Almost there, but not quite

Well, I didn't quite reach my goal for February: I got down to 208.0. Goal for the end of March: 203.0. Still going to shoot for 5 pounds.

In what seems like a defeatist move, I've yanked my gym membership for 3 months. I plan to go back in June. Works going to start getting crazy soon, and, honestly, I'm getting slightly burnt out on Krav. I didn't really expect myself to say that. It's great exercise, but I've got to work my way back up into shape. I've been sick a couple of weeks off and on, and that's interfered with my workouts. For now, I'm going to focus on my time at the park in the middle of the day, and then doing a less intense (than Krav) workout at home, starting every other day, working back up to every day.

My last Krav class was Thursday, February 24. It was mostly sparring—a good note to go out on. I got my fair share of bruises, and pretty much got the crap beat out of me, but I did have one good take down on a guy that's like the Energizer bunny.

I feel a sense of relief after pulling my membership. I think I will be ready for it again in a few months. It was tough, but I did enjoy it. It just eventually got to be too much for me. Besides, work's going to get crazy for a few months, and there's no point in paying for a membership when I won't be able to make it to class regularly.

I'll just have to stay super motivated to work out on my own at home. I think I can do this.

Take care, and have a happy March!

Downward trend!

I know, I know. You're not supposed to weigh yourself everyday. Well, I weighed myself this morning anyway. Nekkid weight: 209.5! Down another half a pound. I know that's not much, but it's in the right direction and makes me feel confident that I can hit my goal of 207 before the end of this month, maybe sooner!

Surprises on the Trail

Yesterday, while I was out on the trail, a woman jogged passed me with her dog lagging behind. After I got to my turnaround point and started jogging, I was having a really hard time pushing on. Then, I saw the same lady and her dog running in my direction, only this time the dog was leading and the lady was trailing behind screaming "Oh! Oh! Ew! Oh!" and such. As the dog got closer, I realized it had something in its mouth. Then even closer, I realized that something was an armadillo. As the dog passed, it gave me the stink eye as if to say "You're not taking this from me!". I started laughing. I couldn't help it. As the lady passed, I said to her, "That's not what I expected to see on the trail today." She replied "I know. I'm SORRY!". I just continued to laugh, and then I was propelled onward through the rest of the trail by the power of laughter. It was just the pick-me-up I needed to keep going.

Yesterday, I also started tracking my nekkid weight again in the morning: 212. This morning: 210!

I've recently been switched to a new medication, and the old one is mostly out of my system at this point. With that change, I've noticed a dramatic and sudden shift in my appetite. I'm not hungary all the time. I think this will really help me reach my 5 pound goal for the end of the month. I'd like to have a nekkid weight of 207 by the end of the month, putting me one pound ahead of where I was when I first started this blog.

Wish me luck.

Sparkle!

For all you doubters out there, I've pretty much given up diet soft drinks. I used to drink over 5 caffeine-free diet Cokes a day (sometimes much more than that), but that has changed. My shrink told me that it would be better for me to cut out the artificial sweeteners altogether and have an occasional real Coke instead of sucking down the artificial goodness all the time. So I mostly drink water and munch on ice. When I go home, I have sparkling water! Gotta have that carbonation. Keeps me from feeling deprived (a tip from a trainer at the gym, for which I'm very thankful). I drink La Croix berry and orange sparkling waters. No sweeteners, no calories, no sodium. Occasionally after a workout, I will have a Gatorade. Often, I skip that, though, and come home to my lovely sparkling water. Occasionally, on days when my brain is at least semi-functional, I'll remember to take a can or two with me to work. Mostly, it's an after-work or after-workout treat.

So far, I've held pretty good to that. Once about every other week, I get to have something with sugar as a treat. What's weird is that I've gotten to where I actually prefer the taste of the diet stuff. Limeades, lemonades, and root beer seem to be the easiest drinks to get down if I'm in the mood for something with a little more punch. But I've gotten to where I'm used to my sparkling waters and actually prefer them to sodas or limeades.

La Croix is the main brand that I can find around here that has actual flavors to choose from. They have plain, lime, grapefruit, orange, and berry. Berry is my favorite. I hate to sound like an advertisement, but if you're trying to cut back on soda, give it a try.

Sparkle on, my friends!

On a side note, I am feeling much better today, though I'm still not at 100% of my normal functionality. Going to take it easy today. Tomorrow, I hope to be back in the groove.

Fail!

My body is not cooperating with me. Still sick. Still, I can find the humor in it. As I was "growling" into the toilet this morning, my dog thought I was playing some sort of weird game. When I got up to wash off my face, she was bouncing and twirling all over the place, ready to get in on the game. Poor dog was really disappointed when I just put her outside instead.

At least, while having the stomach flu, I don't particularly feel like binge eating anything. The girl scout cookies in my husband's office are perfecly safe. I want nothing to do with them whatsoever.

Yea! I found 'em!

I'm so excited! I found my expensive Under Armor "compression fit" "cold gear" pants! I've been going nuts trying to find them. And now I have—just in time for the cold weather coming in tomorrow.

Out of whack

December was a bad month for me, work-wise. I completely fell out of the workout routine, and I really overdid the food intake at Christmas time. I ballooned out to 222. Yikes.

January, I've slowly gotten back into the workout routine, and February should be promising. I'm down to 217, which isn't much of a decrease, but with how easily I tend to gain weight, I'm pleased with that result.

I hope that I will make even more progress in February. I'm really trying to get back into the habbit of working out twice a day. ...Of course, I say that on a day when I'm stricken with diarrhea and vomiting, and stuck at home. Much easier to say sitting on a couch rather than out doing it. I did have a private session scheduled with my trainer for today at 1, but I had to cancel it. My digestive track just kept going downhill. Luckily, they are understanding folk at the gym. I'll be back at work tomorrow, and hopefully back at the gym as well.

Krav 2 is really difficult for me. It's very technique focused, and I don't have the technique, despite having 3 or 4 private training sessions already in January. Thursday, I got my ass kicked. Big time. We were sparring and I just couldn't keep my guard up. My arms were too tired and seriously failing me. Jermaine, my instructor, kept yelling at me "How many times are you going to let yourself get hit in the face?!" Apparently the answer was quite a lot. Thank God there's a lot of padding on those gloves. Don't worry, we wore head gear, too. Never mind that mine went flying off part way through our sparring exercises. (And no, he didn't let me stop to put it back on.) I've got a circle of bruises on my left thigh where one woman kept kicking me. I was trying to "absorb" the kick. I need to work on my reaction time so I can block effectively instead of just "absorbing" and taking the abuse. One guy I was paired with eventually truly beat the shit out of me. He's the one who kept popping me in the face. I couldn't block and I couldn't keep my guard up. I'm not happy that I got sick, because I could really have used that private training session after Thursday's disaster.

Good news! I've been undergoing some medication changes. I've been slowly switching from Zyprexa to Triflouperazine. Since Zyprexa seems to have Mlost it's magic for me, it was time to try something new. The good news, that my doctor told me, is that trifluoperazine (aka Stelazine) does not have the weight issue that Zyprexa does. Hopefully this will make things a little easier and this year I can lose weight instead of gaining it. Of course, I've got a few other drugs in the mix, and one of them, Abilify, can cause some slight weight gain, but I don't think it's supposed to be nearly as bad as Zyprexa. Don't get me wrong: I'm not completely blaming the drug for my weight issues. I'm just saying I don't think it did me any favors. And last night was my last dose of it. I hope my body adjusts well.

Goal for the end of February: 212. That's 5 pounds. I think I can do it.