances, I am not a lump.

Part of me wants to throw up my hands and give up. Descend into morbid obesity willingly since that's where my body seems to be taking me anyway. Honestly all of the mental energy I spend fretting about my body feels so useless.

But the other part of me (the part that does things like swim 4 times a week and be a lawyer) is concocting plans because there has to be a way to reverse this, doesn't there? So here we go.

• Swim 4 times a week (of course).
  


• Log food. Even though I could probably tell you how many calories and carbs I've been eating for the last several weeks with a pretty low margin of error, I'm writing it all down yet again. I'll either see that I really am eating a lot more than I think, or just have it confirmed that being on this looooong plateau really is the irrational event that I think it is.
  


• Walk 10,000 steps, 5 days a week. This week I learned that my heel pain isn't so bad when compared with hiking pain. My heel still hurts, but I'm tired of being so sedentary during the day. Today is beautiful in Providence and I went for a lunch walk because I remembered to bring my sneakers to work. It was lovely, both to get out of the office for a bit, and to be in the sun, walking.
  


• Incorporate strength training. Yeah, I've been lax on this. I'll shoot for twice a week to start.

I was talking about this with someone yesterday and she commented that maybe I'm just one of those people destined to be a bit bigger. My people were survivors so I have this amazingly efficient metabolism. Great. So if we were all starving, everyone would want to breed with me. That's sexy.

Franconia Ridge

(Just a warning, this is long. If you want to skip my storytelling, just scroll down to the pretty pictures below.)

This past weekend we went up to New Hampshire for a hiking and camping adventure in the White Mountains. We hiked the Franconia Ridge loop trail, climbing up the Falling Waters trail, summiting at Little Haystack, Mt. Lincoln and Mt Lafayette, and coming down the Bridle Path trail. The hike was a personal victory for me since last year I begged off this same hike.

My hiking history is complicated. Jason LOVES hiking. Going up a mountain is his favorite thing ever and I feel really bad that I haven't quite caught the vision. Last year we hiked up the Beaver Brook Trail to Mt. Moosilauke in the White Mountains. The trail starts out all nice and casual in the woods and then ascends almost 2000 feet in a little more than a mile. Which kind of means you're going straight up. They don't mess around in New Hampshire. No sissy switchbacks in New England. It's straight up the mountain, every time.

I fully admit that I did not listen to Jason and take the proper precautions, and I wound up dehydrated about halfway up the mountain. Which means I went the rest of the way up the mountain, then back down that super steep trail feeling like I was going to die. FYI, in the mountains, Gatorade is your friend. The first and last 2 1/2 miles of the trail consist of these giant granite boulders. Going up, you scramble up and over them. Going down, you have to step on each and every boulder and maintain your balance. It's brutal on your quads, calves and ankles on a normal day. That day, my legs were already shaking like crazy from getting dehydrated, so every time I took a giant step down to the next boulder, I fully expected to just fall over.

For 2 1/2 miles.

Super fun.

And it's not like you can just stop because, you know, you're halfway up a mountain.

Fast forward a couple months later and we were back up in the Whites with a group from Jason's lab. We decided to hike the Franconia Ridge loop trail and everyone started out all excited and fearless and feeling like, yeah, we can conquer the mountain! After hiking for 1.4 miles, we reached Cloudland Falls and took a break for pictures and to assess. One of our group looked at the coming trail and said, "Now we start going up." One person in our group had never been hiking before and his face completely fell. He asked, "What have we been doing so far?!" Because even though the trail hadn't been too bad yet, there had already been a few scrambles and a few out-of-breath breaks (for those of us not in primo hiking condition).

Ultimately, he and his girlfriend decided to turn back. They had seen the beautiful falls, and would get in almost a 3-mile hike this way. They were okay with that. I decided to go back with them.

And it's eaten at me ever since. My experience on the Beaver Brook Trail had scared me out of finishing the trail with the group.

So Jason and I decided to go for it again. At the falls, I almost quit again. Almost. Then I saw a bunch of people up above the falls and decided I would like to see that view so we scrambled up there. Then we kept going.

Two things kept me going. One, on the way up to the top of the falls, there was this really annoying narrow, slippery ledge of rock that I had to scramble over. I did not want to go back down that (which is kind of hilarious to think about now, considering the rock faces I had to slide down going down the other side of the ridge several hours later).

