so.very.tired

I had a great night's sleep last night yet, today, I am totally tired. It must be something in the air because almost everyone I have talked to today is complaining of the same thing. This morning I really wanted to pull the covers up over my head and stay there all day. I didn't though, instead I pulled my butt out of bed and worked out. That's right, tired ass and all, I did my exercises.

My eating is still okay this week, not as good as it probably should be (we had ribs for dinner last night) but not horrible all the same. Anyway, that's really all that is happening with me today. I wish I could say that I'm going to get to bed early tonight but, we're planning on staying up to watch the big debate on PBS. It'll be way past our bedtime but we'll do it all the same. It's stupid, but it's true!

closer to normal

Boy feeling better is a nice thing. I'm feeling much better today than yesterday. It's a slow process but it's good. I slept like the dead last night and was a little stuffed up this morning but right now, I'm feeling okay. My energy levels are starting to return to close to normal and that's good too.

Eating has been good the past couple of days, my appetite is coming back and I'm sticking to my plan. I had a much better workout this morning than I did yesterday too.

I desperately need to get to the mall this weekend. I realized that this morning. Today was the first day in a good long time that has been cool enough to need shoes and socks (I've been living in sandals all summer). When I pulled out a pair of "fall" pants, I was reminded of how ratty some of my winter/fall stuff is. I mean, they're okay for what I'm doing today but I wouldn't want to have meet with any external people in these pants. I still have two pairs of nice dress pants and a pair of cords that I bought last year. That's really it though. I need at least 3 or 4 pairs of casual-to-dressy pants (not dressy dressy, but nice) and a few tops. I'm not going to go nuts or anything, these are basics that I need if I'm going to be able to work this winter. For a while this morning I was feeling a little blue because I had thought that I would definitely be into a smaller size by the time fall rolled around. I snapped myself out of it though, I have no reason to get upset because, for all I know, I might be into a smaller pants size when I get to the mall. I'll see on the weekend and I'll keep you posted!

I'm back

Actually, I never left I just haven't spent much time in front of the computer the past few days. I'm still here, I'm just not feeling particularly fabulous at the moment. On Saturday, I went to a get-together with my work-girlfriends. I was the DD and had to round up my posse early because I was feeling really tired and couldn't wait to get home. Now, I'm normally up with the birds on the weekend (before the birds through the week) but Sunday morning, I slept in until 11 a.m.!! When I finally did get up and we went out to do a few errands I felt terrible.

Yesterday, I couldn't drag my butt into the office at all and slept the best part of the day away. Last night I didn't sleep so well but I felt better this morning than I have in a couple of days so I'm at work. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow, right now, I'm not so hot.

Exercise-wise, on Saturday and Sunday, I did do some walking outside and then today, I actually worked out this morning. It wasn't the world's greatest workout but I did move and sweat and I'm pretty pleased about that.

I actually forgot to weigh-in on Saturday so I'm not sure where I'm at right now. Guess I'll find out this weekend. Hopefully it won't be too bad. *fingers crossed*

tgif

I'm just feeling lousy today. Yesterday's period of feeling better didn't last long. Unfortunately, again today, I had stuff happening at work that I couldn't miss so, here I am.

I'm tired and worn out and ready to be at home. The afternoon can't pass by quickly enough.

On an up note, I did get a good chunk of my errands done last night. I am supposed to be going to a barbecue tomorrow with a bunch of my girlfriends. Basically, tonight I can go home and crash and tomorrow, I can sleep in, run out to pick up the stuff I need to make my salad with and go. I'm sure that some extra sleep will do me a world of good.

up and at 'em

Today I'm actually feeling better. Not 100% fabulous but definitely better than I have this week. We went to bed pretty early last night and fell asleep rather quickly. Around 1 a.m. though, I woke up and felt a little warm. I didn't sleep all that well for the rest of the night but still felt okay when I got up.

I know I woke up at 3:15 a.m. when the loaf of bread I was baking finished. The smell woke me up before I heard the little buzzer go off. The baking thing is going well. I've been making 12 grain bread for lunches and it's delicious. It's so nice to know exactly what is going into your bread. I actually haven't purchased a loaf of bread in over a month now and I think I'll keep this up. I thought it might be hard to have it in the house but I haven't been tempted to eat anymore than the two thin slices I use to make my lunch with each day.

