We went on vacation...super-activity vacation....Carowinds one day, hiking in the mountains the next...17 mile bike ride down the Virginia Creeper trail...rafting on the New River. Finished off with a trip to my in-laws for my FILs 80th birthday! It was a crazy busy, crazy fun week. Lots of calories burned and lots of calories consumed! So, I started fresh on Sunday when we returned. I've been tracking and running every day. Not long distances, but I got a Nike + for my birthday (also last week) and I've been playing with it in the evenings! I LOVE IT!!! Every night, I plan to gradually increase my distance until I've worked back up to 3 miles. Hopefully, it won't take too long to get back. Meanwhile, my calf is doing great. I seem to have mild shin splints right now, but it's manageable and not nearly like the calf strain problem from the past few months!
I guess I've discovered two immensely important things this past week. All of a sudden, it's occurred to me that I feel confident I can continue this weight loss journey without WW. All of a sudden, I just kind of "get it". I know when I'm doing well; I know when I'm not doing so well; I know what to eat; I know when I need to regain control by tracking again; I know that exercise is key; I have a great support system around me. It's like the bulb switched on and I realize I can do this. Forever. For real. Let me stop for a moment and absorb that.
Okay.
The other realization is how much better shape I'm in this year. Last year, we went for a hike in the mountains with my brother and his family. Climbing that mountain just about killed me. I truly lagged behind and I felt like I must have had the Biggest Loser cameras following me. In fact, that's the only way I was able to keep going - I pretended the TBL cameras were on me and I was doing one of their challenges. I stopped to rest a zillion times, was woefully out of breath and miserable. I just wanted to cry. I came home from that trip feeling like such a failure and such a loser that I had let myself get into such a bad condition. I, to this day, believe that was a turning point for me. It took me almost six more months to kick into gear, but that day had a huge impact on me. Fastforward to this year, I may not have run up the mountain, but I stayed the same pace as my kids (last year, they raced ahead of me). M lagged behind ME this time! Although I felt bad for him because I know how that feels, I had a smile on my face the whole time. I managed the climb relatively easily and I fel tremendously proud of how far I've come. I may still have a long way to go, but it was one of those "look back and see where I came from" kind of moments. It was awesome.