The second thing, and this is really the main one, was Jason. He was being such a dear and assuring me that we could turn back if I wanted to. But I knew he would be so incredibly disappointed. I knew he was already worried that this trip was his last chance to convince me to, if not like, then at least not hate hiking. He loves it so much, and after I pushed myself to go up the trail over the falls, I just couldn't turn around.

He gave me a couple of more chances on our way up the mountain to turn back, but at that point, I was determined to do it for myself.

So I did it. It's kind of an amazing route. In one loop, you can get in 3 4,000 foot peaks - though technically Little Haystack doesn't count since there is less than a 200 foot descent between it and Mt. Lincoln, the next peak on the ridge. Whatever. It's the first summit you get to from the Falling Waters Trail and in my mind, it counts.

Starting out - take the Bridle Path .2 miles to Falling Waters (or you can go straight up the Bridle Path to Greenleaf Hut and on to Mt. Lafayette).

The Falling Waters Trail runs parallel to the river, interspersed by lovely waterfalls. The water was pretty low this time of year, but the Cloudland Falls were still lovely.
After this point, the trail veers away from the water and starts going up. New Hampshire is called the Granite State for a reason. There are huge granite boulders everywhere, including on the trail.
Heading up, still fairly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, even if I am a sweaty beast. It was about 75-80 degrees the whole time and pretty muggy (there were storms coming).

One of the reasons I am not the biggest fan of hiking is because I am extremely self-conscious. I've written on here so much about my struggles to lose weight. On Thursday night I tried on the hiking pants I wore last year and they are too small. Such an awful feeling, especially when I've been working so hard with my swimming. So I feel like I'm the fat girl on the mountain and everyone must be looking at me thinking, What is she doing here? (Though if I've learned anything from my experiences at the gym and the pool, it's that people are nothing but encouraging).

Here's the thing, though. Despite my extra weight, despite my flab and cellulite, I was right there with everyone else. I was keeping the same pace as the guys and the skinny girls. They were feeling just as much pain as I was.

The trail is pretty popular so we kept bumping into the same groups of people. We would slog along and come across one or two groups resting. Then we would rest and they would pass us. We would all smile at and say things like, "Slow and steady" or "We're getting there". There's a great camaraderie on the mountain.

First peak! At the top of Little Haystack
Cairn on the ridge.It was my understanding going in that once you get to the ridge, bagging 3 peaks is cake. That's not entirely true. Yes, all 3 peaks run along the ridge. What other people neglected to tell me is that in between each peak is a descent and another ascent. I suppose that's only fair if you're going to count them, but when I was looking up that rocky slope to the summit of Mt. Lafayette, having already come up the trail to Little Haystack, and then gone up again to Mt. Lincoln, I admit to feeling a little defeated.

My motto became "slow and steady" because, really, that's the only way to do it.

We did it! At the top of Mt. Lafayette, the final peak at 5,260 feet.
We ran into an Appalachian Trail thru hiker and his friend at the top, who kindly offered to take the above picture, if we would take theirs. He had a big bushy beard and a huge, beat-up frame pack with camp shoes dangling off the back and when I initially saw him I wondered if he was a thru hiker. Turns out he started in Georgia on March 20th. Amazing!
After resting for awhile at the top of Mt. Lafayette, we started down. It's easy to forget that what you just came up, you now have to go down. 1,000 feet down from the summit of Mt. Lafayette is Greenleaf Hut, which is maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club. Partway to the hut, we started hearing bagpipes on the wind. When we arrived, a man was standing outside of the hut, playing his bagpipes, which he had carried up with him on the trail

Last year Jason and his dad did a multi-day trek and stayed at 3 huts along the way. Jason had suggested earlier in the week that he and I stay at Greenleaf Hut for the night and hike down the next day, but I thought it seemed silly to stop when we were only 3 miles from the car at that point.

Yeah, by the time we got there, it didn't seem so silly anymore. Alas, Jason had listened to me, and we had no reservations for the hut. We made a quick pit stop, and soldiered on down the Bridle Path. Jason took this picture of a lovely flat section of path just as we came back into the scrub forest.

In reality, this is what most of the way down looked like:
Yes, that is a trail.

I actually love this next picture.
Jason took it when I wasn't really paying attention to him, I was just trying to get down the freaking mountain.

The best way to describe the granite is "unrelenting". That was the word we settled on as we made our way down.