Because of the sleep thing, I was up earlier than normal so I had my workout done and over with really early. I kind of like it when this happens because it gives me some extra time to get other chores done in the morning. Depending on how much I can get done tonight and tomorrow morning, if I'm lucky, I may not have any chores/errands to do this weekend. I won't mind that one little bit if it works out that way!

crap

I have not yet given into whatever bug I've been fighting but it's been close a couple of times. This morning, I honestly thought I might have to stay home from work, it started last night actually.

Yesterday afternoon, I'd been in a meeting for a couple of hours. When I finally got back to my desk, my eyes started driving me nuts. They were burning and itching like I was super tired or something. By the time I got home from work, they were very sore and I had a full on body ache happening. We went to bed pretty early and I slept well, fortunately.

When I got up this morning I still felt pretty yucky but knew I couldn't stay home because I had a meeting this morning that I couldn't miss. Slowly, I did some exercise (it wasn't a great workout but it was something), had my breakfast, made my lunch and showered. In the shower I felt really weak and yucky. Even as I got dressed and ready for work, I was sure I'd be staying home. Somehow though, I dragged myself into the office. I got through my meeting and actually feel not terrible at the moment.

I know this isn't much of a report but it is what's happening with me today. An aside to all of this sickness stuff is that I've kept my eating 100% on plan this week. At least something good is coming out of this thing, whatever it is.

less freezing, more sweating

I wish that I could say that it was a serious sweat that resulted from a heavy duty workout but it wasn't. I'm running from really hot to really cold. I do feel a little better but the temperature swings are driving me crazy. I still think that I'm fighting a cold or something. Hopefully I'll kick it's ass and it will leave me alone, asap.

Fortunately, I slept very well last night so I felt semi-rested when I got up this morning. My workout was less than lackluster but considering that I'm borderline sick with something, doing something is better than nothing at all at this point.

Work has been insanely busy today. It's that kind of frantic busy that feels like you'll never get anything done again and all of a sudden you realize that you've just accomplished a huge amount of stuff and there is one less, huge pile, on your desk. As Martha would say, it's a good thing. I'm hopeful that the pace will settle down at some point. If the pace doesn't slow down, hopefully, at least, I'll soon be able to understand what it is exactly that I'm supposed to be doing!

freezing

I don't normally complain about the temperature but I think that my internal thermostat is messed up. Last night I barely slept at all. It was an off and on night last night. I felt really warm and yucky and kept waking up every hour or so.

Today so far, I'm freezing. I cannot keep my hands warm. It's chilly here today but not totally cold so I'm thinking that I must be coming down with that damned cold I have been fighting for a few weeks now. There are two folks from my immediate office home sick with it today. I think we keep passing the germs around and, because we're all so stressed out, we can't fight it off. It sucks. After my workout this morning, I felt terrible. Ordinarily I feel fantastic but today I felt like I'd been hit by a bus. It's the oddest thing.

The upside is that I don't have much of an appetite so my eating has been just fine so far today!

rest day?

Yeah, right! I actually thought that today would be a peaceful, restful day. I was wrong. It's okay though, I got a tonne of stuff done and I even squeezed in some time for walking outside, not bad huh??

Eating was okay today, not fabulous but okay. We had a delicious dinner at home tonight, grilled salmon covered in garlic and portabello mushrooms served over rice. Honestly, I could eat portabellos every single day of the week!!

The extra effort in my workouts seems to have paid off this week. I actually got on the scale again this morning, for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'm down 3 pounds and feel good about that. I'd feel better if it was virgin fat but I'm still working on losing those extra pounds I picked up in August when I fell off the wagon. I'm not too far away though and should be into virgin fat territory again by (hopefully) the end of this month.

