I think part of this journey may be to update this semi-frequently.  I want to be able to hold myself accountable, but perhaps to also document my thought process, struggles, and successes with this.

My update today is going to talk about my epic walk yesterday and how my brain starts moving a lot.  I listen to a lot of music when I do this sort of thing, and it is inspiring to help me look a little deeper at myself.  One could easily say “go visit a shrink”, but that costs money I don’t have and don’t have the time for.

Yesterday I walked for about 2 hours.  Where I am, it was a nice 67-72 degrees yesterday and I actually got some sunburn on the back of my neck from being outside so much.  The pace was relatively slow, and each lap around the park I walked at was listed at 1 and 3/8 miles.  I did 3 laps, so I think that comes in at 4 and 1/8 miles.  In 2 hours.  So – as I said, the pace was not fantastic, but I took the time to really enjoy the sites around me.

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It was just one of those days that could go down as “one of the best days of the year”.  You see, in Pennsylvania where I’m from, we don’t exactly have 4 seasons.  I mean, technically we have 4 seasons, but typically spring and fall are like 2 weeks each and half of that time it’s rainy or really windy.  So – we have about 5-10 days a year that are 70, sunny, and perfect.  This was one of them.  Most of the rest of the time in summer it’s 85-90 and 80-90% humidity or during winter time it’s 27 and brutally cold with wind.  I do envy the people who live in the San Diego’s of the world and can be outside for most of the year.

Prior to going on this long walk, I wanted to carb up a little bit.  I knew I was going for a long time, I didn’t know how long it would be.  I slept a little late because I did the long (for me at this time) bike ride Saturday of 14 miles.  I hope to be at 20 miles before I shut it down for the season towards the end of October.  Therefore, my breakfast was actually around noonish and decided to have my lunch calories right with it.

Smoothie – This is loaded with carbs, but also some other good stuff like protein and a lot of micro nutrients your body needs to burn fat and give you energy.

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With the smoothie (this is one of two glasses I have), it is the following:

  • 6 oz whole milk
  • 6 oz of white grape juice (or acai or pomegranate)
  • 4 oz of whole fat greek plain yogurt (plain does not have the sugar that the flavored does, yet gives good bacteria for digestion, high protein, and good consistency)
  • 2 TBSP of chia seeds (great fiber and protein and everything else)
  • 1 cup mangoes (frozen)
  • 1 cup strawberries (frozen)
  • 1 banana

This packs a punch and a half.  I also wanted to add some complex carbs and give my body a little food boost more than just liquid.  Enter 2 oz of whole wheat pasta with a half a cup of organic red sauce.  I made up a half a pound of this a few weeks ago, put it in 4 equal portions, then split a jar amongst the 4 and froze.  I eat pasta very, very rarely these days.

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Lastly…I wanted to give my body some healthy fats and add some “good” calories along with a lot more nutrients.  Since I skipped breakfast (I woke up at like 9:40 and had coffee) I wanted to try and feed my body the fuel it might need for the day.  Enter 1 oz of cashews, 1 oz of walnuts, 1 oz of almonds.

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At the end of all of this…it’s 4:00, I have the Eagles game ahead, and I’m WAYYYY under my calories for the day.  What to do?  I fired up 6 large eggs and 3 pieces of Arnold’s health nut bread.  I used butter spray for the toast and an olive oil spray for the eggs. I then had a cup of unsweetened apple sauce.  Here’s what my end result looks like.

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Like yesterday…too far under my calories for the day.

Woke up today 1 pound heavier than yesterday.  Weight will fluctuate, I’m not terribly worried this time around.  But these are the types of struggles heavier people go through.  They bust their ass, watch “The biggest loser” then are upset when numbers don’t move.

Head space…

With two hours of walking, sometimes my mind travels in places of interest.  I try to examine introspectively a lot of cause/effect that led to where I am.  I ended up coming to some not so nice conclusions.

 

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