Balaclava? Baklava?

So, yesterday I worked overtime in the morning and when I got home, I felt not so good.  Not sick, but not good.  So I laid down for a nap.  I figured I'd nap for an hour and a half, but when that time frame came to pass, I was still feeling blah, so I slept for another hour.  I felt better, but at that point, it was sunset and about to be dark.  So, no run yesterday.  I rescheduled yesterday's run for this morning, right before meeting up with my friend Chris for coffee and yakking.  Well, I woke up late and texted Chris.  I decided we would go ahead and meet up and I would run later in the afternoon.  Well, true to form, he and I yakked for about 2 hours.  At that point, I needed to do my grocery shopping and then start getting ready for my trainer workout.  Guess I would be running post trainer workout, then.

Chris and I had met up at the Starbuck's in Target, which is where I was going to do my grocery shopping.  I was hoping to buy something I mentioned the other day and called a "neck cowl."  Well, they didn't have said "neck cowl."  So, after I got home, I decided I would leave early and go to Academy on my way to workout with Samy.  Got to Academy and when I couldn't find it on my own, I approached a staff member and described what I was looking for.  She curtly replied they were all sold out of those items and then promptly went back to what she was doing.  Nice to meet you too.  Anyway, I left and headed over to Gander Mtn.  Again, I couldn't find what I was looking for on my own, so I found a very helpful and very friendly staff member and described what I was looking for.  She took me to a display of something called "SunThing" which was exactly what I was looking for.  And it's not called a "neck cowl," it's called a balaclava. 

So, I got myself suited up for a cold weather run with my new balaclava and headed out the door.  I wore the balaclava over my face as pictured for the first 3/4 of a mile and then pulled it down so it was just covering my cheeks, chin and neck.  It made me super aware of my breathing and between not liking that and not liking breathing through something, I wasn't a fan of it being over my mouth.  But, it wasn't super windy out, so it was okay for the rest of the run to wear it like that without my face getting too cold.  This is what I ran in

FEELS LIKE 26°?!?!?!?!?!  Eeep!  But, I bundled myself up so well that I never really felt cold the entire run, so I didn't run all that "fast."  I actually pretty much ran my normal paces the entire run.  That's still good.  It's less than a week from my next event: a half marathon, so I should be somewhat taking it easy anyway.  This isn't the time to be pushing myself to new limits or faster paces.

The first 2-ish miles, my shin muscles were aching.  It was similar to shin splint ache, but in a different area of the shin.  I knew why it was achy...during my trainer workout, Samy gave me a choice between push-ups and mountain climbers to pair with my sets of suicide sprints.  I chose mountain climbers.  He made me do them with my toes on these slider pads.  Doing the mountain climbers on the pads made me use the muscle on the front of my shins.

Today was a double workout day!  Woohoo!  I burned about 1500 calories between the two too.

Am I "That Girl"?

I went to Walgreen’s this evening to return something.  While I was standing at the cosmetics counter waiting my turn, a lady walked in that had a nice slim, not-too-skinny body.  I wondered if she struggled like I did or if she was one of the lucky ones that didn’t have to work hard at a nice looking body.  When I was walking up the stairs when I got home, carrying my frozen pizza and copy of the March Runner’s World, I said hi to some neighbors unloading some things from their car.  At that moment, when I started climbing the stairs to my apartment, I wondered if people looked at me and wondered something similar while seeing me stuff my face with pizza or a burger or whatever it may be.  I mean, I’m not skinny, but I’m most definitely not fat anymore.  I’m still about 20 or so pounds above my goal weight, but I look good in clothes that fit well…even though I’m not entirely happy with how I look in a swimsuit or naked right now.  So, wondering if people thought that about me sort of put things in perspective a little bit.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past week…about my weight loss, weight gain and eating.  While I absolutely LOVE the Shred Diet (minus week 3…week 3 is really hard for me) and it does get me really good results, it may be a little too restrictive for me to follow day after day without a break.  So, I’m thinking I need to combine it with some other ways of eating healthy.  I mentioned doing a vegan cleanse after I run my half marathon next week.  So, maybe what I can do is a week or two of the Shred, a week of vegan, then a week of calorie counting.  That way, I get a good variety and it keeps my body guessing more than doing just the Shred does.  Because, you see, while the Shred helped me lose 10.4 lbs in 4 weeks, it also caused me to become very constipated, which led to me becoming extremely frustrated and then resulted in me gaining back the weight I had lost.  Ugh.  I’ve got to move past the frustration that this has caused and is still causing me and try something else to find if that works for me.  I think that if I do the 1-2 weeks of Shred, 1 week vegan, and then 1 week just counting calories will help keep things moving, if you know what I mean…haha.

