Come on already!!!

I wake up groggy, thinking about breakfast & what a hassle food is.  Breakfast could (and should) be scrambled eggs with chorizo, onions, garlic, olives, & cheese.  Instead, I decide to walk a half mile for mountain dew and chips. 

Then, instead of doing the 5mile run I didn't do yesterday (because I walked 7miles instead), I sit in front of the TV until it's time to shower and walk 7miles to work.  Along the way, I picked up more mountain dew, donettes, and Pringles.  This food doesn't even taste good.  So, why do I continue to consume it? 

As of 2pm, today, I have consumed the following:
2@20oz mountain dew
1 big grab bag of doritos
2/3 bag of combos
1 roll of donettes
And I'm working on another mountain dew and a small can of Pringles.  I feel awful and that is no way to start day 2 of training.

Stress Eating

Wow!  Amazing what stress can do to the body and eating habits!  Last week, my husband has had a series of interviews with a company in California.  We think this could lead to a move to California.  Although that is exciting, I have been slowly progressing towards a BSN, and currently sit on the alternate list for the accelerated program at Regis University.  If I get in, I would be done in a year, and hopefully a registered nurse.  This will all change if we move to California. 

Besides the stress of possibly having to redo all the research on nursing schools and maybe take more prerequisites, I started a new job as a CNA last week into this week.  A friend of mine helped me get this job, and I'm worried about making her look bad if I end up having to quit for the move.  Also, I'm nervous about simply making her look bad by not living up to the expectations she has already set for me by telling my boss how awesome I am. 

So, how does this play in to nutrition?  Well, there are many ways.
1.  Stress is easier to manage when one is eating healthier.
2.  When I'm stressed, I don't sleep well; therefore, I'm exhausted, which I in turn compensate for by consuming tons of sugar.  This leads to inflammation within my body that keeps me from exercising.  The lack of exercise causes me to gain weight (not to mention the release of stress hormones adding to the weight gain) and leads me to be depressed.  With depression comes lethargy sometimes, and I continue doing nothing active.  To try & pull myself out of it, I consume sugar and carbohydrates for that rush of happiness only to crash a little while later.    Needless to say, it becomes a vicious cycle. 

So, what am I going to do about it?  I'm looking at various "diets (eating habits)." My husband on his quest to be the best runner has tried a variety of these behaviors.  As he tries them, I too join in the attempts.  Unfortunately, I have never stuck to one.  However, I think for the purpose of this blog, I will attempt each "diet" for about 30days.  A friend recently created a Salad challenge for 30days starting 1 April 2014.  The idea is to have salad for one meal each day.  Until the start of that challenge, I will continue to document my current behaviors and feelings to have a basis of comparison.  Maybe I will eventually truly kick on the mountain dew addiction that has held on to me for so long!

Sugar Feast Slice

Food consumed:
2@ 20oz mountain dew
Dinner plate of organic corn tortillas w/cheese
Medium bag of smart food popcorn
12oz can coke
1/3 block of cheese
10 saltines
Vegetarian pasty
Rye whiskey ~6oz
Probiotic
Hot tamales
3 super blow pops

Fitness:
Walked ~1mile

Another learning day. 
I woke up dreading the idea of cooking fried eggs & bacon for breakfast despite knowing it would be better for me over all.  So, instead, I got up, made tortilla chips & cheese for breakfast washing it down with mountain dew.  This did not make me feel better.  Instead, it made me want chips & more soda.  Thus, I walked to 7-eleven for provisions. 

All day, my lungs felt raspy from last night's run.  Adding the sugar on top of this did not help.  My heart raced and breathing was shallow.  Then, this afternoon, I found myself with a strong desire to cut open my wrists and let the blood flow in hopes of calming down my spirit.  I did not feel suicidal depressed.  It was simply the need for release of the built up energy from the sugar consumption.  This may be the first time I've actually had this realization of nutrition affecting the desire to self mutilate. 

Outside of this knowledge, I also learned how much more I desire sugar when I'm exhausted.  Today, I felt a driving need for sugar as I could barely keep my eyes open sitting doing nothing right after waking this morning.  My body was tired from yesterday's run while my brain wanted to move.  However, when I did get out of the house, I felt light headed and ready to faint.  Not sure if the flu shot yesterday had an effect or if it's just the run exhaustion.  I guess we will see over time. 

