Saturday, November 30, 2013

Thanksgiving wins and losses

I meant to write this post last night, but the dogs were still so damn tired from Thanksgiving that they had climbed onto my lap and were fast asleep all evening.  I didn't have the heart to push them off.  Plus I saved money because I was able to shut the furnace off -- do you realize how much heat two 70 pound lap dogs can generate?

Anyway - Thanksgiving 2013 is in the books and there were some things I did well, other things I perhaps didn't navigate as well as I would have liked to.  So, a rundown to wrap up the holiday with a neat little bow:

Thanksgiving Successes:

  • I avoided the rolls.  This was hard!  I love me some fresh bread, that's for sure.  But everything else on the table was so delicious I (almost) didn't notice.  Also - rolls are my kryptonite and once I have the first, there's no end until the bread basket is empty.
  • Over half my plate was filled with turkey and broccoli.  A small portion of stuffing and a not-so-small-but-still-not-big helping of sweet potatoes (lovingly nestled in butter and marshmallows) completed my dinner. Still, most of what I ate was good for me.
  • No before or after dinner cocktails.
  • Only 3 glasses of wine with dinner.
  • No snacking throughout the rest of the day (aside from my standard quality testing when helping to carve the turkey... someone has to do it...).
  • I really slowed down while eating, and I was one of the last to finish. This took more focus than I thought it would.
Thanksgiving Gobbles:
  • I filled my plate with too much -- even too much good stuff, to be honest.  I should have left a good chunk of food on my plate, but that felt rude.  My family is such a Clean Plate Club kind of family, ya know?  In order to make sure I didn't eat too much bad stuff, I loaded up on turkey and broccoli, but I ended up with just too much food.  I ate to well past 80% full and felt about as stuffed as the turkey.  The small victory in this is that I usually eat much more and it's usually the scales don't tip in the favor of the healthy food.
  • A slice of pie for dessert ... and then another slice of pie at dinner (the second meal of the day).  They were both really good, though, and I enjoyed them immensely.
  • 3 glasses of wine with dinner!  I should have stopped at one or two.
So, a bit of a mixed bag, but overall, I was better this year than I have been in past years and so that's a win.  Like LE says, you don't have to be perfect, just better than you were yesterday.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Turkey Day

It's Thanksgiving -- one of my favorite holidays of the year.  All the good food of Christmas without the hassle of gifts and tinsel and the Little Drummer Boy played so often it feels like he's pounding on my head.

This is going to be a cheat day of sorts for me.  I will almost certainly not be doing my Lean Eating habit of only drinking non-calorie beverages -- I'm pretty sure there's an adult cocktail in my near future, and if not that, then the wine at dinner will be hard to pass up. And this is where the "ish" of my Primal(ish) experiment comes in.  I'm going to try and load up more on turkey and vegetables, avoid the bread, but I'm not going to forgo stuffing or potatoes or -- my favorite -- pumpkin pie.  It's a holiday, right?

Instead of focusing on what I should and shouldn't be eating, I'm going to concentrate on some of those habits from months long past:  eating slowly and quit shoveling the food in BEFORE I'm full.  Almost always, I'm the first one done eating at any holiday meal -- I always thought I just was more skilled and motivated than anyone else -- and this year I intend to be one of the last ones done eating.  That's my goal.  And no second helpings unless it's turkey or vegetables.

Because I can't seem to get enough of challenges, I've also joined in on a friend's challenge she has going with her family to run a mile a day from Thanksgiving until New Years.  One mile.  Somewhere between 9 and 15 minutes, depending on how fast I want to run/walk. I certainly can find time in my schedule for that, right?  Worst case, I can always brave the cold and walk/jog the dogs -- multitasking at its best!

I hope the holiday finds you happy and healthy and able to sit down after dinner without needed to unbutton your pants.