So, today was a scheduled long run day.  However, I worked overtime on the morning shift this morning and didn’t sleep very well at all last night.  On top of all that, I had overactive bowels today, which further exhausted me apparently.  When I got home, all I wanted was a nap.  I figured I’d nap for an hour and a half and then go for my run and be done around sundown.  An hour and a half went by and I reset the alarm for another hour or so more, which would mean if I ran tonight, I’d be running at night or going to the gym to run 6 miles on the treadmill.  When I did get up just before 6pm, I had some back and forth about whether to run or not and ultimately decided I would just wait until tomorrow.  I finalized the decision after checking the weather.  This evening, it’s in the upper 60’s, tomorrow morning, it will be in the low 40’s.  Perfect.   

I’ll get up around 7:30 or 8 tomorrow morning, go for my run, shower and then go meet a friend for coffee.  Then I’ll do grocery shopping and then come home and do whatever food prep I need to do for the week and then chill until time to go to my trainer workout at 4pm.

Oh, and I relooked at my work/overtime schedule for this week and, if I'm up for it, I can get in a bonus workout on Friday before work...so, maybe a 2 or 3 mile run or I'll do that yoga session?  We shall see.

Confessions

Figures, the day I post my workout schedule for next week is the day I get the email from the other area supervisor confirming overtime dates for me to work the next 3 weeks.  Geez.  So, I’ll have a total of 3 shifts of overtime next week, so, let me now redo my workout schedule for next week…here we go:

• Sunday – overtime morning, run 6-ish miles in the PM

• Monday – trainer workout

• Tuesday – run (3 or 4 mi?)

• Wednesday – run (2 or 3 mi?)

• Thursday – sleep only

• Friday – sleep only

• Saturday – rest, race expo

The good news is that my legs will be well rested come Sunday morning for the race!  I don’t know what I was thinking when I signed up for overtime on the 14^th.  Oh well, I’ll go home, sleep for like 4 hours, get up, go to the expo, go back home, relax…maybe do some yoga (?)…then go to bed early so I can wake up early Sunday morning to get to the race on time.

Okay, I need to address something here.  I’m struggling.  I have done this off and on throughout the last 3+ years.  I do great for a few weeks or a couple months and then bam I fall off my weight loss wagon and go down the wrong path and get lost.  It’s so frustrating, but it sort of puts things in perspective, I guess.  At least for you guys.  I’m not perfect.  Nowhere near it.  I’m normal.  I have problems.  I struggle.  THIS IS NOT EASY.  I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I’m pretty sure I have ADHD, which does make it difficult for me to keep myself focused.  Sure, I could talk to my doctor and he would probably agree to prescribe me medication that would help me stay focused on my goals and my journey, but my life wouldn’t be as fun as it is now.  I’ve just got to find a way to work around this and not let it become an excuse or a reason as to why I allow myself to trip up and fail.  I am saying all this because the first 4 weeks of this year, I did great.  I lost almost 10.5 pounds in that time.  Then week 5 happened.  I’m not sure what happened but my body stopped doing what it was supposed to do…eliminate the waste byproducts creating by eating food…and I gained some weight.  Then, when I couldn’t get my body to start doing what it was supposed to do, I go frustrated and I fell and now I’ve gained back most of what I lost in those first 4 weeks.  It would be sooooo easy to give in to a pity party and wallow in self-loathing.  But that would be the easy way, the coward’s way.  It would not be my way.  I’ve got to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back on the path I started on at the beginning of the year. 

