week two into healthy

i gotta say that i'm kinda proud of myself.  it's true that in the past that i've not done so well in sticking to a diet and exercise plan.  i've tried it here and even here...and i still somehow find myself back to square one.  it's been quite discouraging, to say the least.

this time around though, i feel like it's different.  i'm not sure why.  there hasn't exactly been an "a-ha!" moment of clarity.  it's not like i've had anyone tell me (lately) that i look pregnant when i'm not...no getting kicked off an airplane because i take up two seats...nothing like that.  i think i'm just tired of NOT being better than i know i can be.

so each morning i'm waking up by 5:45 to be out the door and on the bike path by 6am. 





it's gotten a lot easier to not allow myself to sleep in.  i'm so very impressed with my body clock these days.  but even if I don't wake up on time, then i'll do my jog at night.  i used to think that i could do a workout in the afternoon, say - after I get off work - but the 80 degree mid-day weather quickly snaps me back to reality and laughs in my face.  so i'm sticking to my morning workouts and actually enjoying it - and looking forward to it!  that's never EVER happened to me before...ever.  in my life.

 

during my freshman year in high school, we had to run 3 miles every other day for PE.  it was pure torture.  any of my classmates could attest to the fact that i was the slowest, laziest, yet skinniest girl out on the track.  humiliating fact: instead of running a 15k with all the other freshmen at the end of the year, an exception was made on my behalf so that i was assigned to only run a 10k with the overweight, obese, and apparently extremely slow 9th graders.  there was like 6 other kids with me.  mmm hmmm.  that's how much i hated running.

 

now that i'm older and of course so much wiser, i know that my metabolism is only going to get slower and it'll be so much harder to rid my body of it's excess weight later.  i'm now sucking it up when i feel side pain, i push forward when i feel like i'm gonna faint, and i tell myself, "...you can make it to that next telephone pole".  and with each triumph, the resulting rush makes me feel like i can do hard things.

 

each morning i'm blessed with views of a pristine ranch on one side, and a golden sunrise over the ocean on the other.  it makes my workout that much more worthwhile.  i love that i'm finally making time to enjoy living in hawaii (and laie, for that matter) now...because who knows how much longer we may be here.  you just never know...

i'm also being more careful in what i eat in order to aid my weight loss efforts.  but when i get to grind meals such as salmon with spinach, i really don't feel deprived of any yummy goodness.  after my morning workouts i pack my lunch and some healthy snacks to take to work, so i'm less tempted to buy something evil from the not-so-fresh seasider snackbar.

it's only been two weeks and although I've only lost about 5 pounds so far, i feel like i'm making a change in a healthy direction.  and i really hope this change will stick and positively affect the rest of my life.