Monday, November 25, 2013

New Habit Monday: Drink Only Calorie-Free Beverages

Another easy(ish) habit for me -- don't drink anything that has calories in it.  With the exception of my protein shake in the morning (which I drink *because* of the calories), I don't really drink my calories these days.  Occasionally a Gatorade after a particularly difficult workout (which hasn't really happened in the past few months), but that's about it.

Of course, the next step after that is eliminating all soda pop.  Um, yea.  That's going to be tougher.  I ran out of my beloved Diet Pepsi yesterday and decided not to replenish the supply.  And then this morning I was especially tired and cranky after not getting a good night's sleep due to a headache, and by mid-morning I broke down and got a Diet Coke from the vending machine (that tells you how desperate I was ... I really don't like Diet Coke all that much).

What can I say -- it's not even the caffeine, really, it's that I just love the taste.  And it must be a dialed-back version of what a smoker feels like when they light up -- my entire body just goes, "Ahhhhhh....." and sighs with happiness with that first swallow.

That said, I'll be able to follow the letter of the habit without too much trouble, but I do want to start working on eliminating the diet pop from my day.  I'm also guilty of having a more-than-occasional glass of diet root beer in the evening.  It satisfies my sweet tooth without me chowing down on chocolate or something worse for me (not that I have those things in my house anymore...).

Like I've been talking about -- my new habit is really eating Primally(ish) and that's what I'm going to be working on.  I just bought another 6-pack of Diet Pepsi, so I'll consider doing away with it again once I've run out and see how long I last...

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Sunday Funday: Week 18 Review

Another phase done.  Phase 4 is in the books and tomorrow it's onto Phase 5, which is a longer 6 week phase.  I'm looking forward to starting fresh with a new set of workouts since I had so much forced time off during the last couple of weeks.

And Phase 5 will be my Primal(ish) phase.  My goal is to keep at it for the entire phase and then evaluate. The president of PN says that we should always be asking ourselves, "How's that workin' for ya?"  Is Primal(ish) helping me accomplish my goals?  Is it me just spinning my wheels?  I figure 6 weeks will be enough time to make a decision.

Because I know you're only here for the review...

Measurements:
Pretty much the same from last week.  Weight is up a tick, measurements are exactly the same and my photos look like they did a month ago.  This turned out to be kind of a throwaway month for me in terms of measurable progress. But - and I need to remember this - in the past this likely would have spiraled down to me giving up on nutrition until January, but this time I turned things around faster without quite as much damage.

Workouts:
I'm back to the program.  Still taking it easy with the amount of weight I'm slinging around because I'm scared of re-injuring my back, but otherwise going at it 100%.  And you know what?  It feels good to be back at it.  Today I hit the treadmill to get my interval workout done, and you know what else?  Running actually didn't totally suck.  It was almost good, even.  Makes me want to do it again.  Whodda thunk it.

Habits:
Creating a sleep ritual is pretty much old hat.  I still have to make sure I get to bed on time, but I feel like I've got this one under control.  New habit tomorrow -- I haven't yet peeked to see what it is, but I'm looking forward to moving on to something new.

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan MealsWeeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Reasons why

So, today was my first Primal(ish) day, and it didn't go too badly.  I think I need to eat more, though -- I'm pretty hungry still.

For lunch I made a spaghetti squash and ate that with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese, which was pretty damn good.  No one is going to mistake it for pasta, but with the sauce and cheese, it gets you in the neighborhood, for sure.

Imagine this with purple cabbage
Dinner was a very easy and very surprisingly good sausage and cabbage casserole. Found it in my Primal Blueprint cookbook and made it mostly because it was incredibly easy and figured it wouldn't be too expensive an experiment.  I bought a purple cabbage and some Cook's Test Kitchen recommended turkey kielbasa and pretty much all you do it cut up all of it, put in the cabbage in, the sausage on top, put a few tablespoons of water in and then drizzle with olive oil.  Stick in the oven.  DONE.  And really, really good.  I didn't anticipate liking this ... or at least I didn't anticipate liking it this much.  This recipe will become a staple, I think.

