"Don't let the fat chick beat you"?

I have been racing for about 5 years now. I am not a typical runner or even triathlete. I fight with serious medical conditions every step of the way, but each step makes me stronger. I have two boys both with special needs and I have learned to chalk that up to making me stronger as well.


It is with sad heart that I must report that lupus has won the battle this year, but trust me when I say the war is far from over! My racing days are not over by any stretch of the imagination. This is just a minor setback that will make me stronger.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Saboteurs

I am going to preface this with I love my sister! I have no idea what I would do without her. With that said, I have to say she is probably one of my bigger saboteurs of my diet. I do try to eat healthy, but when I am not feeling good (emotionally or physically) she gets me comfort food and I do not have the strength to turn away from it. Last week and a half while I was dealing with my back, my sister made sure I was well stocked with brownies (as well as a lot of other things). Ok, I did ask my sister to buy comfort food, but I (and no one else) need to learn that comfort food is apples or carrots or celery and NOT brownies and chips and candy bars. I am truly grateful to her for her great heart, and quite frankly it is not her job to ask me if I am sure I want to eat a box of brownies, it is not her job to ask me wouldn’t I rather have a banana. I think my top goal should be to work on my strength to say ‘no, thank you’ and pick better comfort foods!
BUT! (and trust me this is one hell of a but!) My sister is also my biggest supporter! No matter what I say I am going to do, she has NEVER told me, ‘yea, right!’ whether it is life in general or my racing. She watches my boys when I go out to train, she watches my boys when I race, she cheers me on during races, she reassures me during a race when I don’t have faith in myself. She has technically only missed four races, but that is because I was treating them as training runs and NOT races and I told her not to worry about attending (she would have had I asked).
With all of that said, I will also add that my family consists of rather large people. We (the adults) are all considered obese. We turn to food (or cigarettes) for comfort. We get board, we eat. We get together, we eat (and my mom LOVES laying on the butter). Sadly, my older son got my genes. It is my goal to get all the crap out of the house and work on my family’s (those who live in my house) eating habits. My older son started cross country last night and he is doing Taekwondo, I understand he will be hungry, my goal is to work on his choices. Last night after practice, I gave him one of my Weight Watchers bars (chocolate and peanut butter) and then when we got home I let him have a granola bar. He ate his dinner and was still hungry (which is understandable, he had an Easy Mac cup with peas in it) so I told him he could have some salad, or celery or carrots. He chose celery and asked for peanut butter, he put a little too much on, but it wasn’t horrible; not to mention we need to take baby steps!
I did not get my night time walk in, but I am parking at the very back of the parking lot (ok, it is only about .05 miles, but every little bit helps). I am very proud of the fact that this is the second day in a row (this week) that I have not only packed my lunch, but I packed a nice and healthy lunch. I have my yogurt parfait (this time, frozen!), banana, carrots, celery, Babybel, diet Dr. Pepper, and my kitchen salad! Unfortunately I am not sure about dinner tonight, we go from cross country to the taekwondo awards ceremony (older son tested for his green belt this past weekend) followed by the sparring clinic so we won’t get home until about 8 pm L.

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