I'm Reviewing the Situation...

Ok, it's high time for a check-in.  It's been quite a year in regards to my journey with food and exercise.  I've posted on this blog exactly one time in the last year, and it's been to say "hey guys, I'm getting back into this stuff!"  Except I kind of didn't.

An overview of my food/exercise stuff:

I ate paleo - strict paleo - for about 3 months, and mostly paleo for another 2 after that.  I worked out fastidiously for the same 3 months - sometimes twice a day - and really, truly enjoyed it.  It was great for me.  I lost a lot of weight, gained a lot of confidence, and... well, if you want the skinny (pun!), there are a bunch of other articles on this blog that talk about it.

But, like I talked about in my last blog post in June, I moved to Los Angeles and fell off the wagon.  Oops.

The thing is, the timing in Boston was *perfect* for this stuff.  I was on my way out, about to move across the country.  I was only working at my clinic 3 days a week, and I was at my private practice (which was very flexible) one day a week.  I had all the time in the world to focus energy on cooking elaborate meals, and it was easy to commit to daily exercise.  I was in incredible health, and I felt great... but I didn't have much of a life.  I found myself telling people I was unavailable for social engagements so that I could have more time to cook whatever was on my menu for the evening.

When I moved back to Los Angeles, that just wasn't realistic anymore.  Instead of getting ready to move, I was rebuilding a whole life.  Rather than cook elaborate paleo meals, I wanted to be able to go out to eat and indulge a little bit.  I wanted to enjoy my life.  Here are some things I wanted to do:

Go to the movies

Play on the beach

Mischievously cuddle a goat at the County Fair

 And alas, with all the life-having I was doing, I didn't have time to spend hours a day in the kitchen, plus one or two at the gym.

Sounds pretty healthy, right?

Well... no, because I was still pretty entrenched in a world of "shoulds".  I should eat paleo.  I should not indulge in non-paleo treats - ever.  I should get up at 6 AM to exercise even though I know I'll be exhausted later.  I should cancel my plans to do the right thing for my health.  But did I do this stuff?  No.  I was too busy living life.

Don't get me wrong - I ate pretty well a great deal of the time.  I always had "paleo sensibilities."  And I explored a lot of different kinds of exercise.  I would go to the gym sporadically, but never for more than about 2 weeks before falling out of the habit.  And I would do crazy "challenges."  (Thanks very much, all-or-nothing-programmed-brain...) 

The most successful one was to exercise for 100 days in a row without missing a day to get myself back in the habit.  It was going pretty well, too, until I sprained my ankle playing tennis and then did nothing athletic for about 2 months.

Here's the rub: I felt awful most of the time.  Not physically (though the sprained ankle, admittedly, was not my favorite moment), but emotionally.  I was constantly judging myself, berating myself, losing willpower and then punishing myself by feeling bad for several hours afterwards.

So 2015 is the year I figure all this stuff out.  I no longer eat paleo.  That was the first step.  I seem to be eating a lot of vegetables lately because that's what makes my body feel good, but I'm definitely not a vegetarian either. 

I'm trying to figure out a sensible approach to exercise.  I restarted Couch to 5k, and I just finished week 1.  I'm hoping to sign up for a race at the end of April or thereabouts to encourage me to keep going.  And my dad got me some personal training sessions for Hanukkah so I can get some assistance mastering strength-oriented workouts.

As far as food, I'm working on that too.  I'm not dieting.  At the moment, I'm mostly trying to eat sensibly but also allow myself to indulge a bit.  I might gain a couple of pounds back while I figure that out, but that's ok.  My priority right now is not to lose weight, but rather to fix my relationship with food, exercise, and body image.  I'm going to read some books and articles, have some conversations with people who have been on and conquered this journey, and learn how to live a healthy lifestyle that's good for me emotionally, good for me physically, and sustainable in the long-run, even if I want to do fun things outside the house instead of spending all my spare time cooking.

