Self-Esteem Blues

I have been rockin' the self-confidence lately.  I have felt super muscular, somewhat toned, and really fit.  I have been able to tell that my body is changing, and I have been loving it.

I mean, check this out:

Those work pants are getting a bit tough to wear.

And that's exciting!

Today, however, was not an I-feel-like-I-look-amazing kind of day.  I'm not exactly sure why, but I think it must be a compilation of a few different things:

• I ate sushi for lunch.  I love, love, love sushi, but it has lots of sodium, and white rice is not the best kind of carb.  Granted, we ordered four rolls (for three people) that  had mostly fresh veggies and raw fish, but it was still probably too much.
• Monthly hormones are taking over my body.
• Due to the second bullet point, I polished off lunch with a bag of Whoppers.  It has been quite a while since I've had gas station chocolate, but wow: I was craving it something fierce!
• I ordered some new sundresses and a new swimsuit from Victoria's Secret for spring break, and it arrived today.  I was so excited to try it on because everything was super cute - on the models, that is.  Either the sizing on the website is way off, or I am completely disillusioned as to what I actually look like.
• I feel like I've kind of fallen off the Abs Diet.  I've been eating five meals a day and have been doing a pretty good job of cramming as many of the Super Foods as possible into those meals, but I haven't been cooking as often as I'd like - smoothies and oatmeal dishes included.  I just haven't had time, and that's been really frustrating.

So, as you can see, it wasn't a good day in that regard.

This morning's breakfast was a Skinny Zesty Egg White Sandwich from Bruegger's.  I am so addicted to this.  It's an egg white, turkey sausage, swiss cheese, and sun-dried tomato paste on top of a five-grain everything bagel.  So, basically, it's heaven in your mouth - for 410 calories.

I skipped a morning snack because that kept me full until noon - five hours after I ate it!

Lunch, as I mentioned before, was sushi: I started with a squid salad (okay, I was a little hungry due to five hours of no food), and the three of us split a Philly Roll, a Dynamite Crab Roll, a Godzilla Roll, and a Snake Roll.  Some had tempura shrimp and/or cream cheese, but they were overall pretty decent choices.

Afternoon snack: Whoppers.  Ugh.

Per usual Wednesday dinner, I picked up a Palmer's salad to take to bowling:

I chugged a liter of water with the salad and then had one-and-a-half pints of light beer.

In addition to all of this eating, however, I did quite a bit of exercising.  ERB and I had planned to run three miles today, but her daughter got sick, so she was unable to run.  I was actually very thankful this was the case because my shins were still screaming at me, and I figured they could use a break.

And then I tried on the Victoria's Secret shipment.

And then I headed straight to the Y.

When I got there, I ran into a gaggle of students.  I talked to a couple of my girls, and I think they're going to start running with me and ERB after school.  It'd be really, really good for them, so I hope they follow through.

First, I completed today's Fab Ab February workout: 70 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, and a 55-second plank.  After yesterday's bazillion reps, today's workout was a piece of cake!

Second, I ran a mile in about 10:30; sadly, this is fast for me.  I then walked for about a tenth of a mile and then "hiked" for another half a mile.  I raised the incline to 5.0 and walked at a 3.5 pace.

Third, I walked and jogged around the indoor track for about five minutes, just to kill time before class.

Finally, I ended my session at the Y with Y-Pump.  Turns out that lifting after a run/"hike" is quite difficult.  Immediately, I felt that I had made a mistake.  Soon enough, though, I got into the groove and got some really sore muscles out of the class!  (I had to leave about five minutes early - thereby missing the abs portion of the class - to make it home, get showered, and get to bowling relatively on time.)

Bowling tonight was super fun because we played my friends' team, but I absolutely sucked.  Like, I only broke 100 (barely) during one of the three games.  Sad, sad, sad.

Oh well.  It was bowling.

Finally, in case you were wondering, this is what my blogging situation looks like nearly every single night:

Someone (not naming names - Charlie) does not understand the concept of personal space.

On a completely separate note, I was invited today to participate in a health activist roundtable discussing the topic of nutrition for National Nutrition Month (March) - all because of this little blog o' mine!  How cool is that?!

How do you beat the self-esteem blues?  I'm clearly needing some pick-me-ups!