Post-Christmas...

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks here in my little corner of the world.

Was sick, sick, sick in the weeks leading up to Christmas. No gym. No eating plan. Just weeks of spotty eating and trying to feel better. Finally felt OK on Christmas Eve Day. Had a great holiday weekend with family, although very unfortunately overindulged on Christmas Day.

Really overindulged.

Kind of to the point that my stomach was very unhappy with me for a while.

It's not that I ate anything especially horrific. I wasn't like downing Twinkies  and Ho-hos and Big Macs (eeeuuuwwww). Instead,  it really just came down to quantity.

Too much.

Too much crudites and light dip. Too many little rice crackers with hummus. Too many multi-grain chips with salsa. Too many olives (although, can one really ever have too many olives???)

And, OK, I will also cop to the worst item of the day...too much cheese. (Yeah, it's true...I've never met a cheese that I didn't like.)

Too much of everything.

And why? Why this overindulgence? (Besides the obvious, "It's Christmas" answer.)

Because I didn't make a plan.

I didn't make a plan to just have one small plate of appetizers. I didn't make a plan to sit far away from the appetizers.

And because the appetizers were on the coffee table and I was plunked within arms reach of them and because I just grazed all afternoon. And grazed. And grazed. And grazed. Which when you've been eating normal small portions for many months is just not good for your tummy or lower GI system.

And then I had a full dinner on top of all of the grazing.

Sigh.

So that was Christmas.

Yesterday and today have been fine. No eating plan, but have eaten very responsibly. Feeling pretty good.

And tomorrow...finally back to the gym after a two-week break for illness and holiday.

So, there we are.

Hope y'all had a lovely Christmas weekend.

More soon.

Sick sick sick

Still pretty under the weather (along with just about everyone in my office and my poor husband...)

So not much news by way of weight loss: no gym this week, no real meal planning. Food has consisted of: soup, bananas, tangerines, protein bars, Chinese food here and there.

Hope you'll visit my other blog In the present moment for an adoption update.

Still kinda low

I'm fighting off something.

So, it's no wonder I was feeling low on Saturday. There's some little bug in my system trying to have its way, but I'm fighting it with lots of Vitamin C and the like. Go away, bug! You are not welcome in this body!!

On a more positive note...went to the gym yesterday. And before my monster workout I actually weighed myself. Yeah, after Bernice made me eat all of that dessert while we were traveling last week (oh, and she convinced me that crab bisque was a good idea, too! That Bernice is very persuasive when she wants to be...well, and when I let her...) I was completely and totally dreading getting on the scale. Was 100% convinced that I had added a few pounds back onto my frame.

But, guess what?

No weight gain!!

No weight gain!!

Guess all of that exercise while on vacation paid off!

Now it's back to taking weight off. I'm not ready by any means to be in maintenance mode. There are still a lot of sticks of butter left to melt away before I'm at a normal BMI.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go drown this stupid bug in more Vitamin C...

Low

I'm feeling kinda low.

Physically and mentally.

Physically because I haven't been back to the gym since we arrived home from FL, which is only two days. But still. That's two days of no exercise. I'm sure that this is contributing to being mentally a little low, too. I won't go into all of the reasons that I'm feeling this way, but suffice to say...

I really need to snap out of it.

Two plus days of feeling low is just plain getting old.

Usually by now on a Saturday I would have finished my Low-n-Loaded class and would be sitting on a recumbent bike burning up the miles, but I had insomnia last night. So, I didn't actually get out of bed until 8:30...right about the time my Low-n-Loaded friends were probably sweating up a storm and wishing fervently that instructor D would let them stop for a minute. (Yeah, like THAT would ever happen.)

But today my motivation seems to be elsewhere...maybe still in bed where I'd like to be.

Chris is off at spin class this morning. No doubt sweating like a mad man while burning up the miles and the calories.

So, Folks, it's time that I get my unmotivated butt off of this couch and off to the gym. Bernice, too. She has about a million crunches to do today to make up for missing the last two days.

Needless to say...Bernice is not happy.

Back from Florida

Traveling, restaurant food for 5 days, a wedding and a birthday celebration all in one weekend.

So, basically my eating was...ummmm...somewhat less than perfect.

There was a lot of dessert involved. Chocolate mousse, cheesecake, chocolates.

Yeah. Bernice was in heaven.

Once Bernice got a taste of that cheesecake she pushed for ALL of her favorites. There was an order of sweet potato fries in which she and I thoroughly indulged. And I mean THOROUGHLY. There wasn't a fry left on that plate! (Not actually so proud of that particular decision. Damn you, Bernice! But what's done is done and today is a do-over... )

However, for the first time EVER the husband and I brought exercise clothes with us and exercised all but one of the days we were on vacation. Hell, yesterday we were up at 6:30 a.m. (6:30!!!!!) on our last day of vacation so we could get in our exercise before an early breakfast with my folks before they hit the road.