Yesterday I alluded to other reasons why I wanted to try going Primal(ish) -- in the past few months, my finger joints have been very sore.  I'm guessing arthritis -- it runs in the family -- but I started wondering if something in my diet (grains, specifically) were causing inflammation that might be exacerbating the condition.  And when my thumb joint joined the party with being swollen as well, I decided I needed to do something to try and help myself.  It might not work, but it can't hurt, ya know?

Also - I thrive when I'm on a plan.  It's why I'm good at counting calories -- that keeps me accountable and structured. Of course, I always get to a point where I don't want to count calories anymore... so I don't... and then I gain the weight back.  Primal(ish) will be different in the sense that if it works, then all I've done is changed what I eat and to keep it going, I just need to keep doing the same thing.  There's no inconvenience to it (like counting calories).

I'm curious how this will go.  I always feel so much better about myself when I'm following a plan (and sticking to the plan, of course).  I'm going to try and make sure I get carbs into my diet -- Lean Eating would call them "smart carbs" -- like sweet potatoes, beans, and even some grains like steel cut oats or quinoa.  I feel better when I have them in my diet, for sure.  Vegetables and lean meats just leave me hungry.

There you have it.  It'll be tough with the holidays coming up (and honestly, I won't be complaint on Thanksgiving, I can guarantee you that), but this will be good for me.  And not only in an "it builds character" kind of way.

Friday, November 22, 2013

I'm goin' all Flintstone on ya

I've decided I need a change.  As much as the LE program preaches moderation and such, I think it's time that I made a wholesale change in my diet:  I'm going to go Primal(ish).

In a nutshell (ha! that's a pun! you'll understand in a moment...), eating Primally means eating lean meats, lots of vegetables, good-for-you fats, some fruit, some dairy/cheese and pretty much no grains (pasta, rice, white potatoes, bread, etc).  It's not intentionally low-carb -- you do get carbs via fruit and some vegetables and sweet potatoes -- but does end up being protein-heavy.

I've toyed with the idea of going Primal since I started LE, since the tenets of both have a lot in common, but didn't want to give up my sweets and grains.  But recently I've been craving carbs -- and mostly processed carbs -- like there's no tomorrow and that needs to stop. And the only way that I know of to stop those cravings, is to stop eating sweets and grains cold turkey, at least for awhile.

One caveat:  while I'll be pretty strict, I likely won't be "to the letter" Primal.  Meaning, I'm not making all of my own salad dressing or giving up beans and corn and things like that.  Keeping it healthy, though, and staying away from the processed stuff as a main part of any meal.

So tomorrow it starts.  I have planned out a menu for the week which is something I've tried to wing on the fly, but never wrote down and so it was easy to ditch the plan (since it wasn't never really a fully-formed plan) and eat out or eat crap.  But now?  It's all on paper and ready to go. Set in stone, baby!  I've got my shopping list for tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to some of the food I'm going to be cooking.

I've got some other reasons for wanting to try Primal for awhile, but I'm too tired to go into that now.  Nighty-night!  More tomorrow...

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Reminders

Since the whole funeral/bad back/bad cold thing, I've been having trouble getting back on track.  I'm doing better, but still not as well as I want to.  So, the top 10 list of notes to myself:

