The Walmart Factor

If you follow me on Twitter (@WorkoutMuzkDiva), then you know yesterday was an absolutely crazy day!  It started off pretty “deep,” and then went to melt-down status in less than 30 minutes.  When I was writing yesterday’s blog entry in the mid morning, I should have known better than to write something as inviting to the Universe as:  ”I have no clue what the rest of the day is going to bring…”

So later in the day, I went to get an oil change becuse the indicator had been going off like crazy in the car for about a week and the engine started to sound a little loud.  I pulled into the place, no problems, dropped it off and walked to a nearby Walmart to kill time.  When I returned, the guy started telling me about how he couldn’t start the car and that the oil levels were actually fine but there was a serious problem with the engine but he couldn’t tell me what the problem was.  I looked at him like he had two heads because I never had the problems he was describing with my car.  But lo and behold, we go outside and indeed, it was like I was staring at a totally different car.  The car would barely start now, the check engine light was now flashing like wild instead of being steady and the car sounded like it was about to take off… I was very tempted to roll it over to nearby Cobb County Airport and let’er rip down the runway!

Baffeled, I paid for the oil change and prayed to make it home safely.  Well, I didn’t even make it out of the parking lot before the car just shut down on me. In trying to merge off the lot into traffic, the brakes (which I knew needed changing but had at least been working fine) all of a suddent didn’t respond and felt like a cinder block under my right foot!  I was trying to force it down and it wouldn’t budge and the car kept rolling, then finally stopped moving.  Then, the engine cut off!  I tried getting it started again and manged to put it in revers out of the mouth of the driveway and the engine cut off again.  I got the car started one more time and managed to roll it a few feet further down the parking lot than the oil change place and rested it in front of a transmission repair place.  As fate would have it, the owner had been hanging out a few doors down at the oil change place and saw when the oil change guys were having challeneges with my car.  Kent (the onwner) very nicely engaged me in conversation (in a very genuine and concerned manor, not a “here comes my next customer” type of way) and confirmed everything that the oil change guy told me.  I asked him if he had the equipment to potentially diagnose my car’s issues and he said he did (the oil change people didn’t).

I decided that since my bad day had indeed gotten worse, I would just put on my best Pastor Joel Olstein mindset and smiled and joked my way through the next minutes of realizing I was now stuck 50 miles away from home, making arrangements for the car and trying to fingure out how I would ultimately get home.  I was, indeed, greatful that my car enginue and breaks didn’t fail on me while I was on the highway or any where else on the road.  If I had to break down, I guess the best place to do it was in front of a repair shop!  When it was all said and done, I was going to be stranded for five hours before I was able to be picked up.  So what’s a girl to do when she’s stranded?  Why, go to the shopping mecca of surburbia!  It was right back to WalMart for me.

When I went in the first time, my nostrils and cravings were instantlly assalted with the scent of WalMart’s hot food bar on the left (from which the scent of deliciously fattening fried chicken was wafting) and McDonald’s world famous fries from the in-store resturant on the right.  Criminal!  So I had to walk back in and face my temptations head on.  In the first hour, I was ok.  I had found a spot just inside the doorway with a bench and an outlet to charge my phone.  I had not eaten all of my sandwhich from lunch so I finished it off, proud of myself that I was resisting temptation and that my OCD for packing my breakfast, lunch and snacks daily was working in my favor.  I even had soup that I could have eaten but no place to heat it up (and if you know me, you know that I must have my hot fooods piping hot in order to eat… if only they made portable, battery operated microwave ovens, I’d always been in food heaven!!).

My first hour in WalMart passed quikly as I caught up on reading and responding to some of my favorite health and weight loss bloggers on the Blog 2 Lose community and other independents that I subscribe to.  But sitting on my butt on that metal bench was starting to hurt.  And then I was really starting to regret the fact that I had a lack luster workout in the morning because now that PM make up workout session I had planned was clearly not going to happen.  But then, I had a brilliant idea…since WalMart is nothing but thousands of square fottage just waiting to be walked, why not take a few laps around the store to get in a workout.

