Fun times!

It has been a really great two days!  Monday night, BFF, Debi and Debi's husband went to see Neil deGrasse Tyson.  First, we went to dinner at Champp's and I had the chicken salad sandwich with no bread with a side of potato chips.  Not super great, but not horrible. 

Then we headed to the show where I had a Crown & Diet Coke.  I still ended up with over an 800 calorie deficit for the day!  Anyway...

For those of you that aren't familiar with Neil deGrasse Tyson, he is an astrophysicist and host of the awesome show Cosmos.  I'm not particularly into science, I'm more of a history girl, but I can listen to this man all day. 

The program was supposed to be 90 minutes but he ended up speaking for 3 hours!  About science! And I paid attention to every word! The topic of the talk focused on bizarre things in the universe.  His overall theme was that the universe has no obligation to make sense to you.  He doesn't talk to you like you are stupid, yet he speaks in a way that a non-science person can understand.  I think that is quite difficult when you are talking about science and space.

Bottom line: if you enjoy learning things, go listen to this guy if you have the opportunity.  You will not regret it.

We didn't get home until midnight so I didn't sleep much, but I did sleep well.  Yesterday, the plan was to go to dinner with some friends after work, but midday we were offered Rangers suite tickets.  YAAAAY!!!  When we got there, we found out that the suite was directly behind home plate!  The only thing that wasn't perfect about the whole experience was that the Rangers aren't playing well right now and got a bit of a shellacking.

I had to eat stadium food for dinner and I drank a beer, so while I was about net equal on calories in and out for the day, I was up a pound on the scale this morning.  My diet bet weigh in is tomorrow or Friday so I hope that pound disappears today!  I'm exactly one pound up from where I need to be to win my first month. 

I have logged my food plan today.  I'm not planning to work out in an organized fashion, but after work I have to go home and do some chores which should give me a little boost.  I feel if I stay strong today, I should hit my target.  If not, surely I will by the next day.  If not, I won't fret, but I have to keep pushing.  I'm not going to lose focus and I will reach my goal of losing 10% of my weight in 6 months!!

Hugs!

What a difference a week makes!

Once I realized that my sickness was indeed a sickness and started treating it with a decongestant, I immediately started to feel better.  I would say that I'm almost back to 100%.

I had a wonderful time with my mom this weekend.  I have a cute picture to post as soon as I can figure out how to download it.  :-)  Maybe tomorrow.

Friday I took the afternoon off and we went shopping.  We were going for 5 solid hours.  I finally had to tell my 75 year old mother that we had to stop because I was exhausted.  She is unbelievable when it comes to shopping!  I was so glad I had put soup in the crock pot so BFF came over and we all just hung out. 

Saturday we got up and leisurely made our way to Rise for lunch.  That place is just delicious.  In the afternoon, we shopped some more.  Seriously.  It was crazy.  I finally just had to cut myself off because my wallet was starting to cry. 

Saturday evening we picked up BFF and went out for Tex Mex.  By the time we got home, we just crashed.  Sunday after we went out to brunch, we went to the theater to see a play.  It was really good!  This morning, I dropped Mamacita at the airport on my way to work.  I just had the most awesome time.  I love her!!  Next time my dad will come with her which is good because I missed having him here this time.

One thing that was amazing was my "diet"!  I didn't work HARD at it, but after I started feeling better, I imposed old school Lap Band rules.  Small portions.  Small bites.  Chew chew chew.  Only eat when I'm hungry.  You know...all those things that work.  Those things that I have NOT been doing for a couple of years.  Turns out, they really do work.  I lost almost 5 pounds this week!! And that doesn't even count the extra 2 pound bloat I had last week.  The actual change on the scale was 7.8 pounds!!  It has been a REALLY long time since I have done that well.

I think it also makes a difference that I kept myself very busy and since someone else was there, I didn't just mindlessly snack.  Maybe it is a good thing that June is so busy.  It could really keep me on track.

I have also been trying to drink ridiculous amounts of water.  Which reminds me...

Today at lunch, Godmother mentioned running outside and I agreed that sounded great.  It is going to be too hot soon to be outside at lunch, so we went.  She ran.  I would walk one song then run one song, for about 9 songs.  I'm already over 8,700 steps today.  Woohoo!

Tonight BFF & I are meeting Debi & her husband for dinner and then we are all going to go see Neil deGrasse Tyson speak in Dallas.  I'm so excited!  I'm such a nerd, but I have really been enjoying Cosmos.  I'm a few episodes behind, but I will definitely watch all of it.  I think tonight will be great! 

