What did YOU rock out today???

I've been wanting to write this post for a loooong time. I always talk myself out of it, sadly because I probably feel like I didn't actually rock out very much that day. But in truth, we rock out something EVERY DAY. Every day we make decisions that lead us to being better people, and we almost always immediately discount those decisions, labeling them "unimportant," or "still not good enough." Not today! In fact, every single day you should be able to make a list of the things you totally rocked out that day.

Sometimes it feels like we take so many steps back with every step forward, or that lately we've only taken steps back... but we have to remember that if we were to give up, we would stop taking steps forward at all, and soon we would be mired in the dread of "where am I going?" A very wise woman told me (this morning) that even the steps back are progress when we recognize that they are indeed in the wrong direction.

So, what did you do today that was a step forward? What did you do that made you feel GOOD about yourself? I want a reply from everyone on this thread... Annie, Sara, Mom, Bryan, Aunt Son, CC, Shelia... whoever reads it. Hit reply, and tell me not only one thing, but a list of 4 or more things that you did today that were steps forward.

What did you totally rock out today...?

A Tiny Spark Will Do It

After a great run last week, I needed something to get my butt off the couch this Labor Day Weekend... voila! The Gomers announced a Virtual 5k Gomer Run for Labor Day [spark]. I signed up, decided to do it, and told one friend (Bryan) that I was going to do it--even though it was raining. Monday morning came and the rain was pouring, but Bryan faithfully looked at the radar for me and said "if you're going to run, you gotta go now. You have 20 minutes before it gets a lot worse." Well, even though 20 minutes wasn't long enough, I went. I spent 39:02 minutes running (walking some) in the rain, and it was glorious. Rain squished between my toes, ran into my eyes, made me take off and stow my glasses away, filled my ears, and shorted out one of my earbuds. I made it though (thankfully no lightening was to be seen), and I can't believe I can whip out a 5k just like that. Wow. Funny thing is, "running a 5k" is never something I would've even put on a bucket list a few years ago. I would've said maybe "run a mile," but never would I have thought that I could run 3.1.


Yesterday it was still raining, and I took it easy. Went out to the farm at work, walked maybe 20 minutes in the rain out there, and decided (inevitably?) to go to the Chinese buffet for lunch. It's just what we do when it's raining. I didn't eat so much that I was absolutely miserable all afternoon, but did eat enough to feel quite sleepy. Oh well, one meal, right?


Dinner came and I wisely decided on a Wendy's 1/2 salad and baked potato. I was feeling frisky though, and decided also to have a child size Frosty for dessert. One of those "I can do whatever I want!" kindof decisions. It was delicious. At home, I ended up having 3 Willy Wonka chocolates before shutting down the kitchen for the night. Shew! Barely made it out of that day without a full-on debacle. 


Today comes and I was supposed to run this morning. Didn't. Just laid there, not even really considering it. Realized later that my clothes which I thought were in the dryer were in the washer, as if that's an excuse for not even getting up to check. Oh well. Started to feel a little low about myself. 


Got to work, started crunching on a way-too-hard pear, and read my email. Coolest thing happened... Yum Yucky had sent out a motivational reminder to participants in her "Finish What You Started Challenge." It was a nice, long, thoughtful message [spark] that said exactly what I needed to hear. She said

"even if you slept in late, missed your workout, chewed on doughnutsfor breakfast, guzzled down a 30-ounce soda with that tasty highcarb lunch, and then couch-azzed the night away"

...that I could still make progress, and that "the key here is not perfection - you and I are not capable of perfection." God knows I can't hear that enough. I am not capable of perfection. I should write that 100 times on a piece of notebook paper. 


So, thanks Josie. In part because of you, I have just staved off a very hungry morning with a big, healthy lunch (rather than caving and going to Subway for the new $5 footlong I heard an ad for on the radio), and will use those calories to carry me on 'till 3:30 o'clock, whereupon I will scoot my butt over to the gym and do some serious work (while watching Star Wars on the VHS). It's going to be awesome. 


I hope you all get your [spark] today. 

My Fitness Pals

My littlest sister Annie told me a few weeks ago that I just had to download "this app we've been using" (meaning she and my other little sister, Beth) for food and fitness. I was like "Whatever, Annie, I've seen all the food logging apps." But she said this one was great, and I had to check it out, because not only were she and Beth on it, but Dad was on it too, and also Sara (3rd and final sister). I downloaded it to placate her, but I didn't open it 'till (sorry Annie) I saw some fancy fitness blogger was using it, too. I'm such a snob.

So I started using MyFitnessPal, and lemme tell you... Annie was actually right; it's great! It updates splendidly from the internet version to my mobile phone--I have never had an incident where I entered things on my computer, then checked my phone and it hadn't updated. It has a very good database of food, AND you can add your own foods that can either be corroborated or refuted by other users (Wikipedia-like). The database for exercise is okay, but I've had some issues with logging strength training exercise and it saying that I hadn't burned ANY calories doing them. Also, we found after some digging that you can share your food journal with your friends, or even make it public, which is something I'd really been wanting to do. 

I am LauraWV on there, and I have 4 friends: Annie, Beth, Sara, and Dad. It's like our own personal little twitterverse where we share our successes and comments on what we're doing, with other people who really want to know. I used to tweet all my healthy lifestyle victories on Twitter, but I've gotten away from that thinking that most of my twitter friends could give two hoots whether I ran or mowed the lawn for exercise today. I love MyFitnessPal, and it's helping me immensely to re-focus on my healthy lifestyle. 

So thanks to the support and camaraderie I've been getting from my sisters (and under the knowing oversight of Dad), I've been having a GREAT couple of weeks. 

Tuesday night, during a night of truly horrendous sleep, I told myself that if I was still awake by 5AM, I'd just go out and run. It was better than laying there being frustrated about not being able to sleep for another hour. Five AM came, I was still awake, so I got up. I went out, and it was so dark and beautiful outside. The stars were bright in the sky, and I could see Orion shining over me. Took my 5min warm-up walk with Lupin, leashed him in the front yard, and went off to run my 28 minutes of Couch to 5k Training, Week 8 Day 2. 

As soon as I started running I felt absolutely great. It was just one of those great runs. I went up hills, down hills, went all the way out the road that I had pictured (as I lay in bed unable to sleep an hour previously) I would make it to before the guy in my ear said "you are halfway done," and I turned around. It still seemed easy, and before I knew it I was back at my front yard and he was saying "workout complete." Unbelievable. I ran for 28 minutes (2.2 miles) without stopping, feeling great, and it was still dark when I got home. I had so much time... took a leisurely shower, then laid down with the family for another 20 minutes before I made them wake up. 

I would never have done it if I couldn't come home and immediately post it to MyFitnessPal, so my sisters and Dad would all know that I'd done my exercise for the day, subtly challenging them to do the same.