Jessica's Journey...January 3rd "in...out...in...out"

In...Out...In...Out...In...Out...

I am looking at our schedule for January and...I can breathe!  Other than 2 more Christmas celebrations with families that is about it as far as extra activities go.  February we start up with swimming lessons and karate again for Micah (as long as I get him registered...mental note to do that) and then our weekends are busy again, birthday for Micah along with a party somewhere and sometime and I'm sure there is a production at school or something that we will have to go to.

For now...I am going to breathe in...and breathe out...breathe in...and breathe out...and just enjoy January.

What a good month for us to get some snow, have a nice cozy day sitting in front of the fireplace as fluffy, white snow lays on the ground for us.  Not!  (at the moment in Minnesota I can still see more grass...dead grass...than snow)  It's coming though people.  God has not forgotten that the people who live in Minnesota expect some sort of a winter.

As I am breathing in...breathing out...I am also reflecting on my choices of what I put in my mouth during the month of December.  To say that I made great food choices and only had salads when eating out would be a complete lie.  I am going to be honest and tell you some of the food choices that I ate.  Feel free to look these up and see the calorie content.  I am not going to do that...I already know that these were high calorie items.

• Kwik Trip brownies...sometimes with walnuts, sometimes without.  This was a trigger food for me for some reason.  I'd go to Kwik Trip, I would buy brownies.  I have no idea why and they really didn't taste all that good.
• Pie.  Not just any pie...pumpkin pecan something or other.  I had some at Thanksgiving and I made 2 that I took to my parents house last week.
• chocolate covered pretzels. 
• Oreo truffles.  Oh my goodness.  These were awesome.  Not sure that I actually regret eating these...they were amazing!  Hanna Lucier...I ate them all.  Do not ever share this recipe with me.  
• Orange slices.  I love these little fake pieces of fruit.  Pure sugar.  I know.  But, I love them.
• Spritz cookies.  My mom made these and they bring me back to being a kid.  I can't make them like her.  I've tried and they just don't work (probably a good thing in disguise).  Family recipe though and it is awesome.  
• Diet Pepsi.  Not as bad as I was but at least 1 a day.

Is that enough or do I need to keep going?  I think that is enough for now.

Today I was really feeling guilty over all the horrible things that I put into my body.  Those were my choices though and I am owning up to them.  

The last couple of weeks (while consuming this food) I have felt tired, run down and just not motivated.  Any correlation?  I think so.

As the guilt was weighing on me I received an e-mail.  The title was "What to do after a binge" and was from Sparkpeople.com (great resource for those looking to get healthier...and it is all free!)  I am going to say that the entire month of December was a binge so on I read.

Want to read this article too?  Here is a link for ya.  Go ahead.  You know you feel guilty about what you ate too so read this and learn from it.

Today's workout...I ran today.  It was great!  I knew that I would have a hard time getting back into the routine of things so I didn't want to start my week with day care kids again by getting up at 4:30am.  Getting up at 5:00am seemed so much better.  I did some interval running today and finished by running at a speed of 7.5.  I usually run at 4.5 or 5 so this was really a big accomplishment.  When I run I have to do the hip abductor and adductor machines to help keep my pelvis aligned and where things should be.  Running does irritate my hips if I don't do these machines so it is important that I keep up with these exercises after running.  I can move a lot of weight though with those machines.  Want to know how much I did today?  Ok :)  I started off 2 years ago being in the 40's and 60 lb weight range.  Today, I did a max of 165 lb with one and 215 lb with the other.  I do a set of 10 reps and repeat these 3 times.  Hips are good to go!

Tomorrow I will be starting day 1 of week 3 in Phase 3.  Week 3 is tough!  Week 3 is tough!  Oh...I already said that.  Well, it really is.  14 reps in most exercises.  There are a few where that is going to be very hard, like really hard.  Gotta keep the saying, "I can do it" in my head though.  Even if I have to stop for a second and then keep going...I will finish this week.