I started the day, knowing that I needed to save calories for my mother’s birthday dinner, but a work event and a weakness for cookies derailed my plans. At the end of the day, however, I got back on track instead of continuing further into the hole, like I have done so many times in the past, which is a HUGE win. Plus, after entering my food into My Fitness Pal, I discovered that those choices will still lead to weight loss – just not as much . . . but I will take it!
Because I had plans to be at my mom’s house after work, I knew I would have to find time to exercise during the day. The only class that appealed to me was Zumba but it was at 9:45am. My youngest daughter had volleyball games starting at 4:15pm, so I would already have to miss work. In order to to make-up time, I got to work early – before 7:30am. (I wanted to get there by 7:00am but I always find things to clean, put away or wipe down and then I almost always leave the house later then I want.) Going through the trouble of shuffling my schedule around just so I could do an exercise class showed my level of commitment and was a major reason why this day did not turn out as badly as it could have.
I had not danced with this instructor in a long while, but I joined right in like I had never missed a beat! I had forgotten how much fun she is and I got to see some old friends too! There were quite a few new songs to learn, though. One of the reasons I love Zumba so much is that the moves repeat, just like the chorus in a song does, so it’s easy to follow along since you can predict the next moves after you get familiar with the layout of the song. I was not feeling sad or depressed when I arrived, but the class certainly woke me up and brought a spark back into my day. After class, I really wanted to eat chips and salsa by the beach, for some reason. (FYI – Traditional Zumba is made up of a majority of Latin dances, like salsa, cha-cha, jive, paso doble, rumba and samba, with an origin of Mexico, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. You’re welcome.)
When I got back to work, I cut up some wild apples from our yard and mixed in yogurt and granola. The creamy texture of the yogurt and the crunchy nature of the granola complimented the sweet and very tart apples perfectly. We have lived in this house since 2009 and I look forward to harvest season every year!
So far so good, right? Then I was reminded about a work event happening later that afternoon where they would be serving popcorn and slushies. I was already getting hungry, so I decided to eat a bag of popcorn. At first, I passed on the slushies but then I learned that one of them had a base of coca cola, which I LOVE, so I decided to have a glass after all. I figured that was an additional 300 calories, at least. Then when I went home to get my daughter, I ate two little cookies that she had just baked that afternoon. It was a moment of weakness that took away another 200 calories from my overall total for the day.
After the volleyball games – where my daughter won all 3 games and had some amazing serves and hits, including a spike that was not returned – we went to my mother’s house to celebrate her 71st birthday. She wanted pizza so I requested that one be thin crust, vegetarian style, which she obliged. I knew that I only had about 300 calories left for the day so I kind of “threw in the towel” and ate 3 slices, along with some watermelon, and drank some chocolate milk. I can tell that I am starting to get burned out of making healthy choices and worrying about calories. Spending time with my mother on her birthday was a perfect excuse to just let go and enjoy my evening.
I don’t regret my choices, though. I considered going home right away and trying to earn some of those calories back by getting more exercise and walking around my neighborhood, but we stayed and played a full game of dominoes instead. It was so nice to be with my daughters, husband and parents for a long evening. We all had a great time. There is always an abundance of laughter and conversation when we are all together. My parents will go south again after Thanksgiving, which means we will not see them until late April or early May, so we try to spend time with them every chance we get. And not to be morbid, but especially during this pandemic, we are all learning that you cannot predict how much time we have left on this earth so we better make the most of it!
After we got home from mom’s little “party,” I considered making up a bowl of cool whip and frozen yogurt (yes – in that order) but instead, I poured some Liquid IV into my water bottle and put it in the freezer while I did some laundry. Then I took it with me to my office so I could journal and drink it at the same time. I could already tell that I had not been drinking enough water today and since I had done a 55 minute Zumba class in the morning and eaten pizza for supper, I knew that I would be in trouble tomorrow if I didn’t get some more hydration into my body. The little bit of sweet from the drink was just like having a dessert anyway – well, kind of.
So I am feeling a little defeated after my day, but mainly happy and blessed. I adore my mother and was thrilled to spend a fun evening with her and my dad. They are always so happy to see us and they bring such joy to our lives, too. I will never regret spending time with them. My calories were not as low as I had hoped (and planned) for the day, but they were not as high as I feared either. In fact, My Fitness Pal predicted that I would still lose about a pound a week by eating this many calories every day. That is not so bad. Granted, I have bigger hopes and dreams than losing one pound a week, but I can make it up by doing better tomorrow. I already have plans to drink shakes with my oldest daughter at lunch and to do another Zumba class after work so those two things alone increase my chances of having a successful day. Then add in my determination and solid mind-set and you can easily predict that I WILL stay within my recommended calorie range. No distractions for temptations will get in my way. I just need to get off of this nasty plateau! Keep going, Rhea. You can do it!
