I was away.

Joel and I went away for the weekend, which is technically why I haven’t posted.  But more-so, I was really away emotionally as well. I was away from the Biggest Loser. I was away from the gym. I was away from Sweaty13 and my juice fast. I really was just away.  I fear it didn’t help nearly as much as I anticipated.
Lets start back at the beginning…

Last week I went to the doctor for my regular physical. I told her that my left knee and hip have been acting funny and hurting terribly for the past couple weeks. She said it is most likely caused by overuse and that I need to take it easy.  I told her about my desire to lose more weight (of which, of course, she already knows) and about my Sweaty13 challenge to myself.   To that she said – “I admire the commitment and drive you have to reach your goals, but you are treating your body as if it were a healthy, strong, problem-free body and the truth is that it is not. It’s just not. You’re not a normal person. You can’t push yourself as normal people can without dire consequences”

She told me to take 2 weeks off from the gym, from working out entirely. I said no, but I did take a day off of training last week, and I most likely will be ending the official Sweaty13 challenge. I really heard what she said, I just need to adapt it a little.
My desire to lose weight will never leave. But if the largest part of that desire is wanting to be HEALTHY… why I am literally destroying my body at the same time?

I got a little overwhelmed at the whole thing. The Biggest Loser competitions, the being accountable to a team, the Sweaty13 challenge, and the frustration of my body failing me.  I popped my hip out while putting on my pants. I mean, am I a thousand years old?!
I needed this weekend. I needed to relax, to enjoy food, to be with Joel and to feel like I had nothing or nobody to answer to. It was nice.
So, let’s talk about it a little!

Joel and I went to Meredith, NH which is on the coast of Lake Winnipesaukee.  Of course the lake was frozen over and the small beachy town is largely shut down this time of year… but that’s what we liked!

Our room was in the Boathouse Lodge, and everything was made from real birch trees and hand painted.

My roasted duck, wild rice mix, and spinach.  This duck was… unbelievable!

Joel’s salmon, fingerling potato, and spinach plate.  He licked that puppy clean!

My favorite part of the weekend was when Joel took me to FunSpot, a giant arcade.  I  l-o-v-e arcades, but Joel doesn’t typically like them, so I appreciated him taking me. Turned out that he loved it as well!! I even let him beat me at air hockey.

Tapper is one of my all time fave games. Pure coordination and speed, man!

Oh, it was so much fun!

Back at the hotel we went swimming!

The pool area was adults only, and not only that but it was in our lodge, which only houses maybe 3 rooms. So it was totally empty and quiet.  There were two hot tubs, and the pool… and if you look in the photo, the pool actually extends under that door into the outside!  So I scooted under that door and actually went swimming outside, in the 4 degree weather! It was pretty awesome.

We bundled up and walked over to the local candy store, we walked down the docks and watched all the dudes setting up their ice fishing shanties, we drank a lot of coffee, watched some Homeland episodes, and spent a lot of time in front of the cozy fire.  All in all, a beautiful weekend away. Oh! And we saw Django Unchained, which was awesome. If you like blood, guts, violence, and dark humor… you might like it as much as I did!

So, that’s that. I am back home, though my spirit had been tampered with a bit over the past couple weeks (thanks a lot, body!) it was renewed a bit after such an enjoyable weekend.

I hope you didn’t miss me too much!
This one surely didn’t.