day 57 - week nine

Back to the grind. The weekend flew by and I did my very best to take it easy. On Saturday, I was feeling better so I got outside for some walking and shovelling (yes it snowed again). I puttered very slowly at my chores and managed to get the bare essentials looked after. I'm still feeling a little weak and I'm chilled to the bone but it's a 100% improvement over last week.

This morning I got back into my normal exercise routine and it felt very good. This week I should show some better results than I did last week. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't avoid whatever the sickness was that was floating around.

Once again, it's Monday so here is my latest weekly wrap-up:
summary - week 8

• I was able to break 7 miles again, each day that I rode. Because I got some weird bug in the middle of the week, I missed two days though
  
• As I mentioned the other day, I hit 200 miles on my recumbent bike so far this year
  
• I took my vitamins 7 out of 7 days this week
  
• met daily calorie intake goal 6 out of 7 days
  
• over snacked a bit on the weekend but kept snacking to healthier options (baked not fried!)
  
• met daily water intake goal 7 out of 7 days
  
• intentionally exercised 4 out of 7 days
  
• I maintained this week so I'm holding steady at 16 pounds lost since my restart on January 3

day 54 - i wanna be sedated

Today is going marginally better than yesterday. Fortunately, whatever is going on is not affecting my sleep which is good. I slept like the dead last night. I'm still feeling weak, achey and generally yucky but I'm at work again today. Today is month-end and I had a lot of stuff that I wanted to get cleared off of my desk so, here I am.

Because I've been off-kilter for a couple of days, there's not much to report. Again this morning I didn't exercise. I may or may not try to make it up over the weekend. Most likely, I'm going to take it very easy and try to feel better. My hunny is coming down with whatever this is/was now so I think that the two of us may just hunker down and hibernate all weekend.

day 53 - I can't believe I'm at work

The past couple of days have been just brutal. Whatever bug I picked up, combined with getting my period, has wiped me right out. Last night, my hunny wanted to out for dinner so we did. By the time we got to the restaurant I was feeling a bit better. By the time we were thinking about leaving I felt like I'd been hit by a truck again. All night I felt terrible, I had very bad cramps but they were way more than normal "hey it's that time of the month" cramps. I can't tell you how many ibuprofen I took yesterday. I woke up in the middle of the night, in pain, and had to take more drugs. I seriously did not want to come into work but I had to (my mum and dad were dropping off some plants from her greenhouse for the office and we'd been trying to arrange this for 2 months). I feel like I'm feverish but fortunately, I don't have any meetings this afternoon so I can just hide out in my desk.

My eating has been very little today but I am eating. Exercise did not happen. When I finally dragged my ass out of bed, I pulled my workout gear on and went downstairs but couldn't do it. I stared at the bike, at my weights and other stuff and could not do anything, I felt that weak. Sometimes, I feel crummy and know that if I do some exercise, I will feel better, there are other times when I know if I do, I won't. This was one of those other times.

Right now, I'm hanging in there and am counting the minutes until 4:30 rolls around.

day 52 - icky

I've felt like a wet dishrag all day today. Last night, after dinner, I was sick to my stomach, off and on for about an hour. After that ended, my period arrived. I literally crawled into bed and didn't move until the alarm went off at 4:21 a.m. Getting up and moving around was much easier this morning than it had been last evening and eventually I got on my bike and rode. I felt like I was going slow but I hit 7.41 miles today. After the ride, I actually felt like a human being again and decided to go into work. I'm still feeling really weak and sore from being sick. I'm not moving too quickly today but I'm here getting stuff done so that's something.

