Just saying hi

Sorry I've been away this month. December has a way of getting away from me!
Someone gave me a little nudge this morning though and reminded me I should post (thanks!).

Nothing much is doing by way of weight loss. Kind of just hanging in there for now. I've had a "mini flu" as I've been calling it. Missed a week of the gym but am getting back into the routine this week. It's been slow going but at least I'm there!

Anyway, I promise to get back into writing and being here more often next week. I just get pulled in so many directions during the month of December that the "little things" get neglected. :(

I wish you and yours a very happy holiday season and I will check in with you next week.

Rocky

I totally didn't want to go to the gym today. I was in a sour mood and feeling stressed about some stuff that's going on behind the scenes.  The good thing about having a set appointment with a trainer is that I can't just not got. He's there waiting for me so I have to buck up and go.

I walked into the gym with a smile on my face. Talking myself into working out and realizing that a great workout will help ease some of the frustrations I am feeling with another situation. I worked hard today. I didn't take as many breather breaks in between each set. There was a lot of talking going on in my head. Had to let myself know that I wasn't going to run out of breath. My breathing was a bit labored at times but I was still getting oxygen and wasn't going to die.

While working so hard, Damon pulls out the red kettle bell. I was thinking "Whoa!  What's up with the red...I'm just getting used to the green". He saw the wheels turning and said something about how I need to remember how on the first day I could hardly hold the little yellow one. The red is just another stepping stone to get to the ultimate one: blue. YIKES!

So, for my last exercise for the day I got to put on the gloves:

This is no joke...as Damon was putting the gloves, what comes on the radio?  Yep!  You guessed it!  A little Eye of The Tiger!  We both laughed, then I punched him. HAHA!

Holy Workout, Batman!

I can hardly move today.  Damon really worked me out yesterday. I haven't been this sore after a work out in a long time. I had a hard time reaching my arms up to wash my hair this morning.  Reminded me of a story Mark from The Biggest Loser season 5 told us at the taping of season 10 in Boston. He said that after working out with Bob and Jillian: even the simplest of things like showering were rough joking that he'd just put a little shampoo on his head and rub his head on the shower wall because he couldn't move his arms. 

Mark Kruger

That's pretty much how I felt this morning. My arms are in a world of hurt but it's a welcomed feeling! It helps to feel a bit of that muscle ache to remind me to put the cupcake (or whatever) down and reach for an apple instead. Certainly don't want to work that hard only to throw it all out the window for a moment on the lips. 

December Goals

Oh December! Oh Monday!

I love the month of December. It's full of festivities and celebrations. It's also very, very busy. I feel like December is full before it even starts. It never ceases to amaze me how you can go from having virtually nothing to do to being straight out for days and/or weeks at a time.

My postings will continue to be spotty throughout the month. It's not that I don't want to make the time to check in, checking in certainly does help me stay on track. It's just that I'm being pulled in a million directions right now. So, please forgive me if I go quiet for a bit.

Anyway, what's going on with my progress?  Well, I'm still up the 9 pounds and have added another 3. I honestly don't know what is going on. I know my eating hasn't been 100% on target, but I'm not eating over my calorie budget on a daily basis. There is no way I should be up nearly 12 pounds. Ugh. Damon (Monday and Wednesday trainer) says it's probably from all the salty foods from Thanksgiving. Rudy (my Friday trainer) approached me today to see how much I was down. He said he's really noticing a big change in my figure. I laughed and told him I am up nearly 12 pounds. He was speechless.

I have a physical in a few weeks. I'm most certainly going to discuss this with my doctor when I see her. I understand that our bodies can fluctuate from day-to-day but swinging 10+ pounds is getting to be very discouraging.

That all being said, I'm setting some goals for this December:

1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  I am terrible with getting my water in during the colder months.  I do, however, find it much easier to drink water when I have my huge water bottle full and at the ready. 

2. Not going to sweat the small stuff. I'm hoping to just continue the coarse and will be happy to maintain this month but would be even more happy with a 5 pound loss; the 12 that I have gained along with another 5...I know the 12 is probably water so the hydration should help with that.

3. Be on during the week. Be careful and mindful on the weekends. With all the Christmas parties coming up, it's going to be difficult to stay on plan for the weekend. I will have plans for each situation and will do my best to not go overboard. I will be 100% honest with myself and you about what goes on over the weekends. (I always am, just putting it out there). 

Back to Work

Today I'm going back to work. I'm not sure if I mentioned this last week or not but I received a call from the woman I interviewed with about a month ago. At the time, she said she wanted someone with more Excel experience. She called me out of the blue last week to offer me the position. Apparently the woman she hired didn't work out so well. I'm curious what went so wrong. How can someone quit/be fired in less than a month?  I guess it's no matter, I get to have a go at a much-needed parttime job.

