He looks like the warranty expired on his Dorian Gray portrait.

Last night, I was telling my sister how far I swam on Sunday afternoon (30 laps!), and she first asked if my pool was 25 meters or yards, then, when I told her it was yards, she said that I was pretty close to a "swimmers mile". I just googled it, and I'm only 3 laps away!! Next time I go swimming, I'll make sure I bump it up to 33 laps, and also see if I can speed it up a bit (or at least, take fewer breaks at the half-lap and lap points), since it took me 94 minutes to do the 30 laps and 10 minutes kicking. My fingers were getting pruny!

Last night, I did ok at the birthday party (although I did have a piece of mint-chocolate-chip ice-cream pie--yummmm!), but when I stopped for milk at the convenience store on the way home, I had a complete breakdown in willpower and walked out of there with milk, macaroni salad, two donuts, and two Oreo ice-cream sandwiches, all of which I ate when I came home even though I wasn't hungry. Feh. Then, I had already decided to substitute soup and veggies for the lunch I was supposed to have (a really disgusting-tasting "lasagna roll" that I gagged on last time it was on the menu), and had twice as much soup as I should have.

So, I made sure to pack up my sweats and am going to use the treadmill here at work (my schedule tonight won't let me get to the fitness center), instead of taking today off of working out like I had planned. Also, I'm going to use yesterday's transgression as my birthday pigout I was going to have in two weeks.

Kathy, I don't think you should skip your birthday pigout -- or maybe just make it more of an overindulgence and less of a pigout (it's a matter of degree, you see....)

I mean, you recognize that you had a lapse in your diet, but how about adding in the fact that you're making faster progress than you expected on the treadmill? Or the fact that you're REALLY close to swimming a mile (which -- YOU ROCK!)? And the fact that you made the decision to work out today even though it was going to be your day off?

My feeling is, healthy eating and activity are lifelong things, and everyone is going to have days when they eat all the sugar in the greater metropolitan area (or that might just be me). What's more important, I feel, is whether or not you recognize that that was maybe not the best nutritional choice, and then go right back to healthy eating and continue your activity. Which you totally have done.

And then, I'm a total birthday slut, and I feel like, if you want to eat fun food on your birthday, you should.

Or, to put it another way -- don't punish yourself by not indulging a little bit on your birthday. On all the other days, you can keep doing what you're already doing.

t end peptalk

Teppy is wise.

Teppy wishes she could stick to an exercise routine as diligently as Kathy.

My feeling is, healthy eating and activity are lifelong things, and everyone is going to have days when they eat all the sugar in the greater metropolitan area (or that might just be me). What's more important, I feel, is whether or not you recognize that that was maybe not the best nutritional choice, and then go right back to healthy eating and continue your activity. Which you totally have done.

Totally. Also, Kathy, Rock on with the 28 minute mile and almost swimmer's mile!

I think that if I forbid myself from a certain food (be it carbs or fat or junk food or whatever) that gives the food so much power over me and if I break down and eat it, it's like a defeat. Which leads to negative emotion and continuing the unhealthy eating. The important stuff, like Teppy said, is the recognition of a less-than-perfect choice, and then going on and continuing your healthy lifestyle.

There are gonna be bumps in the road. It's only human. It's not all or nothing... it's a long road to health and wellness. I agree, don't punish yourself.

Did I kill Natter with my perving on weemo boys? Because, you know, I haven't even started on how Frank Iero needs to call me.

Bwah! (And why do I suspect I'm one of the only people here who (a) found that hysterical, and (b) immediately thought "If he does, could you please tell him that his lead singer needs to call this very nice goth lady you know." )

And, catching up: DST, feh. My body clock does not believe in it, which is why I didn't fall asleep until after 1:30AM, even with the aid of modern pharmacology.

Huh. My parents tried calling me last night but I missed the call. They just called me here. They just sold 20 more acres of farmland and they have an offer on the house, barn and the rest of the property. They're not sure if the offer is gonna go through, but if it does, the closing date might be as soon as May 1.

Looks like I'm gonna have to make a few trips up there soon to get the rest of my crap....

eta: I've mentioned this before, but the farm's been in the family for three generations... I'll be sad when it's sold....

Or, to put it another way -- don't punish yourself by not indulging a little bit on your birthday. On all the other days, you can keep doing what you're already doing.

Teppy is very wise. You should listen to her pep talk.

Teppy is wise.

Brilliant, even.