There isn't much to report other than that (and that's not really exciting, I know). One note on food, bringing extra stuff to snack on is making a big difference at work this week. So far I've been able to successfully avoid tempting treats. Why in the world there is so much chocolate floating around this building is beyond me.

day 51 - 200 miles

This week, I'm trying to eat more. I think that I got seduced by chocolate brownies and easter eggs last week because I hadn't brought enough healthy food with me to work. I've brought extra fruit a couple of rice cakes with me today. If I have tasty, healthier food with me, I shouldn't get distracted by the stuff I want to only have once in a while. Personally, I don't think that there is anything wrong with having a brownie or a piece of chocolate now and then. Everyday is a problem though, for me anyway.

Today I broke 200 miles. Since January 3 I have peddled more than 200 miles. I said it twice (a la Fred Elliott) because I surprises me. Pleasantly mind you, but still. That's a lot of miles. It makes me realize that the goal I set, of 500 miles by my birthday in mid-May, is achievable. I was having my doubts for a while. I realized that there isn't any goal that I can't reach; I just have to want to reach it. Right now, I want to reach it. I want to beat it actually. We'll see what happens.

day 50 - week eight

50 days into my restart? How did that happen??

Today was a day off from work. Because my hunny was working, I got up at my usual time (4:30 a.m.), saw him off and did my regular workout. It wasn't until after I had exercised that I looked outside and saw exactly how much snow had accumulated over night. We had almost a foot of the white stuff in our driveway. I bundled up and went outside and shoveled, 2 workouts (basically), one right after the other. I expected that the shovelling would kill me but it didn't. There was a lot of snow but it wasn't too heavy. I felt really terrific afterwards actually.

As I had kept to my exercise routine, I found it not too bad to keep to my eating schedule as well. For the past three days I have kept pretty busy, catching up with chores and small projects around the house. Overall, a couple of little treats aside, the weekend was not bad. Not bad at all. I even had a not terrible weigh-in on Saturday. So far this week is shaping up very nicely. I hope yours is off to a good start too!!

Once again, it's Monday so here is my latest weekly wrap-up:
summary - week 7

• I was able to break 7 miles on all five days I rode last week. My total for the week was over 36 miles and this week, I will pass the 200 mile marker for the year to date
  
• I took my vitamins 6 out of 7 days this week (yesterday I totally forgot!)
  
• met daily calorie intake goal 5 out of 7 days
  
• either more chocolate than I should have 3 days out of 7 last week, I blame myself for giving in to stress and PMS with the evil chocolate
  
• met daily water intake goal 7 out of 7 days
  
• intentionally exercised 6 out of 7 days
  
• I am down one pound this week. This puts me at 16 pounds lost since my restart on January 3

day 47 - tgif, seriously

Has everyone had an incredibly long week or was it just me?? Was? Who am I fooling, it's still going on. My boss came in this morning and told me to leave early this afternoon (at 3 instead of 4:30) if I wanted to, to make up for some of the crap this week. I was planning to take her up on it but now, I don't think I will. After 2 months of not having filing cabinets (since December 13!!!) our overdue cabinets arrived, like 10 minutes ago, so I think I'll just suck it up and stay and try to get the boxes of files I've been working out of unpacked. Fun huh??

At least it's a long weekend here. Yay for working at a university. Because it's a government holiday on Monday, and it's reading week, we get Monday off. The nice thing about it is that not many folks have it so I can go shopping or whatever without having to deal with mobs of people.

This morning I had a terrific, albeit difficult, ride on my bike. I also seem to do better on the mornings when I am really not interested in doing it. This morning I hit 7.52 miles and I kicked my own ass in a big way. Or I kicked my big ass in a way. Either way, my ass and my legs were sore afterwards, in that really good "hey I exercised" way.

Sadly, I ate some more of those damned-able tiny easter eggs again this morning. Brownie yesterday, little foil eggs today. Not good. Other than those little blips though, everything has been much better this week than it was last week. There might be some white-knuckling involved this weekend but I really don't want to have a repeat of last week, no matter how crappy and pms-y I feel right now. I will not allow myself to wallow in chocolate!!

Mark.my.words.

