Fitness Fellowship 2026: Check-in Seven

[sylvanwitch]

We're finally having tolerable temperatures (mid- to high-thirties F), so that has meant some walking outdoors, and it's been glorious! I know better than to think we're past the worst of the winter weather, but I'm so grateful for this thaw to give me a chance to get outside.

What are you grateful for, fitness-wise or otherwise, this week? I hope you have something bringing you joy in your life.

As usual, please do share as much or as little as you'd like of how the past week has gone and any plans you have for your fitness in the week to come.



Weight: 194.4, meaning I've regained the pound I lost last week, alas. It's to be expected, though. For Valentine's Day, T. got me a half-dozen gourmet vegan cupcakes from a local bakery. I've been parsing them out to make them last, but between the unusual sweets intake and our weekend of vegan oven pizza and French fries, I did expect to see an uptick, and I'm okay with it.

Exercise: 4/4 yoga sessions, 2/3 strength-training sessions, walking every day. We got out for a 2.4-mile ramble yesterday, and I took a 2.3-mile walk today. I'm on my winter break this week, and the weather is looking conducive to at least two or three more outdoor walks. I'm *so* pleased. The missing strength-training is a combination of exhaustion and forgetfulness. Last week was stressful at work, and I was also on the struggle bus in the first half of the work week, thanks to SAD. That's not an excuse, just a fact of life this time of year. Anyway, I'll do better this week, for sure.

Eating plan: Other than the aforementioned exceptions, I've been eating healthy. The white bean and green soup I made last Monday was excellent for lunches all last week--hearty, filling, delicious, and very healthy. Yum! I've stocked up some chopped salad kits and made a pan of vegan "chicken" to throw in, so I'll have easy meals for break and will still be getting my roughage. I have one cupcake left, and then that temptation will be gone as well.

Meditation: Yes!

Hydration: With the exception of one day, when I basically forgot to drink until just before bed, I was good about this.

Sleep: Friday night into Saturday, I slept 9.5 hours, which is rare for me. My body really needed it. Since then, I've been good about getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm trying *not* to lean hard into my night-owl habits because that just makes returning to work that much more difficult. The sleep is deep and lovely, if a little plagued by weird dreams. I always sleep better on breaks; work makes me anxious. *sighs*

The week ahead: We didn't get takeout for Valentine's Day, deciding to save it for a midweek treat, so I do have some Indian takeout in my future, and I'm going to an early dinner with a friend on Thursday, but we go to this amazing multicultural food court, and there's a West African restaurant there with the most amazing red beans and rice and greens, so even there, I'll have healthy options. This is to say that I am on break, and I might indulge more than I'd otherwise do, but I'm going to try to balance that with lots of exercise and also watching portions.



I'm sending you all the good vibes I can spare, friends. Happy Mardi Gras to those who celebrate it! (T. brought home a king cake, but it's PACKED with cream cheese, so that's pretty easy for me to ignore.)

Comments

still eating too much

[oldtoadwoman]

I was doing well until the end of the week when the anxiety spiral took over.

Re: still eating too much

[sylvanwitch]

Ugh, anxiety suuuuucks! I hope it's passing for you now and that you're feeling a little better.



And, unfortunately for me, anyway, it's in part diet-related, in the sense that certain foods are triggers/exacerbating factors for me. It's why I stopped drinking alcohol altogether thirty years ago. (This is not judgement, FYI--your mileage may definitely vary.) But since my anxiety often has the side effect of nausea, vomiting, and other intestinal unpleasantness, I've learned the hard way what to avoid because those foods *literally* make me feel worse, and not just in the typical "I shouldn't have overeaten" sort of way.

Re: still eating too much

[oldtoadwoman]

Alcohol mainly just makes me giggly and sleepy. Straight sugar spikes my anxiety, I think. (But I also crave sugar the most when I'm anxious so sometimes it's hard to tell which came first.) I've actually stuck with my no-candy rule so far this year, but it's been close a few times.

Re: still eating too much

[sylvanwitch]

Hey, good for you for sticking to the no-candy rule--that's *awesome*! Go, you!

Re: still eating too much

[oldtoadwoman]

One more temptation avoided.

I had dinner with a friend after work. (Not exactly health food, but not the worst thing I could have eaten.) And we were directly across the street from a place that has amazing milkshakes. And I did that thing that happens a lot when I'm eating with other people. I pretend that I can't possibly eat anymore when the other person says they are full. So we never even considered getting milkshakes. This situation very, very often leads to me eating more when I get home. So at that point, even though I'd had a satisfying dinner, I was still very much thinking about milkshakes. My friend gave me a ride home and dropped me off in front of the corner store. I popped in and bought some diet fizzy so that I'll have caffeine handy tomorrow and part of my brain was thinking, "Ice cream!" (They have several huge cases of ice cream near the front of the store.) But another part of my brain went, "It won't make anything better and you'll just be mad when you step on the scales tomorrow," so in the end, I successfully made it home without buying any sugary treats.