So, so far my weekend's not been too bad, plan wise anyway. Hope you're all having good, on plan-ish weekends too!!

momentary lapse, with chocolate

Yesterday was incredibly stressful in the office. I mean, totally horrible. I had blocked out my calendar so I could clear some stuff off of my desk but that never happened. Try as I might, I didn't actually finish one task that I had started. Physically, the stress was making me feel horrible. Walking wasn't helping, fresh air didn't do any good. Nothing was working for me. Well, nothing until I remembered I had some chocolate in my desk. Good chocolate at that, the kind of Europe. I don't normally have anything like that in my desk but it had been given to me the other day as part of a thank you goodie bag I'd received from a colleague (it also had lovely teas and a pretty mug). I really shouldn't have but I opened the chocolate and it actually helped me. I felt calmer and was able to get a few things sorted out before I left. I still didn't actually finish anything I started but at least I felt better. I didn't even beat myself up over the chocolate. Something was happening in me yesterday that could only be treated chemically, with chocolate. Weird huh??

Today is less stressful but still no more productive. I did have another fabulous workout this morning and my eating has been great all day so, so far, so good. I plan to take the weekend in stride too, no sense freaking myself out about it. I'm just planning to take things as they come and remain as on plan as I can!

food for thought

Fit or fat? BMI comes under fire

The body mass index is widely used to decide who is overweight and in danger of health problems

At 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 146 pounds, you think you're an average-sized woman.

And as guys go, at 5 feet 11 inches tall and 185 pounds, you think your husband is in pretty good shape, too.

Well, we hate to burst your bubble but according to the standard international benchmark for weight — the BMI or body mass index — you're both overweight and at a higher risk of a host of health problems.

Don't believe it? Neither do a growing chorus of experts who say the BMI does more harm than good because it focuses on weight and height and not physical activity as a factor in good health.

In fact, the "epidemic of obesity" linked to the BMI measurement that is supposedly wreaking havoc on the health and well-being of North Americans of all ages, is nothing but a bunch of bogus "mumbo jumbo," says Paul Campos, author of The Obesity Myth and a law professor at the University of Colorado.

"(The body mass index) is an artifact of an eating-disordered culture with a fear (of) fatness," he told a University of Toronto forum on the Politics of Obesity. "It is not based on rigorous science ... (and it is) part of a culture that worships emaciation."

The BMI was adopted in the 1970s, ostensibly to more accurately reflect a range of desirable weights and to get away from the life insurance tables that used height, weight and body frame to set healthy weights.

It is based on a mathematical formula using weight and height to derive a specific number. People with BMIs from 19 to 24.9 are considered to be at healthy weights, those with numbers from 25 to 29.9 are ranked as overweight and those who hit 30 and up are labelled obese.

However, factors such as physical activity, smoking, lifestyle and genetics affect health much more than weight, Campos says. He says there is no real correlation between overweight body mass and health risk if fitness and socio-economic levels are considered.

For Mary, a 44-year-old worker in the health care field who did not want her real name used, the BMI is very confusing. The mother of three gets up at 7 a.m. each day and is on the go until she hits the pillow about 11. She walks a lot to stay in shape and eats healthy foods. She had a thyroid condition now under control and in general thinks she is fit and healthy. But her doctor says she must lose weight because of her BMI.

"I'd like to be maybe one or two dress sizes smaller," she says. "The Barbie or model type image in the media is what we think we should be. But for many women they can't get there."

Campos says most of the studies used to calculate the relationship between BMI and health risks show people rated as overweight have lower death rates than those who are underweight or obese. And he says a fit obese person can be healthier than a normal-weight couch potato.

Study after study show the keys to health are following an active lifestyle and not smoking, he says.

Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk, a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, agrees that, across the board, fitness levels and smoking are the most important factors in determining health.

The BMI is based on statistical population averages and should be used as a general indicator of health risk and, as such, is a useful tool, Katzmarzyk says.

However, the index is being used by doctors, dietitians and some educators to set weight goals for individuals, a practice that is dead wrong, says Margaret MacNeill, an expert in health and physical education.

The BMI rates the vast majority of Canadians as overweight, says MacNeill, director of the Centre for Girls' and Women's Health and Physical Activity Research at the University of Toronto.

