The Turning Point

This has been a great week for many reasons, most notably was the surprise 30th birthday party on Friday night that my girlfriend had been planning for months. It also happened to be the end of a great week for fitness success.

At the end of Week 3, I reached a few milestones:

• My new body weight is 177 lbs (starting weight was approx. 180 lbs)
• From week 2-3 my weight for doing arm curls rose by 5 lbs
• I am now able to do my warm-up run without having to stop
• I can run (on the treadmill) at a speed of about 4.8mph for 20 minutes without stopping

I also learned that any deviation from my exercise routine and strict diet cause my internal workings to fall apart. For example: I had my first drink in 3 weeks on Friday, and within 30 seconds, I had a throbbing pain on the right side of my head. What was most surprising was eating a piece of chocolate cake. Since I have been away from sweet for weeks now I actually didn’t really “need” the taste of it. It wasn’t like the addictive need for sweets that I had before I started the challenge. But, after that night I did have stomach irritation and heartburn.

For my birthday weekend, I was fortunate to have a few of my siblings to join me for the entire weekend. However, the biggest challenge was being out of the house in places where I couldn’t a) eat at regular intervals, b) didn’t have enough time to prepare food to take with me and c) the food I had access to was not the healthiest, which ultimately meant resorting to eating salads (which are not filling and gross). I felt hungry, irritable and not able to fully be energized. It occurred to me that I needed to have a emergency kit, similar to with an earthquake readiness kit, to be available at a minutes notice when I know I won’t be able to make my own food. What hasn’t be resolved is that I need to eat a LOT every day in order to not feel heartburn and keep an even sugar level so I’m not irritable. I never thought that I would have to be so attentive to my food and such to actually feel healthy, happy and energized.

Whether it is exercise or me realizing that I have to really watch what I eat to feel OK, I do feel that I’ve reached a turning point and hopefully things will continue to move in a positive direction. G