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<————— yeppers, that's me, in all my red and shiny glory. I'm laying it all out there folks
Today I hit the gym for the first time in far too long. I have been working out with a partner but today I was flying solo. As I was gazed at the chiseled bodies on either side of me, I wondered why I don’t come everyday felt quite intimidated. Here I am, waddling at 3.0 mph, while Johnny McAbsofsteel is running at mach ten while talking on his cell phone. That’s when I took a deep breath and reminded myself that all of those people are there for pretty much the same reason I am-health. They are not magically slim; they are busting their asses to stay that way. So I focused on myself and my workout 🙂
I walked 1.5 miles in 30 minutes, then joined hubby and son in the pool. While they played, I swam 5 laps, and then switched to water aerobics, jogging up and down the lanes for another 15 minutes. That got tough quick! And I’m glad to say, when hubby started jogging in the lane next to me, I beat him every time 🙂 I might be chubby, but I have quads of steel baby!
On the food front, Saturday means pancakes round here, but I shook it up a little with french toast this morning (oooh la la). We haven’t had french toast in foevah, so it was a nice treat. Lunch was thin crust cheese pizza, and after swimming we stopped and loaded up on the produce. I had a major craving! We bought lettuce, cucumber, blackberries, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and avocados. Yum!
Our snack was about a third of a watermelon, split three ways, and lots of ice water. Swimming leaves me sooo thirsty. I also tried fresh blueberries for the first time. I’ve cooked with them (hello muffins!) but never eaten them straight. They were….ok. It had kind of an odd texture for me. But I’m going to sprinkle them on stuff and see if I like them that way. They are so healthy and I want to try and incorporate them into our meals.
I’m very happy to say my slooowing down movement is working well. It’s very nice to slow down and enjoy my food. For dinner I had some thin chicken fillets. I mixed plain breadcrumbs with a healthy amount of blackening seasoning and dipped the chicken in there and sauteed it. Hubby made a giant salad with romaine, tomato, cucumber, avocado, and green onions. So good! I topped mine with a little Newmans Own Honey Mustard, and we had a wild/brown rice blend on the side. Oh my it was tasty!Then I vegged out with the Army Wives marathon on Life.
All in all an awesome Saturday 🙂
Rambling Reader Eats! 
>Your feelings at the GYM are completely normal! I felt like a zoo animal on display the first time I climbed in the glass walled racquetball court. But I came to the same conclusion you did. Everybody is there for the same reason, to get healthy. It's easy to feel like you're being judged, but in reality it's the opposite…People applaud your efforts—You're the one out there doing something to make a change…Many don't…ever.Congratulations on a wonderful workout!I hate sunburns! Ooh, I hate them!But it doesn't seem to bad for ya, you're gonna be alright.You're doing fantastic–keep up the amazing work! I'm rooting for you all the way.My best always,Sean AndersonThe Daily Diary of A Winning Loserwww.losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com
>It's totally hard not to compare what you're doing with someone else, but just remember you are you and it's your journey.The food you had sounded wonderful…makin' me hungry!
>I know how you feel at the gym. I do it everyday to myself. But it does have an upside as that it can help push you. Get that competition thing going!! :)Your produce shopping sounds so yummy and much like mine. We went to Costco and came out with apples, cantelope, watermelon, grapes and a bag of frozen mixed fruit for some delicious fruit smoothies!!
>I have the same feelings at the gym! But since I've been going I've gotten more comfortable, especially when I see the progress I'm making.I agree about the texture of blueberries. I don't usually eat them plain (my kids love them, though). I will add them to cereal and smoothies – that is yummy!
>I solved those pesky gym intimidation problems – I flung myself to the ground, fractured my shoulder in four places and haven't been near the gym since! See, easy peasy. lolVal, I am so happy to have found your blog, jumped over from 100 Down, 100 to Go. Oddest thing though, I have not been able to leave comments there, there is just a big white space in the Comment section. So frustrating! I am attempting to reach out to her other commenters to see what I'm doing wrong. But what I'm doing is finding these great blogs! If it's a ploy, it's working because I am loving exploring.At any rate, love your blog, if you have any insight as to what I might be doing wrong at HMD's please share and I'm looking forward to future posts. P.S The kids are precious!