"But this just means they are at a potential risk for a health problem in the future. They are not currently unhealthy. The BMI is a number (on a scale), not a fact. I don't think it is a good tool," she says.

It "tyrannizes" people, especially women, who are conditioned to strive for unrealistic and unhealthy weights, she says.

The BMI cannot factor in the vast variations in body makeup, Campos says. Some people have more muscle or more bone density, making the index misleading, he says. Katzmarzyk says weight around the abdomen indicates a much higher health risk than weight evenly distributed across the body.

To get an idea of what a BMI means, consider that actor Bruce Willis at 6 feet and 211 pounds has a BMI of 29. Tom Cruise, at 5 feet 7 inches and 201 pounds, has a BMI of 31. Sylvester Stallone, who is 5 feet 9 inches and weighs 228 pounds, has a BMI of 34 and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, at 6 feet 2 inches and 257 pounds, has a BMI of 33.

No one debates that being obese is bad for your health, Campos and Katzmarzyk say. The number of people with excess weight has been increasing and society must reverse this unhealthy trend, they say.

But the answer is not to target specific people who need to lose weight, MacNeill and Campos say. That's partly because studies also show that many people lose weight but most gain it back — a process that is unhealthier than being overweight in the first place, Campos says.

Heath problems caused by overweight will be fixed only by changes in society, Campos, MacNeill and Katzmarzyk say. We must all become more active and eat healthier food, they say.

Two studies published in the Journal Of The American Medical Association last week show how complex the issue can be. One studied heart health and weight and physical activity; the other looked at the role both play in adult-onset diabetes.

The findings were contradictory. The heart study found higher physical activity correlated with better heart health, and weight was not a big factor. The diabetes study found overweight correlated with increased rates of adult-onset diabetes and that increased physical activity had much less impact.

That could be because the studies did not measure subjects' fitness — for example, by putting them on a treadmill and checking their heart rates — but relied on self-reports.

Weight and height are easy to measure; physical activity is hard to assess, MacNeill says. Peter Donnelly, a professor at the faculty of physical education and health at U of T, agrees that self-reported levels of physical activity are usually off the mark. Such surveys often ignore the full range of a subject's activity.

For example, the heart health study had women with heart problems report their level of physical activity and those who reported being more active had less heart trouble.

However, Katzmarzyk says the women who reported more physical activity did so because they had better heart health. The women who reported being less active may have more serious heart conditions. Subjects in the diabetes study also reported their own activity levels.

Most people do not understand what the BMI means, experts say, or how to apply it to their own health.

The media have oversimplified how it works, MacNeill says, and there is a real need to educate the public.

So think of it this way. Suppose researchers measured the speed of cars travelling on a highway and correlated speed with the number of accidents.

They'd likely find that, statistically, driving too fast or too slowly correlates with more accidents. But they could not say driving at a specific speed caused any specific accident.

In the real world, road conditions, the type of car, its state of repair, the age and experience of the driver along with a host of other things would be a factor in causing an accident.

The debate over "fit versus fat" is raging in the medical and scientific community, according to an editorial in the Journal Of The American Medical Association last week published along with the two recent studies.

"Indisputable evidence links obesity to health problems," the editorial says.

But it goes on to say that obese people with at least moderate activity levels "have lower rates of heart disease and overall mortality than their normal-weight but unfit peers." They also have about half the death rate of unfit people with normal weights, it said.

The conclusion? Physicians, researchers, and policymakers need to spend less time debating the role of fitness and obesity in health and more time getting people active.

So get active and get off the scale.

good morning to you

I hope that the weather in your neck of the woods is as gorgeous as it is here. Last night after dinner, we had to go out and do a bunch of errands. As we were pulling out of the parking lot of a grocery store in the west end, we could see the most beautiful sunset I'd seen in a good long while. Unfortunately, it was setting over a huge pile of a dirt in the middle of a construction site but it was amazing nonetheless. The sun was a huge, bright pink ball and the colours in the clouds around it were so beautiful that they didn't seem real.

