I now understand why hotels provide lotion with their soap

I'm here!  I'm alive, I promise.  Can't believe it's been a month.  Oy o Oy time flies!

I've never really used hotel shampoo before.  I have always brought my own.  I decided on this trip to only bring what I needed that the hotel couldn't provide.  So I left the shampoo, conditioner, soap etc. at home.  I used the hotel version and I can tell the difference, but it's not the end of the world for a week.  I'm in Atlanta by the way.  Coming home tomorrow.

It's been an interesting month (a MONTH?1?!?!?!).  The second week of May I house sat for friends of mine, which I love doing.  I came home from that last Thursday, then left for Atlanta on Sunday morning.  Yup, quick turn-around.  It's how I roll, yo.  :)

When I was house-sitting, I got that taste of "freedom" so to speak, and I started to go crazy, food wise.  I bought chocolate, oatmeal cream pies, pringles, etc.  I ate about half of it before I realized I was emotional eating.  I threw the rest away.  Yes, threw perfectly good food away.  It was a really good exercise.  Here's what I gained from it: most times I catch my emotional eating after it's over, this time I caught it after I ate some of it, next time I will catch it when I bring the food home before I eat any of it, and the next time I will catch it at the store.  It's a process.

This week, I have been stressed to the max.  I've been having problems with my hands itching the week leading up to my trip.  On Sunday morning, I woke up with hands swollen twice the size and my veins were starting to feel bruised.  The same thing happened about a year ago, but my hands were much worse torn up, and the bruised veins sensation was all the way up my arms.  When I called my doctor, he told me the reason my veins felt bruised was because the infection was spreading in my blood stream and if it reached my heart, I was in BIG trouble.  He told me it was a BIG deal, and to go to the Minute clinic immediately.  So when I woke up on Sunday morning with an infected spot on my hands, swelling, and bruised veins, I didn't even think about it, I went to minute clinic.  I was scheduled to leave to Atlanta at 11.  Minute clinic opened at 10, I was there at 20 till, to make sure no one would be in front of me.  I'll vouch for CVS and the minute clinic any day of the week.  For the exam and Rx, I was in and out in 30 minutes.  I also learned that when I had the big breakout before, the date was 5/15/10.  The date I was in there this year was 5/20/11.  Almost a year to the day.  Interesting.  I've been taking my Rx and using the cream, but my hands look like someone ran a cheese grater over the tops of my hands.  It hasn't progressed to the inside of my hands, but it's still frustrating. 

I have to admit I have totally, 100% contributed to this dilemma this week.  I've really not been eating well at all, and I've been so stressed.  Which leads into what I've been eating this week.  I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, but I know I've eaten out every meal, and I've been so tired and hungry by the time I get to dinner, I don't even think.  Just don't think.  I know better too.  I've probably gained 4-5 pounds this week.  I won't be back in time for my weigh in on Saturday, which is almost a good thing, because I need next week to get back on track.  Below is my plan:
-I've eaten out (or will eat out) 21 out of the 21 meals this week.  I'm burned out.  After I return home on Saturday, I will not eat out (AT ALL) for one week.
-I need to work out, my poor heart is starting to forget what a cardio workout is.  And I have a friendly sprint race to train for :) so I plan on working out twice this week.  I'll bump it up to three times the following week, and four times the week after that. 
-I'm not going to beat myself up this week.  I'm going to weigh myself when I get home, but after that, I'm not going to beat myself up about it.  It happened, and is in the past.  Nothing I can do about it now except learn from it and do better next time. 
-I'm going to remove sodas from my diet.  Again.  I've been mainlining caffeine this week, and I've had enough.  5 hour energy will help me step down off caffeine all together eventually, but starting....well now really, the sodas stop.  3 out of the 5 pounds this week is probably water I've retained due to the sodium!

I think I've pretty much recapped the last few weeks.  I'm going to bed, as I'm in EST, and it's 10:30 right now.  I have to be up at 6AM.  That's EST too.  Which is 5AM CST.  Yes, it's possible for me to be up that early :)

Until next time,
:)

On the road again.....

First off, let me say this.  I feel great.  Other than still being really run down from being sick.  I feel confident, together, and I'm going in the right direction.

I lost 3 pounds this week!!!  I'm back up to 30.4 total pounds lost!  I think those three pounds was in mucus, but I digress.  As I look back on this week, I realize that I made really good choices.  I've really stopped the no fast food thing.  I am simply making better choices at fast food places.  I'm not going to lie: fast food is just that.  Fast.  And cheap.  And my wallet needs a break sometimes too.  So at KFC, I got two pieces of grilled chicken with green beans as a side.  WOOT!  At Sonic, I got a grilled chicken wrap. DOUBLE WOOT.  I try to stay away from the Combos and drink water or tea, I'm coming back off of soda, and I feel great! 

As far as being sick, I'm over most of the coughing, sneezing, nose running part of it.  Now's the time where my body is recharging.  So I'm not doing much. Resting and relaxing mostly.  I don't have a ton of energy, but I am still nourishing myself, but am watching it since I'm not moving around at all. 