Re: still eating too much

[sylvanwitch]

That's fantastic! Avoiding temptation when you are *so* locked into a pattern is *HUGE*. Go, you! I absolutely get what you're describing here, every step of it, and I'm super glad you were able to say no to milkshakes AND ice cream treats!

Re: still eating too much

[oldtoadwoman]

I went to a movie matinee today and did not get any popcorn. And there's a Nando's next door to the theater that is always really tempting. I knew if I went in, I'd want chicken and then give in to the temptation of fries, et cetera. So while still at the theater, I placed a to-go order for a large order of Brussels sprouts and took it home and that was lunch. For dinner, I got a discount mystery poke bowl (every time I've ordered the mystery bowl, it's reliably been tofu, rice, and veggies, but the gimmick is that you pay less than half the price of a normal bowl but instead of being able to pick your own toppings, you just get whatever they had the most leftovers of that day and it's only available during a narrow pick-up slot).

So today's "I probably shouldn't have done that" guilt is about how much money I threw around like I'm not on a budget, but no food regrets. (I seem incapable of dieting and budgeting at the same time. This has been a problem for me before. It's like I just have this tiny thimble of willpower that's only enough to cover one thing at a time. I can eat healthy or exercise or stay on my budget or clean my apartment. But it's always sort of a "pick one" situation.)

Re: still eating too much

[sylvanwitch]

I can eat healthy or exercise or stay on my budget or clean my apartment

Oh, this is me all the way! I'm either eating right OR not indulging in retail therapy. I thought for a while there that I'd mastered BOTH compulsions (emotional eating and emotional buying), but then it got to be winter and my SAD kicked in, and my brain explained to me in no uncertain terms that I *would* be doing something--eating or buying--or I would rue the day, etc. So, yes, 1000% yes. I get everything you're saying here.

Also: YAY Brussels sprouts and healthy poke bowls!

Re: still eating too much

[oldtoadwoman]

Winter is so hard. It's cold and it's dark. Traveling is more treacherous (even just walking on icy sidewalks carries risk, so not just bad roads). So there is a lot less socializing which means winter is also very isolating. Winter depression is different than in any other season because for me it carries this extra whininess. I'm not just tired and sad, I always feel on the verge of a whiney toddler-tantrum where I want to cry and sob and have someone else step in and deal with the hard stuff. Which means I'm triggering all of my "I deserve a treat!" entitlement. It's not just that I want the food or I want the toy, there's that psychological little head-pat that comes with it. It's the act of reassuring myself that I deserve the thing.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> We're finally having tolerable temperatures <<

It's been 40s-50s here. We have a few more nice days, then it's supposed to get cold again. My honeybees are flying out of their bee tree. O_O I may have to put out some sugar water for them, because there is NOTHING anywhere near blooming yet.

I've been out doing a little yardwork. I've spread mulch around several trees.

Today I walked around taking pictures, if you want to see:

Photos: House Yard and South Lot

Photos: Savanna and Prairie Garden

Re: Thoughts

[sylvanwitch]

Your yard, gardens, and views are all so lovely! And how exciting that you have the first green shoots sprouting up! We may have, but it's still covered in a few inches of melting snow at the moment. We're expecting these mid-thirties for the rest of the week, and then the weekend is supposed to bring a drop in temps and more snow. *sighs* I knew it was a false spring, but it was fun to pretend. ;-)

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Your yard, gardens, and views are all so lovely! <<

Thank you! :D I'm having lots of fun picking out things for spring planting. I still have big bags of stuff from fall seed gathering that I need to separate from pods too.

>> And how exciting that you have the first green shoots sprouting up! <<

Yeah, some like the irises never died back, but the crocus and snowdrops are new. :D

>>We're expecting these mid-thirties for the rest of the week, and then the weekend is supposed to bring a drop in temps and more snow. <<

Looks like a chance of snow on Saturday here, which would suck, because that's the craft show weekend at the Otto Center. :/

[oschun]

I'm grateful for sunlight. It's been so grey and so wet for so long, but we've finally had some sunlight recently. It's been the wettest January on record where I live. I'm tired of the rain. We have a leak in our kitchen roof and the roads are so bad with potholes. But the sun has been out this week and the snowdrops are peeping through so I guess it's almost spring.

[sylvanwitch]

Oh, YAY for snowdrops and sunshine! I'm so glad you've had that break in the gloom, hon. And I *so* commiserate on the potholes, though we haven't had the constant deluge you're surviving over there. I do hope the rain has done its worst now, and you all can expect more sunshine and spring-like weather. :-)