Slow and Steady wins the Race

So, as most of you know, I am on vacation in California.

Getting the perfect tan.

Consequently I don't have a lot of time for this post but I wanted to quickly participate in this weeks Shine Challenge... Which has to do with FITNESS.

Obviously, while here we are hitting up all the major theme parks and I'm not gonna lie... I've been tempted a million times with theme park food. 

I have just recently started to become more health conscious, more weight conscious, more nutrition conscious, more portion control conscious, and more exercise conscious than I ever have been in my whole life. And when I say recently, I mean basically within the past month (maybe 6 weeks.) By making some drastic, yet simple changes in my eating and exercise habits I have lost 10 pounds in the past month. Firstly, it feels amazing to be so much more energetic. Secondly I feel way hotter with the 10 pounds gone. And thirdly, it is not NEARLY as difficult as I thought it was going to be, which is encouraging me to continue on in my journey.

One of the things that has lead to my success is biking. I LOATHE running. And I pretty much always have. For years I kind of thought that was the only real form of cardio that was available for people to do. Which caused years of sedentary behavior. 2 years ago I found biking and fell in LOVE. Last season I biked about once a week and I would do rides that were about 10-15 miles. This season I have been biking 5 days a week, again 10-15 miles per pop. That has made most of the difference I've seen on the scales... But not only is it helping me to shed some extra fattage, it is an absolute blast. My advice for all those of you who want to exercise but don't like running, think outside the box. I do not look at biking as exercise or as a duty. It is something that I enjoy and want to be doing. But it has to be on the road. If you asked me to go to a spin class or bike on a stationary bike I would probably kick you in the shins and tell you to get lost. I have to be on the road. Wind in my face, REAL hills that I can challenge myself up. IF YOU HATE RUNNING, DON'T FORCE YOURSELF TO RUN. Because your "new resolve" will last a week. I swear to you. Find other ways to exercise! There are millions of options. Don't get stuck on just running. That is my Shine Challenge advice to you all. 

Now, back to the point I was making at the beginning... I have been tempted with a lot of theme park food on this trip. {Lets just stop and go over said temptations shall we? Kettle Corn, Dip-n-Dots, Churros, Cotton Candy,  Carmel apples, Corn on the Cob, Ice cream cones, Rice Crispy Treats, Pineapple floats, French Fries, Fried Chicken, Big Juicy Hamburgers, onion rings... I could literally go on forever)
Do I have your attention yet?

And while I don't want to entirely give that stuff up {because lets face it, is anything on earth better?} I also don't want to stop the progress I've been making the past month.
My solution is a couple fold... I am still eating my very favorites that I can't go without. The things that I dream about when I am at home. The cream cheese filled pretzel. The Monte Cristo. The corn dogs. BUT... typically in my Disneyland days I will get 2 or 3 pretzels. Eat a whole Monte Cristo myself and eat corn dogs and french fries and Churros for snacks. The rest of the stuff I think I can manage without... I can curve the temptation. This trip I am limiting myself to one pretzel. I am splitting a Monte Cristo. And I am going to carefully select my dinner's. I am also packing vegetables and fruit like crazy for my snacks. I feel GREAT about the compromise. I get the best of both worlds with just a little more self control than I usually display. The other thing that I am doing for exercise {because I couldn't take my bike with me} is to take the stairs. Our hotel room is on the 4th floor and I have not taken the elevator one time. (GO ME!) But that is not all... When we went to Universal Studios I used the stairs THE WHOLE TIME! This one was a real accomplishment for me because there are a lot of stairs at that theme park... I regret that I forgot to take a picture of my main staircase conquer-ment. But I google searched one and botta boom botta bang. Check this stair case out that I totally ran up: 

See the staircase to the right? Well, it goes up and up and up. And then up some more. And there is a whole other section that is not pictured. Yep, that is right... While my family lazily rode up the escalators... I was busy taking the stairs. I totally kicked their trash too. GO ME! 

Disneyland doesn't have any stairs and neither does Knott's Berry, but I walked up and down every stair case at Universal Studios. {And my hotel.} Its the best I can do in the situation at hand.

 

I have been so pleased with myself this past month. I have made a million TINY changes in my lifestyle and they have given me HUGE results. I was very nervous about this trip and all that I would be tempted to eat and the fact that my bike is not around to exercise on, but with focus and determination and just a tinsy bit of indulgence I am one happy and healthy camper.

And I can't wait till Wednesday when me and Steve {my bike} get to spend a few hours one on one together. 

Reunited.

Me and bike Steve, we are in LOOOOOVE. 

I named him after Steve Perry. Cause we are in love too. He just doesn't know it yet.