Here's our final shot of the hike, back at the start of the trail. Exhausted, but satisfied.
We went for our celebratory dinner at The Common Man, which is becoming a post-hike tradition, and then headed back to camp, where it promptly started raining. It proceeded to rain for the next 15-20 hours. We went to sleep to the rain and woke up to the rain. We packed up camp in the rain and drove out of camp in the rain.

After we left camp, we went into Lincoln, NH for breakfast, then headed back up to the mountains for some more low-key sightseeing. I'll post more about that next time.

The original plan was to camp for 3 nights. I'm sure it would have been very peaceful at the campsites last night since Rhode Island is the only state that has today, a random Monday in August, for a holiday, but Jason took pity on me and agreed to come home early. I was starting to get really sore and had a headache that wouldn't quit. I knew every campsite would be quiet, but very soggy after the hours and hours of rain.

Besides, I'm not exactly sure what we would have done today if we were still up there since another hike is totally out of the question. Probably would have just laid in the tent all day, trying to will enough strength into our legs to actually get out of the tent. No mean feat after a big hike.

I've learned from strength training and past hikes that the 2nd day after is the worst. I was kind of pleased when I woke up yesterday morning and wasn't in as much pain as I thought I would be. Today is worse. Going upstairs is bad, but going downstairs is just brutal. I feel like an absolute hero for walking up and down the stairs 4 times so far today to take care of laundry and other necessities. I deserve a medal.

Sitting here, comfortable in my house, I feel a huge amount of self-satisfaction. I did the trail that scared me last year. I bagged 3 more 4,000-footers so now I have 5 (Camel's Hump in Vermont and Moosilauke are my other 2). I am sore in that satisfying, wow, I really pushed myself hard way. I shared a neat experience with my husband. I saw views that only a small percentage of people ever see.

But, man, was it brutal.

I have a love/hate relationship with hiking up mountains. I'll leave it at that for now.

Whole30 Update

Well, I suppose I should comment on the Whole30 project that I started with Jenna at The Paleo Project and a bunch of other ladies. We actually have a long email chain going, full of questions and answers and everyone encouraging each other, which has been fantastic to participate in and read.

I must confess, though, I haven't been very rigorous. I've been good enough that I do notice a difference in how I feel when I do eat something non-Paleo, so I think that shows I'm making a generally positive showing in the Paleo effort.

For instance, the other night we had a couple people over for dinner and decided to use up some leftover raw hamburger patties and buns that we had on hand to have a cookout. I was rushing to get home in time to clean and make some sweet potato fries, so I picked up a cherry pie at Whole Foods for dessert. I COULD have eaten the burger without the bun (which I did last week when the burger patties originally made their appearance in our house), but I ate the bun. I also ate some pie and vanilla ice cream. The burger buns were whole wheat and the pie was a no-preservative Whole Foods basic, made with unbleached flour. For sides we had the sweet potato fries (baked with olive oil and a bit of salt) and I made a big salad from our Farm Share veggies. So really, on the whole the meal was not too divergent from what conventional wisdom tells us is healthy, right?

Later that night I crawled into bed with a rotten stomach ache. Not only that, but I was extremely bloated and felt like my stomach was about 2 times its normal size. By morning, I felt fine and was able to get to the pool for my swim, but I really felt yucky the night before.

Based on my own personal experiences, I'm starting to wonder if I have a mild gluten allergy. I don't seem to have the same reaction if I eat corn or rice. I might retain a bit of water, but I don't feel physically ill. Dairy doesn't seem to have a negative impact on me. I think my big problem might be wheat.

Which does not bode well for my traditional Autumn Tennessee Pumpkin Bread. I'm going to need to do some serious baking experimentation over the next couple of months to see if I can figure out a Paleo version.

Injured? Possibly.

Based on my super scientific Googling of "shoulder blade pain swimming", I think I might have swimmer's shoulder. The truth is, my right shoulder sort of hurts most of the time. I carry all of my tension in my right shoulder, which is exacerbated by my decidedly non-ergonomic office set-up.

(I actually have a good office chair, but crossing my legs under myself like a pretzel while I type probably isn't allowing the chair to live up to its full potential.)

Anyway, this is different than my normal shoulder pain and rather than being located in my lat up near my neck, like usual, the pain is more in my shoulder blade. Or rather deep down and right above my shoulder blade.

