Back In Black - Day 1...

This is me about 9 years ago, when I was 30-ish. When I ran at least 10 miles most days, could actually do lots of real pushups, and got asked all the time at the gym how I got my arms looking that way.

I'm glad I have pics of myself from that time in my life because I'm pretty sure I'll never look like that again. Not that I think I can't - because it really isn't so difficult to look like that if you really want to - but more because my priorities and the things that fulfill me are very different now from what they were a decade ago.

It was a great thing to have pushed through physical plateaus and moments of discomfort to be rewarded with greater stamina and a confidence that I could keep pushing for more and better if I really tried. And I think it was probably also a necessary thing for me back then because my energy was so much more restless and unfocused. I had much less of a sense of the person I wanted to grow up to be, or perhaps it was that I wanted to be too many things... and all that physical exertion took my conscious thought away from all those things I wanted to do and be and forced me to be in the moment.

And I won't lie - it was nice to look that fit.

But having lived some interesting life and having checked some items off the bucket list that ended up being something other than I thought they were going to be, my energies and aspirations are much quieter and more focused than they once were. I'd really much rather be here mothering, wife-ing, cooking, writing, developing recipes, preaching the gospel of good food, and being comfortable in my squish than be that athletic, that strong, and that thin. However, I realize I have to temper that desire with the knowledge that if that's all I do, at some point, I'll cease to be comfortable in my squish and start to be self loathing in it.

I believe every phase or experience in our lives can be a teacher if we let it, and that period in my life taught me the patience and discipline required to achieve that body. These days, I just have to call on that patience and discipline to help me strike a better balance between that phase and this one.

BREAKFAST

was a bowl of Special K with chocolate (and nasty chocolate at that) with whole milk and a cup of coffee with milk and sugar. I'll not be buying that flavor of Special K again.(But the Man just told me he likes it, so maybe I will be buying that flavor again...)

LUNCH

was some Pasta e Fagioli soup with grated Monterey Jack and chopped fresh tomatoes and onions on top.

SNACK

was the last of that soup, only without the toppings.

DINNER

was a Sauteed Shrimp, Strawberry, and Candied Pecan Salad topped with some Feta and dressed with Raspberry Vinaigrette.

SNACK

,while watching The Real Housewives of New York, was more of that salad, only without the shrimp. (But I didn't take a pic of that salad so I'm just using another pic from dinner. :P)

I didn't think a NY housewife could irk me more than Ramona, but that Aviva biatch, who reminds me of Hotlips Houlihan only far less likeable, is giving Ol' Crazy Eyes a run for her money.

EXERCISE

Yesterday was so hot and muggy that I was thisclose to not doing anything at all. But if a little age has taught me nothing else, it's that a little bit of something good today is better than a whole lot of something good that you plan to put off til tomorrow, so I worked my core for 15 minutes while watching Sonja fall on her rich, drunken, white trash ass. And actually saw some result from it this morning. (When it's been that long since you've done resistance training of any sort, you actually can notice a difference in muscle tone pretty immediately.)

Off to clean house and decide whether it's leftovers or something fresh for tonight's dinner.

shinae