Tomorrow, I start looking at diets to start trying for 30 days.  Once I start, I'm going to need extreme support to keep going strong.  Hopefully, I can find it through blogging my daily meals, weight, & physical experiences over the course of time.  We will wait & see. 

Day 1

8:20 Woke up
8:25 Probiotic
8:30 Showered
8:55 Walked ~2.5miles
9:05 7-Eleven for mtn dew & chex mix
9:45 Breakfast burrito & 20oz mtn dew
10:15 Class - canceled
10:30 Walked ~1.5 miles
11:00 Bus to new job
11:20 Walked/ran ~1mile
11:30 New hire paperwork, flu shot, & TB
13:00 Walked ~1mile
13:20 Bus to home
13:45 Walked ~ 0.5miles
14:00 2@20oz mtn dew & 2@small chex
16:00 Wii
16:30 1/2 cup skittles
17:45 2oz water
17:55 Ran ~5miles
18:55 Stretched & 2oz water
19:10 1cup chili w/6 saltines & 4oz water
22:00 Finished 24oz water
22:15 Weighed in for the night: 183lbs
23:00 Hopefully asleep...

Not every day is going to be a play by play of what I do & eat.  Today, I thought it might be interesting to look at the day from start to finish.  I did not feel hungry when I woke up this morning; however, I stopped for junk food on my way to getting a breakfast burrito filled with eggs, bacon, potatoes, green peppers, & cheese.  After eating that and drinking a 20oz mountain dew, I was not hungry for the junk food I bought along the way. 

Then, after commuting to my new job site and completing paperwork, I still was not hungry but sat & consumed 2 @ 20oz mountain dews and the 2 small bags of chex mix I bought from 7-eleven.  Feeling tired, I added the skittles hoping to stay awake for the 5mile run with a friend.  My guts hurt in the beginning of the run, & phlegm built up in my nose & throat throughout the run. 

After the run, I ate the chili because I knew I needed to replenish myself after the run, but I still didn't feel hungry.  Upon consuming just 32oz of water over the course of the evening, I am finally feeling hungry, but it is bedtime.  So, food will wait for tomorrow. 

Overall, my body has been sore all day.  The feet feel inflamed while the quads and back feel tight and in pain.  During the run, they loosened up a little, and the stretching helped some, but I know getting out of bed tomorrow is going to be tough. 

Until then...sweet dreams! 

And so it starts...

A brief history of who I am... In April, I will turn 40. I am 5'11" tall. My weight with clothes on (minus shoes) is 182lbs. According to the BMI calculator provided by the national health and human services website (https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm), I am just barely overweight at 25.4 (overweight = 25-29.9). In 2005, I backpacked all 2200 miles of the Appalachian Trail (AT). At the start of the trail I weighed about 170lbs, and ended the trail weighing 145lbs. This began my extreme fitness mindset. After the AT, I ran the Pike's Peak Marathon and attempted the Leadville 100 trail run twice. The second time I did not finish due to a head injury at mile 10 that had me vomiting after 40 miles thus causing me to turn around and not finish. Since then, I have not been back to the extreme fitness I learned and embraced on the AT except to backpack the Colorado Trail (CT) this past summer. Instead, I increased my consumption of sugary foods with my 20oz mountain dew at least once a day if not 2-3 times per day and added a small bag of chips, doritos, combos, or goldfish crackers. This has lead to many health problems I did not realize until I took a break from all of it for a week. During my week of trying the low carbohydrate, high fat diet my husband has been on for a couple of months, I found my body did not hurt like it has for the past few years. Unfortunately, I was not able to maintain this diet due to lack of self control. At the same time, it made me think about my health a little more and try to come up with some way to help myself monitor my health and try finding the best way to be healthy. So, I decided to create this blog where I intend to document my food intake all the way down to the amount of water I consume each day as well as my fitness for the day. Also, I plan to journal my physical, emotional, and spiritual well being each day in relation to the food I consume. They say it takes about 30days to form a habit. Well, it has taken me almost 40 years to solidify this bad habit of sugar consumption, so we will see how long it takes to form a better more healthy habit of eating! Wish me luck.