Fallen off the wagon.....

Howdy-

I've fallen off the wagon and I'm lying on the road half a mile behind it. I let the stress of my thesis ruin my plan. Alas I'm not permanently deterred. I know I can get back on track with my food choices and exercise. I know that running on a regular basis (and hopefully biking too) will actually help keep the stress levels lower too.

I ended my subscription with Weight Watchers. (That sounds so much better than saying that I quit--ha ha.) March was a crazy month and I couldn't attend regularly. I also decided that I don't need to report to an environment that I'm not completely comfortable with. I will miss some of the information but I hear there is something called the Internet so I'm sure I can find tips and weight loss information that is scientifically based. I already appreciate the fact that I'm saving $40 a month. I also have some motivation due to you Nicole. If you can change your lifestyle without reporting to a program each week....I sure the heck can. I'll just let you ladies know about my weight. Accountability at its finest.

In regards to exercise, I plan to start biking to campus on a regular basis. Gavin is also anxious for some bike rides and we should be getting his bike back tomorrow. I'm going to back track to week 3 or 4 on my running program and start that up on Monday.

Here is some information from my glorious "Biggest Loser" daily calendar:

--ounce for ounce, dark chocolate has five times as many antioxidants as blueberries. I hope that doesn't deceive some women to binge on dark chocolate!

--a healthier option for high temperature cooking is grapeseed oil. I guess I've never seen this much but I've never really looked either. I have a suspicion that it may be pricey like olive oil though. The calendar claims it relatively inexpensive though.

--Eat leaner meats. I know this isn't anything new to us. I had to mention it though because the experts associated with this show suggest eating BISON! How great is that Nicole! My love for bison is being reinforced. Happy day.

--Another date on the calendar discussed cultivating an attitude of fun. Once again I know this isn't earth shattering news to us since we are educated. The information had a valid point though. Fit, healthy people typically enjoy the activity for the sake of the activity. I immediately thought of tennis when I read that point. When I think of tennis I associate fun with the sport before I even think of it as exercise. The value of the activity is intrinsic....they don't do it to just trim their waistline. The fact that the activity is good for you should be a secondary reason. I think a lot of people get hung up on the fact that they need to do something that burns a lot of calories or fixes their bodies progressively. The issue with that is burn out and the high occurrence of drop out. I remember when I tried kickboxing because I thought it would tone my legs and help me look better. I hated it. I hated how I felt during it and I hated how I felt afterward. I just flat out did not enjoy that type of exercise and only did it for extrinsic benefits. All of this made me think about my running program. Was I actually trying to fix my aerobic endurance through running? I did used to enjoy it. I would get runner's high in high school and I would feel great for hours after track practice. Even when I was using the program regularly a month ago, I felt amazing afterward. I can confidently say I'm not just running because it burns calories and reduces my body fat. It may hurt sometimes but I love how I feel when I'm done and I seriously look forward to running a 5k.

My overdue blog entry is long enough so I'll sign off here.