So, I have three days of perfectly on plan performance under my belt so far this week. My early morning workouts are continuing and they just keep getting better and better. Each day this week, I've pushed myself a little more and have been increasing the distance I can cover on my interval program on my recumbent bike. For a while now, I've been going through the motions with my workouts. I didn't see that at the time but I'm realizing it now. I figured that as long as I was doing something, that was fine. Truly, it is, I guess, but it's not great. I haven't really been challenging myself and while I feel good after exercise, I don't feel "great" about it. The past few days have felt "great" and that is making the eating thing easier.

Hopefully, all of these great/good things will result in a very favourable result when I weigh-in on Saturday morning. If it doesn't, I won't get upset. I won't get upset because right now, as I type this, I'm wearing a skirt that I hadn't pulled on since late last spring and I've noticed that it's definitely bigger on me now than it was last time I wore it. That feels just as good as a lower number on the scale to me!

good

So far, so good. Today, I feel good. I had a good night's sleep last night (finally). My eating is good. My workouts feel good. It's all good. Boring and routine and good.

Being right back on plan always feels this way. Way better than it does when I fall off the wagon, however briefly. Makes me wonder why I stray sometimes. Good isn't always easy is, I guess, the best answer I can come up with. Most things worth having aren't easy though so I guess that makes sense.

So, other than good stuff all around, there isn't much to report. I'm just enjoying the breeze which is blowing through my office and my nectarine yogurt is yummy. I feel a weird sort of peace today. It's strange, but I like it.

routine check

I'm still following my plan. I know it's only Tuesday and it's just midday but I feel good about it. So far so good, the routine is working.

I forgot to mention that I forgot to weigh-in over the weekend. Yeah, you heard right, actually forgot about the scale. As I mentioned before, I was totally off my weekend routine. I ordinarily, "officially" weigh-in on Saturdays and I realized yesterday that I hadn't done it. I have now decided to not weigh-in again until this coming Saturday. I don't think I lost at all last week but I don't think I gained either. My clothes are feeling much the same as they have for a couple of weeks. I'm sure that all is okay.

Speaking of clothes, the weather is starting to change a little here. I may actually have to start pulling out some of my fall/winter things sooner than I thought I would. The thought of this is a little depressing for a couple of reasons. The first, of course, would be the sadness that one always feels when summer is over. The second, is that I don't have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe this fall. I mean, I know that I'll need some new pants and a couple of tops for work, just to get me through, but it's not the same as knowing that everything in your closet is falling off you and forcing you to buy all new stuff. Maybe in the spring? A girl can hope, right?

For some reason, I do better with my program during the cooler months that I do when the weather is nice. It should be the opposite I know. Food is fresher in the summer, the weather is good so you can get outside and do stuff and yet, something about the darkness and the cold keeps me focused and motivated. It did in the past anyway, hopefully it'll do it again for me this winter.

happy monday

I think my hormones were making me crazy on the weekend. It's not PMS time or anything, not yet anyway, but still, I'm thinking that the reason I didn't deal very well with all of the turmoil around the house is down to something like that.

Anyway, I'm back at work today and the routine thing is going well. I had a nice workout this morning and felt very good afterwards, still feel good about it actually. My eating went okay over the weekend. We did do some snacking but it wasn't over the top and it was mostly healthier choices so I'm not beating myself up about it. It's a massive improvement over some recent weekends.

I feel confident that this will be a good week for me. I hope it's a good week for all of you too!!

nothing

Not that this has anything to do with a fitness blog but my laundry is almost done. I got some bread baked, I got one of the bed changed and the errands are all finished. Of course, the house still looks like a bomb hit it and that doesn't thrill me. Also, I had to bring work home with me this weekend and I haven't even looked at it. To be honest, it's a project that I had finished about a month ago. Just as I was in the middle of submitting it to my boss, they changed the what they wanted and haven't given us any concrete details about to complete it. Fun huh??

Suffice to say, the weekend's not been exactly relaxing and I'm not taking my previously scheduled days off tomorrow and Tuesday. Hopefully it'll pay off right now though and I'll be able to book some time off in October. Goodness knows I'll need it by then!!

thrown

My routine is out the fucking window today. It was thrown away at around 7:30 a.m., nice way to start the day huh??

