The hills are alive with the sound of....:Weekly Weight Update

...my legs screaming because of the hills in Roswell, Georgia. This week I was traveling in Georgia for work. Traveling and weight loss do not often mix by the very fact that you have to eat out for every meal. No matter how hard you try and how diligent you are it is inevitable that something will sneak into your food that you don't want or you will eat a few more calories than you hope. The key is to stay focused without being to crazy, eat sensibly, and continue to work out.

Make-shift hotel breakfast of oatmeal, scrambled instead of over-easy eggs, and hot sauce instead of red pepper flakes. I threw in some fruit for good measure.

This week was the second week of the 10K trainer. This week's runs started with a 5 minute walk, then 3 sets of 15 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking, and finishing up with 5 minutes of walking. This is another big increase in the amount of time I'm running, which would be hard enough as it is but the hills in Roswell, Georgia are crazy.

Over the past few weeks I've learned how you can discover some new and interesting places the longer you run. While down in Georgia I simply left the hotel and started running. Every direction seemed to be a hill going up. My legs screamed at me to stop and my lungs gasped for breath but I made sure to power through and finish my two longs runs that I had planned during the week away. I was also able to find a cool wooded trail near the hotel that led to a river. Here are a few pictures of the area I got to run in this week.

From the angle it is hard to tell but this is a trail near my hotel and it is going straight up. The rocks are essentially stairs.

Small river near the hotel. This picture is from a bridge over the river.

A small waterfall. The picture is taken from the same bridge as the photo above but the other direction

Thanks for all the comments and support for last week's weight update blog. I'm pleased to report that using adhesive bandages on my nipple region has worked like a charm. It may be awkward but before each run I strap on a few pasties then hit the pavement. As the old saying goes, "safety first."

The first few nights of meals while on my trip to Atlanta I could feel myself eating too much. I felt bloated and full both nights so I made sure to cut back significantly on Wednesday. I wasn't trying to deprive myself but I had to cut the calories down and get back on the point counting for Weight Watchers. Even continuing to work out I felt as if I was letting myself slip a bit too far off the wagon and falling back into the old habits from before starting Weight Watchers. I suppose it is a good sign that I can see what I was doing and tried to right the ship before I got too far along in the week but it did show me how easy it is to think you are eating right when really you are letting yourself splurge every night.

Even after the first two nights and focusing on what I was eating I still felt as if I was eating too much. Perhaps it was just being out of my routine and away from home but I couldn't shake the feeling of being fat. Any of you that have struggled with weight know the one. A feeling that can't really be explained (but I'll give it a try) where you feel like none of your clothes fit right, your gut feels like it is sticking out farther than normal, and you generally feel lethargic. I made sure to push through the feeling and not let myself quit on the workouts I had planned. I even hit the same leg killing hills for a Wednesday run that I had on Monday. I was only able to run 35 of the planned 45 minutes on Wednesday because (1) I didn't stop in the middle of my workout to take pictures for a blog, and (2) the hills were killer. I still walked though the remaining time and got up to about 4.8 miles covered but my shaking legs would not allow me to run any further.

I got to spend Friday afternoon and all day Saturday at home with the family. We went out to breakfast for my Dad's 67th birthday Saturday morning. After breakfast, and giving Cece a very brief nap, I laced up and hit the trails for a nice long run. The hills are much more lenient in Herndon than in Roswell. I decided to "rerun" the workout from Wednesday since I didn't run the entire time on Wednesday.  It was a good feeling running back at home and keeping in the routine.

The lesson I took away from this week is not to let yourself get down when you eat a little too much or you may feel a little fat. I didn't get to weigh in at Weight Watchers but I'm certain I gained a few pounds this week. However, I kept up my running regiment and even ran further than I have ever run before on hills I never thought I would climb. I know that if I keep pushing my workouts the weight will come off easily when I return to a normal diet.