did better today

Well, la di da look who's back.

I did much better today, without even trying. I mean, the dish of mini-candy was displayed and in my indecisiveness I chose a mini-Kit Kat and a mini-Hershey's milk chocolate, bad girl, but then only ate the Kit Kat and didn't even WANT the Hershey's milk chocolate! The Subway I went to for lunch doesn't make cookies after a certain hour so they didn't even have any for me, and I didn't really miss it. In fact, I was oddly pleased to be eating Baked Lay's instead. I felt few or no urges to misbehave, even if I did think about them. Right now I'm thinking about the 140-cal brownie dishes in the cabinet that I'm sure I'd really enjoy, but I've had my calories for today so I shouldn't, and am I racked with temptation? Nope. Brownies? Meh.

What's the difference? Well, I don't know exactly. Trying to think if mentrual hormones were partially responsible, but who could guess whether the water retention was menstrual- or sodium-related? The big thing, though, that comes to mind, is that I had enough sleep. I slept until noon, so I didn't have breakfast until noon, whereas yesterday breakfast was at 7:00 a.m. But it's not just how spread out the calories are, but it's possible that not having enough sleep makes me want to eat. Lately I've noticed that not getting enough sleep makes my lower back and well all my muscles feel tense and irritable - maybe the angry muscles are even demanding that I binge.

Dunno. But staying much much more on track was much much easier today without my having to put forth any effort much at all.

And here's another awesome thing I can't explain - I jogged a mile today. This is at least twice as much as I've been able to do in one continuous session since 2006 or 2005 or whenever it was I had to stop jogging before. And when I did jog a mile then, it was something I built up to over a long period of time! But today, I went to a different gym, and they had a completely flat indoor track measuring 1/9 of a mile around, and as I started out I told myself to aim for 9 laps and just see what happens. What happened? 3, 4, 5 laps into it I wonder that I can't even tell if my heart rate has gone up, I'm not breathing at all heavy, and my feet are falling on the turf so softly and gently I don't feel anything at all! I didn't feel like I was working at all until laps 7, 8, and 9.

It took me about 12 minutes, maybe a little less, but more than 10 minutes.

Next time I will do more. I walked most of the rest of the 30 minute workout, did my ab work and some stretches, and then walked all over town for another 30 minutes to get from place-to-place. I was already beginning to feel what I'm feeling now - strain in my thighs and butt muscles. So next time I will jog more than a mile (if today wasn't a strange fluke) but it won't be tomorrow so I can give my muscles a chance to rebuild themselves for next time's run.

It would be great to be able to do some jogging this spring! Maybe even along the beach! But I still like hiking better. It's hard to keep jogging sometimes, but it's impossible for me to stop hiking until I've reached the end of the course, no matter how hard. Well, I say impossible, but I remember I gave out before reaching the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite. My legs just wouldn't go anymore. I gave out right in the mist. My Dad got soaked with me in the mist but said he was hoping I would quit so he could rest too. :-D

So I ask myself why the sudden improvement in jogging ability? According to my notes, last time I tried jogging was in the neighborhood almost a week ago, and I quit after 5 minutes and 26 seconds. Here are some theories:

- my route today was ideal - completely flat, unlike my neighborhood route which involves steep hills, or the 1/16-mile track at the Y that arches up in the corners. 1/9 of a mile might be the perfect distance around; not so long you get bored making one lap (like a 1/4 mile track), not so short you feel like you're running in a million little circles and one lap doesn't get you anywhere (like the 1/16 mile track at my other Y).

- Eating 3000+ calories for the past few days while not getting enough sleep and not getting any exercise meant my body was stocked with energy to burn today.

Oh, and one more awesome. This is Child's Pose.



The last time I tried to do this pose was before the diet - I could never do it. My legs wouldn't fold up enough, my belly was too big to fold over, so I'd fall over leaning all my weight on my forehead - ouch! But today, I did it, trying to alleviate this lower back irritation, and I folded up perfectly! and reached back with my arms and grabbed my heels. It's like a different world sometimes.

Anyway, I don't want to jinx anything. After all, I'm still disappointed to postpone reaching Onederland for no good reason, but don't worry about me, I'm not kicking myself or getting myself HOPELESS, it's way too early for that. I just needed to observe that I was out of control and identify some possible solutions.

I think I really will go back on the Glycemic Index Plan next week. Weather-wise, if not calendar-wise, it is spring now, and squashes and eggplants and soups and dried fruits seems to want to give way to berries and melon!!!! Welcome, spring.