  1. It's okay to be hungry, Laura.  Honest. It won't kill you. Only makes you a little cranky, and that just might make people at work stop talking to you. Bonus!
  2. Just because it's there, you don't have to eat it.  I'm talking about you, brought-into-the-office Panera bagels.
  3. SLOW DOWN.  It's not a race.  Well, at least not a race that you'll get a medal or prize money for winning.
  4. Vegetables.  They're your friend.
  5. And all those processed carbs you crave?  They aren't so much your friend.
  6. Stop buying junk food, bringing it into the house, then deciding that you need to eat it all RIGHT NOW to remove the temptation.  Duh.
  7. The dogs won't mind being walked even though it's getting chilly outside. Remember the cute hoodies you bought them?  Put them to use. Make all the neighbors jealous with how damn good-looking and stylish your pooches are and how dedicated a dog owner you are, with all the walking in the cold and such.
  8. When you're almost full, stop eating.  Easy, right?  There's no need to be a member of the Clean Plate Club -- contrary to common Mom-guilt wisdom, this does not help the starving children in Africa.
  9. Don't avoid the interval workouts just because they hurt because that's more of a John Mellancamp hurts so good. Which totally rocks, ya know?
  10. JFDI.  That's all.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Saboteur!

I recently came across a series of posts from the AskGeorgie.com website that really resonated with me.  She talked in detail about self-sabotage and how to combat it.

http://askgeorgie.com/sabotaging-thoughts-part-i-catch-them-in-the-act/
http://askgeorgie.com/sabotaging-thoughts-part-ii-understand-and-rehabilitate-them/
http://askgeorgie.com/sabotaging-thoughts-part-iii-understand-and-rehabilitate-them-cont/
http://askgeorgie.com/sabotaging-thoughts-part-iv-understand-and-rehabilitate-them-cont/
http://askgeorgie.com/sabotaging-thoughts-part-v-understand-and-rehabilitate-them-cont/
http://askgeorgie.com/sabotaging-thoughts-the-list/

Yes, it's 6 different posts.  Yes, it's a bit of reading.  But do you struggle with self-sabotage?  Yes?  Then trust me -- it's worth the time.

For me?  #11 (Limited Opportunity/Scarcity) and #13 (Quantity Saboteurs) are BY FAR my biggest enemies, though -- of course -- the others all creep in from time to time. I constantly have to fight my brain when it thinks "I MIGHT NEVER GET THIS AGAIN. MUST. EAT. NOW." and "I MUST FINISH ALL THE ICE CREAM SO IT DOESN'T TEMPT ME EVER AGAIN!!"  Logical fallacies, both of them, but I keep on believing myself when the voices in my head say things like that.

(see?  now you have to go read to know what I'm talking about)

I have to spend a little time thinking on this and doing the homework and then I'll report back, okay?  You do the same.  I really do think it's worth the effort.  Every little bit of understanding you can gain about yourself is valuable.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Sunday Funday: Week 17 Review

Nothing like a little excitement to spice up an otherwise boring Sunday -- severe weather moved through the area and the tornado sirens sent me and the dogs down to the basement. Belle hides in the closet whenever there are storms in the area, and I practically had to carry her downstairs because she was so reluctant to leave her hideaway. 

There was a confirmed tornado touchdown in the town just adjacent to mine, but we came through unscathed, thankfully.  Thoughts and prayers out to those who were affected by the bad weather.

It's been a mostly lazy week for me -- took a few days off and was just a little bit productive (enough so that I didn't feel guilty for being a sloth the rest of the time).

And the weekly round-up:

Measurements:
Well, through no fault of my own, I dropped almost all of the weight that I put on last week.  Measurements also dropped back down again.  It's frustrating to have lost time, but I'm pleased with the recovery, especially since I didn't always turn things around this quickly in the past.  Next week is the end of phase 4, which means photos will have to be taken, so that's motivation to be extra good this week.

Workouts:
FINALLY working out again!  And feeling pretty good.  I'm a walking collection of sore muscles, but that's sometimes the best feeling in the world, ya know?  I've been kind of babying my back (and - I think - for good reason), but I'm as healthy as can be in terms of my cold and so that won't be holding me back.

Habits:
This week was all about the best thing on earth -- SLEEP.  I love sleep.  I would marry it if I could.  Because this is a habit I tackled a few years ago, I haven't had to work too hard at it.  About the only thing that I ought to try is not turning on the TV to fall asleep.  I use it for white noise more than anything (it certainly doesn't keep me up), but I wonder if the light it throws off makes that sleep less than restful.