I started the current fitness challenge I’m participating in at 182 lbs and I made a 2 month goal to lose 5 pounds.  That means that by March 15^th, I need to be at 177 or less in order to have met that goal.  That’s 5 weeks away.  Frankly, I’m not sure I can do it.  I may fail at reaching this goal, but I’m going to try.  I’m not going to throw in the towel and just give up on winning the competition.

I have to be honest, it’s so hard to not get discouraged that I keep doing the same thing over and over again.  I take 3 steps forward and then 2 and a half back.  How am I supposed to make progress if I keep doing that?  Very, very slowly, that’s how.  But it’s still progress and that’s what I have to remind myself of.  I wish I had the magic fix to my problems, but I don’t.  I have to deal with them.  They’re not going to just magically disappear and never bother me again.  If I can’t learn to deal with and control them now, how am I supposed to succeed at maintaining my weight loss once I’ve hit goal?  I won’t.  So I have to learn now so I can succeed later.

Horrified

I’ve fallen a bit off the wagon.  But not much.  Tuesday, I ate mostly “on diet” with the exception of a snack size bag of Cheetos and a Nature Valley Oats N Honey bar.  That’s not too bad.  Then, yesterday, I stopped at 7-11 and got 2 of the cheeseburger bite hotdogs.  They had no mayo, so I saved myself those calories, but still….  Then, when I got to work, there was a university that does accelerated degree programs online that had come in to do a presentation in our briefing.  They brought small sub sandwiches made by Quizno’s (they were just turkey breast, tomato, and lettuce…if you wanted mayo you had to add it…I didn’t) and coffee.  I had a couple of the small sandwiches, but other than all that, I stayed “on diet.”  And, just in the interest of complete honesty, today, I’m probably going to go get a cabana bowl from Taco Cabana and some sopapillas.  I’m working a double shift again and, well, I’m in week 3 of the Shred Diet and it’s a more minimal week as far as the food goes.  It’s very liquid-heavy (smoothies, protein shakes) and it has one less snack per day, so one less time of eating each day.  So, this is very hard to keep myself feeling not hungry/starving over the period of a 16 hour work day.  So, yea, I will probably go to Taco Cabana around 8 or 9 pm for said food indulgence.  But, I’m okay with that. 

So, I may have picked up a shift of overtime for Sunday morning.  This is good because I was leaning toward maybe hanging out with Amanda and having us go to the scone shop in her little town so I can get the goat cheese, fig jam and grilled chicken panini…NOM!  But, with the way I’ve been eating this week, I want to wait. 

I was going to see about starting that vegan cleanse (www.jointhereboot.com) next Tuesday, but I just remembered that the following Sunday is my half marathon and I have plans to go and eat a large helping of smothered beef fajitas and chips and queso post-race.  So, doing a vegan cleanse with that happening in the middle of it would just defeat the purpose.  Soooo…I’m just going to keep my eating as clean as possible between tomorrow and next Saturday and will start the vegan cleanse the Tuesday after the half marathon.

It’s a little early for me to already be posting my plans for exercise for next week, but I have it done so, why not.  So, here it is:

• Sunday – 6-ish mile run

• Monday – trainer workout

• Tuesday – 3 or 4 mile run

• Wednesday – rest

• Thursday – 2 or 3 mile run

• Friday – yoga

• Saturday – rest…race expo

Now, of course, if I manage to pick up another shift or two of overtime during the week, this schedule will change, but for right now, this is what I have planned to do.  It’s a pretty good schedule for the week leading up to me running a race.  Pretty laid back and such, especially with the yoga I have planned.  That will help loosen me up and make sure my tendons and muscles are all ready to run 13.1 miles.

