Routines

There hasn't been anything hugely exciting going on in the last week - but I have noticed a few things I thought I'd share.

 Much of my day has fallen into a routine that's developed on it's own. I start the day with a protein shake (and as I discovered this morning, a "real breakfast" goes over like lead). I have been primarily exercising on my lunch break. I'm so incredibly lucky to work from home, so all I have to do is go downstairs to my treadmill, and nobody cares if I come back to my desk out of breath and stinky. Well, the cats might, but by the time the Man gets home I'm usually much more presentable.

The exercise is definitely becoming a routine. I have to justify to myself when I consider not doing it, rather than trying to force myself to do it every day. I don't quite truly enjoy it yet - and I used to. When I was (much) younger, I ran for the pleasure of it, and was on an amateur bicycle racing team. I loved the early morning dew and the feeling you got when your lungs were working at full capacity and your nose started to tingle. I'm definitely not back to that yet - my 2.5 minutes of jogging I've included in my treadmill workout make me feel like a lumbering asthmatic water buffalo, not the graceful young woman who used to speed around the neighborhood with a ribbon tied around her pony tail. I want to enjoy it again - though looking at it realistically, still having over 100 pounds to lose is probably why it doesn't feel so great right now. But it's becoming a routine, which is good.

A couple other non-scale victories to report. Tuesday evening we went and looked at a new car - turns out we're not going to buy it, but when it came time to test drive it, I was able to get into the driver's seat without having to adjust the seat position beforehand, and without getting a steering wheel to the gut when sitting down. The seat belt fit with plenty of slack. Yay!

Afterward, we went to a local family restaurant for dinner - the Man remembers going there as a child with his father, so the place has been around for at least 30 years. I ordered the chicken salad "cold plate", and Holy Hannah, was that a lot of food. A giant scoop of chicken salad (had to have been nearly a cup), a similar giant scoop of potato salad, some german-style slaw, tomato slices, a hard boiled egg, cucumber salad, some olives and some radishes. Needless to say, I took a giant box home - I ate about 1/3 of the chicken salad and both the radishes, and even nibbled about 1/3 of the fresh-made corn muffin that came in our bread basket. But the best part? We were seated at a booth - it happened to be one where the table could actually be moved, but I didn't need it to be moved at all! Perfectly centered between the two banquets, and I fit with room to spare. How cool is that?!

Tonight I go out with the Flying Squirrels - I think I've mentioned them before, it's a sub-group of my program's support group that does more social things. We're going to a BBQ place for dinner (protein!) and then bowling. I have to run downstairs and find my bowling bag - I have shoes and a ball that I haven't used since Florida ('04 kids!). I'm going to let that be today's exercise - I was feeling run down yesterday, and decided today I was giving myself a break - but at least that social exercise will still be part of my day.