Everyday Success

Finding the answers to small problems = dedication and progress. I have currently made it one month and 2 days without coffee of any kind. Yes, I do believe I deserve a medal. And now, I think of it and it sounds wonderful, but I know I don't need it. The answers to small problems is when I would wake up and couldn't think of anything besides the cup of coffee. Then I forced myself to choose from other options. What are my options, and which one is it going to be today? So now I have made a routine of making a pot of hot water and bringing my thermos of green tea to work with me and happily sip it throughout the day - it is a treat for me now, and no longer a sacrifice. No time to pack breakfast is no longer an issue. In my drawer at work I keep a jar of peanut butter, a supply of rice cakes and a bag of dried mixed fruit. When I leave in the morning I grab a yogurt and when I get to work I have my yogurt, a small handful of dried fruit and a rice cake with about a teaspoon of peanut butter spread on it and I am completely satisfied. Then I move on to my green tea. My whole day wasn't perfect - they bought us pizza for lunch so of course I ate it! But the morning was in my control and I made wise decisions and felt great.

My training is coming along terrific so far. This weekend will complete my fourth week of my running schedule complete. I am very happy with myself up to this point. The only downfall is that it has been almost entirely on a treadmill, which is not ideal at all, but definitely doable. I went to stony creek on sunday and wow could I tell I hadn't been running outside - severe shin splints for the first two miles and then in the last mile or so my pelvic and upper thigh muscles were all out of whack. So I was supposed to do 8 that day but I only did 7 miles...but I was okay with it since my body was telling me I had worked as hard as I needed to that day. That is the only day so far where I have fallen short of what I was supposed to do. Tomorrow I have to do 8 miles and it will unfortunately be on the treadmill after bree goes to bed so I will just have to get through it.

Really the key now is to try to cut back more on the high fat foods. With the gallstone issue, this is something I should be much better about so I will just slowly build more routines similar to my morning options and I will get it together soon I believe.

the latest a-ha

So I had been mulling it over in my head just weeks ago. The bloating feeling. Some weeks it is worse than others. And maybe that is just normal, many women complain of it. But it got me to thinking...hormones. How would one even know if their hormones are out of whack? And surely it has a big impact on how your body does its job.

I picked up a book by C.W. Randolph, M.D. which talks about just that - over dominating estrogen levels which cause belly fat in women over age 30 (and men over age 40). A lot of the symptoms just don't apply to me but I am reading on because a lot of it falls right in line with the other stuff I have read about my body type and health in general, concentrate on certain fruits and vegetables, calcium, fiber, healthy oils, etc.

And then the fact that I quit coffee made sense and I was proud of that move when I read on. The book states, "Studies have shown that drinking two cups of coffee a day can increase estrogen levels." In a study involving hundreds of men and women, women who had more than one cup of coffee a day had significantly higher estrogen levels! This definitely applies to all caffeinated beverages, so the pop drinkers are also at risk, thankfully I am really not.

I have also set aside a food journal for myself. Seeing that I tend to do the whole, "oh just one of these, or a little of that" constantly I need to be making myself write it down and then maybe I won't be so quick to make excuses for all of those little treats. It is time consuming but I suppose like anything once you have a routine it is not such a big deal.

Onward to slimmer and better things!

New Energy

Well I have passed the two week mark of no coffee. I have chosen alternatives like tea and water in the interim. It is better definitely but not perfect. I am at a point now where I know I can do without it, but it is still a painful journey. I am glad that I am doing it though. I think it is important to find my energy a different way, it is so amazing to me just how dependent I was on coffee. Scary really. This will be good for me to go through a training season without it. Then on race day I can have a half cup and it will be perfect!

Everyone else around me at work has crumbled in what they gave up, mostly pop, beer and choclate. Fascinating. I always thought I had a poor ability to discipline with restraining myself but they all caved very quickly, maybe I am stronger than I thought! Well, time to get ready for work. One more day til the weekend, yippee!!