570 at work
probably 5 times that at home

Meme - Music Carousel

I saw this on Denise's page. Normally I don't do meme's here (but I'm crazy for 'em over on my other blog). All the same, I'm gonna do it here:

Total amount of music files on your computer: I have 570 music files on my computer at work. At home, I probably have 4 or 5 times that amount (guessing).

The last CD you bought was: We R in Need of a Musical Revolution (EP) by Esthero. I got it just this week and am really enjoying it. It's been a long time since Breath From Another.

What is the song you last listened to before reading this message: Come on, Teacher by Joel Plaskett Emergency.

Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:

These are five that I listen to at work a lot -

Pieholden Suite by Wilco - I've always like this song, a lot. Summerteeth came out the summer I met my hunny and that and Utopia Parkway were my soundtrack that year. This song reminds me of how I felt way back when we were "young and in love."

Bad by Kirsty MacColl - I listen to Kirsty all the time because I love her so much and miss her terribly. This is just a great song about a rebel woman.

Across the Universe by The Beatles - Really though, it's a John song and it's beautifl.

Carry the Zero by Built to Spill - We had our restaurant the year that "keep it like a secret" came out and I used to play the CD a lot in the dining room. This is one of my favourites from it.

Wu Tang Clan by The French - it's kind of a depressing song I know but I love the visual of the smelly girl going home to dance around her flat to her Wu Tang Clan records... "with the curtains drawn and the stereo on, she's swings her hips and dances to the Wu Tang Clan and the sadness ebbs away now...shuts her eyes and holds her head up high, it's better when there's no one around ...and she's feeling something real now..."

Okay, time to let others in on the fun! I'm hoping these people will jump on the music carousel:

Shannin - because I have no idea what sort of music you like!

Marla - because everything Marla writes is wonderful and she frequently makes me laugh.

And, although he'll probably never see this because he's too busy to visit anymore, Meta - because he's such the man of mystery and I'm dying to find out what sort of music he listens to. (Just teasing you about the "too busy to visit" thing, Dude!)

day 46 - too much temptation

Right outside of my office are a pan of brownies. One of my colleagues, the sweetest girl in the world I should add, baked them from a Ghirardelli Premium Double Chocolate Brownie Mix. I swear, they are the best things I have smelled in a while. She made them to thank us all for working on the cookie project. I have to admit, I really really wanted one and I actually had one. It tasted better than it smelled. Holy crap. I could never have them in my house, never. I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to avoid them for the rest of the day. Hopefully the other brownies won't think that I'm rude!

Other than the brownie though, things are going well. I'm still pushing myself every day to break 7 miles on the bike. I'm doing it every day but it's not easy or anything. It is going to take me a little longer than I thought to build up to 8 miles. I'll get there though, no doubt. When I touch my legs, I can feel a difference (like I can feel some muscle through the fat) so the extra effort is paying off, slowly but surely.

day 45 - baby steps

I don't have much to report today. This is good, I suppose. The week has been flying by but things are starting to settle down a bit. I actually had a little time to get myself organized this morning. What a treat.

My eating is back under control again. I haven't had any chocolate at all this week. That shouldn't be a big deal but I feel good about it, it is PMS week after all.

The other day, I read an article (see below) about how Morgan Spurlock was taking his message of educating kids about good nutrition, into schools all over the US. I think that this is an absolutely fabulous project. It made me wonder though, last year Dr Phil launched a line of weight-loss vitamin supplements and, of course, his weight-loss books. The profits from these products were supposed to benefit some foundation he set up to combat childhood obesity. I can see clearly what the Super Size Me folks are doing to help kids, I wonder what the heck Dr Phil is actually doing. If you know, please drop me a line, I'd love to hear all about it.

Fast-Food Documentary Heading to Schools
Thu Feb 10, 8:10 PM ET
By NOREEN GILLESPIE, Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. - What happens when a man eats nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days? It's a lesson that school children across the country are about to find out.

