Day 4 - Perogy Soup and An Uphill Struggle

It is yet another day on my road to recovery. Down 2 pounds, that's interesting. Won't get too excited though, one day of many yet to come, it's about the long term here. A substantial loss like that would have put me in a mindset of, "I can let up just a little today", but that attitude is long dead. The new me wants more, to push myself to the limits. Now that Day 4 is underway, what hazards and temptations could possibly await me?

Perogy Soup. It's exactly as good as you think it may be. Cream of potato soup, celery, onions, carrots, and a few perogies tossed in for good measure. These cafeteria workers are either guided by the hand of God, or the trident of the Devil. Not long ago, I'd have chosen the former, but today...today it is the latter. I snared the initial bouquet as I walked in to fill my water bottle for the morning. "Whew, something smells good." I thought that was an internal comment, in spite of the fact that it was met with an external response. "That's perogy soup. Hope you're hungry!" Was I ever. Not that I've been starving myself, far from it. It's just that food has this ability to make me desire it, even if I've stuffed myself to the limits. This is where I must fight temptation. I arrive back at my desk with the aroma still lodged squarely in my olfactory senses. There it remained for the hours to follow, slowing the clock to a snail's pace as lunchtime approached. 10:30. Come on. 10:31. I'm considering cryogenically freezing myself for 89 minutes at this point. No, have patience. I've determined if I don't have a bowl of that soup, I may actually die on the spot, so let's find a way to make it happen. Normally, I'd have one to accompany my sandwich for lunch, and then another at around 2:30pm for a "late dessert". Yes, it's true, soup for dessert. A compromise is struck. I will not deprive myself of what I crave, but I will control how much I have. Noontime arrives. I have half a bowl with one perogy in it. Please understand that I've reduced my usual intake for this item by 75%. Someday I will hopefully cease these intense cravings for what I know I should not have, but today is not the day. I feel quite good about having a little taste and leaving it at that. I'm actually proud of myself. To avoid having to go through the temptation all over again, I bring my afternoon snack to my desk, thereby eliminating the need to go to the cafeteria again later. Completely eliminating the foods you love may work for some, I've tried it before, and here I stand. Wiser, and satisfied with a small amount. Much better than being miserable and waiting to hit my "interim goal" so I can hammer back two bowls and have the wheels come off yet again. Not this time. Never again.

I got home feeling pretty good about my day. Usually I watch TV while running, but today I thought to try playing some Wii Sports. I do a quick warm up walk, pick up the pace, and start the match. It's making the time pass quite quickly, but I'm getting beat rather soundly. That and I'm really getting exhausted. "Come on, I'm not doing THAT much more work, just waving my arm around while running." I'm having trouble seeing the finer details on the screen that will usually give you the edge for victory, so after losing two matches, I switch to boxing. It's even harder. I actually had to walk for a little bit, I was getting so tired. Sweating up a storm, I couldn't figure out what was going on. "I guess I'm just working harder." I press on through the pain and start my trot once again. On to bowling. This is much easier to control while bouncing around, but I'm having a much harder time than yesterday's run. I look down at the time and notice a strange number out of the corner of my right eye. Five. "The number five isn't normally over there, is it?", I think to myself as I brush beads of sweat off my furrowed brow. "Oh. Oh my." When I do my warm up walk, I put the treadmill on an incline, and then when it's time to pick it up to more of a scuttle, I level it off. Not this time. I had been bustling up a 5° incline for nearly the entire 30 minutes. I figure that I was so excited to try some Wii Sports on the treadmill, I forgot to take care of the basics first. Nice.

I still finished with a better result than the day before, and I forsee my treadmill progress improving through next week, (2.5miles/35:00, 200 crunches, 30 push-ups, 25 dips). I may have found the limits for the "mat" portion of my daily training for the time being. By the time I'd finished my 2nd set of 100 crunches, I was really feeling it. I'll hang around the (200/30/30) mark until I'm not feeling pushed to the absolute brink.

This is already making a vast difference in my life. I'm more alert during the day, sleeping much better in the evenings, not craving those late-night snacks as much. It sure feels good, and soon I'll be presented with the toughest test yet. The weekend. The first weekend will present many more challenges than I've faced for this entire week. I know it's coming, and I can't do anything about it, except be prepared. Let's get through Day 5 and then attack the weekend.