Hugs!

Baby steps better

I think I'm finally getting over whatever it is that I had.  My band is still acting up though.  I have been doing liquids/mushies to reduce the swelling and irritation and I think it is working, but it is slow going.  I don't want to have to start over because of my stupidity so I'm being very careful. 

I'm actually not having any problem eating or drinking, but I do have acid reflux (particularly while I'm sleeping and in the morning.)  It is weird though because mostly it just gives me sore ears and throat.  It is mild today thought so I feel strongly that it is lessening.  My mama is coming tomorrow for a long weekend.  If it is still bothering me after she leaves I will go get a little unfill and start again.  Sigh.

Yesterday I had a SlimFast for breakfast which worked really well.  For lunch, I had Pho and I was worried about the chunks, but I did fine and I felt great throughout the afternoon!  No reflux or anything like that at all.

I went out with my dinner group last night and we had a blast as always.

 

I had some pozole and potato chips.  I didn't eat a lot (I did have some beer ice cream for dessert) and I ate slowly and consciously.  I think I need to start waiting a little longer after I eat before laying down in bed though.  Once I laid down the reflux discomfort started.  I woke up with it this morning, but like I mentioned, it wasn't nearly as bad.  Taking the punishment of bad behavior is a bitch!  :-)

 

Today, I had another SlimFast.  For lunch I have my leftover Pho if I can't convince BFF to go out to lunch.  I thought the tomato soup at La Madeleine sounded good. 

 

I haven't been eating enough to get myself to work out.  I'm going to try and push myself to go to Jazzercise tonight, but I would say it is about 50/50% at this point.  I have a feeling I will run errands instead.  I have to go get groceries for mama's visit and I need to straighten up the apartment.  Yeah, I can already tell I'm not going to Jazzercise.  Maybe tomorrow.  :)

 

Hugs!

Sure is Monday.

When I last left you, I was awfully cranky and not really feeling into the fight.  After blogging Thursday, I just felt worse and finally headed to the doctor.  Sinus infection with probable strep.  Well, I guess it made sense that I was in a bad mood.

I haven't felt horrible, but I have definitely felt consistently "not good" all weekend through today.  I think now my band is acting up from all of the drainage and such.  I relegated myself to liquids today hoping that will help.  I always gain weight when I'm sick, so I wasn't surprised that I was up 2 pounds today.

It kind of made me want to cry, but what good would that do?  Like I said a few weeks ago, it is really important to work hard when you ARE feeling it, because times like these come.  I'm really glad I worked so hard the last few weeks because the damage was less.  Now I just have to fight back.

Until I shake this, I'm going to focus on eating decently and getting sleep.  My plan is to stick to liquids and mushies (without resorting to ice cream and such) for the next several days.  I will Jazzercise today, Wednesday and Thursday.  That is about the extent of what I can wrap my head around.

One day at a time and soon I will back to normal. 

Hugs.  :)

TTT

1.  I'm reaching into the happy & positive bin today because I'm not all that happy or positive at this precise moment.  I slept through 3 snoozes this morning before I ever realized that my alarm was going off.  I never do that. 

2.  I woke up with an earache and sore throat.  I'm hoping that it is just something from the weather coming through.  Now that I'm awake and at work, I don't feel horrible, but the aches remain.

3.  I had another STELLAR day yesterday!  Another day with over an 800 calorie deficit.  I'm not starving myself, but I'm working out and eating very well.  However, the scale isn't budging.  Actually, it is budging, just in the wrong direction.  Small gains the last two days.  I'm going to follow the advice that I give ALL the time to just be patient and know that the scale will catch up.  But it doesn't keep the frustration from coming.

4.  We bought Enrique Iglesias & Pitbull concert tickets today.  I'm going with three Jazzercise instructors, so that should be hilarious.  I'm sure 90% of the songs will be Jazzercise songs.  It should be a very fun concert!  It's not until October though.

5.  It is pouring down rain today.  It doesn't rain much in Texas, so we really don't know how to handle it.  The lack of sun is also making it extremely cold in my office.  I usually run hot, but today I'm in a long sleeved jacket with jeans and I'm almost shivering.  Crazy nuts!

6.  My poor Rangers.  They are having a tough time of things.  We are going to go see them play the Red Sox on Saturday and I feel that it will not be pretty.