Morgan Spurlock, director and star of "Super Size Me: A film of epic proportions," is releasing an edited version of the film for classrooms. The school version of the Academy-Award nominated film is scheduled to be released after the Feb. 27 Oscars ceremony.

To Spurlock, schools are the perfect place to teach nutrition.

"We'll never make every parent a perfect parent. It won't happen. But I really believe we can make every school really close," Spurlock said, while in Connecticut at a forum on childhood obesity Thursday.

The film chronicles his deterioration during the experiment, measuring his bulging belly, soaring cholesterol, depression, lack of attention and sexual dysfunction, which he edited out for the school film.

The 34-year-old filmmaker gained 25 pounds during the month-long feeding frenzy, prompting his doctor to beg him to stop and declare in disgust that his liver had become pate.

The school DVD is targeted for grades six through 12. It contains sample lesson plans and bonus interviews with nutritionists and doctors. Spurlock also said that he is working with foundations to underwrite the cost, so that cash-strapped school districts can get it for free.

Spurlock is now fit and trim again thanks to a thorough detoxification diet designed by his vegan fiancee, Alex Jamieson. But the film's popularity — it was the second-highest grossing documentary in 2004 — has set him on a nationwide tour of colleges and high schools to speak about childhood obesity.

The film is critical of the fast-food industry for targeting advertising to children. But it also is critical of some schools for making junk food like ice cream, candy, chips and soda available for lunch. One scene shows students ordering nothing but french fries, soda and candy as their lunch, while lunch workers say the food is there because children need to learn to make the right choices.

Combined with cuts to gym classes and reduced health education in schools, Spurlock believes schools are teaching kids to be obese.

"We're educating kids in the classroom, but we're abandoning them in the lunchroom," he said.

State Rep. Mike Cardin, a social studies teacher at Tolland High School, said his school has shown the documentary to its health classes.

"The influence of the food companies on the students' lives is so profound, it's something they can relate to," said Cardin, D-Tolland.

Though Spurlock said he thinks he has a good chance at winning the Academy Award, his roller coaster year has been reward enough. He also has a book and a TV series debuting later this year. But the real prize is getting the chance to influence schools, lawmakers and others to change eating habits, he said.

"To me, this is an Oscar," he said.

day 44 - week seven

Did you have a happy Valentine's Day? Yesterday is a total blur to me. It's a good thing that we don't really celebrate February 14 at my house. If we did, boy howdy, would folks ever be disappointed. I worked 10 hours yesterday, straight through, no breaks. I know some folks do that every day but the pace was not something that I have to deal with on a regular basis. I'm happy to report though that we completed 200+ deliveries yesterday, in the freezing rain, and no one had an accident or was injured in anyway. Brain-dead doesn't begin to describe how I feel today. We have about 70 more deliveries tomorrow and once that's over, I'll feel better. I know it. I was so tired last night that I dreamed about delivery slips and spreadsheets. It was not pretty.

Over the course of the past few days, my eating was not good. I can blame it on not feeling well, PMS hiding around the corner and work-stress but ultimately, I have to blame myself for making bad choices. Turning to food in times of duress is something I need to work on constantly. Having said that, I'm drinking tonnes of water today, I exercised yesterday and today and I'm eating a fat free blueberry yogurt as I type this. I guess all that matters is making sure that I can honestly say that I've done more healthy than unhealthy things for my body this week. That is true, when I step back from things and look at what I did last week. I hope to improve on that this week.

A day late, I know, but here's my latest weekly wrap-up:
summary - week 6

• on the days I rode, I maintained my 7 miles plus distance. I rode 4 out of 5 weekdays (normally I do 5) because of the snowstorm we had this week. The day I missed, my workout was shovelling out. I'm happy to report that the shovelling continues to get easier as time goes by.
  