I had no inspiration for a title, but I promise the next title will be clever :)

Until next time,
:)

Wake up call

Just found this in the drafts from April 29th....figured I'd post it even though it's old...


I was just looking at pictures of me over the last few years and I have come to a realization.  I was really overweight. Like wow.  How did I not see it???  Ugh.  I guess everything happens for a reason. 

Well, I'm on the right path now.  Thank goodness. 

I just did the math.  I have been on Weight Watchers for 77 Weeks. That's kind of amazing. 

Good news is after tons more rest, and time spent in the fresh air, I feel much better.  Only a few remnants of sickness left and I'm a little tired, but other than that, I'm much better!  I look forward to getting to relax the next few days before starting back into the craziness. 

Until next time,
:)

Welcome back :)

Gosh, I cannot believe it's been over a month since my last post.  Goodness, so much to tell, so...well the space is unlimited, but I'll try to be kind to your eyes. :)

I have continued to go back and forth back and forth with the same 5 pounds.  It's still frustrating, so nothing new there.  I think I finally gave myself a kick in the seat of the pants, and I've been doing really well the last two weeks.  I lost 3 pounds last week.  This week is going to be a little funny.  I've been sick since Wednesday and so I haven't eaten a whole lot of anything.  That can go two ways: I will either lose weight because I haven't eaten, or I'll gain it because my body won't let go of what I have eaten.  About 18 hours and we'll know for sure. 

Being sick really stinks.  When I get sick, my body takes advantage of the down time and completely shuts down to recharge.  I did all of nothing today.  Then I got a shower and walked up the stairs and was exhausted.  I'm currently sitting out on the back porch because I was in such dire need of fresh air, or I would be in bed, sleeping.  My diet has consisted of lean pockets and ice cream, because that's what I have downstairs, and it's easy. 

I was thinking that there was something else about which I wanted to blog, but I just don't remember.  I'll know where to find my blog if I do.

Until next time,
:)

I'm beginning to remember why I avoided Chili's after I started Weight Watchers :)

Chili's is my weak point.  I've always loved Chili's.  I have a printout of the menu in my car, at the office, and at the house, so I can be prepared and fit it into my plan.  I got an e-mail for this weekend for a free chips and queso.  Something having to do with some basketball tournament or something (he he, I know it's March Madness).  So I went to Chili's with the intention of getting 1 beer and the queso.  I failed to remember that Chili's has drink specials, so the beers come in two.  I drank both.  Not a total fallout really, for light beer, two beers is only 7 points.  That's the good news.  The not so good news is the chips and queso turned into an order of big mouth bites too.  I came home and decided I would calculate points for all this.  The queso is 41 and the big mouth bites meal is 50.  I almost had a heart attack.  Luckily I barely touched the queso!  I still consumed around 50 points for lunch.  As a point of reference, I get 34 in a day. 

Here's the good news: 
-I get 49 extra points each week, they reset on Saturday, I used 25 of them.  They are for such a time as this.
-I still have 6 days and 16 meals to recover from this slip up. 
-I did not order Cheesecake, to go or otherwise.  We're talking 19 points in one slice. 
-I tracked it, even though I didn't really want to know.  Knowledge is power!  I've already identified dishes that ring in at 6 points to order next time I go, and I'm staying away from the queso!  Learning from my mistake thank you. :)
-I'm being positive about it.  I'm not beating myself up.  It happened, I'm moving on. 
-I earned 37 activity points for all the running around and the up and down stairs countless times.  WOOT. 
-I'm not drowning my sorrows in dessert.  I'm blogging and listening to positive music.

Yesterday, I started to get into my scrapbooking, and I looked at everything I had pulled out and thought to myself I know I have more stuff to scrapbook than this.  I figured it was in my storage unit.  So I went to said storage unit to dig around and ended up doing just that.  I had to pull out about 15 boxes to get to the chair and pull it out enough so I could climb over it.  Then I had to pull my mattress off some more boxes, squeeze around it (thank goodness I'm skinny-ish) :) and start pulling long under bed boxes out from under the box spring, which is at this point balancing on some other boxes.  I'm digging through these under bed boxes and I find TONS of scrapbooking stuff.  Good grief, I thought my parents were going to die.  I found more pictures than I thought I had, my original scrapbooks, already started, and all kinds of paperwork.  I also found my FAVORITE pair of jeans from high school that I was so bummed I had lost.  That's my next goal: to get into those pants!  I then have to get all 4 under bed boxes back under the box spring.  Then I maneuver around the mattress, lift it back onto the boxes, climb over the chair, put the chair back.  Then I start stacking boxes and realize the chair leg is sticking out too far.  I pull out ALL the boxes, start pushing the chair back in, get it in enough to pacify my tired at that point self, and start piling the boxes back on.  I get the door down past the first pair of chair legs, and it get stuck on the bottom pair.  Ugh!  I kick it with my right foot a couple times, then decide to give it a go with my left.  Well, I have a bad joint in my left foot (my big toe joint) and I kicked that chair pretty hard, well it jammed my joint.  It hurt like the dickens.  I was limping around.  It was hilarious.  I felt like an idiot.  So I finally get it closed and I go home.  I had to tape my toe so it wouldn't throb when I walked.  Well, I forgot to take the tape off before I went to bed, so I woke up and the outside of my foot where the tape was bruised.  I looked like a 90 year old because when I woke up, my lower back was in knots, my right thigh muscle burned, and my abs were killing me.  I'm still laughing.  The bruising on my foot wore off, and now the joint just hurts a little.  I'm currently sitting with a heating pad for my back, and it feels really nice. :)  The really good news?  You may have noticed in this ridiculously long paragraph that there are no complaints about my shoulder, yup, it suffered no harm in all this, which is really impressive since I lifted a mattress and all :)