Who woulda thunk it??? Us, up at 6:30 on vacation??? Holy crapballs. We have changed.

Bernice was pretty pissed about the whole thing. She was lobbying for sleeping and then cheesecake for breakfast.

So, hopefully the vacation workouts at least offset some of the less-than-stellar eating that happened this past week/weekend. I'm not exactly looking forward to getting on the scale this coming Monday, but hopefully the next 4 days of reasonable eating and my regular exercise routine will help prevent a significant gain.

Bernice is bumming in a big way about being back at home. She was really enjoying all of that fattening stuff.

Sorry, Bernice.

Off

I've been feeling a little "off" this week.

Tummy troubles over the weekend continued into the week - so much so that I took two days off from the gym. Monday and Tuesday I just went to work and kind of laid low at home.

Made it to the gym the last three days, although I must admit that my energy just hasn't been there at all. I sort of slogged through my workouts.

And yesterday...omigod. Horrible.

Anyone ever have that dream where you're desperately trying to run somewhere, but you find yourself running in slow motion and the faster you try to run the slower you actually go?

That was me.

Trying to workout yesterday felt something akin to exercising in a vat of molasses. My arms and legs just didn't want to do what I wanted them to do. Slow. Sluggish. Leaden. I managed 30 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes of heavy bag work, but it was brutal. Every minute felt like an hour and at the end it all I just wanted to go home and lay down. Not exactly the energizing workout I was hoping for!

This morning's workout was a little better...but not much.

Hope to have better news to report next time.

Hope y'all are having a good week.

Sloth, torpor and an upset tummy

Yesterday was a day filled with nothing but sloth and torpor.

I did not, as I had planned, hit the gym hard.  Quite the opposite - I didn't hit the gym AT ALL.

"And why?" you may ask.

Because I did not lay out my gym clothes the evening before. And because I sleep in until 9:30 - something that I have not done in a long while - leaving me feeling incredibly groggy. And instead of just heading right to the gym I collapse in a groggy heap on the couch saying to myself, "I just need to wake up a little bit and then I'll head to the gym."

So then I fool around on the computer for a while. And then I decide to play a few games of Boggle on my phone.

And then suddenly it's 10:30 and I'm ravenously hungry. So, off to the kitchen to make myself some oatmeal because I cannot possibly go to the gym when I am just starving. Oatmeal consumed it's back to the couch to "digest." And as I'm digesting, I'm reading my book. Then playing some more Boggle Then dozing a little bit. All the while saying "I just need to digest for a little while longer and then I'll  go to the gym."

And then suddenly it's 2:45 and I have not only digested my oatmeal, but I'm really hungry again!

You see where all of this is going don't you?

"I'll just have some lunch, digest for a while and then around 4:00 I'll head to the gym..."

Yeah...ummmm...not so much!


Yesterday was a day taken over by with what Buddhists describe as one of the "Five Hindrances"- sloth and torpor...Buddhist teacher Gil Fronsdal describes this hindrance to enlightenment:

Sloth and torpor are forces in the mind that drain vitality and limit effort. Sloth manifests as a physical absence of vitality. The body may feel heavy, lethargic, weary, or weak. It may be difficult to keep the body erect when meditating. Torpor is a mental lack of energy. The mind may be dull, cloudy, or weary. It easily drifts in thought. Being caught in sloth or torpor can resemble slogging through deep mud. When this hindrance is strong, there is not even enough mindfulness to know we’ve fallen in.

Yep, that was me yesterday. Lethargic with a definite absence of physical vitality and a dull cloudy mind! Oh, had I only not slept so late and just hopped into my gym clothes right away! My day could have been so much different!

But...no use whining about it now. What's done is done. So, there ya go.

Today - I wake up early with a bit of tummy discomfort. Thanksgiving Part 2 at my mother-in-law's was really tasty and fun. Ate leftovers. Played games. Hung out with my nieces who are 2 and 5 and very hilarious. But I did indulge in a little too much dessert once again. And today my body is letting me know in no uncertain terms that I just cannot ingest that much rich food anymore.

My body is rebelling against my old, bad behavior.

So, instead of heading right to the gym I come out here to my spot on the couch to write a blog post and allow my tummy to settle a bit because come Hell or high water...I AM hitting the gym HARD today.

No more sloth and torpor for me today.

No way.

**Addendum**


I just returned from the gym and a very sweaty 1.5 hours of upper body strength training and cardio. AND I even weighed myself...fully expecting the worst after two days of TG eating. However, I did not gain any weight this Thanksgiving!!!! Woohoo!!!