Actually, I shouldn't complain but I will, a little bit, because being busy on Saturday is the only thing that keeps me on track. The LOG talked my hunny into taking today off. This is not a problem for me, he's been working Saturdays lately and I've missed him but, I was given no notice at all. This left all of the chores and errands I had carefully mapped out to get done on Saturday morning, undone. Had I known he wouldn't be working, I would have done a few things every evening through the week and we could have actually enjoyed the day. Instead, we ran around like headless chickens, at the busiest time of the day and I don't feel like I have accomplished anything. My laundry is only half finished and the house looks like a bomb hit it. Quite the switch from last Saturday when I had everything done by 2 p.m.

I think that the whole motivation was that LOG wanted to go out for breakfast. In many ways he's like a three year old. I've said that before, like a toddler with credit these old folks are. He wants exactly what he wants, exactly when he wants it and fuck you if you have other plans made. He's very nice about the whole thing too, which is extremely irritating, and that makes it difficult to say no to him. Don't get me wrong though, I'm getting better at saying no to some of his hair-brained schemes, today though, I wasn't up for the fight.

Breakfast was okay though, it was actually quite yummy and I ordered well, egg beaters, dry toast, grilled ham. No greasy home fries or buttery pancakes. I'm actually pretty pleased about that. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get everything else done and still take some time for myself. As is usually the case in these situations, the time for me will probably not happen but at least there will be clean clothes for everyone.

Will the fun never end??

finally friday

Honestly,I never thought that this week would end. It's been a struggle since Tuesday.

Today was a very active day exercise wise. In addition to my regular morning workout, we were moving offices (yes, again) and even though we had movers doing the bulk of it, there were still many many boxes to pack and move around, furniture to move and just generally lots of running around. I barely had a chance to gobble my lunch down in the middle of it all.

Eating was pretty good. We went out for Chinese tonight but the choices I made were pretty okay so I was able to keep within my allowable calorie range.

I don't have much planned for the weekend. Keeping busy all weekend keeps me on track. Hopefully I'll be able to find enough stuff to do around the house to keep on the straight and narrow. I hate that it's always a struggle with food all weekend, every weekend. Hopefully this weekend will be different.

boring but okay

I should probably only post when I have something to say. Of course, more often than not, I wouldn't post at all if I did that.

Today is going really well, yesterday was good too. Good workouts, good food. It's all good. It's also boring but that's the routine kicking in. I like the boredom of the routine because it keeps me on track.

Oh, one more thing, if the rain keeps up the way it's going, I'll be able to add swimming to my daily exercise routine. We're experiencing some pretty large scale flooding here in town as the edge of hurricane Frances says "hello" to our part of the world. Hope you're all high and dry!

satisfaction

So that bread I made on Monday, that I had with my lunch yesterday, it's terrific! I'm having it again today and it's really yummy. In addition to being tasty and having a really great texture, it's very easy to slice super thin and it's really fills me up. Not only that, the full feeling lasted all afternoon. Usually by 3 p.m. I'm starving for some my snack but that didn't happen yesterday. It's a very small loaf and it's almost gone so I think I'm going to throw another loaf into the machine tonight after dinner.

Things at work are a little more manageable today. Yesterday, almost all day, I had a huge knot in my shoulder from the stress of it all. Today, I still have as much work to do but I'm just slugging through it and trying not to get too stressed. My boss was away last week and is away this week and I had a huge list of stuff that I wanted to get done while she was away. I think that the list was a little too big though and I've resigned myself to the fact that I may not get through everything. I'll do what I can and make a plan of attack for the stuff I can't get through. I really need to stop focusing on what I haven't done and appreciate what I do get done.

Hmmm...that would be good advice to follow when it comes to my fitness / health program. Overall this week, I have done far more good things for my body than I have done bad. I exercised again this morning and my eating was very good both yesterday and so far today. These are both very good things and I need to re-adjust my attitude! If it works at the office, it'll work for me in other places too I'm sure.

happy tuesday

Try as I might, the lists aren't really working too well today. What is it about a long weekend that makes everything fall apart? I'm guessing it is the trying to cram five days of work into four days that causes the problem. I may just have to accept that I will never feel organized and capable and that I'll just have to fly by the seat of pants at work for the foreseeable future. Fun huh??