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals
Weeks 15-16: Log all food
Week 17:  Create a sleep ritual

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A little time off

My life is like a Go-Go's song (which is an 80's all-girl band, for those too young to understand the reference) ... "Vacation, all I ever want is... vacation, got to get away..."

I'm taking a few days off work, just because.  My roommate is off on her own vacation, and so I'm doing one of those badly-named "staycations".  Mostly I'm spending my time doing a whole lot of nothing (except spinning through the deluge of shows on my DVR), which has been extraordinarily nice.  Tomorrow I might be productive.  Or not.

Got a workout in this morning -- did the LE workout that was assigned, though only the minimum number of sets and fairly easy weights.  Felt good to sweat again, though my back isn't completely happy with what I did (I'm telling it that it's fine, though).

Belle and Clarke don't have sleep issues
But the best part about the time off?  The ability to sleep in and not wake up to an alarm clock at some ungodly early hour of the morning.  Oh, and I can stay up past 9pm, even! I'm living the life, I'm tellin' ya.  And without the alarm blaring, I'll easily sleep 9-10 hours unless the dogs have other ideas (Clarke is lazy -- he'll let me sleep -- but Belle is an early riser like I usually am).

Makes me wonder what life would be like if I always got to sleep without a schedule. Would I eventually settle in at a nice, 8 hours of sleep a night?  Or more?  It'd be an interesting experiment, but one that will probably have to wait until retirement. Or wait until my employer decides that 6 weeks of vacation time (instead of the max of 3) is deserved so I can take a month off.  Or maybe I could go into academics so I could take a sabbatical?  ("Thanks for hiring me!  I'm going to take the semester off for my sabbatical...")


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Teaching myself a lesson

Yesterday I took a hop into the way back machine and brought you a post that I wrote over 3 years ago.  You'd think that I would have learned those lessons by now, wouldn't you?

Of course, you'd be wrong if you thought this.  I've always owned up to being a few threads short of a full sweater.

So, last night I got to bed late.  Why?  Because.  Yes, that's my whole reason.  I was too lazy to haul myself out of my comfy chair to go to bed.  Makes perfect sense.

This morning, between the scant 6.5 hours of sleep and the cold that keeps on lingering, I woke up so tired it felt like I had only slept for a few minutes before my alarm went off. I stumbled around getting myself ready for work and basically sleep-drove myself to the office (that's why they have guardrails -- they keep you on the road just like the bumpers they use for little kids when they go bowling).

And all morning -- from the moment I got up -- I was hungry.  Even after eating what is usually a satisfying breakfast, I was still hungry.  Hungry, hungry, HUNGRY. The more I nodded off, the more I wanted to eat.  And you know what? When I'm tired like that, I have very little desire to make decisions that benefit me.  It's like having to be coherent and productive when I'm mostly asleep takes up all my energy, leaving nothing to toss towards eating healthy food or having the ability to wait more than 45 minutes between meals.

I'm tellin' ya, people -- sleep.  It's the answer to so many things.  It really is so much easier to stay on plan when I've gotten a good night's sleep.  It's as simple as that.  And like so many other things in my Lean Eating journey, it's a lesson that I keep teaching myself, over and over and over.  One day it'll stick, I'm sure.

Monday, November 11, 2013

New Habit Monday: Create and Use a Sleep Ritual

Monday!  Again!  How does this keep happening?  The new habit this week is all about getting your zzzz's -- or, at least, doing everything you can to facilitate getting the zzzz's. And, about 3 years ago, I had this epiphany that getting enough sleep was pretty much the cure all.  In fact, I wrote a blog post about it (on a long-stale blog), which I'm going to steal and reprint here (because why reinvent the wheel, ya know?).  So, without further ado, my September 2010 take on sleep:



I'll let you in on a secret: I've figured out the answer to all of life's problems.
Get enough sleep. And not just on the weekends, or a good night of it here and there, but consistently, almost every night, get enough sleep.

