Back To Work

So, as I was running this morning, I kept thinking to myself "self, why is it so much harder today? Why is this such a struggle?" I was so sure that I wasn't going to have the results that I was hoping for (my goal is to burn at least 600 calories every day). But when I was nearing the end, I looked at the stats and saw that I had done the same as that incredible run on Friday. Another 5.3 mile run and 702 calories burned. Even when I think I'm not doing as well, I end up doing more than I expect. Yesterday, I did 5 miles and burned 620 calories. I should have just finished it out to 700, but after 2 days off, I just could not push any further. I made up for today even though I was huffy, out of breath, a little ashmatic, hungry, hot, everything to qualify me to drive the struggle bus, but I pushed harder than I expected to and that feels better than the actual weight-loss.

THEN I was driving back to the house and decided to go ahead and park the car right out front of the school to pick Isa up at 12:30 rather than leave super early to get a close spot. I then walked back to the house, ate my lunch, cooled off, rehydrated, and just relaxed. Then I walked back to the school to get her and we drove back. I really liked this arrangement a lot not only because we got to leave so quickly with the car right there, but also because I was able to burn another 60 calories (from the car and back) to add to the day's results. 760 calories burned. That's crazy! I could probably stand to eat even more today, but I'm trying to test how this affects my body. I'll wait until tomorrow to weigh and see what happened. If nothing changes, I'll most likely add a few hundred calories to my daily meal plan. If there is some loss, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Trial and error, guys, trial and error. You gotta figure out what works for you and your body. Use me as an example if you choose, but you have to figure out what you need to do for you! 

Not only did I get to do this awesome workout today, but it was after an amazingly rest-filled and relaxed weekend, one that I definitely needed. I was off-duty around 5:45 on Friday, so I went to John's with a home-made pasta dish in tow. It was delicious! It was Skinny Mac and Alfredo and you can find the recipe right here. The only addition I made was some chicken. You don't have to do that, but since we were eating it as the main entree, I added it to make it seem less like a side item. Seriously, guys. It was really, really good. If you follow the recipe, it's only 253 calories per 6 servings (that's a really big serving, by the way), but with about 4 ounces of chicken breast added, it's around 300-320 per 6 servings. It's a really good meal! We did a good bit of walking that night and that was after my amazing run that day, so I seriously probably ended up burning around 1,000 calories that day...whew!

On Saturday, I got to sleep in and it was spectac. Did some more walking after brunch, and even more rest. Sunday, we decided to go into the SF for lunch, so we walked to the BART station, rode the rain into the city, walked to the North Beach neighborhood (basically Little Italy), ate at a really cool place that had giant opened windows all along the street side, so it was like eating outside without the traffic of the people on the sidewalk. After lunch, we walked across the street to a place that sold gelato and lemme tell ya, it was worth the cheat. I had the smallest size, which was literally one single scoop, but that one single scoop was absolutely ah-mazing. I had the chocolate hazelnut and I savored every single mouthful of it. I didn't feel bad at all about splurging after all of the exercise from the previous days on top of the walk there and the walk we would be doing on the way back. After leaving heaven, I mean the gelato place, we just kinda wandered around, walked all the way through Chinatown, and then made our way back to Oakland. We decided we didn't wanna go back out for dinner, so we went to the grocery store and got spaghetti supplies. I made our dinner and then we relaxed and watched a movie. Always a good time in Oakland.

I was off on yesterday, so after sleeping in, I headed to Pleasant Hill to do some "idea shopping'. I don't get paid again until Friday, so I decided to just look around and see what else I want to get for/do to my new room. I did get some good ideas and I'm looking forward to finishing out my planning! After I came back home, I had dinner, relaxed for a while and then went for my run. Like I said, my body had some trouble after time off, but I did get to that 5 mile point and burned a lot, so it was definitely not a wasted effort. I slept really well last night, too. Like, really well. I feel asleep around 11:15 and didn't wake up one time until around 6:15 this morning. That's a really big chunk of time for me! I usually wake up at least one time before then. Of course, I'm tired all over again now, but that just means I'll sleep like baby again tonight! It's the little things. Even though for me, that's not little at all. I can't say it enough, being active is the miracle drug- the only miracle drug. My skin hasn't been this clear in a while, I'm sleeping amazingly, and my mood/energy is up! Not happy? Always feeling down? Exercise. Just walk 30 minutes a day and you'll see and feel the difference. But of course, pairing it with healthy eating is just going to intensify it. Not to sound like Nike, but just do it!

Oh, and did I mention that I'm going to have a four day weekend starting at around 5pm on Thursday? Yep, 5pm Thursday-5pm Monday OFF!!! Two unexpected on-call days for Adele means unexpected awesome for me!