During my Masters swim on Tuesday it became more than just a nuisance, but I pushed through and did the workout. Yesterday, I wound up mostly kicking because every time I swam more than a 100, my shoulder started yelling at me. Today was supposed to be my 4th swim of Week 6, but instead, I woke up with a stiff and achey shoulder and decided to just let it go. It's not worth it to do further damage and wind up not being able to swim for a longer period of time.

The causes of swimmer's shoulder are overuse (duh) and crossing your arm over the center of your body during your pull. That second cause is exactly what I've been working on correcting over the last few weeks, but apparently not quickly enough.

We're going hiking and camping this weekend, so I know I'll more than make up for that 4th swim in terms of getting in a workout. I won't be back in the pool until Tuesday and my fingers are crossed that taking 5 days off will help.

Fundraising: Blown Away

My firm just donated $500 to Swim Across America! I sent out an email to all the attorneys last night, letting them knowing I will be swimming to raise money for cancer research. The firm doesn't have a problem with us letting people know when we're doing these kinds of events.

This morning I had $500 in my fundraising account. I met my goal, just like that, in one fell swoop! I am so grateful. I really do work at the nicest law firm.

If you're reading this and you got my solicitation email, please, don't be put off by the small detail that I have reached my fundraising goal already. Rest assured, I'm still accepting donations for this great cause.

If you're interested in donating and I haven't contacted you directly about it, email me at frazzled dot kelly at gmail and I'll send you the link to my fundraising site.

Mean Girl - Not So Mean Actually

The mean girl was nice to me today. Maybe it was because her buddy the guy wasn't there today. Maybe it was because we swam side by side the whole time and I kept up with her and so she considers me an equal now. Maybe she was just PMSing 2 weeks ago. The point is, things are good. She actually even complimented me on my ability to hold my breath while dolphin kicking across the length of the pool (one of our drills today). A compliment!

So that's good.

Today we did that drill where I feel like I'm drowning. Here's what it looked like on paper:

8 x 50 on 1:05
1st 25 - 3r, 3l, 2r, 2l, 1r, 1l, opposite arm out front, breathe on stroke side
2nd 25 - 3r, 3l, 2r, 2l, 1r, 1l, opposite arm at side, breathe on side opposite stroke

What that means is we were supposed to do 8 50s in one minute five second intervals. The first 25 consists of 3 strokes with the right arm, 3 strokes with the left arm, 2 strokes with the right arm, 2 strokes with left arm, repeat, with the non-stroking arm stretched out front, breathing on your stroke side.

The second 25 is the killer. It's the same thing EXCEPT the non-stroking arm is at your side and you're supposed to breathe on the side opposite your stroking arm.

So we had to count a lot and breathe at weird intervals and it was kind of a mess. And I felt like I was drowning a little on every 2nd 25.

FYI, there was no WAY we were doing those 50s in 1:05. Even super fast guy in the lane next to us said he was doing them on 1:15.

So am I weird when I say, I love Master swimming? Almost drowning on a regular basis is exhilarating apparently!

Beautiful Days!

This past weekend the weather was absolutely perfect! Sunny, clear, not too hot. Amazing!

Unfortunately, I had to work on Saturday, so I had to cancel our weekend camping/hiking trip. But it wasn't so bad. I brought everything I needed home with me on Friday and set myself up in the backyard to work on Saturday. We have 2 big oaks and 1 maple over the backyard, which makes it inconvenient for growing anything that needs sun, but means we have a shady sylvan nook in the back.

You like that use of the word "sylvan"? The nice weather is making me poetic.

So I woke up Saturday morning and went for a swim - my 4th of the week, which means week 5 of my Swim Challenge was a success! Then I came home and made us some smoothies and set up to work in the backyard. (Also, we might have gone to Cheesecake Factory later for linner/dunch for 1/2 price cheesecake for cheesecake day. NOT PALEO. But yummy!)

I managed to get a bunch of work done Saturday which meant even though our camping trip was canceled, we could still have an excursion on Sunday. Jason and I went kayaking and had an awesome time. I also took the opportunity to do about a half hour of open-water swimming in the ocean. It was a little tough, I have to say. First of all, a storm or something had blown in a bunch of seaweed, so I kept running headlong into seaweed and getting it caught in my fingers during my strokes. The water was completely murky, which is very unusual for that beach.