Right now, there are a few books on my list:
Losing Weight is a Healing Journey by Katrina Love Senn
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

If anyone has any other book (or article or blog or podcast or whatever) recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

So that's the goal.  I think this blog, even though it wasn't tailored for this originally, is where I'm going to post developments and things I learn along this journey.  Good times.  Here goes nothing.

Hoisting myself back onto the wagon

Prior to this morning, I haven't lifted a weight in 3 weeks.  I haven't gone for a jog in about 4 months.  I haven't done water aerobics or Zumba since leaving Massachusetts.  Yesterday, after binging on baked goods at a party, I had a cheeseburger and fries for dinner.  I don't think I've regressed in terms of my weight loss goals (though I'm probably not as strong as I was before), but I'm definitely off the wagon.

The thing is, how do I hoist myself back onto the wagon with all my muscles so weak from lack of use?  I guess the answer to that is simple determination and unwavering commitment.

I've had quite a 6 months.  On November 26th, I moved from Boston to Los Angeles.  I piled all my stuff into a spare room at my parents' house and settled in, feeling very temporary and quite uprooted, though also incredibly grateful for having the foundational support from my parents to allow me to make such a drastic life change.

On November 28th, I went on my first date with my boyfriend Joel.  We've now been together just over 6 months, and the relationship is thrilling and amazing and beautiful. 

Then there was the holiday season - Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, New Years, Valentine's Day...

And on February 28th, I started a new job.  It's a full-time therapy job where I do individual and group therapy, as well as intake assessments, for adults who were just released from prison.  It's a really interesting and new population for me, and I'm learning a great deal about people who have had lives dramatically different from my own.

Through all of this, although I was excited to see the growth my direction was taking, although I felt pretty happy and excited (especially once I had the stability of a full-time job) at the way my life was coming together, I felt a bit unstable.  I still lived with my parents, and I slept there about half the time and at my boyfriend's the other half.

And so finally, last Saturday, May 24th, I moved into my own apartment.  I now live walking distance from work (though I prefer to bike) as well as from my boyfriend's place.

The reason all this is significant to my paleo blog is that I got off track with my health and fitness goals.  Not completely off track - it's still all at the forefront of my mind - but I'm not involved in exercise that I enjoy like I was in Massachusetts, and I have not been sticking to the paleo plan.

Well, I'm all out of excuses.  The instability of living two places, the feeling of being in transition while I build my new life here... none of that applies anymore.  It's time to get back to work - menu planning, exploring different exercise options, weight lifting, blogging about my experiences and my progress.

The photo at the top of this blog entry is me at the fitness center in my new apartment building this morning.  The goal is to use that resource and get back on track with exercise and cooking at home more than I go to restaurants.  I took a quite understandable break from intensively focusing on this, but all the old excuses are now a thing of the past.  It's time to get back on the wagon.

10 Positive Changes I've Noticed

Or, How I Gave Up the Standard American Diet and Started Loving Life

 

It has been almost exactly 4 months since I started eating paleo and exercising regularly.  In that time, a lot of things that have nothing to do with those lifestyle changes have occurred: I have left my job, transitioned my private practice to online therapy, moved across the country, started shacking up with my parents (temporarily), and begun my new job search.  So obviously there have been a lot of big changes in my life that have nothing to do with working out or eating Real Food... but after Friday's post, I decided to look back and see what else has changed as a result of my food and fitness changes in the last third of a year.  And to my surprise, I was able to list 10 things.

1. Weight Loss

Obviously, this outcome wasn't unanticipated.  If I had to say one thing that drove me to start thinking about making these changes, it was wanting to lose a few pounds.  I've never had major weight problems (thank goodness) but I was a little bit overweight and wanted to make some changes before I get older and it gets harder.  

I have no problem sharing things like my weight on the internet... so here are my stats before and after:

Before:

Weight - 156 pounds

Pants size - 14

After:

Weight - 139 pounds

Pants size - 10 (but loose fitting - might be about time to go shopping for size 8)

Alternately, they say a picture is worth 1000 words, so here are some of those:

October 1, 2013

December 15, 2013

 Nothing earth-shattering, but not bad, eh?

