I set out to achieve a goal – of biking this summer. I already acknowledge the things that got in the way.
I want to climb the nose but that is 5 years away. Right now I have smaller things I need to achieve things that impact me daily.
I need to complete my school work for this semester. I need to start classes for next semester.
Those are outward things. Inwardly I need to start taking better care of myself. It is to easy for me still to fall back on old eating habits and to easy for me to fall into a depression. Self care is one of the 4 S’s I fail at frequently. I have in the last year gained 15lbs. I know I know ” freshmen 15″ every one gains weight when they go back to school. Every one has a hard time coping with the time in front of a computer and the stress. Most of us turn to food. Yes some of that can be attributed to muscle but not enough. Yes I acknowledge that I am STILL with in the healthy weight outlined by my doctor. I would like to go back to being on the LOWER end of that healthy weight not the higher end.
I have always found for me that I need to control my food intake. This sounds ridiculous but I do. Given free range I would eat a package of Bacon ( ok maybe any one would) an entire box of cookies and about 3 cans of mushroom soup with crackers.
Eating out is terrible because I want my monies worth – most food for my $ and unless I have some one willing to split the plate with me I will eat the whole thing. Hungry or not.
I know from personal experience I can lose 3lbs a week JUST by increasing how much vegetables I eat and decreasing the amount of crap I eat.
I am working on learning how to deal with nutrition when I am exercising sporadically but I think before I do that I need to place myself back on track for eating correctly when I am not. Once I have that dialed in I can try again to work out eating correctly with any level of exercise.
I have used weightwatchers in the past as a handy tool to learn about food and to learn about portion control. I tried to start it again with a friend this winter but sadly not enough stability to even think straight.
I think the key will be tracking and thinking about my food when not on a climbing trip – and sticking with the removal of chocolate and candy from my diet even when I am on a climbing trip.
I have increased my carb intake as suggested by a nutritionist. I have worked to increase healthy carbs ( whole wheat pasta over white – making my own whole wheat bread which contains NO SUGAR 
I have increased the number of meals eaten at home and attempted to plan as much as possible for late nights ( having a casserole ready to go home to after climbing)
These are good steps and I am going to keep them up as well as once again tracking my food intake and weight with weight watchers. 15 pounds should take me 5 weeks to loose.
I have a feeling as this happens my climbing will improve and I will lesson the increased strain on my tendons from overhanging routes and over gripping. I think I will also decrease the level of stress on my knees that is occurring when doing long hikes and approaches.
The key will be to ensure that I eat enough carbs and am conscious of my energy levels. The other struggle I will have is school is starting soon with regular classes which means packing lunches will be required. Something that is very very easy to not do.
I always attribute life lessons to horse training – so here is another one. If you are training a horse and you move up a step and it reacts unexpectedly its time to go back and look at the foundation and find out what you missed. I failed at my goal so going with this mentality – its time for me to go back and look at what foundation I did not give myself.
I am sure I wrote this post primarily to convince myself.