Day One

I ate pretty well today.  Breakfast was an egg and a sausage patty.  Lunch was an avocado (and a half) with plantain chips and sweet potato chips… with a string cheese.  Then dinner was chicken cordon bleu “pasta” with spaghetti squash.  The bad:  wine with my dinner.  I allow that on the weekends, but I think I should change that to Fridays and Saturdays.  Sundays are harder, since I tend to work out on Monday.

Josh and I are getting a kitten.  This is unrelated to my “Viking” journey, but it’s still exciting.  My cat, Grace, can’t forgive Josh for being the one to sleep in the bed.  She’s not allowed to sleep on the bed (Josh’s ONE rule), so she hates him for it.  She’s 14 years old, and we’re getting a kitten.  I’m SO. EXCITED.

Back to the other stuff… I’m happy about what I ate.  I’m okay with the wine, since it’s a weekend.

I’ve ordered a Whoop band.  It’s a new activity band.  It doesn’t have a watch, it doesn’t take text messages or phone calls.  But it does help me understand how much effort I put out.  It helps me know how much sleep I need, and how much recovery.  And I think it’ll be a good guide for workouts.

I have more of a Viking body type than I have of a model body type.  I can’t express how happy that makes me…Food1

The picture is of the chicken cordon bleu “pasta.”  It was f*cking great.  Cream, gruyere cheese, spaghetti squash, chicken… just delicious!!

The Beginning

I’m out on a bike ride with friends yesterday, and my pal Christine and I were talking about exercise.  I told her that I hated running, but I love the biking.  I’m not fast, but I just keep going anyway.  She looked at me and said, “You’re a Viking!”  Her reasoning was that I like endurance sports and lifting weights.  I do CrossFit most of the time, and weather permitting, ride my bike.  I have to say, CrossFit kills me.  Some of the things they have us do… I feel like my heart could explode.  But my favorite parts are lifting weights.

That said, her semi-joking statement really struck a chord deep down inside my psyche or something.  I loved the thought!  Not because I like raping and pillaging, but because Viking women are not dainty little creatures who take duck-face selfies.  In my mind, a Viking woman is beautiful, smart, and strong in more ways than one.  And they are not frail.  I’ve been dealing with some self-hatred (for many years), and part of that is because I weigh a hefty amount, I have large melons, and I am TERRIBLE with diets.  I’m guessing I weigh around 175 lbs. right now.  I will never weigh 120 lbs.  But suddenly, it’s okay.  Viking women don’t weigh 120 lbs!

So, I realize I’m not a Viking.  I’m not going to start dressing in furs and get a helmet with horns.  I’m not going to slay somebody with a sword.  And I’m definitely not moving to Norway.  But the whole idea is that I come from a Norwegian family, along with Irish and Scottish.  I have a good chance of having ancestors that were strong fighters.  And that is what I’m choosing to embrace:  strength.  I’m deciding, as of yesterday, that I can be fit and not skinny.  I can be strong and proud.  I can have large melons and not be ashamed of them.  In my mind, Viking women had large breasts.  I don’t know why, but I’m rolling with it.

I do need to lose some fat and get more fit.  I want to be stronger, but I also want to ride my bike.  I want to be better at hills, and I plan on riding my first century (100 miles) at the end of the summer, just before my birthday.  I will become faster, healthier, and I WILL find beauty in my own body.  This blog will be part of my journey.lifting