Also, as I swam up the beach, I had to fight the current the whole way, plus the waves which were rolling in at about a 45 degree angle and hitting me in the face periodically. Swimming back was easier, except for it was harder to sight for some reason and I kept getting turned so instead of swimming parallel to the beach, I wound up swimming into shore and had to keep swimming back out. All kinks I need to work out before my swim in September.

That said, it felt really great. I liked the feeling of actually getting somewhere, rather than just going back and forth in the pool. The pool at the Y is 25 yards and sometimes I wish I had a 50-yard pool available because, while I like the boost I get from the flipturns, when I'm swimming distance, it would be nice not to have to turn so often. Swimming in open water definitely appeals to me.

Plus, it was AMAZING to be swimming outside again. I can't express how much I miss swimming in the sun.

So, initial plans foiled, but a great Summer weekend just the same!

Feed Me

Fitnessista just wrote about her first pregnancy hormone/hunger-related meltdown, then asked everyone about their own meltdowns. I don't have the pregnancy excuse, but I definitely have the hunger meltdowns. I thought I would share, lest you think this blog is only about me rocking my swims.

I have a tendency to get insane (and migrainey) when I have low blood sugar. I discovered long ago that if I don't eat at least a little something before I work out, I get a migraine. Doesn't matter if I eat right after the workout, the damage is done.

Jason has found out the hard way that when I get too hungry, I get snippy and irrational, and we need to get me some food, stat. Eventually I will become completely implacable and all sorts of food will sound WRONG, which, as you can imagine, is super fun for Jason.

Our worst experience was when we were in Paris about 3 months after we got married. We had 3 days to see all of Paris and crammed those days chock full. One day we took the Metro out to Versailles, toured the palace and grounds, came back to Paris, and went to the Louvre for its free night. The plan was to get dinner when we got back to Paris. Only, every place we looked, Jason deemed too expensive. And, let's be honest, he wasn't wrong. Europe is expensive!

As we walked from one cafe to the next, I felt myself getting more and more frustrated and exhausted and just ticked off in general. Then Jason, observing my foul mood, said we could go anywhere I wanted. But by that point, we had crossed that insane line and nothing sounded good to me anymore.

Eventually, we ran out of time and needed to get in the LONG line to enter the Louvre. We finally got inside, and I felt miserable. Tired, getting a headache, not excited about being in Paris anymore, or, in fact, about being married to Jason at that moment.

So Jason sat me down on a bench and came back with a Louvre vending machine sandwich that probably cost about forty-seven dollars and was kind of nasty, but, boy, did I cheer up after eating half of that.

That was the worst and Jason mentions it periodically in the context of, "We don't want another Paris experience on our hands." It still happens, though.

I vividly remember a couple of weeks ago telling Jason in my angry voice that I realized I was being completely irrational, but I couldn't help it and I was tired and hungry and if he knew what was good for him, he would get out of my face and let me just make dinner alone in the kitchen.

He left the kitchen.

So let this serve as my apology to Jason for all past and future hunger meltdowns. Because I know I'm insane, but I know it will happen again.

Swim Challenge Update

Just in case you were wondering, the Swim Challenge is going great! I'm counting Week 3 as a success because even though I only swam 3 times that week, I showed up at the gym for the 4th swim, and it's not my fault the pool was closed. I don't get credit on my fitness tracker on SparkPeople or on the Fitbit, of course, but I'm giving myself a pass for my personal challenge.

Week 4 was a success too. I swam Tuesday, then Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I thought I would be worn out by Saturday morning, but I actually rocked the difficult 2800 yard workout our coach emailed to us, and even tacked on another 200 yards to get to an even 3000.

This week, I'm a little unsure about completing 4 swims. We're supposed to go hiking and camping this weekend, and I blew off swimming this morning because I never am thinking straight when that alarm goes off at 5:30. Tomorrow is Masters, but I have an 8 AM work meeting. However, I'm thinking about possibly scooting over to the gym super early and getting in 45 minutes.

Never mind that we're going to a concert tonight in Cambridge and won't be home until late. I really want to meet my goals! We'll see how realistic that feels tomorrow morning.

Fitbit Results Lately: Am Slug

I love my Fitbit, but the bummer part is that in the same way that your body adapts to exercise, the Fitbit adapts too. So my one hour of swimming in the morning 4 times a week is not giving me as big a bang for my buck as it was a few weeks ago. Added to that is the fact that I've been really babying my heel in the hope that it will feel better, and my daily steps are averaging about 3,000 per day. Pathetic!