Tuesday, I did run 3.3 miles.  I did it outside…YAY!  I wore my newest pullover…it’s a nice superman blue with bubble gum pink accents on the sides of the torso area and the palms of the hands.  It was a good run, but I was definitely still feeling Sunday’s run and Monday’s leg day.  I ran a bit slower, but that’s fine with me.  It wasn’t massively slower, it was about an average pace for me, in the 10:50’s per mile.

So, it was still a good run.  And, like I’ve said before, sure it would be nice if I could run 9 or even 8 minute miles, but I’m not that kind of runner and I’ve accepted that and I’m at peace with it.  I’m cool being a middle-of-the-pack runner.  That’s where I’m comfortable.  If I could find a running group to join, maybe I’d push myself and would actually get faster, but I haven’t been able to find a running group that meshes with my work schedule. 

Today, it was cold again...25°.  Thankfully, the freezing drizzle that is supposed to happen hasn't happened yet, so it was safe to run outside.  I'm thankful for this because I run faster outside in the cold than I do inside at a comfortable temperature on a treadmill.  I don't know what happened with the second mile, but the rest of today's run was bang on (as the British say...haha).

So, I DVRed the Biggest Loser finale and watched it last night.  While I'm extremely happy that Rachel won (I was big time pulling for her), I am horrified at how she looks.  I looked it up and at 5'4" a healthy weight is 117-146...she's 105...a good minimum of 12 pounds UNDERweight...and therefore NOT healthy.  I hope she can level out her weight and gain about 15, maybe 20 pounds and maintain that.  In my opinion, she looks anorexic...and that's pretty serious.

Friend Making Monday +

Random Questions

1. Did you watch the Super Bowl?  If so, what was your favorite part?  yes, my favorite part was when the Seahawks won!

2. What is the weather like where you live?  today it was in the low to mid 40's

3. When is your birthday? December 14th

4. Do you prefer sparkling water or flat water?  I love sparkling water, but when I'm working out, just plain water

5. How many hours did you sleep last night?  probably about 10 because i had only slept like 4.5-5 the night before and was completely exhausted when i went to bed

6. What is your favorite day of the week?  any day that i am running!  (or working out with my trainer...hehe)

7. If you had to choose between riding a bike or swimming, which would you choose?  riding a bike.  i completely suck at swimming right now so it's not a pleasant experience for me

8. How often do you eat red meat?  not very often at all

9. What time did you wake up this morning?  8:30

10. Do you have any goals for the week?  get 4 workouts in, 3 of them as runs...already got 2 workouts down

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry I didn’t post yesterday.  Lots happened, but I was just too exhausted and cold to sit at the computer and type up a blog entry. 

What happened yesterday?  Well, first, I worked the early morning shift at work (6am to 2pm) for some overtime.  I got home around 2:20 and relaxed for a little bit before layering up and heading out for my run.  Layering up?  Why yes, it was quite chilly here in central Texas yesterday (it is again today, but not as much as it was yesterday).

So, I layered up with 2 pairs of running tights.  I didn’t need to layer my socks because it was a long run so I was already wearing something to cover my calves: my compression calf sleeves!  I wore a short-sleeved running top with a long-sleeved running pullover on top.  I wore my windbreaking running mittens and my new ponytail beanie.  I wish I had worn the thin long-sleeved cotton shirt I wore under all my layers when I ran the Brown Santa 5K in December.  Or, I was thinking, some arm warmers would have been nice…could have worn them under my pull over.  My arms were cold.  Anyway, depending on the foliage and the amount or lack of structures (ie-houses), I kept having to take my gloves off and then put them back on. 

