Finishing the Year Strong - 100 Days of Fitness

Did you know that there are about 100 days left until the end of 2016? OMG this year has gone by so fast. I started the year wanting to break through 100 pound loss - and I still haven't made it. In fact with traveling 25% of the time, dealing with loss, other stress eating - I've actually gone backwards and gained weight.


So - I'm going to finish the year strong. 100 Days of Fitness.


Day One -
- Eat right
- Spent 2 hours kayaking in nearby park
- 1 hour cleaning house :)


Day summary: Net Calories 1004 :)

Day 1 - Kayaking Skokie Lagoon

Yeah - one down, 104 to go!

Greetings from the UK - Traveling Too Much

Today I find myself outside of London for a few days of business meetings. While that sounds like fun - I'm now traveling 50% of the time and quite fatigued by airplanes and hotels. 

I've lost three of the past 5 weekends - traveling on Sunday to be at meetings starting on Monday morning. 

Frankly - this sucks and has put my ability to manage my New Leaf commitments at risk. Eating in restaurants or worse yet, office catered meals leave zero room for customizing my choices. Many meals are now in airports or on airplanes :(

Hell - when packing for the latest trip I had to reach into the size 14/16 to get the right items. DAMN! At the start of 2016 I was squeezing into size 10/12. YIKES. I hate this.

I'm now missing half of my weekly workouts with my trainer because I am simply not in town. So that makes the weeks that I do meet with him great - but also challenging as it seems like every time is new. 

I'm not sure how, I injured my knee. I'm going on a month or so of weakness and pain. This has constrained the workouts. Although I still bike - which might not be the best decision. 

One the positive side - a few weekends ago I participated in a charity bike ride outside Chicago. Despite arriving from Europe only the day before and being sleep deprived and jet-lagged. I rode the furthest I've ever done at one time - 38 miles. This was in 88 F and 70% humidity. I didn't feel at al fatigued or sore the next day. Great news.  A few days ago in Ireland we went hiking in the Wicklow National park. It was over 25k steps that day. 

I need the turnaround plan to get in place and kick in. 

Starting next week - I'm going to refresh the weekly summary tracking. Perhaps a tad more visibility and accountability. I'll also start with the weekly weigh in again Sept 2... that gives me a few weeks lead time.

My Life not in balance.

Teresa Marie

Bike Ireland!

Very enjoyable - and I'm not at all kidding using those words - biking 30 miles in Ireland a few days ago. 

I was able to go the distance and even hit a few new high speed records. I was not in the back of the pack :)

Non-scale Victory.

Take care;

Teresa Marie

Stress, Travel, & Biking

(Photo: Indoor Cycling Assoc. Website)

The past few months have been full of unusual and challenging events.  I like to think that I'm very good at handling stress - but my limits have been tested. 

What's happening...I have been to two family funerals, gone through job changes, new bosses, had a major shift to financial situation, major home remodeling and repair, supported kids through tough times, and yes, sad to say eaten my stress.

Together We Make A Normal Person

I've been thinking a great deal lately about family, genetics and fate. 

Apropos of my subject line, my sister "Little Linda" and I together make a normal person. 

She and I are just two years apart in age. We were dressed as twins until we were nearly teenagers. We shared a bedroom through high school. We went to the same college. We both have brown hair and brown eyes. We are both under 5'4" tall. We both like getting outdoors - canoeing, hiking. That's the end of similarities.

So here we are as kids - Little Linda in a dress even though we are all out fishing :) I'm in the photo on the right - plump little girl taking care of my baby sister.