My eldest isn't too happy with my going back to work. Mind you, I'm only working two nights a week; a total of 7-8 hours...just enough to fill a gas tank (HA!). I've broached the subject of my looking for work a number of times in the past, he never liked the idea. Now that it's here? He hates it. I explained to him that it's only two nights a week and I will see him everyday before he gets on the bus. I won't get to tuck him in but I will (as I always do) kiss him and his brother when I get home.

I'm going to have to buckle down and meal plan a bit better. As it is, three days a week are spent on the pool deck while my eldest swims for the swim team. Those afternoons are nothing short of hectic. Adding in my work schedule is going to get dicey.  And yes, I realize people work and manage a household all at the same time. It's going to be an adjustment but one that I can handle.

As far as the weight stuff goes, I hopped on the scale this morning (a day early) because I was feeling light and my skin looked so healthy (I'm told I have "nice skin" all the time, but I'd beg to differ). Well, I shouldn't have looked! I'm up 9 pounds. I guess I best get to drinking some water today. I am very dehydrated. I know it's *mostly* water weight because I certainly didn't eat an extra 31000 calories last week!  I probably had an extra 3, maybe 4 thousand over the weekend (that would be a pound or so)....not 9!  I'm not going to stress out about it. I know what I need to do to get the scale back on track.

Off to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

Mid-week catch up

This weekend sure got away from me!
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are recovering from your food coma.  I know I am. It's back to the grind for sure today!

I've been running around too much this last week or so. Too much to do, too little time. Hopefully I can come up for some air soon. Until then though, I'll play along with Kenlie's FMM: Dear Santa

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Dear Santa:  List at least ten things that you may or may not need that you’d love to find under your tree this year!   

I'll preface my answers with we don't exchange gifts for the adults in my house. The gifts are strictly for the kids. Maybe someday, when we are independently wealthy, that will change. Until then, it's all for the kids. BUT, if Santa should happen to let a few things fall off his sleigh, these things I wouldn't mind taking off his hands:

1. A laptop. I would love a MacBook but will take just about anything. My computer in my scraproom is dying. I just "need" something that I can troll the intertubes and run my scrapping software on. Nothing fancy. 

2. Gift cards to online scrappy stores. I've had to cut back on my scrappy goodness buying so I could put those to good use! 

3. Time. Wouldn't it be nice to have a few extra moments during the day to sit back and take it all in. I hate how fast time goes by! 

4. Patience. Oh how I could use a little patience sometimes! 

5. Attention Span. I seriously think I have adult ADD.  I started this post on Monday. It's now Wednesday!  YIKES! 

That's all I can think of. I don't really need or want anything. I have the best family a gal could ever ask for and that is all I really need. 

.....

OK. Sorry I've been so spastic with my writing. The holiday season tends to get me off of track. There are always 100 million things to get done and hardly enough time in the day. Amazing how you can go from having nothing to do to having too much to do!  It will all get done and I need to learn to stop to smell the roses a bit along the way. 

My workouts are getting rough. Damon had me try a few new-to-me exercises today. I rocked them and will probably feel it tomorrow but that's OK. If Damon is turning up the heat though, I'm very afraid of what Friday will look like when I train with Rudy. Someone hold me. 

I'm getting better and back on track with the eating. I've resorted to stocking up on daily lunches of the frozen variety.  I've done that because I need a little stability and something easy to follow right now. I think having the connivence foods is going to help me stay as close to on track as I can be for now. Trust me, I don't like eating nuke-a-meals on a daily basis, but I honestly feel it's going to be a big help with getting through the holidays. Once things calm down, I will go back to prepping and planning. 

Holiday Week

I don't know about you, but this week has just gotten away from me! 

Did you go out shopping today? I went out last night. Stood inline at Toys R Us for a few hours with my friend. We had a great time! I think I bought out the store. The kids should be happy!  I also popped into Michaels and grabbed some fun crafty stuff among other things. My friend also wanted to hop over to Wal-Mart (if you know me, I don't "do" Wal-Mart)...anyway, we're driving down the road and see that the parking lot is total mayhem. I pulled in thinking we'd be pulling right back out. We did manage to find a spot though and ventured on in to find the item she was looking for. Only had to stand in line for 30 minutes or so to check out. It was worth the comedic and entertainment value to watch people go nuts over crap just because it was on sale. Oh, so much fun! 

As far a the food goes, things went really well yesterday!  I didn't go too far off the deep end. Today? That's another story. I can't believe all the garbage I ate today. Wasn't supposed to be that way, we were supposed to take the kids someplace today but we were all wiped out. At least I'll be in the gym in the morning!  Working with a new-to-me trainer. Should be fun. 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!