2. Attention Span

I'm not going to spend too much time on this one because I wrote extensively about it the other day here, but long story short in case you missed that one - I've struggled to varying degrees with ADD my entire life, and I think eating paleo and exercising regularly has really helped me overcome some of the symptoms.

3. Increased Energy

I wake up earlier and with more energy.  Accounting for variables, I typically feel strong and happy throughout the day.  I need less sleep to feel equally refreshed.  Some of this might be related to increased strength from working out my muscles, but I think a lot of it is also that when I eat a slab of meat and a bunch of veggies, my body takes less energy to process that than the grains, dairy, sugar, and processed stuff I used to eat - so guess where that energy goes?  Yep, you guessed it - me!

And exercising is also a huge contributor to my increased level of energy!  Here's a research-based article that validates what I've experienced firsthand in this regard.

This doesn't just affect my ability to run farther or the amount of sleep I need... it also affects my ability to engage in lots of different kinds of recreational activities with more stamina and endurance than I've ever had in my life!

4. Pop your bones?

10 points to anyone who got the Izzard reference there.

As long as I can remember, I have been a very crackly human being.  Sitting in class, I'd crack my neck, my back, my elbows, my knees, my knuckles.  I'd hyper-extend my arms in the middle of a therapy session and watch my clients cringe in reaction.  One client used to be so attuned to it that I would straighten my arm and pause, and he'd say "oh, just do it," so I would and then we could get on with the session.  Isn't that awful?

I'm not saying I've stopped popping body parts entirely, but I definitely feel a less frequent need to do so.  My body feels less tense and more limber, so I don't need to do that as often... which is nice, because I think it really grosses some people out.

5. Mindfulness

I don't eat anything unless I know what's in it - or at least I try not to.  This makes me really annoying at restaurants.  I'm that girl saying, "oh, can you ask the chef whether this is cooked in olive oil or canola oil?"  and "do you mind finding out whether this salmon is wild caught or farm raised?"  Sometimes, depending on my mood and a lack of desire to annoy whoever I'm with, I suck it up a little.  I'll eat grain-fed steak or farm-raised salmon if I'm at a restaurant with four other people and I didn't have a chance to call ahead.  But across the board, eating paleo has made me more aware of every single thing I put in my mouth.

Like this, fresh from the tree

Related and equally as important, I'm mindful about how I choose to spend my time.  Do I really need to sit and play Candy Crush (not my stated priority), or would that time be better spent going for a walk around my neighborhood or cooking or doing squats and push-ups?  My time is valuable, and I get to choose how I spend it... so perhaps it would be better spent on my health (or intellectual pursuits, or job search, or connecting with the amazing people in my life) than on something frivolous.

I'm going to make a somewhat radical statement here - I actually think mindfulness is the cornerstone of all effective diets.  If you eat paleo, great!  But if you count calories or go vegan or eliminate sugar... that's all that matters, really, is that you're making a change that causes you to think about everything you put in your mouth and ask yourself "where did this come from?  What's in it?"

6. Internal Locus of Control

Ok, a quick psych 101 lesson on competence and empowerment: Basically, in every situation, each person has what's called a "locus of control."  What this means is that we look at a situation and decide whether or not we have any ability to impact it.  Here's a graphic demonstrating that continuum:

So let's say, for example, that I'm going to a job interview and I believe that I have 100% control over whether or not I get the job.  That would be an internal locus of control.  The converse would be if I believe that there's nothing at all that I can do to exert influence over whether or not I get the job, which would be called an external locus of control.  In most situations, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  I can prepare for the interview, research the company, wear something that makes me look presentable, do continuing education to accrue knowledge that would help me in the job, etc.  But on the other hand, I don't know who else is interviewing, I don't know whether they're leaning towards promoting from within, I don't know if I look like the interviewer's wife's sister who he hates... there are a lot of factors out of my control.  So it's important to keep a balanced perspective.