At least I had fun :)

Until next time,
:)

Just the way you are

I'm having an artsy day.  Watch out because they're so few and far between, it can get dangerous.  But always in a good way.  :)

Last night, I got off work at 6:30 or so.  I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to relax and have a beer.  I did a little shopping, got a new necklace, and went home.  I went to bed early because I was the trifecta tired (mental, emotional, physical) and I thought maybe I would get to sleep in.  I did!  I slept until almost 8 which is unheard of unless I go to bed after Midnight, and I went to bed at 9! 

Went to Weight Watchers.  I lost 1 pound this week.  Am I jumping for joy?  Well, not exactly.  I can't really get over a little disappointment.  I'm not sure why, but when I came home, all I really felt like doing was crying.  The tears wouldn't come (they rarely do on their own) and so I decided I would write a post, watch a terribly sad movie that would make me bawl, and my need to cry would be done.  I walked in the house and my radio was on, no surprise, I hadn't been gone long.  The song that came on as I walked into my room was Bruno Mars "Just The Way You Are".  The tears started flowing, and I collapsed onto my bed in a pile of sobs.  I love that song, it is so beautiful.  I need to take that song to heart, but I'm working on it.  Our homework in Weight Watchers this week was to find an old photograph of ourselves happy and post it somewhere where we would see it.  We talked about the yo-yo cycle and how to spring back.  How incredibly appropriate.  :)

While I was laying on my bed, I decided instead of watching a movie, I would look for a photograph.  Well I'm working on a project that includes me having a majority of the family photo collection, so I had plenty of material.  I went through the entire box of photographs, found a few.  Then I decided to dig into my scrap-booking box and go through it looking for photographs.  That turned into sorting all the stuff I have that needs to be scrap-booked into piles according to which book they are going.  That turned into a trip to Michael's to get books because I have tons of pages and other stuff, but I'm out of books.  Not anymore, I hit pay dirt on the clearance rack.  It was awesome.  Then I got Pasghetti's for lunch since I was in the area, came home, ate half my spaghetti, and sat down to write this post before getting back to my scrap-booking. 

I really enjoy scrap-booking.  I don't get to do it often because I generally try to do in in few hour chunks, and those only occur on Saturdays.  I need to do laundry, and work on my scheduling, but that can happen tomorrow, when I'm not having a normal, non-creative day. 

If you see me this week, I could use a pat on the back.  Yesterday, I continued my no eat chocolate while in a tiny training room for 8 hours trend, and it took every ounce of will power I had, but I did it.  After all, I did lose a pound this week too.  I'm feeling feelings today, and relaxing.  I think I'm doing pretty swell.  I can tell myself that I'm doing well all I want, but I have noticed it helps to hear it from other people too, so I don't start to think I'm going cookoo (no comments from the peanut gallery) :)

My shoulder hurts sitting like I am to type, so I'm going to get to it! 

Until next time,
:)

Is it a good thing or a bad thing I need 3 alarms to wake me up?

I just have one thing to say, one reason for this post: In my ALL day training, I did not have ONE piece of chocolate, not one M & M, not one Reese's cup, Nada!  VICTORY at last!!!  I feel so good about it!  I planned ahead for a snack since I was working my brain in overdrive, and everything fell into place today.  I went to the gym this morning too. 

Right now, if you can read timestamps, it's almost midnight.  I let work keep me awake.  Shame on me.  Now that I've typed it all out in an e-mail to myself, I think I can finally sleep.  As it's midnight, am I going to wake up at 6 to go the gym?  Well, my 3 alarms are set to extra loud, so I'm sure going to try.  Yes, 3 alarms.  One on my phone, my watch, and my radio.  I guess it can be interpreted two ways.  I'm in such a peaceful, deep slumber, it takes a train over my face to wake me, or I'm not getting nearly enough sleep.  I think I like option A.  It means I'm not lacking.  :)

Am I going to be tired tomorrow?  You bet.  It's going to take even more strength tomorrow than today to avoid the chocolate in training, because I'll be tired.  I won't turn away encouragement at this point.

I love how I keep using the word tomorrow, when it is coming in 10 minutes.  he he

Still tracking.  Everything.  I feel my pants getting loose, too.  It's a wonderful feeling! 

I'm going to try to sleep now, wish me luck! :)

Until next time,
:)