weightnolonger

I haven’t been on here in ages.  I’m so frustrated.  I want … REALLY REALLY WANT… to be back on track, but life is not cooperating.  December was HORRIBLE.  I was busy - parties and get togethers everywhere.  I also suffered through a terrible cold.  Finally kicked that, and somehow I managed to hurt my back.

I haven’t been to the gym in 3 or 4 weeks.  I’m getting back on track with my diet, but I really NEED to exercise again.  Unfortunately, I can barely drag myself out of bed in the morning in tears.  It gets better later in the day, but I’m afraid of hurting it worse.  I’ve given it lots of time to heal, but I’m really missing my cardio and scared of how much “backwards progress” I’ve made. 

I’ve tried everything I can think of - resting it, stretching it, hot tub, back rubs from hubby, giving it time.  I’ve even burned out a heating pad trying that at night.  I don’t know what more to do - my patience is wearing thin.  I don’t even know what I did really, except sleep on a bed at my parent’s house that is very firm and uncomfortable.  (I’m used to my pillow top).  That’s when it started… but I should be able to GET OVER that.  ???

Grrr.  Please send me back-healing vibes so I can get back to it. 

I’m still working, but the last week or so has been a bit slack with the holidays.  I decided to give myself a break over Thanksgiving, and I did indulge a little here and there.  Now that it is behind me, I’m back in full force.

In preparation for the holiday though, I went to the gym Monday and Tuesday night.  Monday night I did my normal 45 minutes with my husband, but Tuesday night I came alone.  Without him and my son bugging me to go, I worked my butt off and did TWO FULL HOURS of non-stop cardio, working hard!  I did the bike on hills, elliptical on hills, cross ramp on cross training, cross ramp on gluteals, arc trainer on hill intervals, and back to the elliptical on hills.  It was great!  I burned over 1000 calories! 

What’s even better is, it didn’t kill me.  Sure, I was tired and ready to hit the shower after that.  But I wasn’t sore the next day, hadn’t overdone it.  I was ready for a repeat Wed. night before we headed out of town, but some unforeseen delays prevented it. 

I am so proud of all the progress I’ve made.  I only lost 1/2 a lb over the holiday week, but I’m ok with that.  I’m sure I’ll see more of a loss this week.  :)  And my earache is all gone, so I’m ready for Hydro again too!

Monday WonderWoman blogged that she didn’t want to go to the gym, but she fought the voices and did it.  It left me feeling a bit guilty ’cause I had let the voices win and skipped working out on Monday, tsk tsk.

So, Tuesday night when the voices came knocking, I thought of WW and her will to defeat them, and I picked my butt up and headed to the gym.  I did my 45 min last night, and I worked hard!  Yay!  Thanks for the inspiration!!

So now, it’s your turn to feel guilty when the voice of procrastination visits tonight.   Hehe… that’s what you get for reading my blog!

I’ll be working out again tonight - gotta take my son to Hydro.  Oh, how I want to join him if ever my ear shall heal.  But instead I’ll be upstairs on dry land tonight.

A favorite snack of mine is cucumbers and Italian dressing.  My doctor also said to eat lots of cucumbers because they are filling, and like 0 calories because you burn them off just digesting them.  She suggested mixing my own dressing, but I haven’t tried that yet.

So anyway, there I am face to face with the Italian dressings in the grocery store.  I avoid the regular Italian dressing (70 calories and 6 g fat - 0.5 saturated, 3 g carb), surely it can not be the best option.  I’m sticking with Kraft to weed out the tons of other options out there.  How hard can this be?

Option 1:  Kraft Fat Free Italian – 20 calories, 0 g fat, 4 g Carbs.  *Note to self:  Doctor mentioned to watch “fat free” because it usually just has extra carbs and ends up being worse for you. 

Option 2:  Kraft Light Done Right Italian — 40 calories, 3 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 3 g Carbs.  *Hmmm… 1 g less carbs, but more calories and fat, but only 0.5 saturated and no trans fat… hmmm…. how much difference is 1 g carb?  Is it better to go with 1 g less carbs, but 20 more calories and 3 more grams of fat including 0.5 g saturated??? 

Option 3:  Kraft Italian South Beach Diet Dressing — 60 calories, 4.5 g fat (0 saturated), 3 g carbs.  *Hmmm…. even more calories and fat, with 3 g carbs.  At least no saturated fats… so is it worth it to add the calories and unsaturated fats in place of the carbs???

I stood there pondering the meaning of life and Italian dressings for a moment… then checked the price and realized the South Beach one was twice the price.  So, I went with the Fat Free Option 1…. mostly because that is what I had bought last time.

Does any of this really matter?  Is one of these choices better than the other?  God help me if I were to consider other brands too. 

How do you make the call?  Do you have a hierarchy of nutrition data — always go lower calorie?  always go lower fat?  always go lower carb? 

