Stepping Up

Today is Day 2 of Transition for me. It's going pretty great so far. My plan is to keep it low carb (under around 70-80g, which is around the same amount of carbs I get on Optifast Intensive) so that I can try to maintain ketosis.

Yesterday my long-awaited Chicken+Avo wrap was devoured rather happily. Although it failed me a little in the execution...

I had picked out the absolutely lowest carb mountain bread I could find at the supermarket - I think it was around 13 or 14g of carbs. I piled that thing up with 100g of chicken, 30g of the Kraft Live Free 80% fat free cheese, a nice spreading of about 25g of avocado (doused in pepper!) and a little bit of baby spinach, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumber, red capsicum and grated carrot. Yep, I even grated a damn carrot for this thing.

Well, immediately, as I tried to roll the thing up, it tore. So I had a chicken and avocado salad with shreds of wrap. It was still yummy. But, I learned my lesson with those wraps. Verdict - not worth the carbs! Unless I was just spreading avocado on it and rolling it up, I can't see how it could hold anything.

The good news is I just saved myself 14g of carbs a day!

If I want a wrap in future, I might try making these Cauliflower Tortillas. I've made Cauliflower Pizza Bases pretty similarly in the past and they are super yum!

So, for lunch today I just had the chicken and avocado (with a teeny tiny bit of the Live Free cheese) on a salad. Skipped the wrap completely. And it took me over 20mins to eat it. I'm such a slow eater now!

If I sound like I'm in a good mood today, it's because I am! This morning I did my first C25K program run! I'm using this awesome RunDouble app on my phone. It's pretty cool. I love how it gives you an announcement when you need to start running/start walking. It takes a lot of the thought out of it! I don't know about you, but when I'm exercising my brain doesn't do thinking very well. So not having to keep an eye on my watch or do basic arithmetic is a super plus for me!

It did take me a little while to work out how to change the settings to kilometres (instead of miles) and to change it to km's instead of minutes per km. But, I figured it out in then end!

Also, you can listen to your own music on your phone, and the app will just interrupt with those announcements when it's time. I'm not using the music yet as I'm making the boyfriend do it with me, so I just had the phone on speaker while we ran.

In terms of how the run went. Well, it was hard. I haven't run in years. When I was 120kgs I was too afraid I would hurt my knees or ankles. Plus, I was lazy - that's part of why I was as big as I was. But, I made it.

This week it's 60second runs followed by 90 second brisk walks (with a 5min walk warm up/down at the beginning/end). The first couple of intervals were easy, but then it started to hit me. I had to really push myself in the last couple of jogging stints, and some encouragement from my boyfriend was certainly welcome. But, I did all of those intervals and I made it. So, now I KNOW I can do this. It's only going to get easier from here. 5K here I come!!

The endorphins and the feeling of achievement afterwards have kept me floating all day. I feel incredible. I actually can't wait for the next run! But, I'm being sensible. We are following the program properly, so just walking tomorrow for a day off.

The other thing that hit me today was that now that I am halfway to my goal, all my future weigh ins will show less to lose than I have already lost. I will, from now on, always have lost more than is left to lose. It really does feel like I'm over the hill!

Apologies for all the self-congratulations. But, I really feel that recording days like this is important for future potential sad-Caitlin days. They are inevitable (as with everyone), but knowing that I can feel this good (especially from exercising and eating well) is really important for my journey.

WIL: Another little piece of old, lazy Caitlin.
WIG: An all-day good mood!