And that is exactly what I did!  I whipped out my iPod and turned on my playlist full of my original workout music tracks and went for it… at least I walked as fast as I could without looking like a weirdo pushing around the contents of my car in a shopping cart (oh yeah; I forgot to mention I had to take a bunch of stuff out the car: my baby’s car seat, my husband’s gym bag, my oversized umbrella – which is now mysteriously misplaced – and emergency car battery charger and lugged it around – along with my oversized tote back that I walk with everyday and I shoved it into a shopping cart).

So I was feeling quite proud of myself for thinking up this brilliant idea of making lemonade out of lemons and for actually executing it… that is until tiredness and hunger hit me like a ton of bricks!  Two and a half hours into my waiting, I had to give in.  It was drifting pass my normal dinner time and I had to give McDonalds a serious look.  (Where’s that portable, battery operated microwave oven when you need it??? I sure would have purchased a calorie controled frozen entree and heated it up!)  So I strolled over to McDonald’s and perused the menu for the options that would leave me feeling like I ate real food and had the best nutrition available to me, keeping in mind that I had already been stresssing out since the day before about weighing myself in this morning.

For a moment, I felt like I was in the middle of a challenge on The Biggest Looser, playing a game of ”Guess Which Entree Has the Least Amount of Calories.”  I tried cheating with my Samsung Galaxy SIII but for some dumb reason, Google wouldn’t pull up the McDonald’s website.  So I had to go in blind.  I ultimately chose one of the new Premium Wraps, the grilled option, of course (pictured above).  But trying to guess which of the three choices - Chicken and Bacon, Chicken and Sweet Chilli or Chicken and Ranch – had the least ammount of calories was a tough one.  I guessed that the ranch option would be the safest choice, minus the ranch sauce. (Once I got home on onto their website to log my calories at MyFitnessPal, it is actually the Sweet Chilli that has the least amount of calories, even with the sauce removed on both options.  I would have lost that Biggest Looser Challenge!)  It actually tasted very good and I could actually see and taste all the fresh lettuce and tomatoes.  So if you are ever in a food pinch and McDonald’s is your only food option, try it out.  The ranch version has cheese in it, which edges the calorie count a little higher than the sweet chilli version, FYI.

But even after dinner, I still had two more hours to wait.  By that point, I was holding up my eyelids with toothpicks…I coudln’t exactly fall asleep on the bench.  I wouldn’t have found my stuff when I woke up!  When I got home, I had a choice to make regarding how I would use my time.  We were having a Cinco de Mayo pot luck lunch at work and I was slated to make and bring Sweet Plantains.  Should I do it while I was dead tired and risk falling asleep standing up over a stove with hot, popping oil, or get up in the morning to make them, forgoing my normal workout time?  Sleep won!  I mean hey, I had been up since 5:30 after having only 4hrs sleep and it was 11:30 at night.  To top it all off, I was hungry again!  As I inhaled a serving of cashews and then a serving of chips that were at eye level in my pantry, I wondered how those 300 calories would affect my morning weigh in as I driffed off to sleep with a somewhat satisfied tummy and dissatisfied mind.

Here’s the answer to that question…

Now kids, don’t try this at home!!! I have NO IDEA why I lost 1.6lbs in two days from Wednesday morning till this morning but I did!  When recording my activity for the day, I actually forgot to count the fact that I walked to and from Walmart once before I walked around the store with some resistance from my shopping cart. (Kirt from the repair shop was kind enough to give me a ride with my baby car seat et al in tow to Walmart the second time).  Both walks were very low impact, approximately about a 3.0 walking speed: a far cry from the pace that I normally keep (4.0 – 5.5) but my motto these days is that some exercise is ALWAYS better than none, even a slow pace.

So “The WalMart Factor” for me today means that even though I had one of the craziest days that I can remember, I had the opportunity to allow the circumstances to throw me off track with my eating and exercise goals, but I didn’t.  I was able to be creative and work within the confines of circumstances that were outside of my control and maintain my commitment to my goals and found a way to make it happen.  And (praise be to GOD!) it paid off this morning on the scale.  This is a lesson I will be carrying with me for some time to come…. but I certainly don’t want to have a day like that again!!!

Here’s to making lemonade!

