Vacation, Vacation, Vacation

Why is it so hard to follow a healthy lifestyle when you are away from home?

Actually, I did pretty well (note to self - stop beating yourself up!) The fact that my dear husband prepared meals in advance was a godsend, as is he. But there is something about being on vacation that tempts me in ways that I am usually not tempted at all. For example "let's go get an ice cream cone!" or "how about an afternoon game of Scrabble over a nice cold one?" were muttered a few too many times. So my "Quest", and the reason for this blog in the first place, got slightly sidelined.

Okay, here's the part where I listen to myself and stop being so negative. I did workout every day for a full week while at the cottage. Some days my workout consisted of a 30 or 40 minute run (someone could have warned me about country roads and the amount of inclines and (thankfully!) declines that they have). On other days, I would head out for an hour of kayaking or pedal-boating. We even walked 30 minutes in the sweltering heat one afternoon so that we could kick a soccer ball around on a soccer pitch that we had seen on one of our trips to town. We lasted about 20 minutes (soccer didn't seem that hard when I was young). Of course, we then realized that we had to walk back!

All that to say that I did exercise every day and other than an ice-cream (or two) and a bit too much alcohol, even our eating wasn't too bad. So why, then, am I feeling so sluggish? It's not like I don't have energy, because I do. But I know that I do not feel as energized as I usually do. Just the smallest slide off of my healthy bandwagon and I feel it. We're not talking about sliding off for a day or two, but it's now been almost two weeks and even though I have probably exercised more than many of my friends and have been eating healthy(ish) meals, I still notice a difference. As I wrote above, I'm trying not to beat myself up for it, but am I ever looking forward to getting back on track.

There's something about vacations that make you start planning when you will take your next one, where you will go, and what type of get-away it will be. My husband and I have decided that as relaxing as our cottage stay was, it still meant we (he) had to cook, we (he) had to wash dishes, and then of course we (he) had to clean up the cottage before leaving and pack up the car. I found it to be a bit exhausting at times, having to watch him work so hard (wink wink, nudge nudge). So we're heading south for our next vacation, to an all-inclusive resort, and will likely plan it for January or February 2011. Having made the decision, you know what that means don't you? BATHING SUIT SHOPPING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!! And with only five months to go, it is imperative that I get back to my "Quest" because I refuse (refuse!) to buy a bathing suit that does not look good and that I am not comfortable in. Of course, if my godsend has his way, we'll be booking ourselves into some clothing optional resort and I won't have to worry about bathing suits at all! But that, my friends, is another blog all-together :-D

The "Quest" is heating up

Since the "Quest" began, I am proud to say that I have not missed a day. Alternating between cardio and strength-training, I can honestly report "so far so good". But although my husband is used to my getting up at the crack of dawn just to work out, even he was a bit stunned this morning when I headed out for a run at 6 a.m., as the temperature was reaching the 27 degrees Celsius mark. Just to paint you a picture, I'm a size four (six on a bad day) but when it's humid out and the insides of your thighs are sticking to each other with every stride, you can't help but question whether the "short shorts" were the right choice. Size four or not, I felt like thunder-thigh city, damn that humidity!!

But I did it! Short shorts and all... and finished a 4K run, ending with 60 park-bench step-ups. Let me tell you, I was drenched!!

Now, exercise alone is not going to have me bikini-bound. For those of you who are fans (assuming there are actually people reading this blog), I'm with Tosca on this one (not a fan? Google Tosca Reno...) who believes that it's 80% what you eat, 10% exercise and 10% genes. So since I get my lower body from my dear mother (I'm not complaining, I'm just being realistic in that I will never grace the high-fashion runways with legs going all the way up to my armpits...), what I put in my mouth needs to be paid as much (or should I say more) attention than what I'm doing on the exercise front. Now over all, my husband and I are pretty healthy eaters. Friends would probably say I'm being too hard on myself and correct me by saying that we're very healthy eaters. However today, because of the fact that there was nothing in the house (we're heading to the cottage in a few days, so why do groceries???), I ended up buying my lunch. BIG BIG MISTAKE!!! Healthy eater that I am, I was determined to choose something nutritious and decided on an Elaine special... "The Big Salad". So off I went to the food court where there is a "restaurant" that makes salads to go. How can you go wrong with a salad????? Lettuce? Check! Tomatoes? Check! Black olives? Check! Grilled chicken? Check! Cucumber? Check! Balsamic vinaigrette? Check! Sounds good, no? NO!!!! It had to be THE worst salad that I have ever, ever consumed... Absolutely terrible. Not only was it a waste of good money (10 dollars and 10 cents, to be exact) but also a total waste of my mid-day calorie intake. I think that bothered me more than the money. So what lesson did I learn? When it seems like there is nothing to eat, there's is ALWAYS the trusty peanut butter sandwich. Well, at least I know what I'll be having for lunch tomorrow. AND Tosca would approve.

The Bikini Quest

The Bikini Quest has started.

We're heading to a barbecue tomorrow and it promises to be a hot, sweltering day so swimming will definitely be on the agenda... BUT what to wear?

Here's the dilemma... I own two bathing suits. A one-piece which I did NOT purchase for it's looks but more for it's functionality. It was to be my "I'm going to start swimming for fitness" bathing suit. Well, I never did start "swimming for fitness", but I still have the bathing suit (and a matching bathing cap too, which you will NEVER see me in).

My second bathing suit is a bikini - a very small bikini. I bought it last year when I was in a "I don't care what I look like, I am buying a bikini" mood. And it doesn't look bad, to be honest, BUT it does show the one body flaw that I can't correct no matter how many crunches I do. It doesn't hide my appendix scar and, believe me, my appendix scar is a doozie!! It's a long, heart-breaking story which I won't go into, but let's just say that if I was in a wet t-shirt contest, one might think I had two belly buttons - one dead center and one off to the right. Yeah, it is that gross. So I thought I would go out and find a new bathing suit... a cute 2-piece with a higher waisted bottom... just so I don't scare all the other sunbathers tomorrow. But the thing is, I don't want to rush and buy something that I may not really love, or that doesn't look that great on me. Then I realized that a new bathing suit would be the perfect "carrot at the end of the stick", my reward for kicking my workouts up a notch and seeing what I can accomplish in a month by really REALLY giving it my all.

So this is my bikini quest and it has officially started today, Saturday, July 3rd, 2010. Don't get me wrong. I do regularly exercise and I do regularly push it. But like so many others, I have hit a plateau and am having a hard time losing that last dreaded 5 (okay, maybe 10) pounds. So this afternoon, I headed downstairs to my home-gym (yes, I am lucky enough to have a home-gym) and I pushed myself through an hour workout - 10 minutes of bootcamp-style warm-ups followed by 3 circuits of strength-training exercises. And I really did push myself, I swear!

A healthy dinner is on the menu for tonight (and yes, I will have a glass of wine...it is the weekend and who are we kidding??) and I won't be staying up too late. I have to get up early for a planned morning run before heading out to the barbecue (see opening paragraph)

Which brings us back full circle, and you may be wondering "Well, what WILL she wear at this barbecue tomorrow?" The answer? I'll be wearing the small bikini and wrapping a pretty, bright yellow sarong around my waist to hide the scar. Of course, if I go swimming, the sarong will have to come off. Hey, what's the worst thing that could happen? I scare everyone out of the pool and get to enjoy it all to myself... not a bad idea, actually :-)