Fitness Friday (Martian Standard Time)

Hello all--so I'm a bit late but I have REALLY good reasons. Last week was crazy in a good way, and I'm just now able to sit at the computer long enough to write. So, my results:

• Went to the gym M-Th, even though I had a chest cold & felt pretty yucky.
• Weighed in on Thursday, registered 2 lb gain. Then on Sunday I realized that it was femininity-related, so I didn't worry about it.
• Eating plan was scrapped & became this week's eating plan--more on that later.
• And finally, I TOOK A SPINNING CLASS AT THE GYM!

I cannot tell you how powerful it is to write down my weekly goals for the world to see. Had I not posted last week that I would take a class at the gym, I would surely have chickened out. You see, I was walking into a new class where I didn't hardly know anyone and I didn't know what I was doing and I had already ridden my bike on Monday and my knees were pretty sore for 2 days. And Thursday morning, as the alarm was going off, there was this little voice reminding me of all the above, telling me to go & just do my regular routine and well, not even that--since I've been feeling sick, why not just stay in bed & not go to the gym at all?

So I had to tell my flesh to SHUT UP and then got out of bed, got to the gym, and walked into the class. I couldn't not do it--there was no way I was coming to my FF post & tell you all that I'd chickened out. The instructor was terrific--she got me fitted to the bike (to prevent soreness) & encouraged me to do what I could, pushing myself as hard as I felt comfortable doing. And I did--I pushed myself and downed my entire bottle of water & sweat like a pig (do pigs sweat?) and practically cried for joy because I had obeyed the Holy Spirit instead of listening to my flesh and it felt WONDERFUL.

And my knees were just fine, thank you very much. Hear that, lazy flesh? Ha!

And before I go into the other way cool victory/highlight of the week, I'll talk about this week's topic: our snacking habits.

My snacks are almost always eaten at the end of the school day. I eat lunch at 11:00 a.m., so by 3:00 I'm hungry. So I pack a snack every day so I'm not tempted to stop at McD's or Brueggers or somewhere else to eat more than I should because I am STARVING and need food RIGHT NOW. Here are my favorites for at-work snacks:

1.) 100 calorie-pack chocolate cupcakes & strawberries. I cut the cupcakes in 4th's & eat them with a fork along with the strawberries. It's like dessert but guilt-free.
2.) Microwave popcorn & apple or grapes. Sweet & salty combo--yum!
3.) Baby carrots, pepper strips, & celery sticks with a Laughing Cow light cheese wedge (Herb garlic or Light swiss). It's like veggies & dip, but the wedge is only 1 WW Point & so tasty!
4.) Wasa crackers & a Laughing Cow cheese wedge
5.) String cheese & grapes
6.) Cottage cheese & peaches or pineapple
7.) My Starbucks go-to snack: a Doubleshot on ice (sweetened with 2 Splenda) & a Mr. Salty's 100 cal pack of chocolate-covered pretzels. It's how I resisted the pastry case...

Again, all of these are easy to pack, are tasty, and I get in a fruit/vegetable serving. (Well, except for the Starbucks one. That's the espresso serving...) And it keeps me going until dinner. Which ended up being eaten out EVERY NIGHT this week, hence the scrapping of the food plan. But, that happens. Here was the week:

Monday: Columbus Day; I have the day off & UB takes day off. Eat out since it's "vacation," have Christmas Show rehearsal in p.m.
Tuesday: have meeting after school, after which I drive out to meet UB & our Realtor to look at a house. It is the best house we've seen after looking for a L-O-N-G time. For those of you who know how UB shops for things like appliances & tools, imagine shopping for a house. Yeah--we've been looking at listings and talking over the price range and going back & forth about where we should be looking for 2 years. Eat out after meeting with Realtor.
Wednesday: meet with Realtor to make an offer on the house we saw Tuesday. Spend @ 2 hours discussing what would constitute a good offer and signing (and in UB's case READING EVERY WORD) of the necessary paperwork. Go out for dinner after meeting with Realtor, praying that seller accepts 1st offer & doesn't counter.
Thursday: (get up & go to spinning class) I have another meeting after school until 5:00 p.m., after which I arrive home. UB & I have a message to call Realtor when we're together; she informs us that THE SELLER ACCEPTED OUR OFFER!!! Which is really, really rare, since we didn't offer the asking price and sellers almost always counter in these situations. But God is good & saw fit to keep the price as low as possible--Praise the Lord! I don't know that the outcome would have been different had I not obeyed the Holy Spirit earlier in the day; all I know was that there was a sweet morning victory followed by a sweet afternoon victory. Wahoo! We talk with Realtor, make a date for housing inspection, then go to eat dinner, then go to church for choir & orchestra rehearsal.
Friday: after work, go home & clean & pack so UB & I can travel to Biker Bossy's house to stay overnight. My sister-in-law has shrunk out of clothes that now fit me, so we go out so I can pick up the clothes & spend a little time with family. We eat out on the way to their house (3 hour drive).
Saturday: drive home in afternoon, grab lunch on the road. Arrive home, unpack & get ready for Christmas show rehearsal at church.
Sunday: Church in a.m. then grocery shopping & cooking fest in p.m. UB has to drive out 1/2 way to Biker Bossy's house because I left my c-pap machine there and cannot be without it for long or I lose brain function. Cook for hours, eat 2 pumpkin cookies for dinner (sent the rest to work with UB today) and went to bed at 9:30 p.m.

So there's my Fitness Friday report. This week my goals are:
1.) Follow the food plan FOR REAL. I've already cooked 1/2 of it, so we're off to a good start!
2.) Go back to the spinning class & push myself a little further/harder than last time.
3.) Gym M--F
4.) Keep up with my food journaling. I've been lax about this lately, but I really feel I need to get back to it. I've already written out all of my M-F meals & snacks, so all I have to do now is follow the plan.

I'll post more on the whole house blessing later--for now I have to get planning & organizing to face another full week. (Not as full as last week, but still...) Thanks for checking in, & hopefully by tomorrow night I can get around to read & comment on everyone else's FF posts. Keep up the good work ladies--if this week wasn't all you'd hoped for, then learn from it & make this week even better. Obedience always brings blessing--sometimes in ways we never expected!