Being easy on my heel hasn't really helped. I've been trying to get better about taking anti-inflammatories regularly, but I keep forgetting. Maybe I'll start setting an alarm to remind me. The point is, my heel hurts whether I walk a bunch or I don't. So maybe I should just bring my sneakers to work and start doing my lunch walks again. I can start out easy, a half hour at a time or something like that.

I'm just getting really tired of being still all day. It's especially bad on the days when I swim in the morning because I arrive at work buzzing from endorphins and I just want to MOVE. But I have the least moving job in the whole world, so all of that energy goes to waste. I think it would help to know I'm going to get out on my lunch hours again.

Mean Girls

Joining Masters swimming has been awesome. I have 2 coach-planned workouts per week and generally get nothing but encouragement from the other swimmers.

Only...I got moved up a lane, right? There's another woman in my lane who is kind of brusque, kind of stand-offish. To the point of it being a little awkward when she doesn't respond when I speak directly to her. There's just me and her and a guy in our lane now, and she's super chummy with him.

(Though, 2 weeks ago when he went first, she made a remark to me about how she kept catching him and how his hard swim doesn't really look like he's going that hard. Uh, ok. I wasn't really sure what to say, so I just shrugged and suggested she tell him she would like to go first in the next set)

It's just odd - we're grown women, after all. We'll be getting ready for the next set and she'll make a general comment, but it's very obvious that's it's only directed at the guy in the lane, and I'm not included. Or she won't make eye contact with me. Or I'll say something to her and she'll just ignore it.

Anyway, like I said, it's odd. I figure I'll just keep being friendly to her and see what happens. At least the guy is nice to me.

WINNING!

(Only 5 months since we all learned how crazy Charlie Sheen really is, and that subject line already feels dated)

I feel awesome!!

That's pretty much all there is to it. I woke up this morning feeling refreshed for the first time in MONTHS. I went to the pool and swam with my Masters group. I'm still in the fast lane*, and I'm keeping up pretty well

Seriously, someone smack me the next time I forget how good I feel when I'm not eating crap. I tell myself over and over not to forget, yet I always do. I really need to make this a lifestyle, and not just something I do here and there.

I've cut out the grains, the sugar, the majority of the dairy (I'm still sprinkling cheese on my veggies because I don't want to waste it. Also, parmesan cheese on roasted broccoli is the best thing ever). This time I haven't cut out fruit, though. The Paleo/Primal people let you eat fruit, just not too much. I think knowing that I CAN have a banana if I want it, helps me not feel deprived and makes this whole plan feel more liveable.

Still not weighing and measuring myself at all. I'm just focusing on being healthy. I think my stomach is flatter, I think my thighs have a little less visible cellulite, I think my calves are getting more defined. If I'm wrong, it doesn't really matter, because the point is, I feel great!


* Well, the fastER lane. Faster than where I was. There are these 2 freaks of nature in the lane next to us who do 100s on the 1:30, but I just ignore them when I'm assessing how well I'm doing.

Reason #427 Why It's Best To Just Stay Away from Carbs and Caffeine

Detox sucks.

I suppose I could just leave it at that, but maybe if I give more details, I will remember this the next time I decide drinking 3-4 Diet Cokes a day is an AWESOME idea.

Basically, I've had a headache since Saturday afternoon around 3. It varies in intensity, but is mainly of the behind one eyebrow, stabbing me in the head, migraine-variety. Saturday I started the Whole30, which means no grains, no sugar, no processed junk (which translates to NO DIET COKE).

I admit, I had a Diet Coke yesterday afternoon because I just wanted the headache to ease off a bit so I could get done some of the million things around the house that needed to get done. It helped for a little bit, but then the headache came back full force just as I was going to bed, and stayed with me until, well, now, really. Which meant I was not getting up to go swim this morning, that's for sure.

Whenever I detox, it usually takes about 3 days before the junk is out of my system and I feel better. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

WHOLE30 Fail

So remember that whole food discussion I had not so long ago and how I was going to do a WHOLE30 and get on the Paleo train? Well, it didn't work out like I hoped it would. First of all, there is food in the fridge that I just didn't want to waste by throwing out. Mostly dairy - cheese and milk.