Whatever the pace, I am making myself take a lunch break today. I'm having a gorgeous sandwich made with home made 12 grain bread. It's delicious, if I do so say so myself. I never had any of the pumpernickle I made but I have heard that it's good too. This 12 grain is very nutty and (obviously) grainy. It's incredibly filling too.

This morning I had a great workout. It felt really good for some reason. I mean, it always feels good when I exercise but this morning felt really good. I like it when that happens!

back to school

To say that the students are back is understatement. They have returned, with a vengeance!! Just like in the movies. They are everywhere and they have brought lots of crap with them. After dinner tonight we took a ride through the ghetto aka the "student village" and it's a madhouse down there. Bodies everywhere, garbage all over the streets. It's basically a mess all around the university. In a couple of weeks it'll settle down to a more organized type of chaos but right now, it's pretty gross.

The weekend was good. It was actually a little boring but okay. My hunny had to work all weekend which was good (as far the money goes) but it made for a bit of a draggy weekend for me. I mean, on Saturday and yesterday I got a lot of stuff done around the house but, by today, I had done as much as I could (without kicking LOG out of the house, totally ripping the place apart and painting -- which, trust me, I would have SOooooo loved to do). I have two days scheduled off next week but I'm going to cancel them. Again, my hunny will be working and I cannot spend another long weekend in this house with LOG without killing him. We're getting along and all, don't get me wrong, I just can't do any big projects with him around because it disrupts his routine (and by routine I mean, schedule for watching the Game Show Network). I'm writing it here, for all to see, for all posterity, when I am 79, I give you all permission to kick my ass good and hard if I do nothing but sit in front of the television all day and watch programming that is an insult to humanity. Honestly, how he can watch it is beyond me. I suppose I that I could take the days and make an attempt at some of the yardwork I've been putting off all summer but I'd rather wait until I can wrangle some help from my better-half, especially for the heavier type of work.

Tomorrow, I'm back to work and back into that much loved routine I write about so often. I'm looking forward to it. Over the last couple of weeks, I allowed myself to get way too stressed out by the workload. On Friday afternoon, I figured out a good method for relaxing myself and coping with it better and it seems to have worked. I just stopped everything I was doing and made a list of everything I needed to do. By the time I left the office, I had 1/2 of the items crossed off the list and felt really ready for the break. Only 2 hours earlier I'd felt like I was going to have a break down or something. Never underestimate the power of the pen, huh?? So, new school year, new attitude, old routine: tomorrow is shaping up to be a good day for me. If you can spare a couple of fingers, could you keep 'em crossed for me?

resting up

Today was a lovely lazy day. I slept in a little bit (until almost 7 a.m.!!) and generally took it easy. I did some cleaning up of my machine, sorted out some things in our room, did a little shopping, baked a loaf of bread (thank goodness for bread machines on hot days).

Right before we started our program, we bought a bread machine. Kind of stupid, I know. For the longest time, we totally avoided bread on our program. It made things really difficult because we were both huge bread lovers. Once we decided to reintroduce bread into our diets, I made a concerted effort to seek out whole grain breads. During this time, I had shoved the bread machine to the back of the cupboard. Silly me huh? It's so hard to find really good, whole grain bread that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and doesn't have any bleached flour in it. I've found a solution to that problem: my bread machine. I've been baking bread again, and I'm experimenting with different kinds of grains and flours and it's been a lot of fun. It's also nice to know exactly what is in the bread we're eating as well as saving money. Now that we have a freezer I can freeze it again too. The best thing about it, I think, is how wonderful the house smells when it's baking!!

I took today off from exercising although I did some walking this afternoon. It's really hot and sticky here again so I didn't take a really long walk but it was nice to get out for a while. I also made a half-assed attempt to do some weeding this afternoon but, again due to the heat, I didn't last too long. Basically I was very lazy and stuck close to cool, shady places all day.