What the research shows, though, is that happy, optimistic, and empowered people have a more internal locus of control.  They believe that there are things they can do to change the outcome of their situation.  This makes a great deal of sense, because if you feel that there's nothing you can do to better your life, you learn to feel helpless.  (I suppose some Buddhist-leaning folks would disagree with me on that, but in any event it rings true to my experience.)

So here's how this all ties in:  I've always conceptualized myself as an unfit person.  I hated PE in school, I didn't have anything inside me compelling me to play sports or go to the gym...  and as long as that was a Truth rather than a Thing That Was True In The Moment, it was going to drag me down.  But when I decided to eat right and exercise, suddenly I found that I wasn't an unfit person.  (Well, I was at first but I got over it - which is actually my whole point.)  Instead I was a person who had never really tried to be fit.

Well if that's true... if I can lift heavy things, have greater stamina and endurance, be thinner, and feel healthier... what else can I do?  Can I learn a language?  An instrument?  Master a new topic in my field?  Having achieved what I have so far (and, mind you, I still have a long way to go) builds my feeling that I have the ability to learn things and improve through regular, deliberate practice.  In other words, I feel more motivated to take on anything I want to learn, because I'm not bad at it - I'm just a newbie.

7. Decreased interest in junk food

"I'm going to eat this whole bag through the course of one movie!"

I've always had quite the sweet tooth.  The answer to the question "Candy?" has always been "Yes, please."  When I first started eating paleo, I had to avoid the junk food aisles at the grocery store.  If I had to pick up walnuts from the baking aisle or tea from the aisle that also has candy, it was an extreme exercise in self-control.

Now that stuff simply doesn't interest me.  When I think about the Skittles in the picture above, I think, "wow, there's a lot of junk I can't even pronounce in those."  I expected avoiding junk food to always be hard - and to a degree, especially with baked goods, it can be.  But not grabbing a handful of Cheetos or binging on sweets is kind of a no-brainer for me at this point.

8. Digestive Health

I'm going to spend only minimal time on this section because I can already hear people reading this and thinking "yuck, TMI!"  But I will say, in as non-scatalogical a way as I can think to describe it, that I have struggled with digestive issues for several years.  Close friends knew that I would regularly be on the phone with them driving home and I would suddenly get an immense urge to use the bathroom, with no warning or prep time.  I always made it fine, but sometimes just barely.

Since eating paleo, I have not had this problem.  Not once.  In fact, initially the opposite happened.  My doctor recommended a probiotic, and I started eating bacon (making sure, of course, that I could pronounce all the ingredients) on a regular basis so that the fat from it would get things moving.  I've already spent too much time on this topic here, but I thought it was too significant a change to not mention it.  

9. Strength

I brought a box to the post office about 2 weeks ago.  It was a little bit heavy, and I was certainly glad to set it down on the counter, but it was also pretty manageable and didn't feel like the maximum capacity I could have handled.  I lifted with my legs rather than my back and carried it to the teller.  She looked at me, dumbfounded, and asked, "did you carry this inside by yourself?"

"Um... yes?"

"This box is over 50 pounds!"

Whoa.

Cognitively, I knew that when I started doing strength training, I would get stronger.  I mean, that's the whole point, right?  I was frustrated at first because I'd go to the gym and struggle to do barbell rows with 30 pounds while right next to me was a girl deadlifting 180.  Since my move, my gym membership has ended and I've been doing workouts at home with my bodyweight instead of at the gym with barbells... but I've noticed a significant increase in my strength.

When I started my strength training regimen, I couldn't do a full squat.  Instead, I found myself doing what Nerd Fitness calls "power curtsies," which means that my thighs were at a greater than 90 degree angle to my calves.  Now, not only can I do squats, but for the first time in my life, I can do push-ups!  Honestly, prior to starting this, I would huff and puff just doing knee push-ups... now I can do at least 10 consecutive regular ones!  

Again, deliberate practice yields results!  Awesome!

10. Long-Term Health Benefits

Ok, this one might be cheating because it isn't something I've noticed yet... but all I know is that if I keep up the good work, I'll be healthier in the long run.  (Also, 10 was a really nice, pretty number for this list.)