• for the fourth week in a row, I took my vitamins every single day, even over the weekend
  
• met daily calorie intake goal 4 out of 7 days
  
• either ate way too much or just had too much fat 3 days out of 7 days
  
• met daily water intake goal 7 out of 7 days
  
• intentionally exercised 6 out of 7 days
  
• thankfully maintained this week. I'm not sure how that happened exactly but I'm relieved. It's not the two pound loss I was aiming for but then, who knew that the week would go colossally to shit on Thursday.

day 41 - quick check in

Normally, through the week, I post during my lunch hour. Yesterday, I was in the office an hour early and worked through my lunch and still didn't get everything done that needed to be done. As a fundraiser, at work, we're selling Valentine's cookies. We've had over 200 orders for Monday. I spent yesterday trying to coordinate all the delivery information for them (yes, we're delivering them too!). My head was spinning and I was beyond stressed. The whole week was like that and, compounded by PMS, I ate way more of those damned little foil-wrapped easter eggs than I should have. I didn't even really want them. They made me feel horrible.
The stress and PMS have clouded my good judgment over the past couple of days. Last night's dinner was completely on plan but I had two (not one TWO), toasted bagels for breakfast today. I've just been on a bad-carb binge and I haven't really cared.

Last night, I felt like I was getting sick. I slept for almost 12 hours last night. When I woke up this morning, I had a sinus headache. I feel much better now and I know that I'm just being whiney but I felt so crappy that I actually forgot to weigh-in. It's probably a good thing too. Between bagels and chocolate, it wouldn't have been. The bagel episode aside, the rest of today has been okay. I even went for a walk before dinner tonight. That really helped to clear my head and straighten me out some.

Once Tuesday is out of the way, work should calm down a bit. Hopefully. In the meantime, I'm going to try to get my head back together and sorted out. I just cannot have any more of these bad-carb binges. Ugh!

day 39 - winter's back

After a couple of weeks of spring-like weather, it snowed again last night. It took me 40 minutes to clean up the driveway this morning so I did that instead of my regular workout. The shoveling is getting easier than it was just a couple of weeks ago. I think that increasing my time on the bike is having a bigger impact on my fitness level than I thought it was. Neat!

There isn't much to report right now. I'll admit that I've had a couple of those tiny chocolate easter egg things (wrapped in foil -- you know the ones) that are floating around in the office. The smell just got to me. The little chocolate bars are sealed really well and you cannot smell the chocolate with them. These little eggs though, they are so fresh and smell so good that I broke down. The moment of weakness has passed and I'm glad. Not sure what made me do it, PMS maybe? This afternoon, I'll stick to my fresh fruit and water.

day 38 - the morning after the Mardi Gras before

Last night, instead of pancakes, my hunny (who, I probably should remind you is a classically trained French chef) made us a delicious seafood pasta. He is really into all things Mardi Gras and loves New Orleans and wanted to make something very decadent for dinner. He used 35% cream for the sauce and made cheese stuffed rainbow tortellini. We had scallops, shrimp and salmon with snow peas, roasted garlic and portabello mushrooms. He even grated a little bit of the very expensive parmasean cheese that we keep in the freezer for just such a meal. On the way home from work he asked if we should pick something up for dessert, after all, such a fabulous meal deserves dessert. I said, "no, I don't need dessert with a meal like this." But I asked if he or his dad wanted some and offered that we could stop somewhere to get something for them if he wanted to. He didn't and I'm glad. Holy smokes the dinner was plenty. Actually, if he could have purchased a bread pudding souffle with bourbon sauce I would have lost the argument. Fortunately for me, you can't purchase that here!

I ate light all day in anticipation of the extra calories at dinner. I'm glad I did because I came a little too close to my upper caloric limit for my liking. Dessert would have pushed me way over. Honestly, the meal was fucking amazing. Totally delicious and a gorgeous variety of different textures but, I ate too much. The cream sauce was lovely but too heavy. I'm just not used to eating like this anymore. Instead of eating what I did, I should have had about half of what I ate and made a big salad to go with it. That would have been plenty. When I went to bed last night, I was uncomfortably full and my stomach was a little off-kilter for a bit when I first got up. I feel fine now but I know that the rich food was just a bit too much for me.