Workout Music Diva (aka Denise Renee)

In Spite of Fear

I went to bed last night and woke up with a gripping fear…I have just put myself in the perverbial “out there”(click HERE in case you don’t know what I’m talking about)…what if I don’t make my goal? What if I weigh in on Friday and I’ve gained a pound? Can I really push past this pleatau?”  Then having a lack luster workout this morning which I complained about on Twitter (@WorkoutMuzkDiva) didn’t help matters.

This is rediculious, I know.   I am worring about outcomes 30 days from before I have even put my best foot foward for a solid week.  I was even scared about the next 24 hours before I even fell asleep and started a new day.  But unfortunately fear is real and it has had way to long to have a field day with me.  I wish I could be as fearless as I used to be in my late teens and 20′s but I guess I’ve lived too much since then to be niave to the fact that a healthy dose of fear is sometimes a good thing.  But for the rest of the time, (like NOW) fear usually doesn’t serve me any good.  This is a perfect example of a time where I can set a goal, get myself all tripped up in the head and then psych myself out and stop going after my goal.  But at least this time, I have my accountability to you to help me keep moving forward!

I really don’t know what to do about getting the fears out of the picture; they are just there. All I do know is that the best course of action for me to take is to continue doing the things that I know will ultimately lead me to success, like keep my calorie intake around 1,300 daily and work out smarter.

So far, so good today on my eating (take a peek at my food journal at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/WorkoutMusicDiva) but don’t judge me for the chips!  Like I said in a previous blog entry, I intend to loose weigh while I enjoy my foods.  In the case of chips, portion control is essential.

I already had an extreemly intense, life altering morning so I have no clue what the rest of the day will bring.  But whatever it does, I know I need to throw in a serious 50 minute work out in there to make sure that when I step on that scale tomorrow morning, my fears don’t materialize!

 

Here’s to moving on in spite of fear!

Workout Music Diva (aka Denise Renee)

31 Days to One-derland and I Need Your Help!

This morning, May 1st, 2013, I weighed in at 215lbs, the closest I’ve been to One-derland in five years.  If you don’t know what One-derland is, it is being under 200lbs, in the 100′s.  On May 31st, 2013, I plan to weigh in at 195lbs (or less).  That means a 20lb loss in 31 days (or 5lbs a week or a little more than 1/2lbs (0.65lbs) every day for the next 31 days.  That is a tall order considering in the last 24 days, I only lost a net of 5lbs.  But it is possible to loose 20lbs in one month and I believe that I have the capacity to do it.  I just need help!

In recent years, I haven’t been able to get below 215lbs.  I get there and get comfortable with what ever I had accomplished to that point, or I self sabotoge…like I did last week.  My goal from April 8th to April 30th was to loose 10lbs but last week I was not as on point as I could have been and I gained a pound and a half.  I lost 2lbs over the weekend, but from Monday till today, I gave back a pound.  It’s like my body is too comfortable here (and so is my mind) and it seems like it just doesn’t want to get any smaller. I clearly have some kind of physical and mental block and I need to push through this.  I obvioulsy have a grasp of some basic principles for loosing weight but I think what I need right now is some accountability to my goals.  This is where I could use your help.

I’m planning on blogging and/or tweeting (@WorkoutMuzkDiva) everyday for the next 31 days to detail my journey as I push to reach my goal.  I am going to be raw and transparent so get ready! Any encouragement (or loving scolding) you can provide, I’ll gladly receive.  I will be tweaking my diet so if you have any suggestions, you can feel free to take a look at my food journal on MyFitnessPal – http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/WorkoutMusicDiva – (if you are a member, feel free to friend me) and leave your comments.  I’ll also be sharing my workouts and weigh-ins.  Speaking of which, here is my starting point…

I can tell already this is going to be an uphill battle.  I thought I was doing great this morning, putting in my workout and later deciding to take the stairs at work instead of the elevator (I figure now is the time to pull out all the stops and fit in as much fitness and exercise as I can throughout my day).  Then I walk into the kitchen to heat up my home made oatmeal and I run smack dab into some yummy looking pastries on the table, available for anyone to eat.  I just said to myself: “Oh, I see how these 31 days are going to go!!”  I’m positive many temptations lie ahead for me.  This one I thankfully resisted.  I just hope I can keep that up!

So here goes….195lbs, here I come!

Health and blessings,

Workout Music Diva (aka Denise Renee)