Memorial Weekend

Weekends are tough enough to stay on track, but make it a three day holiday weekend and things seem to completely derail... usually.  Luckily, I'm doing fairly well so far.  Of course, keeping busy helps.

(back) Brent & Michelle
(front) Ethan & Mickey

Started off the weekend by getting four new foster kittens on Friday night.  Fostering has its ups and downs.  It's rewarding, frustrating, heartwarming and heartbreaking.  This our third summer of fostering kittens.  Last year we helped fostered and assisted in adopting 30 kittens between May and October.  You would think that having kittens around wouldn't affect my weight loss at all, right?  Wrong.  

With the kittens, it's easy to use them as an excuse to not exercise... "I can't run this morning because I need to do the litter boxes and feed the kittens."  "I can't workout because the kittens will be underfoot."  Those are the two excuse I used a lot last year.  And they weren't valid excuses.  I could have gotten up 10 to 15 minutes earlier to do the kittens chores so I could go run.  I could have put the kittens in their crate to work out, or even worked out in another room.  This year I won't have those excuses thanks to Cross Fit.  Hmmm... not sure if that is a good thing, or bad thing...  ;-)

And fostering kittens has led to emotional eating in the past.  The kittens we foster are rescue kittens or come from feral cat colonies, so they often get sick with various illnesses.  And yes, we have lost our share of kittens due to FIP (Feline infectious peritonitis), upper respiratory infection, or Panleukopenia.  Last year we cared for 5 kittens that didn't live and recently found out two we helped to adopt passed away in the last year. Not the greatest odds.  And each time we lose one, I cry then go in search of comfort food.  I need to find a better way to deal with that going forward, because it will no doubt happen again this year.

Yesterday was a rainy day, which is typical of Memorial Weekend in Montana (just as common is snow over the weekend).  I went to the Weight Watcher meeting in the morning and got to visit with my friends I haven't seen in several weeks.  And as a bonus, the scale showed a loss of .8 since my last weigh in.  Which is awesome considering I was at a scrapbook retreat last weekend.  Where I might have (okay, no might... I did...) over ate.  Even a small lose is a win in my book.

Hubby I spent the afternoon shopping for starter plants for our backyard garden.  I talked him into letting me do a couple of box gardens three years ago, and our three boxes have now turned into 7, plus various buckets and containers.  We have put a lot more money into this garden than we will ever get out of it, but we enjoy it and we love the veggies we manage to grow.  Best off all it puts our shabby backyard to good use.  Hubby could never get grass to grow back there, so putting in the garden has made it a useful place.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out at home.  We watched a movie, I took a nap, then spent the rest of evening trying not to give into to restless/boredom eating.

Today has been a great day for activity!  I got up and did a few chores in the house, worked in the garden, went for a 4 mile run with Juli (with our husbands way ahead of us the first two miles, then walking behind us the last two miles), worked in garden some more, ran to get more soil and a few more starter plants, then finished up the gardening.  

All that activity helped me to get over 14,000 steps today - Yea!  I have my step goal set at 11,000 steps but lately I've had a hard time getting that.  Though I have to say, the run was a bit rough.  I just couldn't seem to get my breath (I'm not quite over a lingering cough I've had for several weeks) and my legs felt heavy.  But I'm happy to report, little to no knee pain throughout the run.  But shhhhh!  Don't tell Hubby or Juli... otherwise I will be forced to admit they were right and the Cross Fit is helping.  :-)

Now I just need to make it through the rest of the evening without going overboard on snacks or eating out of boredom. 

And then there's tomorrow.  Even with Memorial Day, the Cross Fit gym will be open for two classes in the morning to do the WOD (workout of the day), "Murph."  Now, I had asked my Hubby not to tell me what all was involved in the work out because I knew it had to be tough when the gym sent out an email explaining they would have the normal "Murph" and then 1/2 scale and 1/4 scale version.  Hubby kept his mouth shut about it, but Juli told me all about on our run this morning.  All I can say is, "Ugh!"  As I understand it, the full workout is a 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats, followed by another 1 mile run.  What?  Really?  Who does this on their day off...?  Apparently it's what I will be doing.... but 1/4 version.  A 1/4 mile run, 25 pull ups (in my case, ring rows), 50 push ups, 75 air squats, and 1/4 mile run.  Or if I'm feeling well rested and in the mood to really push myself, I go for the 1/2 mile run, 50 ring rows, 100 push ups (this is the part that I'm not sure I can do...), 150 air squats, and 1/2 mile run.  Boy, doesn't that sound fun??  At least I get to sleep in since the class isn't until 8 in the morning.

Okay, just thinking about it is making me tired.  I think I'll go rest now...