When I got going on my exercise this morning I was moving a little slower than I normally would but by the time I was finished I felt great. This just reinforces what I already knew, rich foods are good for a treat, once in a while and my body loves me when I exercise. Simple stuff, isn't it?

day 37 - chocolatey thoughts

Last week, all week long, there were little tiny chocolate bars floating around the office. They were nestle minis so I kept seeing little miniature versions of Aero bars, one of my favourites. Friday night, we're flaked out on the bed, watching tv before bed and all I could think of were Aero bars. I said to my hunny, "I'd kill for an Aero bar right about now. It's not the chocolate I want, it's the bubbles. There aren't any calories in the bubbles, right?" He looked over at me and said, "Not really. I'd could eat one too, good thing we don't have any in the house." I scrunched up my nose and said, "Yeah, and farting into a bowl of melted chocolate chips isn't quite the same, is it?" The two of us started laughing and before I knew it, the craving was gone.

Right now I have a tiny, heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolate sitting on my desk. They are wrapped but they are taunting me. I can tell by the size of the box that there are probably 4 or 5 chocolates in it. It's been sitting on my desk since Thursday. I'm not sure why I don't give them away. I'm not craving chocolate or anything but today, the box and I have been having a stare-off.

Eating was 100% on plan yesterday. Today is shaping up to be the same. I did another 7+ mile ride this morning. I'm really feeling it in my thighs when I get to the half-way mark now. Next week, I'm going to start mixing up the interval program, I'll try a different one each day and see how far I can go on each one. This week, because I'm not suffering from a food-hangover (like last week), I'm feeling much better after exercise. My pants feel a little loose today and my rings are really quite loose too. I can put one of my rings on my thumb now, that's kind of crazy! I'm just hoping that I'll see a result on the scale this week. I'd love to drop a couple of pounds this week!!

day 36 - week six

How the heck did five whole weeks pass by already?? The weekend was busy but uneventful, really. I visited my folks on Saturday. They needed some tuning up on their computer so I popped by, had lunch with my mum and then we visited while I worked. By the end of the day, I felt like I'd just been running around and yet, had accomplished pretty much everything I needed to do. I did errands and got mum & dad sorted, that was a big job in itself.

Saturday, eating was not the best. I had missed breakfast (due to my own poor planning) and had a salad with my mum at her place. By the time dinner rolled around, I was starving. At the last minute, we decided to go out for a meal and a film. My dinner was reasonable as far as calories go and, had I stopped there, I would have been significantly below what my limit is. Of course, I couldn't go to the movie without popcorn. Well, actually I could have, I chose not to. The popcorn put me over for the day so I wasn't exactly on plan all weekend, close but not quite.

We saw "Million Dollar Baby." I was in awe of Hilary Swank's body throughout the whole thing. She completely transformed herself. Her body was strong, her muscles well-defined but she still looked like a woman. Her performance was just terrific and I'd recommend this movie to anyway. It's just terrific.

So, here it is, Monday again. Here's my latest wrap-up:
summary - week 5

• rode an all time high, 7.57 miles on my recumbent bike on Friday
  
• increased the number of miles I peddled from a little over 28 last week to a little over 36 this week.
  
• for the third week in a row, I took my vitamins every single day, even over the weekend
  
• met daily calorie intake goal 6 out of 7 days
  
• met daily water intake goal 7 out of 7 days
  
• intentionally exercised 6 out of 7 days
  
• lost one whole pound this week. That puts me at 15 pounds lost since my restart on January 3

day 33 - shocking

So, this morning, 7.57 miles. What is going on?? I actually got up without wanting to throw the alarm clock across the room this morning. I didn't hurt myself or stumble around getting into my workout gear (this occasionally happens when you get up at 4:30 a.m.). I hopped on the bike, turned on Dr. Phil and rode. I was shocked when I saw the mileage reading at the end. I not only made my goal for this week, I surpassed it: 36.46 miles this week.

