February has literally flown driven by. I can’t believe it’s the last full week of the month. I’ve slept in 3 states, driven through 6, explored a new part of the Georgia Coast, and experienced my first ever mountain vacation!
who knew there were so many stars up in the sky?!
Life in the mountains was fun. Calvin had a great time trying to run w/ the mountain pack,
define: the mountain pack – a bunch of dogs that roam free during the day, but return home to their warm beds at night. what. a. life.
“can we all play, please? i won’t bite your necks very hard, i swear!” -calvin the instigator
just saying hello to my new friend mr. niko
sorry, i’m a dog creep.
The hubs & and I had fun with a little hiking, lots of relaxing & reading (may i suggest the book What Alice Forgot? amazing!), & too much eating. We stayed w/ sliding rock cabins. They were super friendly, helpful, and I definitely recommend them! The only bad part was the road going up the cabin was a little scary, a lot steep, and slightly muddy.
amicalola falls + me. amazing! i love state parks. and the 600+ stairs we had to climb to get back to our car made for a quite a nice work out!
our cabin living room with the most comfortable chaise lounges and a fireplace. most of our time was spent here!
i can relax too. i’m not a bad puppy 100% of the time, just, like, 97%. see, mom? see?
and we were both amazed what the sky looks like without the light pollution of a city nearby!
amazing stars & a purple sky at night (~10pm)
I realized on this vacation I still have a long way to go until I reach my healthy weight and an even longer way to go until I become a healthy eater. I have come a long way. I am getting much, much better at eating vegetables and am okay at avoiding junk food. I definitely mix it up more then I used to. Instead of eating purely crap on vacation, I throw in some salad for good measure. i’m a work in progress. i make mistakes. and it’s okay.
I try to keep telling myself life goes on. I don’t want to be upset by this weekend. By this month, even. I had a great time traveling with my husband and our 4-legged friend. But now it’s just time to get serious. yes, i have maintained my 50+ lb weight loss over the last year and a half. yes, i’m much more active than i ever was before (it’s pretty funny, i spelled ‘active’ incorrectly and they suggested correcting to ‘alive’, which is kind of how i feel.) i’m much more alive than ever before. but i’m over the stress of possible disease (high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure — most are in my family) and fatigue and just plain worry associated with being overweight. i’m ready to be in the maintenance stage.
I am giving myself a deadline of my birthday (end of June) to lose this weight. I would very much like to be w/in 10 lbs of my goal weight by then, which is about 35 lbs away. I’m ready to move on with my life. I’m ready to start living my new, fit life. I’m ready.
We’ve decided to eat very plain foods. I gave up baking for lent. Now, if you know me, baking is the love of my life (besides the hubby of course). This is a big deal for me. I’m even giving up “paleo baking” (which is sort of cheating anyway, but like i said, baking is important). We’re going to eat things like chicken, broccoli, & rice for dinner. i’m going to eat simply to sustain myself, not for enjoyment. i can do this (with a little pudding and fruit thrown in there!). i will do this. starting now!
my life for the next 4 months
Time to get back to running, walking, and eating right! Day 1, ready, set, go!
exercise for today: 3 mi running (treadmill), 3 mi walking (outside)
Love your food calendar! You can do it!! I gave up sweets for lent – it’s rough but stay strong in 39 days you can bake again!
We love your pictures! They are so beautiful. The cabin / house is so stunning…definitely looks like a fabulous place to take trail runs.
That waterfall is gorgeous!!