7.  Today's Nutrition Plan:
Breakfast:  coffee with cream (x2), SlimFast shake
Lunch:  taco soup
Snack:  greek yogurt (If needed...I haven't needed a snack the last couple of days.)
Dinner:  Bean soup & cornbread

8.  Today's Fitness Plan:  Leisure walk and read at lunch.  Jazzercise tonight.

9.  I was going to CrossFit tomorrow instead of Jazzercising tonight, but we have a cookout tomorrow afternoon away from the office.  Coordinating cars would be annoying so I'm planning to commute with BFF instead.  Plus, I have a 5K on Saturday, so there is no doubt I will be getting plenty of fitness.  I haven't run more than a mile at a time since this 5K last year and those miles were last summer.  So, this should be entertaining...well, for someone who is not me.

10.  You know, just blogging made me happier today.  It is the little things, people.  :)

Hugs!

Wedneday

My friend and I were talking about this article last night.  I thought it was so interesting because so many people have no idea what the end result of massive weight loss looks like.  On shows like Extreme Weight loss and Biggest Loser, they talk about the excess skin, but they work hard to avoid it showing in an unflattering way.  The girls on BL go from sports bras to T-shirts after a few weeks and I think that is part of the reason.  I totally get it.  I don't want people to see my gross hangy skin either. 

I think most people think that if you just lose weight, everything is fine.  I would like to see more articles like this to show them that it isn't.  Hangy skin is WAY healthier than obesity and I don't mean to indicate otherwise!  There is just more to the story.

I got up for CrossFit this morning.  Yay me!  We were finding our one rep max for our back squats and presses.  Basically we work to find the absolute highest possible weight we can handle doing just one full rep.  I'm very excited that I achieved a personal best of 195# in my back squat.  So excited!  My arms are a little bit jellified today though so I couldn't even reach my previous personal best of 95# on the Press and maxed out at 90#. 

One of the guys in class successfully back squatted 400#.  It was awesome.  He's a beast!

Yesterday was another phenomenal day of fitness and eating.  I ended the day with a 750 calorie deficit without feeling in any way deprived.  In fact, I ended the night with some butterscotch pudding and it was awesome!  This morning, my scale was feeling witchy and showed a .2 pound gain.  Sigh.  Whatever.  Onward.

Today's Nutritional Plan:
Breakfast: coffee with cream, Greek yogurt
Lunch:  Ham & Bean soup (I made it this weekend for the first time and it was super easy and totally awesome!!) and cornbread w/ Laughing cow.
Snack:  1/2 serving of taco soup (if needed)
Dinner:  I'm meeting a friend at a Mongolian BBQ place.  I printed out the nutritional information so I was able to plan my bowl in advance!  I doubt I will eat it all, but I planned a bowl that if I did eat it all, it would be okay.

Today's Fitness Plan:
CrossFit: check!  Also, I plan to leisurely walk (or bike if all the treadmills are taken) and read at lunch.

I saw this today and it describes me to a T.

Hugs!

It's just a normal day.

The most mentally challenging time of my day is the moment my alarm goes off until I walk out my door.  The entire time I'm telling myself that I need to get up, I need to brush my teeth, I need to get dressed and so on.  Each step, I walk through with a little commentary and an imaginary cheerleader.  I. do. not. like. mornings.  But then, like today, when I actually get through the ritual and get out the door, it is so unbelievably worth it.

CrossFit was jam packed this morning.  They have added a 5:30am class (Which doesn't hold any appeal for me.  Can you imagine what the ritual would have to be to get to that class??) that overlaps with ours, plus there was a new fundamentals class.  It worked out though.  It is great outside right now in the mornings, so we did our warm up in the parking lot while the early class was doing their WOD.  Then we worked on handstands again.  I can easily kick up to the wall and I'm starting to be able to hover without touching the wall for little bits of time.  It is amazing the progression you can get when you go consistently...

The WOD was 3 rounds:  30 calorie row (which for me takes about 2:45...I'm not really any better at rowing than I am at running, but I do it!), 20 sit ups, 10 burpees.  In order to keep up with the crowd, I scaled the first two rounds to 5 burpees, (but I'm actually doing burpees during the WODs now, not squat thrusts, so I'm getting there.) 

I have happy news.  I was WAY down on the scale this morning, so I feel confident that my theory of water retention was accurate.  I think I can conservatively say that I lost another 6 tenths this week.  That would be about 4 weeks in a row with a roughly 1/2 pound loss.  That doesn't seem like much, but I will take it!  I was going in the wrong direction for so long that it is nice to be headed the right way.

