Detox Week

This past Friday night, my boys finally had their hockey friends over for a sleepover. In a matter of a few minutes, we went from being a household with two hockey boys to being a household with five hockey boys.  It was great! 🙂   The three brothers who came over are all a lot of fun, and they get along with my two boys wonderfully. There were very few squabbles in the time that they were here, and most of it revolved around siblings, since brothers will be brothers. 😉 Other than that, it was a pleasure to have them over. They were wonderfully polite and well-mannered, and just a lot of fun. When they were in the pool Friday night, I came out and asked if they would mind doing a “crazy pool jump picture.” Not only did they not mind, they embraced the idea!

I think I have my candid shot for next year’s fair entry. 🙂

They went to bed very early Saturday morning, but surprisingly, the majority of them were up in time to see me off for my big 11-mile run at about 7:30. I just ran around my neighborhood, which was easier than trying to drive somewhere and then run.  I did run by the water, and that was pretty.

I also ran by house they had a lot of sunflowers, but the best pictures would’ve required me to actually run across their property, and I didn’t really think they’d want that. :p So I had to settle for pictures from the road.

I got to run down a road that I’ve driven down a few times, but I’m not that familiar with, and I enjoyed seeing the architecture. Random fact about me: I briefly considered a major in historic architecture, before I realized there was no career in it. Building structure intrigues me, and I’m fascinated by rooflines, window placement, dwelling material, and all that stuff. As I ran down this road that I’m only marginally familiar with, I really enjoyed seeing the new and the old architecture.  At one point, I remembered that I knew a family who lived down this road, who had a child that used to play hockey with one of my kids. Hockey people come and go in your life, as I’ve come to learn, so I couldn’t remember who it was, exactly…I just remember dropping the kid off on this road a few years back.

And of course, because life is like that, about a quarter-mile after I had that though, there they were, walking down the road with their new dog! I stopped for a few minutes and caught up with them, which was nice. Considering that it was pretty warm and a bit muggy, it was nice to have a break too.  I had decided fairly early in the run that I wasn’t going to kill myself for any records, especially since long runs are supposed to be easy.  So a little while after I saw my friends, when I got caught by train, I just stopped, stopped my watch, and let it go.

I was almost at the halfway point at that spot, and once the train was gone, I just started up again after it passed and continued at a slow pace. I saw a parent from my boys’ school as I turned a corner on a fairly busy road, and he waved and give me a thumbs up. He’s running the Detroit full this October, so we have lots of running conversations. 🙂

After I had gone another mile or so, I took some chocolate Gu and some water, but I didn’t stop. I waited until I’d gotten over the freeway again on my way back, when I only had about 2 1/2 miles to go, where I found a nice shady spot with a mailbox to lean against. 🙂   The wind was coming right at me at that point, which surprised me, since there hadn’t been any wind when I started. I kept plodding on though, and I even had a sub-11 for my last mile.

Not my best run, but sometimes, they just aren’t. When I was done, I had a nice jump in the pool. Forgot to take a picture until afterwards, though.

After resting a while, I did my usual Saturday chores, laundry, cleaning a little, and weeding the front landscaping. As much as I hate doing it, I’m really obsessing about the landscaping, because I feel like the trashy neighbor if I let it go too long. 😉

Later we went to my in-laws to celebrate my brother-in-law’s birthday, where we had Indian food, which was actually a nice change.

That’s lamb curry, biryani, a pita, and a salad my father-in-law made from vegetables in his garden.  I wouldn’t have it every day, but I did enjoy it on Saturday.  I ate very light, and it was spicy, but enjoyable.

When I weighed myself last week, I wasn’t at all happy with the results.

Up just slightly from the week before (.2 pounds).  I’m still following the plan, and although I had my family reunion the weekend before that weigh in, I worked really hard to stay on program.  Oh, the food I turned down!

After that weigh-in, I decided it was time to make a change, and the change I made was pretty drastic. In the post title, I mentioned that it was my week of detox. You might wonder what exactly I “detoxed.”  Carbs? Nope. Refined sugar. Nope.  Wine? Nope.  It was something way harder for me to resist than any of those things.   Have you guessed it yet?  It’s…

Yes, I gave up chocolate…for a whole week.  I thought I was going to die.  Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but it wasn’t easy.  I love chocolate, and I really live for it, especially at work. I just don’t know how I would get through my day without my Hershey’s kisses after lunch.  And yet…I did it.  I went a whole week without chocolate.  No chocolate desserts, no little pieces of chocolate after dinner…I even gave away the dark chocolate in my desk that I keep specifically for my post-lunch treat.  Did you hear that? I gave it away!  I was pretty sure the world was going to end when I handed it over to my coworker for her candy dish.  

So after all that, I’m sure you’re dying to see a picture of this week’s weigh-in right?  Too bad I can’t oblige, since I accidentally deleted all the photos from my SD card before I downloaded them yesterday. :/  But to be honest, I’m probably better off not looking at it again anyway…because I actually gained .4 pounds. 🙁  Sigh.  So much for my chocolate detox.

I’m still frustrated, but I know that giving up isn’t going to help, either.  So, this week…it’s a new detox.  After discussing things with my husband, I’ve decided to give up carbs.  Well, as much as I can, anyway.   I’ve already bought my lunch-time frozen dinners for the week, and I don’t want to spend a ton of money for new lunches, so those will stay, carbs or not.  But other than that…I’m going to try to eliminate starches and carbs, like rice, potatoes, and pasta, which are a big part of my life.  Big part.  I do love my carbs.  We’ll see how I do.  Especially considering I just made these muffins last night…

…and had three of them. 😛  I decided that my carb detox started today.  😉 (They’re Honey Olive Oil Zucchini Muffins, which were delicious and actually kinda healthy.  Or something.)

I used to be against the whole “detox” idea, but I can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting something different, so here I go…detoxing…

Thanks for reading!  (Also, thanks for being patient with the updated blog theme…I’m getting there!)