I had mapped my route out for this 11.2 mile run the other day.  When I did so, I had myself going down a certain road (Heatherwilde Blvd).  I thought that where I would be connecting with this road had a sidewalk, however when I got to the connection with that road, I realized my mistake.  Thankfully there was a runnable “ditch” because this part of the road has absolutely NO shoulder so running on the road itself was not an option.  Now, I did have to run in the road (against traffic, of course) here and there because there was water or a drop-off that I couldn’t run through in the “ditch” but the traffic wasn’t heavy so it wasn’t too bad.  If I had realized I would have been running like this for any portion of my run, I would have worn one of my brand new and BRIGHTLY colored running tanks over the top of my pullover to make sure I was highly visible. 

At about mile 3, I realized my efforts with the laxatives and stool softeners over the last few days were starting to pay off.  I felt the need to find a restroom…but not urgently.  There is a 7-11 a little over the halfway point in the route I ran yesterday and it was perfectly placed because when I reached it, I did NEED to go.  After the pit stop, I ate the gel I took with me and continued on my way.  Other than being very cold, I felt REALLY good on this run.  I just felt like I wasn’t going “slow” (well…MY idea of slow…hahaha).  I did feel like the last ½ mile of the run I started to slow down from the fatigue of running so long in the cold.  Also, probably fatigue from holding up a 10:46 average pace for the ENTIRE run!!!  My slowest mile was 11:15…and that was mile 4!  For a long run pace, for me, this is pretty fast.  Usually I’m right at 11 min/mi or a little slower.  So, I was running AT LEAST 15 seconds per mile faster than my normal long run pace.  I’m pretty sure it was because it was cold and my body was trying to keep itself warm.  At mile 9, I had to stop to wait for a traffic light before I could cross a major road and when it changed in my favor and I started to run again, I was a little stiff and I was afraid that today I would be SUPER sore, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

Anyway, I reached my stopping point of 11.2 miles and hit stop on my Garmin and then checked my stats

Wow!  I am super pleased with these stats.  I know that I pushed myself a little bit and I know that I wouldn’t have pushed myself that much if it hadn’t been so cold out.  I’m also glad this was a long run day and not a short, weekday run.  There’s no way I’m going to reschedule a long run and if I can avoid it, I am NOT running a long run on a treadmill.  So, I left myself no options except to just suck it up and do the run.  I’m glad I did.  That being said, it took me over an hour to warm up.  When I was taking my shower, the warm water hurt my fingers, they were so cold!

Yesterday I also spent some time updating my running log that I use a small daily planner calendar to keep track of.  I had started the month off wanting to shoot for 50 miles in January.  I then followed this goal up with the act of writing up a running schedule.  Then, the next day, I trashed the idea of the predetermined run schedule because I didn’t want to fall into the same “trap” I fell into last summer/fall where I felt compelled to make up miles I missed for whatever reason and felt that I just absolutely HAD to run what I had scheduled myself to run.  So, I scrapped the running schedule I had made for January and just decided to run what I felt like running, with the exception of long training runs on Sundays.  It worked really well for me to do it this way.  And you know what?  I hit that goal of running 50 miles in January.  It’s nowhere near what I was running regularly per month last year before my hiatus, but it’s still a number I can be proud of.

My runs for the rest of the week will be in cool weather.  I have plans to run 3 or so miles tomorrow morning and then 3 miles Thursday morning and, if I feel like it, 2 miles on Saturday (to be followed by yoga).

Of course, it's not going to be 70 until about 4pm.  So, when I'm running tomorrow morning, it will still be in the low 40's and I'm perfectly fine with that.

The Austin Marathon & Half Marathon people released pictures of the finishers’ shirts today.  I’m only posting the one for the half because that’s the one I’ll be getting.  I like it!  It’s not as cool as last year’s finishers’ shirts, but they’re still pretty nice and they’re Brooks shirts, same as the RNR shirts, so you know they’re quality!

