Ok, seriously, June, you can be over now.

Billy Mays dead?! SHEEESH! He made Oxy-Clean and Orange Glo seem so amazing!!!!!

No more death please, June 2009. The past few days partnered with the blah cloudy gloom today is making me feel a bit down in the dumps.

Anyways. This has been a most uneventful weekend. I had so many things I should have done...but didn't. I lazed around most of yesterday and today trying to hold on to the hours of free time as long as possible (by doing nothing, oh the irony!).

My mom purchased me a pressure cooker through Sears this past week. We went to pick it up yesterday and I'm soooo excited to use it tonight. My mom and grandmother have always made food in the pressure cooker and they taste so fantastic. I haven't really learned to use it in all those years, but my mom has given me guidance and I'm excited to make her and g-ma's delicious beef with gravy. MMMMM...beef with gravy and chicken and dumplings are two of the best things that come out of pressure cookers in my opinion. I will be making the latter tomorrow night.

Things on the exercise front have been going well. Wii Active makes me SWEAT like crazy. It's mostly toning exercises though, and even though I'm on fire afterwards, I realize I need to add more cardio in the mix. I've been doing the 30-day Shred occasionally after the Wii Active when I feel I need a bit more, but that's a lot of toning as well. I think it's time to jump back on my old friend the Elliptical. UGH.

On a positive note, my husband said my legs feel tighter! And they do!! I was surprised to feel a bit a muscle through my chunkiness. If that's not motivation, I don't know what is. (-: I haven't done any official measurements yet, but I think I will schedule that and a weigh-in for next Sunday.

Hope everyone is well!

Ergh.

Today was sure a test. I was actually feeling rarely fantastic today (especially for a Monday)--like good mood fantastic, energy fantastic...

Then my husband called to tell me that he is now unemployed.

ERGH.

Normally, I would go on the stress spiral and just throw up my hands and eat a big meal full of junk and lay in bed. But I've turned a new corner in living and decided nuts to that!

I didn't go out and get something crazy horrible for dinner. We DID go to Chik-fil-a, but I got the chicken sandwich with a side salad and light dressing. AND we did go to Stone Cold Creamery where I picked up a Birthday Cake Remix ice cream--but I haven't even eaten any yet, and don't know if I will tonight.

PLUS, I EXERCISED. What a Monday!

I picked up the Wii Active last week and have been really on the ball with it. I'm very impressed--it's nothing like Wii Fit. Wii Active is actually a work out and I have partaken in its 30 Day Challenge which has been fantastic. It actually makes me sweat.

AND, when I put my pants on this morning, they felt a little bit loose. WOO!

So here's to me sticking to something. It's a festivus miracle!!



That's all.

Mondays and me, we're just not friends.

Before I begin, I just want to say that I cannot believe it’s already June 1st. I swear it was just mid-April a minute ago! This year is flying by fast!

Let’s talk Mondays. Monday used to be the day I swore I was going to start something. I was going to get up earlier, I was going to eat better, I was going to exercise, I was going to work on something…Monday is the day!

Then Monday comes and BLECH.



Today, after vowing to start back up on my 30 Day Shredding, and thus FAILING, I decided to just face facts: Monday and I really don’t get along. As a matter of fact, Mondays and I aren’t even frenemies…we’re MORTAL ENEMIES.

In the past, I’d vow to start on Monday, FAIL MISERABLY, and then beat myself up about it. Well, today, on Monday, I made a vow on something I didn’t actually fail at: to stop beating myself up and let Monday be a “whatever” day. And so far, I’m feeling fine.

After the weekend, I have a very hard time returning to weekdays. Weekdays bring the dread of work, traffic, housework, and all the other things I need to do that I dislike. I can barely get out of bed at the latest possible time I know I need to get up or I’ll be horridly late. I can barely keep my eyes open all day and the only thought running through my head is: “You suck, Monday.”

So even though this weekend I said I would exercise and study today, I am giving myself permission to just accept that Monday isn’t a good day for me and let it go. And that’s that! I feel much better after embracing this! Sounds lame, but it’s true!
In sort of related news, you may be wondering what the heck happened with my 30 Day Shred craze. HMMMMM…okay, I’m still crazy about it, and honestly, I was doing extremely well with it when I first started. Then I got horribly ill and I honestly stopped, and didn’t start up again. This falls in with the fact that I planned to start up last month, but time flew by like crazy!

Good news though, I haven’t re-gained most of the five pounds I lost. I’m hovering between 163 and 164, which is a small victory considering I haven’t been very health conscious at all since mid-April! I’ll take every little small victory I can get. (-:

Tomorrow, so-so Tuesday, I will return to the Shred and hope to do as best as I can by August when my mom and Gene return, along with my two brothers, for my Grandmother’s 80th b-day. Let’s see how well I can do!

