My struggles for the month of July

I knew going into the month that the first 10 days were going to be a little harder than usual as I was going up to my hometown to visit family and get a mini vacation from my everyday life here in Charleston, plus I need some much needed me time that I was going to get when the kids went to spend the night at one of their grandfather's house. I skipped my usual workout on Friday morning since I had so much I still needed to do before getting on the road at 1. Saturday morning I got up and went for my first run outside since the middle of May...it felt great. It went somewhat downhill after that. For the 10 days I was there I only worked out 3 times...I didn't feel guilty about not doing more, nor do I feel guilty about it now. I spent most of the week eating what I wanted when I wanted, never once did I over eat to the point of being so full I was sick to my stomach, but I wasn't as strict to what I was eating. Again I didn't feel guilty about not watching it more, nor do I feel guilty now.

So I'm sure you are wondering what is the struggle then?

Well a bit more of the story happened the Saturday night before we headed back home. I had made plans to go out with my dad to celebrate my birthday with him, the kids and my husband (who came home early from training and met us in Greenville). Most of Saturday I spent with my husband as the kids were at their grandmother's. We went to lunch (yummy Buffalo Wild Wings) and then checked out a few shops looking for a specialty beer that my husband wanted. I even picked up a new pair of black wedge sandals with money that I was given for my birthday (I had gone shopping earlier in the week for some new top, again with birthday money). While at the last specialty shop I picked up a Toblerone chocolate bar. We had a couple of hours to kill before my MIL dropped the kids off and meeting my dad at Red Lobster. While watching a movie I ate the whole bar, haven't done that in a long long time. While waiting on a table I started to feel very hot and thought maybe it was due to my daughter leaning on me somewhat, then a nauseous feeling hit and I began to feel dizzy. The next thing I know I'm waking up on the floor. I had fainted. Talking to my MIL (a nurse) the next day and told her everything that happened she said most likely my blood sugar level spiked over the several hours after eating the chocolate and then it dropped suddenly causing me to faint. To be on the safe side I made an appointment to see my doctor and have my blood work tested to make sure nothing else is going on. I go this Friday for the results.

So Monday I fined myself up about 5-6 lbs from the lack of exercise and not paying close attention to what I was eating...was I shocked, nope. Did it bother me, I would be lying if I said no but I decided to wait until Friday, my weigh in day to see what the actual number was. I got back on the exercise routine, at least the best I could. There were days that I struggled just to get in what I wanted to do and days where I didn't come close...why wasn't I able to jump right back to where I was? Who knows! Then there were the days that I was so frustrated with my gym. We have a small room with few machines that parents can use when they bring their children with them and we have some very selfish people who will come into the room and take those machines who don't have children, and the main cardio area is almost completely empty! I remember one day I stopped before I finished and left because of it. Let's not forget that the eating front was the best either when I got home....we ate out way too much that first week back. So come Friday I was shocked that I was only 2 lbs up from my last weigh in, still in the 150's. I knew I could get those 2 lbs off but I also knew it was time to change something in my routine.

I knew the first thing I needed to do was add weight training back into my workouts (I let it go while my husband was gone for 5 weeks of training since I couldn't take my daughter with me in those rooms). I also thought that maybe I needed to back off on my running after learning what it actually does to the body. So today was my first day with the new routine. I went to the gym alone (hubby is back on swings for a month or so) and did some weight lifting for the lower body (forgot my gloves at home) and then went running for about 5.50 miles.....WAIT A MINUTE...didn't I just say I was going to back off on running? Yep, I did. I'm now running every two days instead of every other day and the last day I ran was Sunday. Tomorrow I am going to do my upper body and another great cardio session. Plus I'm already showing a loss for the week so I'm determined to keep it up.

On a more positive note I turned 33 yesterday and had a awesome birthday. After swimming lessons for my daughter and a quick gym session I took the kids to see Harry Potter. Then later that night I went out to dinner with my husband and kids. But before we went to eat I talked my husband into taking a picture with me....we have no updated pictures of the two of us. I can honestly say that I really like how I look in the picture. Normally the top of my head only comes up to his shoulder but I had my new shoes on so I look taller, lol.

I also think that I look pretty damn good for just turning 33 and losing over 80 lbs!!! LOL