Kickin' it to the curb

- Fast Food, that is.

I've been eating out quite a bit over the last several months. Many things led to it - the first was moving. Driving back and forth 45 minutes across town one direction multiples times a day for a couple weeks - with a baby - made it almost a necessity to eat out more.

Then, finding it more difficult than I anticipated to adjust to our new home, I was spending more time away just "doing" things with Rylee - causing us to be out during times Rylee should eat - so I'd buy food out.

That led to just plain wanting fast-food a little more regularly.

There are several problems with this for me:

1. When I was working full-time - before Rylee was born - I was just buying food for me. I'd get the "cheap" items from Taco Bell or something and it wouldn't cost that much. NOW - I'm buying food for Rylee and myself, so eating out is costing me almost twice as much as it used to. - So it's getting expensive! With Kenny going back to school that's one expense that should definitely be cut out!

2. It's so not healthy! The Fat content, Caloric content and Carbohydrate content of fast food is just awful! Definitely not good for me, and not good for a growing baby! I do try and get the 'healthy' menu items as far as fast-food goes (I prefer Tacos over Burgers, that kind of thing). BUT - it's still not to be eaten often.

3. Along the "unhealthy" lines - it's awful on my blood sugars! It causes icky spikes - usually caused by the high fat and carbohydrate content. That's another little side-note: the high fat-content also just kills my stomach. My poor gall-bladder needs to come out at some point, and fat exacerbates it.

I've taken it upon myself to try and have the same control over my diabetes I did when I was pregnant. I was bound and determined to eat well, not snack, and keep my blood sugar in the best control I could - but I didn't beat myself up over a few bad days/numbers here and there.

To expect that I would have the exact same kind of control would be ridiculous - and honestly not realistic. Chasing after the munchkin every day is a full-time job itself, so is being back at work 2-3 days a week (where I get to bring munchkin with me), there is also my photography and and and and.... LIFE.

But because I am living life - it'd be best to live. So, I'm working on improving our overall quality of life by taking inventory of the things we eat as a family. I always feel so much better when I eat healthier - Kenny notices he feels better as well when we eat healthy together. So, I'm going back to that. I don't expect perfection, because sometimes its fun to go out and eat together, and sometimes you end up being stuck in town and necessity demands it. I'd like to make eating out the exception rather than the norm.

So, that's my new goal. And I like it.

Ok, I believe it now too

So, A week and a half ago I started this running program called C25k. I've heard a lot of hype about this from several people I know, and since I'm trying to get healthy (and maybe stay healthy this time) I figured I'd give it a try.

I was going at it pretty skeptically. I wanted to start just getting into a routine for exercise and that's all I figured I'd accomplish with this. Nothing too monumental (though, I'll admit, I wanted to accomplish something) at all.

The program started out with a 5 minute warm up in the beginning and 5 minute cool down in the end. For 20 minutes inbetween its interval training. The 1st week it had me (I say 'it' because I downloaded a app for my itouch because I'm too lazy to actually time these intervals.) doing 90 seconds of walking with 60 seconds of jogging, and back and forth.

I didn't even realize the other day when I started Week 2 that it switched things up on me all ready and had me doing 90 second jogs with 2 minutes walks. I did notice that I was having those nasty runners side pains that I wasn't before - but I blamed it on being as unfit as I am, not the change in intervals. When I realized the change today before I started running I thought to myself "oh crap, I'm not going to be able to do this. I had issues the other day, this isn't going to work well."

Much to my surprise I handled it beyond well! I couldn't believe it. I kept thinking to myself "Wow, I'm actually being able to handle this thing just fine. That's so awesome." It made me go back and look at the previous workout to see when exactly it changed the intervals on me. Sure enough, it was the last work out, I didn't even know it!

So, here is the skeptic - a complete believer in this program all ready. I am beyond amazed at how much it has improved my cardiovascular system and ability to exert myself beyond what I am normally. I am still disappointed that I seem to still be gaining weight, but I'll just have to deal with that for now.

My next step is to eat healthier. ...well, as healthy as you can when you buy cheap food. Heehee.

I'm still amazed at how just after 2 weeks my cardio is MUCH better than I even kind of hoped for. So, I'm hoping that maybe after some more time, better eating habits, that my weight will stabilize and I'll go back to a more normal me. So, we'll keep it up. My Rylee and I. We'll gear up and get out with the jogging stroller and have some fun running together.