I expect that tomorrow will be lazy too. I have a few little things that I'd like to get done but it won't be the end of the world if I do or don't get to them. One thing I have done this weekend, so far, that I'm pretty happy about, is stick to my plan as far as my eating goes. Keeping busy has kept me on track and it feels good!!

happy weekend

Is it just me or does it seem completely unreal that it's labour day weekend already?

I'm feeling better today than I have in a few weeks. I think that getting rested up this weekend will do me a world of good. The past couple of weeks have been stressful for many reasons and I got into a really bad, negative funk. Over the last few days, I've been slowly pulling myself out of it. For the first weekend in a while, I'm not having any trouble keeping on program and that feels great.

So far this weekend, I've been keeping myself very very busy, and that helps a lot. This morning, I was up and out early, like before 8 a.m. I was home with all of my errands done by 10 a.m. When I got home, the LOG told me that he wanted to go out for lunch. We haven't done this in a long long time and we ended up at Wendy's. I had a BLT Chicken salad with the low fat honey mustard dressing and it was great. I'm not quite sure though, why they give you so much dressing, I only used about 1/3 of it.

My hunny is working all weekend so I've been getting stuff done around the house. I've got all of my laundry done now and just finished all of my ironing. It actually feels a little weird to have all of that stuff done so early on Saturday. I also got our bedroom dusted and polished. I'm not sure exactly what else I'll get up to this weekend (maybe cleaning the bathroom and sorting out the kitchen cupboards?) but I'm not too worried about drifting off into the snack lane. My focus and motivation is back and I feel really strong right now. Here's hoping that feeling stays with me all weekend!!

water, water everywhere

Again, last night, I barely slept a wink. I realized last night exactly how much water I'd been retaining over the past week or so. During the night, I was up about every 2 hours, running to the loo. It was the weirdest thing but today, the swelling in my feet is completely gone and my head doesn't look like a big swollen melon anymore. Weird huh?? I'm not too thrilled to be feeling so tired right now but given how much water I got rid of over I'll gladly take the fatigue over the sore feet feeling!!

Yesterday was another good day. The combo of improved eating and increased movement is helping my mood. I don't think that the weekend, even though it's a holiday, will be a problem. I fell so far off my routine over the past couple of weekends that I was pretty disgusted with myself. I don't want to feel all bloated and gross again. I don't think I'll have any trouble staying on plan this weekend. I'm going to get groceries tomorrow and we'll be eating at home all weekend and that should help, a lot.

good morning to you

Finally, I'm starting to feel like my "old" self again. I had a good night's sleep last night and we made a really nice meal at home too. I had a good ride on my bike this morning, as part of my workout. It had been a few days since I'd been able to ride and I really felt it. I missed riding it and my legs were poorer for it. They feel good now though, like I've really worked them. Walking is good too and I do a fair bit of it on a regular basis but it's not the same.

Yesterday, I noticed that, for the first time all summer (and it was quite cool yesterday), my feet and ankles were swollen. In the past, I lived with sore, swollen feet all summer long. It's not been a problem for me this year though, at all. That was a huge sign to me of what kind of impact the exercise has on me. It also drove home that we weren't eating that well. Obviously, I was retaining fluid and that's just too much salt. This morning there is a noticeable difference in my feet. I feel rested and invigorated and I'm looking forward to a good month of being on plan. September will be good for me. I like the routine we get back into at work once school starts up again. We all know too, that a boring routine makes for a better plan-sticking-to!

mid-week, mid-day

I'm feeling marginally better today than I did yesterday. Not having my bike to ride was bothering me a lot more than I realized. This morning before we left for work, my hunny took it all apart. I had a hunch that whatever was causing the grinding noise would be something minor. Turns out that it was just a belt. It had moved off track. We'll probably have to replace it but at least it's working for now. I can ride again tomorrow.

Eating was "okay" yesterday, today it's been good. I would have liked to have had more sleep than I got last night. At first I couldn't fall asleep and then, I couldn't stay asleep. It was weird and annoying. Tonight shouldn't be a problem though, I'm hoping anyway. We have a nice dinner at home planned for tonight and I'm going to bed early. Also, I cannot let myself watch any of the RNC on C-Span, it just causes me too much grief to hear sooooo many lies.