I went to get my cavity filled this morning and was told that I don’t have A cavity, I have 2 cavities.  Great.  I didn’t have the money available to get them both filled today so they filled the one that was more “decayed” and scheduled me to come back to get the other one filled.  Now my tooth feels weird where the filling is.  I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but for now it’s a mild irritant to my tongue.  Haha.  Then, I went to Walmart to get my nails done but there was only one nail tech there and she was in the middle of doing someone else’s nails, so I grabbed a few things that I needed and managed to find yet another running pullover that I just couldn’t live without (haha) and went home to eat. 

I was going to do a 7-10 vegan “cleanse” to help reset my digestive tract.  However, the “cleanse” I’m going to do requires you to make your own soups and I just don’t have the time to do that this week, so I’ll do another week of the Shred Diet and then next week I’ll start the “cleanse.”  Besides, things seem to have started moving along, if you know what I mean, so it’s not so urgent anymore.  But I still want to do it.  Next week I have no overtime scheduled and I’ll have my entire 2 days off to do food prep, so next week just works better all around.

I think I mentioned the other day that I registered for my second half marathon for 2014: the Biggest Loser Half Marathon.  With my next paycheck, I’m going to register for the Capital 10K and the Austin 10/20 which happen the 2 Sundays following the BL half.  Craziness!  I toyed with the idea of registering for the Alamo 13.1 which happens the Sunday after the 10/20…but I figured that’d just be asking too much of myself.  So, I’ll save that race for next year.  

I showed up for my workout with Samy this afternoon...I walked into the gym (it's a boxing gym, in case I've never said so) and he had all this equipment and weights set out.  He was ready for me!  I started off with the jump rope, of course.  Then he had me do the heavy rope...and today it was the BIG rope, so it was heavier.  After that was 15 reps of squats, free weights.  Then lunges carrying 2 30lb dumbbells with farmer's walk back.  Then a weighted jump lunge, 20 reps.  Then repeat 4 times through.  After that it was 2 sets of suicide sprints and squat walks.  Then we did about 13 minutes of kickboxing...and let me tell you, I can notice how much I've improved.  I don't need anywhere NEAR as many breaks and breathers as I did before.  After that, abs and then done.  Something I noticed today...when I start my workouts with Samy, it's usually just me and him and sometimes John, the owner, in the gym.  During my workout, all these other people start showing up.  There's a boxer that's training for an upcoming match (he's already done his official weigh in) and if he's not there when I show up, he's there within the first 30 minutes of me arriving.  They run an after school program most afternoons, so a lot of kids show up about half way through my workout, along with the lady that watches the kids.  Toward the end of my workout, another instructor arrives along with a bunch more kids.  As I'm leaving the gym at the end of my workout, those kids have all changed into their gees and are warming up for their martial arts session (I'm not sure which one they're doing, guess I could ask some time).  Anyway, my point is that all of these people that I don't know come in and see me working out and I don't care!  I know that they're there, but I don't pay them any mind.  I just focus on my workouts.  The "old me" definitely would have cared and would have made it a point to schedule my sessions with Samy during a time when no one else would be there and could see my fat flying all over the place.  But, I'm in a place where I'm proud of my body...maybe not fully happy with it, but I'm proud of it nonetheless.

"Juicing" again?

As you may recall, yesterday I posted that this morning I was going to exercise and that I was going to do one of a few things.  I was either going to run 2 quick miles and do an hour of yoga, just do an hour of yoga or just run 2 quick miles.  Well, I’m sad to say that I did option D…none of the above.  

I also had a stop at Subway after I went to the bank and got a turkey-bacon-avocado on a 6 inch honey oat, with no dressing, just provolone and veggies.  And 2 cookies.  And a tea.  And then, when I got to work, there was left over barbacoa in the breakroom so I grabbed a couple tortillas and had me some.  It was good.