Any time in the past that I've wanted to whip myself into shape and prioritize diet and especially exercise, the thing that has motivated me most is reading studies about cognitive decline later in life.  Everything I've read on the subject says that if you exercise regularly in your 20s and 30s, you're less likely to develop Alzheimer's and dementia in your senior years.  They've studied this.  There's a definite link.  

And, well, I like my brain.  It's where I keep all my thoughts and memories, and it's where I store my analytic ability.  I use it to win at strategy games, remember stories, think about laughter, sunny days, first kisses, songs I've sung.  And so if spending a few hours a week doing something active is going to help me hang onto all of that... you bet I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing!

Eating Habits and Attention Span

I owe you guys a whole bunch of posts. I definitely realize that.  I have photos of food from my going away party and Thanksgiving, and I have insights from eating nothing but the stuff I brought with me on a 4-day road trip.  But today I'm thinking about other things, because yesterday I did something I haven't done for a long time - I ate CRAP.

I'm not talking about when I go to a restaurant and order a steak even though it's grain-fed rather than grass-fed, or that time I was out on a date and the guy said "oh let's get this awesome eggplant salad" and I asked the server if they could put the feta on the side and the server said "nope, it's in the dressing" and I said "yeah, ok, I guess I'll have it anyway even though dairy isn't part of my paleo diet" because the salad sounded pretty awesome and also the boy's smile was adorable and charming.  (How's that for a crazy long sentence?) 

(Also, it's worth noting that *some* people who eat paleo DO eat small amounts of high-fat dairy, but I choose not to because I'm better at eliminating foods than moderating them.)

No, I'm talking about full on ate crap all day.  I didn't mean to, but sometimes things happen.

You see, I'm at a conference this weekend.  It's an amazing conference called The Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference and all of my heroes are here.  For those of you to whom this means anything, some of the featured names on the roster are John and Julie Gottman, Irvin Yalom, Sue Johnson, Mary Pipher, Martin Seligman, Donald Wing Sue, Salvador Minuchin, Peter Levine, Scott Miller, Marsha Linehan, and the list just goes on and on.  Basically, every time I buy a book that's about therapy, they invite the author to this conference - I'm pretty sure that's how it works. 

Anyway, the conference is in Anaheim and I'm staying with a friend who lives in Orange County, about a 20 minute drive away.  I left for yesterday's sessions a little later than I intended, so I didn't have the chance to pop across the street from where I'm staying to Panera and order off their paleo-friendly Hidden Menu.  That's ok - there are food trucks parked outside the hotel.

I got to the conference, parked, and made a run towards Michelle Weiner-Davis's workshop on doing couples therapy by working with just one partner... but I'm a mess if I don't eat in the morning.  (Some people who eat paleo practice intermittent fasting and don't eat until noon.  I think that would really mess me up.)  So I stopped at a food truck and ordered their only breakfast option - a breakfast burrito.  It had eggs and bacon, which are friendly, but also potatoes and cheese and a tortilla, which are definitely all against the rules.  Then for lunch I had a burger, which I ordered without the bun - just the patty, lettuce, and tomato... but I guess maybe in "super busy food truck" language, "lettuce and tomato" actually means "a ridiculous amount of very greasy cheese," because that's what I got instead.  I followed all the rules for a very nice dinner with my parents (except my amazing filet mignon was corn-fed, not grass-fed, but that's a really minor transgression in the scheme of things) but by that point it was too late.

The reason I'm ratting myself out here is that I noticed something amazing: all day yesterday, I was incredibly inattentive. 

Now this will require a bit of back story.  I've always have issues with focusing, to some degree.  When I was a kid, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder because I would constantly fidget and daydream.  It really caused me a lot of problems in school.  I frequently got in trouble in class, and even though I was "really smart," teachers observed that I "couldn't focus" and "didn't seem to be living up to my potential."  My mom, ever the motivated and proactive parent, brought me to specialists.