However, the bigger issue was the caffeine. I had a 2-hour presentation yesterday morning and work has been so crazy busy lately that I hadn't really had a chance to go over my materials since I submitted them in May. I knew I would have to hurriedly review everything Wednesday night, then get up early on Thursday to get to the seminar location by 8 AM. It occurred to me that maybe these couple of days weren't the best time to ween myself off of Diet Coke (which I've been drinking a lot of lately).

Apparently my personal license to have caffeine equaled no holds barred crappy eating in my brain. I really don't know where it came from, but yesterday was kind of a junk food free-for-all. I didn't even TRY to eat the Paleo/low-carb option. Not even marginally.

Now, though, I have no excuse. I have a weekend ahead of me with no huge responsibilities, only social commitments. It's the perfect opportunity to knock it off with the caffeine. So tomorrow I take a deep breath, and I show the self-restraint that I know is there, but has been lacking lately.

If this is like prior times when I've laid off the Diet Coke, in a couple of weeks, it will probably taste disgusting to me. Which I know is a good thing, what with all the chemicals in those little cans, but is kind of sad too since Diet Coke with Lime has become a nice mid-afternoon treat for me. Must acquire new, healthy treat options!

I Need A Ruling Here...

I'm not going to meet my challenge of swimming 4 times a week for Week 3. I know this because regardless of my Herculean effort this morning to pull myself out of bed after not getting a lot of sleep on Wednesday night, giving a 2-hour presentation yesterday and having another late night last night for a friend's birthday party, I got to the gym and the pool was closed. Apparently the lifeguard didn't show up for work this morning.

I'm pretty positive I won't be able to leave work early two Fridays in a row to make the lap swim this evening (though if the opportunity presents itself, I'll jump at it).

Jason designated himself the official arbiter of these matters and declared I get to count this day for my challenge. Thoughts?

Let's Talk Food

I've decided to take on a food challenge in addition to my swimming challenge. I think I've got the swimming pretty well under control, and I've succeeded with fitness challenges before so I know I can push myself to get this one done too.

However, my eating has been - not so great. For instance, I had some graham crackers and milk for an evening snack on Sunday. I usually don't even buy processed foods. It's much easier to eat healthy when the stuff isn't in the house and it would take some major effort to get it. I only had the graham crackers because I bought s'mores fixings for the hiking/camping trip that never happened on the 4th. Granted, I only really had one meal Sunday, but the point isn't really the calorie intake, it's WHAT I'm eating that's the issue.

Over the past couple of weeks I've really let my eating slide and have taken in a fair amount of sugar and grains. It's really hard to remember in the moment that those types of foods make me feel bad. (TMI Alert->) When I cut out the carbs, I very rarely have gas or have any sort of upset stomach. When I eat carbs, all that comes rolling back.

Also, I've been drinking way, WAY too much Diet Coke. To the point that on a couple of days it's made me feel shaky. My favorite thing right now is Diet Coke with a packet of True Lime. I'm still a fan of True Lime (like a lime wedge in a packet!), but I need to lay off the Diet Coke. Need to remember: water with True Lime is tasty too.

I've decided to leap on Jenna at the Paleo Project's Whole30 Challenge. This is a challenge to eat Paleo for 30 days. Jenna's challenge started yesterday, but I'm starting today because we had friends in town and had a farewell dinner last night at a restaurant that has amazing desserts. Might as well end my crappy eating with a bang.

On the Paleo diet you cut out grains, sugar, legumes and dairy. I honestly think the dairy part will be the hardest for me because I love dairy. I use cheese a lot to accent my vegetable dishes and to spice up my salads. I've never noticed any type of physical reaction to dairy, so I'll try adding dairy back in after these 30 days and see if it has any effect on me. Fingers crossed that it doesn't and I can bring reasonable amounts of dairy back into my diet. But for these 30 days, I'm going to do the real challenge.

The Paleo diet also focuses on whole foods (thus, the WHOLE30 challenge). I generally eat whole foods anyway (occasional graham crackers notwithstanding) so the cooking and planning part won't be hard. It's just time-consuming. I've been swamped at work lately and I know the only way I will succeed is if I plan, use the crock pot more than I have been this summer, and PLAN.

Jason says he'll be happy to pick up my slack in the Diet Coke department. He's so giving.

Swim Challenge: Week 2 - Success!

Week 2 went off without a hitch. Well, except for my procrastination that I wrote about in my last post. But I got in 4 swims, even if I didn't get them in as leisurely as I might have hoped.