This weekend I will take measurements again which I think will be interesting.  I have 2.4 pounds to lose to win my diet bet this month.  I won't reach that only losing 6 tenths a week, but I'm still trying.  I can feel my body changing again and I like it. 

Hugs!

I broke my streak...maybe.

After four straight weeks of loss, I gained 6 tenths this week.  As frustrated as that makes me, I'm holding out one possibility of redemption. 

On Saturday, I stood out in the sun for four hours volunteering with the fire department and the Fill the Boot campaign.  I was literally on the side of the road looking for money.  HA!  It was hot and I didn't have enough water.  Even though I drank a ton after, I just couldn't get rehydrated.  Last night I woke up several times during the night to go to the bathroom but I really didn't have to go.  I'm attempting to drown myself in water today to stave off any bladder infection or something like that. 

Anyway, my point is that my body could be retaining water.  If on Wednesday, I'm still 6 tenths up from last Wednesday, then I will own it.  Either way, I feel like this week is going to be a good one.

I have been sleeping terribly lately.  I'm not sure why it is so bad especially since I have lost some weight.  I truly felt that it would get better with each pound lost and that isn't happening.  I don't want to have to be in bed for 10 hours to get 7 hours sleep, so I have to figure out how to get better quality sleep. 

I have a tendency to drink tea at night, so I'm going to give that up.  It seems like a logical place to start.  I woke up before my CrossFit alarm this morning and thought...no.  I told myself that I would regret it, that I still had to work out later in the day, but it was to no avail.  I just couldn't drag myself out of bed.  Now, don't get me wrong.  It has never been easy for me to do the 6am workouts.  Every time I have to drag myself out of bed.  But lately, it has been much worse than normal.

Guilt can be a productive motivator though.  I switched my alarm to a later time and went back to sleep, or tried to anyway.  I only slept about 50% of it.  When I got up, I decided that I needed to gain something from missing CF because there wasn't that much extra sleep.  I did a few things around home that I would have had to do tonight.  Also, I got gas and picked up my dry cleaning on the way to work.  I also committed to myself to go to Jazzercise tonight and on the way, I have to stop and buy some things to send in a care package to my adopted soldier.  That is a lot of productivity that I probably wouldn't have had otherwise, so I'm glad I can turn it into a net positive. 

Tomorrow it is back to CrossFit, so call me out if I don't do it!

Hugs!

A Very Happy Ten Things Thursday

1.  I had a unenjoyable work week last week, but things have turned around quite a bit this week and that makes me happy.

2.  I was solidly at my diet bet goal weight this morning with no scale dance shenanigans and that made me happy.

3.  I'm wearing my crazy pants again today.  There is no question that they are looser than that day.  I'm about 3 pounds down from that day and I think it all came from my thighs!  No complaints here.  That makes me happy!

4.  I was looking at the photo page and scrolling through the pictures.  It is still amazing to me to start at the beginning and then watch my transformation.  Through April 2012, I was just shrinking and beaming.  :-)  Then there is this gap to June 2013 and looking at that makes me sad.  But then I keep scrolling and I'm proud that I'm fighting back when it would have been so easy to give up and to give in.  THAT makes me happy.

5.  I bailed on CrossFit again this morning.  I was trying to decide why, because I woke up but I just didn't go.  I did, however, pack my clothes to work out at lunch.  I'm not sure why I haven't been motivated to CF much this week, but it makes me happy that not working out is not an option.  That is a real life change.

6.  The Rangers got spanked last night for the 3rd night in a row.  There is no way I can spin that to make me happy.  :-)  I will, however, be happy when they get out of this slump and start not sucking again. 

7.  The weekend is coming.  How can that NOT make me happy?!  Tomorrow night I'm getting pedis and going to dinner with BFF.  Saturday I'm volunteering with the fire department to stand with some of the guys at an intersection asking for donations as part of the Fill the Boot campaign.  It will be hot and long, but helping out makes me happy.

8.  I was just conversing via email with my Leapster friends that I met through blogging.  They ALWAYS make me happy.  I'm so fortunate to have such great friends both here around me and across the country.  Blogging in particular has caused me to meet wonderful people all over the world.  In my office I have a picture collage of my London trip and I love looking up to see Sarah & Justine.  Plus, this summer I should be meeting up with Deb & Liz, both I met originally through blogging. 

9.  Masterpiece Theatre makes me happy.  Do you all watch?  Right now I'm catching up on the show The Paradise before I start the new season of Mr. Selfridge.  I finished Silk earlier this week.  I love all of those shows!

10.  I hope you are having a happy day!  <3

Hugs!