yard work – Page 2 – Sweat & Sparkle

Happiness Is…

…dirt. Lots of dirt. Well, not just the dirt exactly, but it’s hard to avoid the dirt when you love gardening. Last weekend’s weather was rainy, stormy, all-around crappy, and I am having withdrawal symptoms, twitching at the sight of the Home Depot garden center. It’s an itch that must be scratched, people.

Tomorrow is my only window of opportunity for yard work this weekend, since it’s supposed to rain on Sunday. I made a list, because without it, I will drift from one project to another, easily distracted, never completing any of them. Must stay focused!

I will skip a formal workout tomorrow, since a full day in the yard is a workout in itself. Being of the pale-skinned variety, it’s also a workout just getting ready to head outside for the day: sunscreen on my face, slather up my neck and arms, second coat on my face because I swear it starts to burn the instant I step outside, hat to protect my face, and making sure the sunscreen ends up in my gardening tools bag so the whole routine can be done again on an hourly basis.

This has been a long week, and I’m ready for some quiet me-and-the-dirt-and-plants time. Nothing terrible has happened, it’s just been very busy. I hate feeling like I shuffle from one over-sized to-do list to another, but at least I can say I got a lot done this week.

I can’t spend my entire weekend in the yard, though. The little people (a/k/a the kids, who are all actually taller than me) will be here, and I want to be sure to spend time with them and their dad as much as I can.

But first…gotta make it through the rest of the work day without bolting suddenly for the door and making a mad run for it to start the weekend NOW.

A-ha

I didn’t break out any workout DVD’s or lace up my sneakers and head to the gym this weekend, but trust me, I got a hell of a workout anyway in the form of good, old-fashioned manual labor. I spent several hours each day this past weekend working in the yard, yanking weeds, clearing flower beds for soon-to-come spring flowers and fresh mulch. How is it, pray tell, that cold nights and frost slayed almost every plant I love in the yard, but weeds are thriving like I feed the damn things?

I wouldn’t say I had an a-ha moment, like you hear a lot of people call it when they reach that point that prompted them onto the road of weight loss. But I sure had a “wow, this would be easier if I wasn’t so fat and out of shape” moment. Manual labor is damn hard when you are lugging around extra weight and trying to bend, reach, lean over, etc. It’s going to be a loooooong, painful summer of gardening if I don’t do something about this.

I need something to push me, motivate me. I just have no idea right now what that is, or where to find it. All I know is, enough is enough. I am sick of feeling out of shape, knowing I can look and feel so much better. I need a plan, not just running my mouth about losing weight, because talk is cheap and is getting me nowhere but heavier.

Weigh In and Yard Work

I was very nervous about weigh-in this past Saturday. I stepped up the intensity of my workouts this week, but my eating left a ton of room for improvement. I worked out hard Friday evening, hit the gym Saturday morning, then went home for the fateful moment of truth with the scale.

I lost 2 pounds! I was going to be happy with a tiny loss, as long as it wasn’t a gain, but this was even better. It left me wondering how much I would have lost if I’d have kept my eating in check, but hey, lesson learned. I’m thrilled I had a loss, and I will work on my eating habits this week.

The constant rain eased up a bit over the weekend for me to get some yard work done, but high humidity and temperatures in the 90’s made it grueling and not terribly pleasant. I didn’t get done everything I had planned, but I finally just yanked off my gardening gloves and went inside for some much-needed water and a very needed shower!

I can’t wait for cooler weather. I’ve never liked summer. Fall is my favorite season, cool but not uncomfortably cold. Give me sweatshirt weather, jeans, snuggling under a blanket on the couch with a nice fire crackling in the fireplace.

For now, though, it’s blazing hot, disgustingly humid, sweat-as-soon-as-you-step-outside weather. Yuck!

It’s Too Hot!

I’ve tried to get here to post an update the last few days, but it’s been so busy, I can barely breathe. But here I am! I weighed in on Saturday to a very small loss: 0.2 pound. I’m surprised it wasn’t a gain, to be honest.

No workouts over the weekend, because I did a lot of yard work. When I know I’ll be spending a few hours in the yard, I don’t really want to start off already worn out from a workout. I don’t count yard work in my exercise ticker, even though most of the time, it’s pretty intense manual labor. The temperature was pushing 100 degrees this past weekend, so it was grueling. I even broke down and chugged a Gatorade instead of my beloved Coke!

Today my fiance invited me to lunch, and I was happy to spend the time with him, but I made some pretty bad food choices. Eating out is a struggle for me and obviously something I need to work on.

The week is far from over! Plenty of time to turn it around and have a good weigh-in on Saturday.

Weigh In

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at weigh-in on Saturday morning. I ricocheted from days with no workouts and eating out, to days where I stayed within my calorie limit and worked out (begrudgingly, but I still did it). I ended up losing 2.2 pounds this week. It was so encouraging to finally see a loss on the scale! It’s motivating me to try even harder this week and see another one.

The three-day weekend wasn’t long enough. I didn’t do any formal workouts over the weekend, because I got more than enough manual labor in! I’m sure I burned a ton of calories doing yard work, and it was blazing hot, so I drank more water than usual too. I was surprised my body didn’t reject water as a foreign substance and demand Coke instead.

I am aiming for two more pounds gone this week. One week at a time, I am going to make it.