The why...

When I restarted weight watchers, I vowed to not rely on pasta as my side of choice. This was one of the best decisions I made. J and I make more veggies on the side of our meals and I always use whole wheat wraps/pitas if I'm making tacos (which I started adding beans to and am hooked!)

The other thing I promised myself is to listen to my body. I would eat when hungry, stop when full, rest when needed. Though it sounds like a rule to facilitate excuses, I couldn't be happier with this rule. It keeps me from being deprived, Keeps me from burning out, and (most importantly) keeps me from obsessing over food.

These two goals have brought me to today's attempt at clean eating. I've started to like almonds (I was never a nut girl), beans (kinda), and more vegetables. I was never able to kick my red bull habit, but at 20 calories for a big one, I figured it wasn't that bad.

Last week, however, I had a killer migraine. I attributed it to allergies that had been acting up a lot lately. The next day, I felt fine, but ended the day with a headache. Same thing happened on Wednesday. The only thing that I could think of was that my sugar free red bull may have been to blame! So, on Thursday I had no such red bull. I was fine. Friday? No red bull and no headache. It all clicked. Perhaps the stuff that gives me energy is what's hurting! And that was the end of my red bull addiction.

Sunday night I had been out late playing pub trivia at the British Beer Company and was exhausted yesterday at work. One large iced tea down and I needed more. I decided to have a regular red bull. Guess what? No headache. Then i got it. I understood! It was a side effect of aspartame! I had known that Aspartame converts to formaldahyde at high temperatures (a mere 86 degrees!), but figured I really only ever had it in small doses. This stint of headaches was a slap in the face. A wake up call. These wacky chemicals going into my body are doing more harm than good!

So, today's project of eating clean is my attempt at starting to step away from processed foods. I know I won't be able to change overnight (I'm having cake at my wedding dammit!), but if I can succeed with small changes.. if I can get through ONE day of it... I know I can eventually make this my lifestyle......

Successful weekend! Successful Monday!

3 days I went without even a lick of exercise (aside from the 3.5 pushups and 10 or so sit ups J challenged me to do yesterday). I could feel it! I was itching for some action! I tried some pilates yesterday, but my bum bum was hurting! [A little over a year ago I was snow blowing and slipped on a patch of ice right on my bum. Everything went white and I screamed. I fell. I cracked my tail bone and was in pain for months. Even now, if I sit too long at the movies or a sporting event it hurts. So, going forward, calling my bum bum is not me being cute.. it's bum (like broken) bum (like bottom).] So, this morning, I planned on restarting my c25k (the coolrunnings.com version) but did not want to get out of bed! Knowing this would happen, I enlisted J in helping me get up! It worked and I got to the gym (thank god!).

I promised myself I would finish it- no matter how hard. So, per the instructions, I did a 10 (ok, 6) minute warm up walk, then ran for 60 seconds followed by a walk for 90 seconds.. continuing for 20 minutes. There were bursts where I wanted to stop. I thought "I have the hang of this, I can go to the machines now." But the bitchy controlling side of me said, "NO! You promised you'd finish this. You have no problem running in 1 minute bursts. Stop being a p*ssy and RUN!" And when I finished my last burst of running, I had a huge smile on my face!

My face was red and I was sweaty, but I wasn't panting and I had finished! It was also the most cardio I've done at the gym. I just hate cardio so much! I need to change that mindset. But that's for another day.

Yoga tonight!!

I have officially fallen off the Red Bull wagon. I just like the taste! I'll work on it, though. On Saturday night, T walked in and saw a can of red bull and made fun of me for it. I then showed him the other can.. which he had not seen. Good times.

The good news is that I ate SO FREAKIN' WELL this weekend! That was a hurdle I really wanted to make sure I leaped over and I did! I'm really glad I didn't binge. It makes me feel very good!

And I think that's about it. I want to write about my strange sense of age. Maybe I'll do that later *shrug*.

Until next time...
M