Weekend Hike, High Point NJ

The view of the monument from the parking lot

This Saturday we planned to hike 3.7 miles on the Monument Trail at High Point. It was a beautiful day for a hike, perfect weather! High Point is the highest point of NJ, 1803 miles above sea level.

As we progressed along the trail, we found there was a small out and back trail of .7 miles (one way) out to Lake Steenykill. We decided to go since most of the monument trail was way overgrown and we spent most of our time bush whacking our way through! The views known to this hike were all pretty obscured by the bushes.

The ticks were outrageous, I've never seen this many on one hike ever! My husband and I used OFF but our friends didn't. They had many more ticks on them than we did. So we got to see first hand that it actually does help. Thankfully, they were wood ticks, though knowing that didn't make us feel any better when we were pulling them off our pants. You can see how stylish I look with my pants tucked into my socks in the pic below. I definitely knew I was more 'protected' by doing this. I'm getting itchy just thinking about those ticks while I write this!

first view on the hike, the Delaware River

We were glad we went out to the lake it was beautiful! There was a grassy open clearing at the end of the trail but still a lot of ticks so none of us sat down while we took our break. Sitting and resting would've helped me later on at the end of the hike.

Lake Steenykill

We ended up hiking a total of 5.1 miles! It took about 3.5 hrs, so we were walking at a good pace. We did hang out for about 15 minutes at the lake. The last half hour or so of the hike was all uphill and I was really feeling it, my legs felt heavy and I was tired. That extra 1.4 miles out to the lake was just a little too much for me, but worth it. We hung out at the monument and enjoyed the breeze after the hike. 

I SURVIVED! (i think!)

When I woke up on Sunday I was busted up! My feet and ankles were so swollen. My legs had a tingling sensation from the calves down to my toes. I elevated my feet and ended up taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon because I was so exhausted.

I felt good and bad about how I felt physically after the hike. I felt good that I did the hike but I felt bad that I could barely function the next day. It was just a reminder of how out of shape I've gotten.

On Monday morning when I put my shoes on to go to work I had to loosen the shoe laces because my feet were still so swollen! I've never had this experience in my life! I took some Aleve to help with the swelling so I could get around at work.I was miserable most of the day. Today, I still have some swelling in my feet and some soreness in my calves. I hope that by tomorrow I'm all better.

I learned that I'm not the hiker I was last spring. I need to walk during the week to build up my endurance for my weekend warrior outings. To go from not much activity all week to 5.1 miles is a big feat. Could feeling so exhausted be the way I should've felt, was that normal? Maybe, I just wish I had felt like getting up and doing another 5 miles on Sunday too.

Return from Rock Bottom

Yes, I've been M.I.A. for about a month. I've really been struggling (mentally & physically) with my weight gain. I've been feeling totally lost and helpless when it comes to figuring out what and how much to eat. 

    I hate the whole food thing. Buy it, Lug it home, Store it, Decide what to make, Clean it, Cook it, Clean it again, Wrap up leftovers, Rinse and Repeat, Ad Nauseam. There was surprisingly a time when I loved to cook. From this statement you'd never know it!

 Last time I wrote, I swore myself to low carb, well it's a bit of a pain in the ass. While being frustrated about what to eat to stick to the rules. I would instead eat chocolate, cookies, anything sweet and just be done with it. Sweets are just so much easier and create less dishes than whipping up these meals. So, that's what I did. 

   

The result? I hit a new all time high in the beginning of May. I'm gonna post the number this time but only on my weigh in page. It's as public as I can get. One day it'll be front blog page-able, this a big step because in the beginning I wasn't able to say it at all.

  I believe I've said "I hit an all time high" earlier in this year but this new weight is my breaking point. I can't allow it to get any more out of control than it already is.

  I decided to count calories. To not eat processed foods, and to gradually eliminate white flour. To cut down my sugar intake and find healthier sugar/sweetner options. To eat veggies with every meal and at least 2 pieces of fruit a day. To not eat 'diet food', just real food. It's a starting point for me. It probably doesn't sound like a ground breaking plan to most people. But when you're not eating food and most of your meals are sweets, it is. I made a deal with myself to eat 3 meals a day.  I'm allowing treats when I feel like I want/need them but not big treats like Dairy Queen Blizzards, Reese's Big Cups or anything like that. The majority of my calories has to come from my meals, everyday.

   I found my way to this blog post. After reading it many times and checking out the calculators she mentions in the post, I decided to give it a try. I figured out all my numbers on the calculator and started eating with in that range. Which is MORE calories than I ever ate when I was on a "DIET". I was skeptical that I'd lose any weight eating than much. I figured in a weeks time if my weight went up I'd stop and figure out something else to follow. But, IT DIDN'T! I lost 1.6 lbs in the first week.

  Was it because I ate food and not mostly sugar? I think so. Was it because a body this size needs a lot more than 1200-1800 calories? Yes. When I was eating only sweets I wasn't getting the nutrients my body needed. When 'dieting' I was eating such low calories I was 'starving' no wonder why my body was holding on to the weight.

   I'm not 'cured' I have a lot of weight to lose. I still have to fix my feelings towards the food. I still need to learn ways to cope with the emotions that drive me to want to eat chocolate.  After a months time, even though this new plan has been working for me. I'm getting sloppy/lazy/slipping. It's working and I should be flying high on the thrill that the number on the scale's going down. But.. I'm tired of prepping, cooking and cleaning. I want it to be over already.

  Newsflash, it'll never be over. Even when I get to goal I will need to eat. I need to learn to make time so that it'll be easier. I know this, just gotta figure out how to make it work.