If every hour of my day isn't occupied, I'm not satisfied. I love staying busy; it keeps my mind focused on something other than food, which is surprisingly very rare. It's my goal to find a happy balance between my job, graduate school, my boyfriend, and my healthy habits. Those are a lot of things to juggle, so I suppose it's time to go shopping for an even bigger pair of big girl panties. Growing up is too difficult. Adult decisions and responsibility aren't as fun as I thought they'd be. Sometimes I daydream about not caring about anything. I think how nice it'd be to eat what I want and lay on the couch, watching trashy reality t.v. when I should be preparing for the week ahead. Then reality slaps me across the face in the form of screaming children, piles of paperwork, and miles of pavement. I just have to keep telling myself that this is the life I chose. I'm really not complaining. I wouldn't trade it for the world. The school year hasn't even begun and I can already feel myself slipping into a less healthy/more convenient routine. Last year wasn't so bad. I was able to get into a solid workout schedule where I'd hit the gym right after school and make it home with enough time to cook dinner, talk to Blakely for a bit, and then it'd already be time for bed. It was a nice schedule for me, but I was devoting too much time to all the wrong things. My job became my life and the gym was my best friend. I'm making it a point to make more time for the important things.
Since my soon-to-be schedule is so outrageous, I am going to have to rely on calorie counting to ensure that I'm not gorging on all the wrong things. Weekly meal planning will be strictly enforced in the Bridges/Duke household, and no eating will take place after 8. I've got to come up with some sort of schedule for everything I'm trying to balance. Time management is totally my thing, so I'm not worried... yet.
Confession time: I have been a total stick in the mud as far as running goes this past week. The heat and the humidity are always agonizing, but I really let it get to me this week. I felt like a quitter because every time we'd try to run, I would come up with some sorry excuse after 3 or 4 miles to stop. Maybe I'm a little burned out with running. We took two full days off from exercise in the attempt to make our bodies crave running, but I feel like it had the opposite effect on me. I could totally get used to a more slothful lifestyle. I read part of a book, got tons of stuff done for my classroom; it was fantastic. Although I enjoyed my break from exercise, it was time to get back into the swing of things this afternoon with an ass-kicking circuit routine. I think that in my next life, I want to be a personal trainer. Rachel and I met at the high school stadium for an hour of some seriously serious aerobic activity. I felt like Jillian Michaels. It was such a nice change of pace and I can really tell that I got something out of it! My clothes were sopping wet and my legs were shaking afterwards. Can't wait to do it again!
Regardless of the 191 miles I've run since school let out, I've not seen a lot of results on the scale this summer. I have been eating more because I have been burning so many calories during my runs and whatnot, but I really think that I've been mostly gaining muscle. My legs are rock hard. I'm so close to Tina Turner legs that I can taste it. Even though I've improved my distance and toned up a good bit this summer, I am 14 pounds shy of my overall goal weight. Too much time and sweat has been devoted to achieving this amazing task, so I can't stop now. Ideally, I'd like to have it off by the end of the year. Now that Blakely is willing to make more changes, I am really going to step it up in the kitchen. Meals are not the issue in my house. The problem is in the amount of snacks we eat. I tried to make apple chips tonight, but they turned out to be a serious Pinterest fail. They tasted like pure brown sugar and had the texture of bark.
Bleh.
Even though my apple chips were a serious disaster, I managed to stir up a few delicious and healthy meals this week. I am proud to announce that I have finally tried eggplant! I don't know why but I have always had an irrational fear of it's texture. I stopped by a local produce stand the other day because the peaches and watermelon were irresistible. He coaxed me into trying it, and it was outstanding!
I also tried this amazing crockpot recipe that consisted of several of my favorite ingredients. I don't know anything about calories, carbs, or fat in this recipe, but I didn't care. Watch your portions and you'll be fine.
Here is a really great article that give advice for what to do and what to avoid when taking a break from working out. I tried to stick to it during my two day hiatus. Maybe it will help you too!
Lastly, I will leave you with some words of wisdom. As always, shoot me a message if you have any questions or are looking for any advice! Good luck this week in your attempt to live the life you deserve!
"The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday."
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