I underwent a slew of different treatments.  I went to a therapist who taught me about "the focused position," which was both feet on the floor, back straight, shoulders down, head up like it was being lifted by a string.  That didn't work very well because all I could think about was whether I was sitting correctly.  I tried medications - I don't remember specifically which ones, but I know I was on Ritalin in 10th grade because someone told me it worked wonders for them and I asked permission to try it.  I went to a chiropractor who did what was probably the most effective treatment I had undergone... but the effects only lasted for about a day or so.  I regularly went for EEG Biofeedback where I tried to learn how to control my brain through really boring games.  It's worth noting that the narrative I have associated with this slew of treatments when I think back on it was, "wow, my parents really cared and wanted to do everything they could to try to help me," so I'm not upset by this, but it's a lot.  And ultimately, nothing really worked.

The only thing that did eventually seem to work was deciding that I cared enough to prioritize focusing.  That didn't really happen in a big way until graduate school.  I got really unimpressive grades in college, but in graduate school I had a 3.975.  (Thanks, psychopharmacology, for screwing up my 4.0 with an A-!)  So the story has a happy ending, which is that I found a career I love and when I'm learning about it, I buckle down and focus... not because my brain chemistry has shifted (at least not that I know of), but because when I'm passionate about something, it's not hard to pay attention.  My mind still wanders when stuff is uninteresting to me, but I mainly indulge in the things that fascinate me so it's not really a big deal.  (A psychiatrist I worked alongside once said to me that the best cure for ADHD is to "be interested in everything.")

But here's the thing - yesterday, I COULD NOT FOCUS.  Seriously, it was awful.  Part of it might have been that I'm feeling anxious about job searching and uncomfortable with the fact that I don't have an outlet to do therapy here in LA yet... but it was more than that.  Try as I might, I could not make myself focus on my workshops.  And we're not talking boring workshops.  We're talking about John and Julie Gottman, the parents of contemporary couples therapy, talking about how to build trust and treat infidelity.  Now that's some awesome and fascinating stuff!

Today I planned better.  I got up early and went to Panera where I ate two eggs, some steak, and half an avocado for breakfast.  And I went to six different workshops:

1. Sue Johnson and the Gottmans talking about infidelity
2. Bessel Van der Kolk and a few others talking about anxiety disorders
3. Peter Levine, Mary Pipher, and others talking about PTSD
4. Derald Wing Sue talking about recognizing and combating microaggressions to provide more competent treatment to minorities
5. Irvin Yalom talking about the history of psychotherapy
6. Martin Seligman doing a Q&A

And compared to yesterday, it was like night and day.  All this makes me wonder whether among other things, the standard American diet contributes to the high rate of ADD (well, ADHD inattentive type - thanks for that cumbersome change, DSM) among children.  If kids ate paleo (and I'm not trying to be preachy - just curious), would the rate of those diagnoses decrease?

Grain-free food for thought, in any event.

Water Aerobics Win!

 

I don't want to brag, but I have the best water aerobics teacher ever.  Had, I guess, since my Waltham Y membership expired and I'm moving across the country tomorrow, but still.  Her name is Kristen, and she's always upbeat, encouraging, pushes us with fantastic and challenging muscle workouts, and in each class, she tells us an awesome cheesy joke like this one:

Q: What is the nosiest pepper?
A: Jalepeño business!

(Say it out loud.  With sass.  Go on, I'll wait.)

She's also just inspiringly positive and optimistic.  One time, she said, "this exercise is my favorite!"  Then a pause.  "I guess when you're a happy person you get to have LOTS of favorite things!"

 I thought about trying water aerobics a few years ago, when I was a member of the Y near my parents' house.  I love being in the pool, but for some reason I've never been very driven to swim laps.  But my parents dissuaded me, saying water aerobics is for little old ladies.  In their defense, there was a lot of that contingent in my class...

...but I don't know how!  Because the workouts were not only fun, but also challenging, and I usually left feeling just as accomplished as after a Zumba class.  The class is broken into 3 sections:

1. Body only exercises - Using your body and the water resistance to do things like jumping jacks, jogging in place, hopping backwards, etc.

