The quest for happy imperfection…

…in a totally wonderful and non-child related way. This weekend I brought home the most wonderful pupper, a 5 year old lab and border collie mix named Sierra. She’s absolutely adorable (photos forthcoming when I’m not too lazy to find my card reader) and has rapidly weaseled her way into my heart. Not that it took much weaseling, mind you.  But, that was our big excitement for the weekend. My friend and I drove out to Reno on Saturday and picked her up. It was SO hard, they have over a hundred dogs. But, she was the first one I saw outside the kennel, and it was love. She’s currently curled up next to me on the couch.

She’s already turning out to be a great exercise pusher! At 7:00 (when DH woke up for work) Sunday morning she decided it was time to be awake. So, we went for a walk. Not a long one, but I can’t remember the last time I was up that early and moving on a Sunday. We followed that up with a nice LONG walk through the trails behidn my friend’s house with her two dogs. We went for about 2 hours uphill and through snow. Needless to say, when we got home, we were both pretty much comatose on the couch for two hours. Today we went for a 30 minute walk at lunch, and a 20 minute walk after I got done with the gym.

The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful, food was good. I didn’t eat much, but I usually don’t on the weekends. I went to QDobo or whatever it’s called on the way home from getting Sierra and got a super tasty steak burrito, and had chips with salsa and queso dip. Yum! Today I had some breakfast scramble and yogurt for breakfast, snacked on some sugar snap peas, and some string cheese. For lunch I had an apple and a black bean and cheese quesadilla.

 When I got back to the office, I fell victim to the brownie. My coworker bought my favorite ones from Raley’s. I started off with half. Then I went back for another half. But, they weren’t cut up, so I grabbed a whole one. As I was eating I realized that they weren’t nearly as good as I remembered them. I could taste preservatives. NOOO!! I’m turning into a brownie snob! I thought about how much better they would be if they were homemade.  I still kept eating, the texture was just so pleasing. But as I approached the halfway mark, I stopped myself. I wrapped it in its papertowel and threw it in the trash. I felt like one of those people who has to kill a family member to prove their loyalty to a cause. Sigh. But, I did it. Admittedly, I had a couple bites again later. (not from the trashcan brownie, I’m not that desperate)

I got to the gym tonight and but in a good effort. I didn’t do any running today, but I walked a steady mile with incline intervals. That kicked my butt! Then I moved over to rowing for awhile, and then a mile on the eliptical. Overall, I got about 45 minutes of cardio and three miles in. I also lifted weights for my lower body and did some wall squats. When I was done, Sierra and I walked around the parking lot for twenty minutes. Now, I know that sounds weird. But in Tahoe, we don’t have sidewalks or streetlights, and since we live on a busy street, there’s really nowherelse to walk after dark. I’m going to give myself a mile for that walk and a mile for the lunch walk. So, today’s total- 5 miles. I’m giving myself 4 for yesterday. 9 miles in two days, not bad.

So, I’m officially out of the 190s. And it feels amazing. I mean, I feel great because I’ve lost 7 and a half pounds in less than a month. But I feel GREAT because I feel like I’ve made so many good choices and changes. I don’t feel like I’m dieting, or working hard to lose weight. I feel as if I’m just living, and weight just happens to be coming off. And I feel like the life I’m building is ten times better than anything before it. I’m active and enjoying myself, I’m LOVING food, and I’m finding new hobbies that don’t involve remote controls. I may have lost 7.5 pounds, but I feel as if I’ve lost twenty. Actually, I feel like I’m getting to a place that the number on the scale doesn’t even matter anymore. (But hey, sometimes having a braggable number is good too!)