For the last, probably quarter, of the year, I was coasting. I would ride my bike and do my stretching or my weights and I wasn't really giving it my all. I basically did enough that allowed me to maintain my weight. At least until the holidays hit and all hell broke loose. I felt good when I exercised but it wasn't a challenge, it was just something I did. The last couple of weeks though, I've been feeling better about it. I can feel my muscles working and they ache a bit some days. That good, hey I did something, ache.

Tomorrow I'm going to weigh-in, officially. Honestly, after the pig-out last weekend, I'll be thrilled to bits if I just maintain this week. Right now, I think that may finally have my momentum back. It feels terrific.

Happy weekend all!

day 32 - surprising myself

This week has gone quite well so far. I seem to have a handle on my eating again, the house is free of bad treats and full of good ones. It's simple I know, but it makes such a difference. Even if I don't want something, if it's junky and I know it's in the house, I'll want to eat it. Sick huh?? When it's not in the house though, I don't think about it at all and I'm quite happy to snack on raw veggies or fruit.

My progress on the recumbent bike this week has been a surprise to me. Yesterday, I hit a record breaking (for me!) 7.25 miles on the interval program I've been doing this week. Today, I managed 7.33 miles. I won't say that I didn't feel it because I truly did but boy, the distance was shocking to me. I now know that 35 miles is within my grasp!! My plan is to stick to 35 miles a week for the next two weeks. After that, I'll move up to 37 and eventually 40. I'd love to be riding 8 miles a day. I looked over my spreadsheet at home (I'm using it to track my distance for the Going Nowhere Challenge) and was quite pleased to see that I've gone from a little more than 4 miles a day in early January to over 7 in just a month. Yay, me!!

day 31 - seven and one quarter!

I may be allergic to my new desk. I think that the furniture, carpet and paint is still off-gassing because every afternoon, just as I'm getting ready to leave the office, my head is full and my throat is sore. This just started when we moved back into our offices last month. The congestion lasts all evening but by morning I'm okay again. It's odd and I'm so looking forward to the weather warming up so we can have the windows open.

There really isn't much to report today. Eating has been great the past couple of days and this morning I had a terrific NSV. I hit 7.25 miles on my recumbent bike. I was just so focused on making it to 7 miles that I didn't even notice that I'd gone a whole quarter of a mile past my morning goal. I felt terrific afterwards and am hopeful that I'll be able to break 7 miles the next two days.

day 30 - february?

The days just fly by quickly anymore that it makes me, literally, dizzy. This morning I was trying to figure out where January went. I like my routine but boy, when you keep your nose down and get everything done in a week that you need to do, the weeks quickly turn into months.

I feel like I need to do something exciting. I'm not sure what that would be, I can't really afford anything that would be too much fun. Ordinarily, I don't long for sunshine in the winter but right now, I would love to be able to afford to fly south for a week but that's not going to happen. Besides, I really wouldn't want to put a bathing suit on this flabby, pasty, winter-white body of mine. Maybe I'm a little bored. I've been thinking a lot about what pushed me off of my plan on the weekend and I seriously think it was just boredom. I wasn't feeling well so I plunked my butt in front of the television and proceeded to fill my face while watching. It's easy to say that one should focus on the good things we do for ourselves instead of the bad but, the bad ones can undo weeks of good things in such a short period of time.

Right now, I'm just trying to stay awake. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night and, just when I did, the phone rang (wrong number). Basically, I woke up every 45 minutes all night. When 4:30 finally rolled around, I really didn't want to get up, I did but I didn't want to. On a positive note, I hit 7.14 miles in my interval program on the recumbent bike this morning. I really want to hit 35 miles for the week this week, I'm well on my way as of today!