I bet you expected something funnier, eh?

You might be one of the Sleep Blessed: one of those chosen few who feel really good after just 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night. That’s all you need to get your batteries recharged, recover from the previous day of stress or workouts and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to hop out of bed and face the day.

Me? I’m not so blessed. I’ve mentioned it before – it takes 8-10 hours of sleep a night to transform me into someone you’d want to be around. I can get by on 7 a night for a while, but it wears on me and makes me a touch cranky. And 6 hours a night (which is about what I had been averaging)? Really – take my word for it – don’t come near me. Especially if you’re one of those perky-with-5-hours-a-night type people. I just might accidentally run over you with my car. Twice.

For so long — years, really — I’ve been chronically sleep-deprived. It’s one of those things that I joked about but knew on some level that it was reality. But I never fully realized how profoundly this impacted me every single day. When I talked about always being tired, that was the god’s honest truth: I could sleep anywhere. Given an opportunity to nap? Minutes and I was out cold. And a nap wasn’t usually 20 minutes — it was 1-2 hours.

Fitting training into this equation has always been difficult for me — an epic struggle between hitting the street and hitting the couch. And? The couch usually won that battle, at least more often than not.

And then about 6 weeks ago after having weeks of sleep-related issues, I started going to bed at 8pm. Yes – the sun was still shining and I was trying to fall asleep – but the result? I now get a luxurious 8 hours of sleep a night during the week. And then on the weekends? In bed early (sometimes as early as 8-9pm) and up early, but with no alarm and usually I’ll manage 9-10 hours of deep, refreshing sleep. Now that’s livin’ right!

You know what happened? After about a week of getting enough zzz’s, I turned into a sleep evangelist (or for the more secular, a late-night Sleep Is Awesome!! infomercial in my best Billy Mays voice) — I felt so incredibly good and couldn’t stop talking about how such a basic thing as sleep could make everything all rainbows and sunshine and butterflies (perhaps I went a touch overboard…). I couldn’t wait to tell everyone that I knew how damn easy it was to feel like you could conquer anything that life had to throw at you (fine print: I have no kids or husband or social life to get in the way of getting enough sleep, so “easy” might be somewhat subjective, and, of course, your mileage may vary).

Truthfully, I haven’t felt this over-the-top awesome in years. YEARS. Literally. It’s not like my problems have gone anywhere, but my ability to deal with them? So much better than before. Now that I spend my days more awake (without the aid of huge caffeine boosts), my thinking is clearer, I have more energy, and I’m ready to grab life by the tail and shake it around a little, just for grins.

It amazes me that it took me so damn long to put this together. I mean, sure, I’m no rocket scientist, but you’d think that falling asleep during, well, everything, would have been a clue. Or perhaps the fact that I could ingest barrels of caffeine and not have it even make a dent in my nonstop yawning. Perhaps I was too tired to make the connection.

I know, I know – I sound a little insane, don’t I? Again – I just can’t seem to find the words to convey how good things are now. I feel like I’ve spent the past 4+ years walking around in a fog, rarely feeling anything more than just okay, instead of regularly feeling good. My friends and family have noticed my improved mood and positive attitude. My boss even noticed that I didn’t look nearly as worn out as I usually do (he’s one of the good guys, but occasionally manages to put his foot in his mouth).

And while going to bed before the good TV shows even start might make me a bit of a loser, now that I know this secret, I don’t think I can go back. I’m hooked on feeling awake and alive and energetic and – basically – awesome all the time. Who needs a social life, right?


See, I'm like a Lean Eating seer or something, aren't I? It's like I wrote that post 3 years ago just waiting for this moment to recycle it. I'm nothing if not environmentally friendly.

