Walka Blogga Day

Yesterday Simon and I went grocery shopping and I’m just amazed at the change that we’ve made in our diet the last few months.  We found the pea pods here that we’d found in PG, who knew that one day I would actually be excited to find pea pods.  You should have seen the big grin I my face, what a putz.  I had a nice big bowl of them today with lunch and it was great.  Aside from the pea pods we came out of Save-On with what I would call a very successful shopping trip.  A whole lot of veggies and not junk, yeah go us.  We got zucchini, butternut squash, PEA PODS, baby carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, but what we didn’t get what even more amazing.  We passed on all the chocolate, sugar, and other assorted bad for you nasty stuff we used to buy.

Now if it wasn’t so fricking hot out we might actually feel like cooking it.

Still loving me some pea pods at night, it’s amazing to know I’ve found something healthy to replace the chocolate snacking a night. Might want to check outside and see if there’s any pigs flying about. Hehe. Of course I did eat a whole bag of chips yesterday at work because I was feeling snacky, still I didn’t get any big bags of chocolate to go with it.

Yeah, go me.

The Enemies:

Total Calories = 947

Total Calories = 1082

Total Calories (stand up bag) = 1333

Total Calories (stand up bag) = 1298

After being astounded to find out how many calories I was stuffing into my face on a daily basis, eating one of these per night is no longer an option, not even close!!!

The Alternative: (started tonight)

Total Calories = negligible

Day 1 = Success, Woohoo!!

Well I survived the first week with no pop, actually I guess survived is too strong of a word as it wasn’t really that difficult.  I’ve only been drinking water this past week and I have to say it hasn’t been that bad.  Only today did I really think that I could use a nice glass of pop.  I’m pretty sure that my body went through a caffeine withdrawal but it’s hard to say as I also started three new medications the same day I quite the diet coke.  It’s impossible to know which changes are from what.

I still haven’t completed the third goal for this week but then again Sunday isn’t over yet and I plan to work on that once we get back from shopping.  This is just a quick post, more to come later this evening.

Off to do some shopping out in Richmond.

Well day one went really smooth, today was not quite so pleasant.  I woke up with a nagging headache that has plagued me most of the day.  It’s not painful, just a gentle reminder to say “can we get some caffeine in here today?”  I never really thought about how much caffeine I was drinking but now that I think about it, I’m glad to be getting it out of my system.

I managed both goals one and two for the week, Simon and I both took all our measurements this weekend and today I made the appropriate doctors appointments that I needed to make.

I’ve got to say that not drinking the diet coke hasn’t really been that big of a challenge, I don’t think I was all that addicted to it, it was just more of a habit.   Replacing it with water seems to be working just fine.

Woohoo I fixed it.  Back to business!!

Things are changing around here, walks everyday, exercise and food plans, finding a doctor.  Phew it’s tiring.  Today I wanted to focus on how I have FINALLY managed to figure out how to drink enough water and a daily basis.  It’s really simple and can’t for the life of me figure out why I didn’t start this before.  Warning: if you have an aversion to tap water or can’t handle using water from the bathroom this plan will not work.

So having always been an avid bathroom reader I probably spend more time in there that is necessary.  So one day I decided that why not have a glass in here and every time I’m “reading” have a couple glasses of water.  It’s been working great since I brought that blue plastic cup into the bathroom.  I still can’t get over how simple it’s been, I manage to drink between 4-8 glasses a day depending.  Now that I’m done working it’s been a little tougher due to a lack of consistency but I’d say I still get a least 4 glasses down.

Onto the benefits: about a week our two after I started the new water program a couple of people at work made comments about how good my skin was looking lately, that I’d developed a glow.  Although I still have some dry skin issues it’s amazing how good my skin feels, it’s not as tight as it’s been for so long.
Now of course it’s gotten to the point where if I don’t have enough water during the day I can tell right away, usually my lips feel it first.  Speaking of which I think they’re a little dry right now, need to go have some water.  Later.

One more thing: chugging down 2-3 glasses of water after dinner, not a smart idea.  Learned that one the hard way.  Wait a couple of hours for dinner to settle.

Well it’s been a couple weeks now and I’m finally starting to feel the changes, that means the toughest phase of getting active again is over, phew. The muscles in my legs are noticeable again, the stomach area is feeling a little different, possible smaller and I’m able to go just that little bit further. The last couple of days I’ve noticed while walking that there’s more of a fluidity to my walking it’s not as much of a struggle as it was before. I’m happy about this but angry with myself for having to go through this again, I need to really work on a way to keep this up when I’m not working.

One of the ladies that I work with had this huge cool looking water bottle at work the other day so I asked where she had bought it and instead of letting me know where she just asked if I wanted one. Apparently she got eight of them at Wal-Mart and didn’t mind giving a few of them away. So now the goal is to fill it in the morning and get all my water consumption without re-filling.

note: I used my palm pilot because the battery in our camera is dead at the moment.

Well the first week was definitely a toughie. I’d really gotten out of shape this time, not that I was ever in great shape but this really hurt this time. It’s been two weeks now and things are starting to get better it’s easier to walk around and to and from bus stops (I don’t have to take breaks anymore). I think I’ve mentioned this before but my mindset has still changed a bit since we started this whole walka thing. I still try and stay standing at the bus stops as much as it hurts just to build up those muscles and walk that little bit further, just basically try pushing myself just a little bit more every day. I’m proud of that.

I really hate this part of the process, I know what it’s like once I’ve been walking for a while and I know how much work it is to get back to that so I think that’s why I put it off until I need to go to work or whatever gets me off my butt and then I suffer. Now I just need to figure out the secret to staying motivated when I don’t have that reason to move.

I know we’ve all been quite inactive on Walka lately, so how about some update from the rest of the crew.