Holiday Work Outs

This has been a difficult holiday season for working out.
The weather has been unusually atrocious this year, with snow up over our rumps for an entire week!
Cabin fever was rampant at my house, as my husband, son and I couldn't get out of the driveway, let alone go to work, get to the store, or do much of anything else. The day before Christmas eve I tried walking into town and discovered that the side of the road (there are no sidewalks on Witte Road, which is a main thoroughfare in Maple Valley) was piled high with filthy brown snow that had a layer of crunchy ice on top, just to make it that much more difficult to walk through. But, as I was wading along, a nice guy in a Humvee stopped, insisted on taking me the rest of the way to the grocery store, and then told me I should find a friend with an SUV to drive me back. (I actually met up with a member of the MV Library Guild while in line at the store and she and her husband kindly agreed to take me and my groceries home..what a relief!) But when we could get out, I did my best to get to the Work It Out gym and use the elliptical machine for 45 minutes to an hour and then use the weight machines to keep building upper body strength. Yes, after working out for two years, I do have "guns" but they're still pudgy guns.
I also tried to keep from gorging on sweets, but I failed at least four times. I had vegan oatmeal raisin cookies over my birthday, then I had vegan lemon cookies, then I had a tofu cheesecake (though I didn't eat all of any of these dishes, I made sure I shared with neighbors, friends and family) and on Dec 26th I went to see "The Tale of Despereaux" with my son and he insisted we get popcorn and root beer, in addition to a box of sour patch kids for him to eat during the movie. I ate probably a couple of cups of popcorn and drank around 14 ounces of root beer, but lordy, did I feel sick all night afterwards! Popcorn has a lot of fiber, and root beer has too much sugary fizz, so I spent the night with my colon smacking around my insides and my stomach feeling like I'd swallowed a live badger...ouch! Next time I go see a movie, I am getting a very small bag of popcorn and drinking water with it, no matter how my son begs for soda!
Yet, despite all the holiday sugar noshing, I've lost 11 pounds in the last 8 weeks, which isn't too bad, especially considering the abbreviated workout schedule due to weather and holiday closure.
I will, I admit, be thrilled to get back to my usual schedule of Monday balls and weights class, Tuesday walking, Pilates and spin classes, Wednesday spin class, Thursdays off and Friday elliptical machine and weights, followed by Sunday spin. I am supposed to make it to Saturday morning cardio lift, but I often skip it because I love to sleep in on Saturdays. Once the pressure to make sweets is off, hopefully I will be able to keep them out of my weekly diet plan. I am on SparkPeople every day, writing down everything I eat and trying to keep to 1,500 calories or below and 210 grams of carbs a day. I often read the Sparkpages of others and read the message boards about how hard other gals have struggled to lose weight. It's always inspiring to read their accounts and realize that I am not alone.
I got a brand new pedometer for Christmas (we still haven't figured out how it works, however) to replace the one that I got for my birthday that I washed in the washing machine, which doesn't work too well anymore.
The snow is slowly melting, and with it my excuses for not taking a 3 to 4 mile walk with my Zune tuned to all those great songs from the 80s and 90s. One of my goals for the new year, besides losing another 53 pounds, is to walk more often and drink at least a liter of water a day. I need to find a walking buddy to go with me, or a diet buddy to discuss all the trials and tribulations of weight loss. I need to be more patient with myself, and try not to see my flaws as readily as I do, and to celebrate my successes, even though they're slow in coming, and often one or two pounds at a time. Every time I turn down a sweet snack, I need to learn to praise myself for being tough and looking at my long term goals.
Anyway, I got a new purple coat that is warm and waterproof for my birthday (size 1X, three sizes smaller than I was a couple of years ago) and I also got a pair of warm boots, so now I can walk without fear of inclement weather...huzzah!