Yep, I did it!!!!!!!!!!!  Over 50 lbs lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn’t believe the weigh-in I had this morning.  It showed a 6 lb loss in like 10 days!!!  Switching up the routine worked AMAZINGLY well. 

 Happy happy happy!!!!

My husband and son are slacking off, my sister has abandoned me as a gym buddy… lol.  I know I can’t let others get in the way of my progress, but it sure would be great to have a like-minded gym buddy.  My friend went with me last night, but she lives 1.5 hours away so this can’t be a very regular kind of thing.  I hate driving myself to/from the gym at night… ugh.  And I *still* can’t get back to Cardio because my ear isn’t cleared of the infection (beats head against the wall).

However, I still managed to do 45  minutes Monday, 1 hour Tuesday, 45 Thursday, and I’ll be back tonight and tomorrow.   I used to pat myself on the back for 45 min, but now it feels more like slacking off to do *only* 45 min.  I guess that’s a good thing.

I think a good loss on Saturday morning would help motivate me, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

*Caution:  You are entering a drama free zone.*  lol.

There is too much negativity in the world, so I’m going to close my eyes and make it all go away.  We are hardest on ourselves, but we’ve been working hard with the best of intentions… so let’s have a COMPLETELY POSITIVE love-fest for OURSELVES.   Wait, that sounds a little deviant… but you know what I mean.

Why I ROCK today…

 - I’m not over my earache, but it is better so I went to the gym last night.  I did 1 hr 40 min of continuous cardio and felt great - could’ve kept going.  HUGE HUGE HUGE improvements in my fitness level from where I was just 4 months ago!!!  My accomplishment:  15 min bike on hill training (setting Kilimanjaro), 10 min elliptical on hill intervals level 2, 20 min cross ramp with increasing levels, 15 min on bike hill training, 20 min Arc Trainer on hill intervals, 15 min cross ramp on gluteals, 5 min bike cool-down on level 4.   WOOT!

- I am also motivating my sister to go to the gym, so that I have a new workout buddy.  Yay!

- I’ve been making brown bag lunches for the whole family every single day.  I also make sure my son has breakfast - today I even made scrambled eggs for breakfast before school… something this working mom NEVER did before.

- I won a $50 gift certificate for my blogging and posting on another site.  Yay!

- I am *thisclose* to losing 50 lbs so far.

- I am not succombing to drama, just focusing on me and my plan.

- I have made GREAT diet buddies!!!!

- I’ve tried new things, tested my limits, and exceeded my goals. 

- I made it through Halloween without pigging out, but I did allow myself to sample a few pieces.

Ok, that’s enough bragging on me for today…. tell me about YOUR fabulous achievements!!!  Then, let’s go out and add to that list over the weekend.

I’m hanging in there.  The doc finally called me in a prescription for some drops yesterday, although the nurse let me know that she doesn’t like doing that without an office visit.  At least I have my precious drops now!  I think an antibiotic would help also, but I’ll have to go in if I want that.  I think it is starting to get better, but it is hard to tell.  My ear, neck, cheek, etc are still swollen and hurting… and tonight I have to go to the band thing in the cold.  And I can’t even close my jaw, so not only do I look silly, but it is really hard to eat.

But all of this is an improvement… so that’s good, I guess.

The ear ache pain continues and it’s getting worse.  I’ve got a call in to see if the doctor will refill my previous prescription without another office visit… the prescription alone is $50 and that’s for a tiny bottle of eardrops WITH my insurance paying half!  Good grief, how can ear drops be so expensive?  But right now, I’ll pay $500 for those stupid drops if it will make the pain stop.   Woe is me.

I love Hydro Training, but I don’t know if I can keep going through this.  I get a massive earache about once per month, and that is with me using Swim Ear.   I never got earaches as a kid, what changed?  I was on swim team and swam daily all summer, and we lived across the street from the pool so I was there from open to close nearly every single day.  Never an ear ache.  Now, I have horrible ears!

I’m at work but every little sound is burning.  I closed my door to get some peace, but I still have phones ringing.  UGH!  Tomorrow night I’m supposed to go hear my son’s BAND play at a football game - this is his first game since he’s just in 7th grade, and I *have* to go - but it is sounding a bit horrific at the moment. 

I feel great energy-wise, got a lot of sleep to rest up this weekend.  I would love to hit the gym, but I just gotta kick this earache first.   I couldn’t possibly listen to the blaring gym music (which is usually motivating) today.

Hurry up and call me back, doc!  I’ve been waiting since 9 am!!!

Well, I’m useless at the moment.  I have yet another horribly excruciating earache.  I’m so sick of this routine… what is wrong with my ears????

I’m miserable and don’t know when I’ll be back at Hydro.  Where is E.T.’s healing touch when you need him?