Jan 23, 2010 - Saturday Snow & Ice

Another day, another hike! We usually do the “Stop Sign” hike on Sat and Mon. The first 3½ miles or so are along a paved uphill path. I don’t really like it because it’s a continuous incline and the pavement is hard on my old bones. At the end of this path is the “Mini-Stop Sign” and then you enter onto an actual road that continues at an even steeper incline. The elevation change is 3000’ at the bottom of the hike to 4000’ at the top. But today there was much SNOW at the top and black ice along the road. 2 people fell (one hurt her arm, the other hurt his ego…) on black ice along the path part. I chose to do the West Canyon hike; it’s a gravel and fairly level trail.

After lunch, we had free time until dinner. I went to Coyote Gulch—a grouping of art shops with 3 other ladies. It was nice to get off campus. The sun was shining and the art was very nice.

I was really feeling homesick today. When I am kept busy, I don’t have time to think. But free time today had me missing my kids and friends—and even my Dwaine.

We went to the movies as a group last night. I wanted to test myself around popcorn and soda. I enjoyed the smells but didn’t have any desire to eat anything.

I do find that I think about eating (when I’m not hungry) when I am not occupied. I have to get used to sitting idly and not eating just because I’m bored. I was talking with one of the trainers who walked along with me on the hike. She said she keeps chocolate chips in the fridge and has just a few to take care of any chocolate cravings. My problem is that the bag of chocolate chips calls to me until it’s completely empty.

I can’t have bad foods in the house. This is hard because I live with other people who like to eat bacon and buttered popcorn and candy and soda and…. Jamie told me before I left that when I get home I have to have willpower. If I had willpower, I wouldn’t be in this predicament. I think I will have to explain to my family that I will need their help and support when I get home. I’m thinking the best way to do it is if we want to have ice cream one night, we buy enough for that night and not leave the container in the freezer for days afterwards.

I do like that we are learning not to diet, but to eat differently. People tend to eat the same volume of food every day—we just have to make sure we have good foods instead of worthless food. AND—we are learning the 90/10 rule. It’s OK to eat crap 10% of the time. (So you don’t have to give up Hershey bars, you just can’t eat the whole package of 36 at one sitting.)