Friday I had the opportunity to swim the mile again, since that was in our workout of the week from our Masters coach. I shaved 1:05 off my time*, which means I swam it in 28:55. Nice! I think it helped that I could go at 5 PM, instead of 6 AM. I swim better after I've been up for awhile. 9 AM is really my optimal lap swimming time, but I have to go to work and dumb stuff like that.

*Not 1:55 which I mistakenly posted to Facebook, but couldn't erase until a couple of hours later after a couple people had Liked it and I didn't want to lose that positive reinforcement. I am actually really pleased with 1:05 since that's a lot of time to take off in a week.

I was supposed to swim this morning (Monday) and start off the week right, but I just couldn't get up. We have friends visiting who have 3 little boys under the age of 4. They arrived Saturday night and I honestly don't know how their parents do it.

Oh, wait, yes I do. The parents usually go to sleep by 8:30 or 9.

The kids are actually pretty low-key, as really small kids go, but their energy still wears me out. Added to that is the fact that Jason hates the idea of having the AC on all night, so I'm usually hot all night, and wind up waking up about 150 times per night. So sometimes I have a hard time getting up at 5:45 AM.

My plan for this week is to swim tomorrow (Masters!), Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

I'm a little worried about my right shoulder. Or rather, my right shoulder blade. I have a definite ache there when I swim, and even a bit when I'm not swimming. I want to get in my 4 swims per week, but I don't want to hurt my shoulder. Hopefully it won't end up being a problem.

Natural State: Sloth

This morning I posted on the daily thread of my SparkPeople swimming group that I work really well with a goal, but otherwise I'm a slacker. This is Week 2 of my 4 days a week swimming challenge and I have already identified a pattern. I start out strong and swim on Monday and Tuesday. The plan for the last 2 weeks has been to take Wednesday and Friday off, and swim on Thursday and Saturday.

Only, Thursday morning rolls around and it just feels so good to sleep in. It probably has something to do with the fact that Wednesday nights are our Young Womens activity nights so I end up winding down my evening later than usual.

(Maybe I should change my strategy and swim Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday... I'll think about that.)

Then I have to make sure to swim both Friday and Saturday to meet my goal, and hope nothing gets in the way to distract me, which on Saturdays is always a possibility. I have a feeling, though, that if not for this challenge, I could easily convince myself not to wake up early and only get in 2 or 3 swims per week. Because sleep is nice and, no matter how good those endorphins feel, exercise is hard.

I think I'm going to continually need to set challenges for myself in order to keep my exercising consistent. Maybe this is what has been lacking in the past when I've fallen off the exercise bandwagon. This challenge still has 10 weeks left so I don't have to have any amazing ideas until then, but I'll be thinking about it.

In other news, today I noticed that my right tricep is getting a little bit defined. When I noticed it in the mirror while doing my hair, I thought, "My arms are going to look awesome in 10 weeks!" I'm positive I'm the only one who can see it, but it's great motivation.

2 MPH

2 mph is roughly my speed in the water. I swam a mile during my workout today to get an idea of my timing when I didn't feel yucky like the last time I swam a mile. It took me 30 minutes exactly and I swam it straight through instead of breaking it up in chunks like last time.

I think I'll time myself swimming a mile every couple of weeks to see if I'm actually improving.

In related news, today was Day 4 of swimming this week, which means Week 1 was a success! I don't know if I'm losing any weight, but I feel stronger and on the days I swim, I have so much energy and an extra bounce in my step.

Not To Be All Judgey McJudgerson, But...

Wednesday night we took the Youth from church (ages 12-17) to a Pawtucket Red Sox game. The Paw Sox are the minor league team to the Boston Red Sox.

A couple of rows down from us was a family that was kind of a study in obesity. There was the maybe 6 year-old boy sucking down a 20 ounce bottle of Mountain Dew. He was still pretty skinny because, you know, he's 6.

Sitting next to him was his I'm guessing 10 year-old brother, eating ballpark food and drinking soda. He was a bit chunky.

Next to him was the approximately 15 year-old oldest brother, also eating crap and drinking a big Pepsi. The oldest brother was carrying a pretty large amount of extra weight.

Anyway, as I looked from the youngest with his Mountain Dew to the oldest, I just thought, Do they not see the connection here?


* Full disclosure: I ate nachos for dinner Wednesday night. And I paid for it. My stomach felt yucky for the rest of the evening.