2. Weights - Using floaty dumbbells (more floaty means more difficult) to provide even greater water resistance and do awesome arm workouts, or using the dumbbells to provide balance while doing other exercises like ab workouts.

3. Water Noodles - Yep, those things you used to float on and have sword fights with when you were a kid (or was that just me?).  Using the resistance of the noodle, we do a lot of different exercises, mostly around leg muscles.

My class is unusual in that there are a lot of people around my age.  It's probably Kristen's energy that keeps them coming back, but it's also an excellent workout!

At some point, when I'm once again gainfully employed beyond my handful of private practice clients, I'll probably join a gym with a pool in Los Angeles, and I'll check out their classes.  If there are ways to get exercise and enjoy myself while doing so, count me in!

Overdue update

Whoa, it's been over two weeks since I've updated... sorry to keep you guys hanging!  I've been in crazy super duper packing mode, getting ready for my move to Los Angeles. The movers get here in 20 minutes, and I hit the road on Saturday, so as you can imagine, things have been a little bit on the frenzied side.

A quick note on the photo above...  I've almost gotten rid of that shirt so many times because I was certain it would never fit me again.  But check it out... it fits!  I was so excited that I wore it for the whole day on Tuesday in spite of the blistering cold in Massachusetts.  (I packed all day, so I was indoors and moving.)  This makes me think... I have a box in my closet at my parents' house (had?  Did I get rid of it?) labeled 117 pounds.  These are all clothes from the summer before college, and I expected never to be able to wear them again.  If that box still exists, is it possible I may actually get to that point if I continue eating paleo and exercising regularly?

Sitting in a car for four 11-hour days is going to be rough, especially since I've been so active lately. 

My size 10 pants that I bought are starting to feel just a tad too big.  It's weird - I haven't lost any more weight, really, but my clothing continues to feel looser.  Maybe all that weight lifting I'm doing is paying off.

Speaking of weight lifting, my gym membership expired on the 15th.  I miss my water aerobics and Zumba classes, and also access to barbells.  I'd built up from 12 to 30 pound bars for deadlifts, barbell rows, and other stuff... and from 45 to 55 pounds on the bench press.  But it seems I'm taking a break from that routine due to, you know, relocating my whole life.  I've shifted my 3x weekly strength training workout to a body weight routine.  This is a rotation of two different series of exercises, and I'm finding routine A much easier than routine B.  A involves jumping jacks, planks, squats, and pushups.  B involves... whoa. 

So I just went to look at the cheat sheet to tell you what the different workouts involve, and I realized that I'd been doing half of workout A as A and the other half as B... In reality, I'm supposed to do (obviously) both halves of A and then a completely different workout for B.  Guess I'm starting from square 1 tomorrow.  :)

Anyway, the body weight stuff is challenging, so I may wait (weight?  Ha.)  a few weeks before joining a gym in LA.  There's a pretty decent track I can do some jogging on since the area around my parents' house, where I'll be living for a few months, is crazy hilly.  I haven't jogged since my 5k, so I'm feeling a bit out of practice, but this will be a great opportunity to try out my new Vibram Fivefinger shoes:




I've been walking in them, but it's time to give them a jog.  They feel really different than walking in normal shoes, not just because of the toes, but because the soles are more moveable.  They also use different muscles, especially in my calves, than regular shoes... so maybe I'll take it slow at first.

Anyway, I'm all over the place.  Hopefully you enjoyed this pretty scattered post!

This salad wins at everything.

Piggybacking on this morning's post, I am having salad for lunch. This concoction is my new favorite healthy thing. It consists of a handful of strawberries, a handful of cucumber, about a cup of romaine lettuce, and a bunch of sunflower seeds.

Even more epic is the salad dressing, which I made on my own in bulk, and am using on everything. It's a raspberry vinaigrette with a ratio of half a cup of raspberry vinegar, a tablespoon of honey, and a tablespoon of fresh mint.

I highly recommend you give it a try, cause yum.

(If weird things happened with formatting, it's because this is my first attempt at using the blogger app.)