The ladder still stands as:




Alright, lastly, I have not started studying for the GRE. I will also be starting tomorrow and hitting the books for September. I’m so nervous! Last night I had a terrible dream that I went to take the test and realized I was stupid! The test questions consisted of these really weird number puzzles that I had no idea how to solve. I woke up in a cold sweat!

I better get my butt in gear!

Shred: Day One

I bought another Jillian Michaels workout dvd. I figured since I can only huff and puff my way through 20 minutes of her hour-long ones, I might as well go out and get her 30 Day Shred dvd. It's only 20 minutes long and has three levels. I guess you do 10 days or so on each level.

I've been reading really great reviews about it (heck, 1019 people reviewed it on amazon and it got 4 and a half stars out of five..), and of course, reading the success stories get me motivated.

So day one today. Nearly died. I am sad and pathetic. I finished with shaky arms and legs and I swear in the shower I was trying to wash my hair but was having trouble raising my arms. That's just level one. /-:

I'll let you know how it goes. I'll take my measurements after 10 days at level one. As for weight, eh, I hope I can lose a good number by mid-may.....maybe 155-ish?? I don't know. I'm not doing so hot on my April weight loss goal since I haven't exercised since before my horrid illness.

I will say that despite that, I have maintained my 5 pound loss, so I'm still at a cool 162.

Little steps, people.

OWww...and donations!

I tell you, I have been exercising everyday this week so far and I am out of shape. I can only manage about 20 minutes on those Jillian Michaels videos..but I am improving. They are KILLER. When I can get through the entire 50 minutes, I will be walking on sunshine.

I also have been watching my calories. What a wakeup call that is. Even stuff I thought was healthy had a ton of calories in it. I have done okay with that, made semi-decent (or at least much better than I used to) choices when eating out and logging everything I eat on The Daily Plate.

I stepped on the scale this morning and I had lost 2 pounds since last Wednesday BUT I'm not going to "officially" weigh-in until Sunday.

All in all, I'm extremely proud of the little steps I have been able to make in this endeavor, or as my super friend Deb calls it: the De-Whaling Mission. Usually when I get home from work, I let the tiredness run all over me and I end up not doing anything. But, this time I am actually doing it later in the evening instead of attempting it right when I get home--and even though most of the time I groan and say I don't feel like it, I actually DO get off the my butt and exercise which is HUGE. HUGE I TELL YOU.

Kudos to me!

Lastly, I made a bit of progress on my vague #4 Resolution of "Being a Better Person!" I donated $10 to the School Walk for Diabetes for a friend of mine's daughter who is participating. I have resolved myself to donate to two other charities before the year ends as well (hopefully a little bit larger sum if I can afford it). I'm planning those two charities to be the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

Why those? Well, for the Ronald McDonald House, several months ago around the holidays, a local radio station was doing a fund-raiser for them. They had so many stories of how RMcD House had helped these families who's children were ill--gave them a place to stay, food to eat and clothes and care for the kids. It was so unbelievably touching that I vowed to donate to them at least once in my life.

For Susan G. Komen, I think that's probably the most repretable breast cancer foundation out there and I'd like to help in any small way I can. My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor and my aunt currently is battling it herself. It's scary and sad, as any cancer is, and it's touched my life personally.

I would encourage everyone to donate to something that is personally important to them. It makes you feel good, and even if it's just a tiny amount, you're helping!

Not so good day...

Okay, so I vowed yesterday to get up this morning and workout...well, it didn't exactly go so well. I *DID* get up at 5 am. I *DID* put on my workout gear. I *DID* get on the elliptical. And that's where it ended. I started to work out, but I was so unbelievably tired and blah that I could only manage a few minutes. I got off and felt a little ill and then vowed that I would not do that again for a very long time.

The 5 o'clock hour is not a good time for me to do anything--I've come to this realization and am accepting it. Perhaps after I get into some semblance of shape and have more energy, then maybe I can get up before work and exercise. But not right now. UGH.

I told myself I should exercise when I got home, but after almost falling asleep on the way to work and on the way home, I realized that I would just not worry about it today. I'm okay with that. It was the first day back at work after a week and a half, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

However, I will exercise when I get home tomorrow. Yep.

Other than that, I did okay on the eating part until lunch. I had a salad and some chicken, but then I added 3 cookies, 2 chocolates and 2 handfuls of white cheddar Cheez-its (damn those delicious things!).

To not beat myself up about this day, I'll focus on the positives:
I took my vitamins this morning.
I had a good breakfast and a good snack (oatmeal for breakfast, 2 hard-boiled eggs and tomatoes and carrots for snack).
Although I had the extra crap I shouldn't have eaten at lunch, I still didn't do that bad today overall.
I did make good on my promise to get up at 5 and attempt to exercise--shame I just can't do it right now.

A not so good day, but a not so terrible day. What can you do?

PS...I actually got on the scale today and was shocked that I weighed my highest weight EVER. Now I have to lose 35 lbs instead of 25. What a freaking bummer! But I'm not totally depressed and discouraged. I'm going to lose that weight.