Anyway - my sleep ritual has developed over the years, and now I regularly head to the bedroom early and get ready for bed, then foam roll and stretch, write in my journal, cuddle with the dogs and then 10 minutes later I'm asleep. And I get close to 7-8 hours a night fairly consistently (and feel like crap when I don't). The ritual helps; it gives me time to slow down and relax before climbing into bed, so that when I do I'm ready to close my eyes.

It makes a difference, it really does. Give it a try if you don't already.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sunday Funday: Week 16 Review

I'm doing my best to forget about this week and prepare for next week so I do better.  I made some sausage and egg muffins, steel cut oats, prepped vegetables and roasted a chicken -- that should give me good options instead of eating out every meal.

Health-wise, I'm doing okay.  My back is feeling much better -- I'm ready to go back to light training.  However, my snot-filled head has other ideas at the moment -- breathing isn't as easy as it ought to be.  But I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll get back at it, at least half speed.  Just something, ya know?

I'm also going to get back to posting everyday.  Once I miss one day, it's an easy backslide for me, and writing things out here (even though it's not always the most scintillating reading around) makes me more accountable and forces me to think more than I otherwise might.

And while I'd rather not, the week in review:

Measurements:
While I'm trying to forget this past week, the scale has no such discretion.  I've said it before: it's amazing to me that at my best I can drop a pound or so a week, but at my worst (and really, this wasn't my worst), I put on 4 pounds in a week.  How is that even fair?  Hopefully it'll come back off as quickly as it was put on.

Workouts:
Nada. Zilch. Nothing. First part of the week my back made training an unwise choice, and then the bad cold (sinus infection?) got the best of me.  Can't wait to get back at it, though.

Habits:
Writing everything down -- like everything else this week -- went all to hell.  I simply didn't do it.  Well, I did it after the fact, but not the same day and I'm pretty sure it's not altogether accurate because of that.  I may continue to do this for another week to actually get two weeks of this one.

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals

Weeks 15-16: Log all food 

Friday, November 8, 2013

What a week

It's been quite the week:  wake and funeral for my grandma, muscle-spasming-in-my-back issues, things breaking at work issues and yesterday I managed to catch the bad cold that's been going around (and just as my back was feeling good enough to try working out again!).  You know, because everything else wasn't enough.

Nutritionally, this has been a most awful week.  I pretty much ate all sorts of crap because it was convenient and easy and I wasn't feeling up to taking care of myself.  In return, I enjoyed some junk food but felt kind of nasty afterwards.  I don't like feeling like that.

I need a reset.  I need to eat healthy.  Even though I'm not feeling well, I need to spend this weekend doing food prep so that I have healthy options right in front of me.

Just wanted to update everyone -- I know it's been awhile since I posted here.  I'm around, just sniffling, coughing and miserably whining about not feeling well.  It's not pretty.


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Sunday not-so-funday: Week 15 review

Just a short post today because I'm doing it on my tablet instead of my computer. It's been a rough week ... my grandma passed away on Friday and on that same day I really messed up my back while working out.

As far as my grandma goes, she's finally in peace. This is what she'd wanted for a long time now and so while it's sad and we will miss her, there's a sense of relief knowing that she's where she wanted to be.

And as far as my back goes, it's not good. Hurt it Friday afternoon and Friday night I could barely stay upright because it kept spasming. It's gotten slightly better but is still very sketchy. Every move is done with the utmost care still, though at least the spasms have decreased quite a bit. Of course with a wake and funeral the next two days, it'll be a lot of on-my-feet time that probably isn't going to help.

Measurements:  good week for me even with everything going on.  The inches keep coming off ... noticeable when I went shopping this morning for dress pants for the wake -- I'm down a size.

Workouts:  good until my back decided to stage a mutiny. I imagine I'm at least a week out from doing any kind of meaningful training.

Habits:  finally decided on just writing everything down in a Google doc along with how I felt before and after the meal. It's getting the job done without making me too crazy.

So my focus in the coming week? Nutrition, of course, since that's the one thing I can a still do.  It'll be a challenge with everything going on, but I need to do it.