I haven’t fallen off the wagon, don’t worry.  I just feel that, after 30 days of being strictly “on diet” that I deserve a small break.  I’m still eating the majority of my Shred foods, so I’m still “on diet,” I’m just eating these other foods in addition to them.  I also went this morning and bought some generic MiraLax powder.  On the bottle it says that you can take it for up to 7 days, so I’m going to use it every day for the next 7 days (well, 6, after today).  I really just want to be regular…if you know what I mean.  Haha.  Sorry, I’ve been quite proliferous with the TMI the last few days.

Anyway, no workout today and I feel like complete crap.  And I don’t think it’s one of those instances where if I had worked out I would feel better.  Nope.  I think I would feel the same or maybe worse than I do right now if I had made myself get up and do some sort of workout.  On top of that, it would have been forced and that’s something I’m trying to stay away from with my workouts.

I think I’m going to do a week and a half of the Reboot Your Life style “cleanse.”  I need a good system reset and it always does the trick for me.  It’s all vegan.  It wants you to juice, but I don’t have a juicer anymore.  My coworkers and I were talking about this today and they were all like, you could just smoothie it instead of juicing and that way you get all the fiber that would be eliminated if you juiced.  I like this idea.

Attack of the Chocolate Mousse

Today was a really nice day for a run, however, no run for me today.  I had to pay bills and run some errands before getting ready for work.  Tomorrow will be just as nice as today and I have decided that I will either do just the Bob Harper yoga DVD or a quick 2 mile run plus the yoga. 

Sunday is going to be a FABULOUS day to do my nice long run in the afternoon!  I had originally planned to do a 10.5 mile run on Sunday, but when I mapped out my route this morning before getting ready for work, I ended up with an 11.25 mile route.  That’s cool.  That’s just .75 more than originally planned, that’s not that big of a difference.  And then, the following Sunday will me just 6-ish miles. 

 

Well, I guess I need to think about my workout schedule for next week now.  So, here we go:

 

• Sunday – run 11.25 mile

• Monday – trainer workout

• Tuesday – run

• Wednesday – no workout, worked a double shift Tuesday

• Thursday – run

• Friday - no workout, worked a double shift Thursday

• Saturday – quick 2 mile run with gym or yoga

 

After next week, I have no overtime scheduled for work.  I’m a little bummed about that, but I’m also not bummed about it.  Why the conflicting emotions about it?  Well, obviously, I want the extra money that I get from working the overtime and I’m going to have to stick to a budget pretty strictly without it.  On the other hand, I’m glad because that means more sleep and more opportunity and time to fit in exercise.

 

So…I think I’m going to abandon that little “lose 5.6 lbs by the end of February” mini-goal I made for myself.  I weighed myself this morning to see where I was at and, well, I’m up from what I was on Sunday.  Ugh.  Of course I haven’t (TMI in 3…2…1…) pooed since Sunday either.  So frustrating.  I have no idea why I’m not pooing regularly.  It’s not like I’m in pain from constipation or anything either.  I’m just no pooing.  But I know I’m eating and I’m eating foods that have fiber in them, so I SHOULD be pooing.  I just don’t understand it.  So, I’m just going to focus on inches and body fat %.  While I’ve always liked the idea of getting down to 160 lbs, I also understand that my body just plain may not let me get that low…and I’m fine with that so long as I’m healthy and fit.  Anyway, I’m still going to weigh myself every week like I have been, but I’m not going to focus on the number. 

 

I decided to start mixing in some “cheat” foods here and there.  To kick that off, haha, I ate a Cinnabon that I’ve been craving for the past 3 or so days while I was out and about.  It was delicious and it satisfied me.  And it instantly killed my craving for one.  Anyway, tonight was my co-worker’s retirement party and I had the Frito pie, as I said I would...but I also had a piece of chocolate mousse cake.  Delish!  And then, on Sunday, after I complete my run, I’m going to get something to eat…either a burger and fries from my favorite burger place or a pizza.  I haven’t decided yet.  We’ll see what I feel like when Sunday rolls around.