Day 49: A little rest

These jump-rope-only days seem to come along just when I need them. When I'm at the point where I want to throw my resistance bands into the river and I desperately need to sleep a little later in the morning -- yippee, only jump rope today! It just drives home how intensely pleasurable a break can be when you've been working hard. And the hard work is exactly what makes that break such a treat.

And speaking of a treat -- seems like everybody is super-excited about the upcoming indulgence! So am I, and I'm trying to decide exactly how to spend it. I'm thinking about going to one of the restaurants I wanted to try the night we went to the downtown gallery hop -- it's a seasonal cooking kind of place, where the menu changes every night depending on what's good at the market. Some part of me says I should go for the gusto like Jenny -- Chick-fil-a here I come! -- but I was thinking about what I really want to eat, and it's good fresh food. I want to try something a little more interesting and creative than what I'm normally eating, I don't want to have to shy away from cheese or oil or (gasp!) a glass of wine with it, but if I'm honest I don't really want fast food. Not at all. I want something delicious and surprising, prepared by somebody who really knows what they're doing, in a beautiful setting. We're checking on babysitters and hope to go sometime this weekend.

I really feel what Jenny was saying about social isolation in terms of the PCP -- food is SUCH a part of social interaction, it's hard to step back from that and set yourself apart. But I think it does get easier, especially if you can eat at home (yours or someone else's. Restaurants are still near-impossible.). Last night I was at my parents' house for a birthday dinner for my aunt -- apparently, this is Birthday Week -- and I just brought my food with me and explained to everybody what I was doing. I alternated my bites of egg white with feeding my daughter beef ribs, pasta salad, fruit & cake -- so the food was right in front of me the entire time, on my fork. Temptation doesn't get much closer than that. But I really wasn't so tempted. The meat smelled really good, the cake looked good, but this was the easiest time I've had so far in this kind of situation. Sometimes I can hardly believe this is me, feeling okay with my little plate of boiled egg & fruit.

Feeling a little less tired today, a little less Valley. But I know that email with diets & workouts is coming soon -- who knows what it will say this time?? In the meantime, I'm hanging in there and hoping you are too.