The Best is Yet to Come

..if there’s one thing in my life that’s missing
it’s the time that I spend alone
sailing on the cool and bright clear water….

Since I moved down here I rarely spend time on the lakes anymore, and I forgot how much I miss it. Going up to Wisconsin for the holiday weekend was a good choice, it also allowed me to reconnect with my family and friends that I haven’t seen in person for a couple months and it really did me a lot of good to see them.

We went out on Lake Michigan and caught the 3 Days Grace and Foo Fighters concerts which were part of the Harley 105th from the water.

Tonight is squats in the gym, woohoo! Since I got so sick during the last two weeks I only managed to get in a squat workout before heading to the doc. I’m very much looking forward to getting my first full week of workouts in since my doc restricted me from my regular workout routine.

Adjusted the diet - very minimal dairy, wheat, sugar and corn. Focusing mainly on meat and veggies. Still playing around with calories/day - aiming for around 1,400 right now since it seems to bring results.

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! I’m finally feeling back to normal again, and actually slathered some makeup on so I no longer am walking around my office looking like the walking dead! Yippee!!!!!!!

It’s a sad thing that I came into work yesterday around noon and no sooner than I’d walked in the door had THREE coworkers come up to me and told me that I look like crap and I should go home…I JUST GOT THERE!!!!!

Anyway, going back to the gym tonight….I think I’ll just aim for some moderate cardio so as not to overdo things. Eating very clean as my digestive system is still out of whack, but getting much better daily.

Oh, Happy Hump Day!

….but I’m still miserable! Can finally keep food down, and am trying very diligently to stay hydrated.

Came in to work today, probably will not stay the entire day. Thankfully, there is no more stomach pain, but I’m just tired and weak. Sucks.

My chiropractor’s office called me and had told me that they know of quite a few people who’ve recently suffered with the same virus - and that it’s taken them 4-5 days to get over it. Well, this is day 5.

Let’s hope tomorrow’s better!

Woohoo!!! I ate a piece of toast. And kept it down.

First time in three days, this is a momentous occasion, indeed.

I’ve now lost a total of around 6 lbs in 3 days - this is NOT exactly how I planned to lose weight, and I’m quite tired of staring at the damn toilet.

The bad new development is that my glands in my neck are swollen and my neck is sore. I just can’t freaking win.

Dammit. My legs and glutes are sore, in a GOOD way, with DOMS from Monday’s workout.

My right arm; however, is quite a different story. I’m wondering if I aggravated the pulled muscle when I did my squats. All I know is it hurts like a bitch right now and I’ve got chest/arms to do tonight. Ugh.

Diet going very well today - went to Giordano’s to pick up pizza for lunch for my boss and resisted the temptation. I’ll be warming up my lean ground chuck burger for lunch. Had oatmeal for breakfast - I know I need to eat more, but I’ve been so busy that I keep forgetting to eat. On the other hand, I’m not having any hunger pangs, so it can’t be that bad.

…yippee!!!!!!!! I’ve got some mild DOMS in my glutes, quads and hams….and some soreness across my back from the squat bar. And it’s SUCH a good pain!

Tomorrow is bench day, which I’m NOT looking forward to….well, I look forward to working my arms, but really hate chest work. I’ll be doing my bench with DB’s because my doc wants me to work each side equally, but that works fine for me - I won’t complain, since I dislike working chest regardless of how I’m doing it.

Diet’s been pretty decent today, I’ve done an excellent job of avoiding any sugar - including in my morning coffee. That sucks.

All in all, I’m feeling very positive now that I’m back in the gym again!

Cardio tonight…woohoo! I think I may go for a run.

There is an inch around my waist
From chocolate ice cream, God, I love the taste
And I don’t mind those laughing lines
My face is a sign of happy times

I did it, I did it, I did it and I’d do it again

While there are a LOT of things I’d do all over again, the chocolate ice cream is something I could live without - my one major regret is how I let myself go and squandered my genetic gifts by abusing my body and not taking care of it properly.

Everything else I’d pretty much keep the same, since every moment and experience I’ve had up to this point has made me who I am right now - and for the most part, I really like me.

Surely, I’ve made some relationship choices that, in hindsight, were very poor ones both physically, emotionally and financially. I’ve learned something from them, though, so I can’t complain overmuch.  I’m SO glad that I didn’t marry any of my exes even though we essentially lived as though we were. That would be a MAJOR regret had I gone that route.

My 33rd year, so far, has been one of great introspection and self-discovery - such an interesting journey, too! We’ll see where I end up…..should be good.

….so, the damn Olympics are a pain in the butt. They’re way too addicting and I find that I become so involved in watching the games that I lose track of time and end up going to bed WAY TOO LATE!!!!!!

Why is this a problem? Aside from the obvious, it makes getting up in the morning for cardio before work almost impossible. But - I did it before and I’ll do it again. And again. And again. And again.

I’ve officially received the OK from my doc to get back to both my regular cardio and lifting routines - except he dropped my weights down a little bit, but that’s fine. Will go back on Saturday again to see how my body handles a full week or my normal lifting, hopefully all will go well.

Still working on tweaking my diet - doc says eat 2,500-3,000 calories a day - I think that’s way too high, but he says that since I’m eating different foods than before I should see a difference because of the way the body processes nutrients.

Supposed to avoid wheat, soy (which I avoid anyway with my thyroid issues), sugar, dairy and corn. Most of those are pretty easy to skip, except he did specify no whey protien - that kinda’ sucks. And except for the no dairy, the rest is pretty easy since I pretty much eat that way regularly.

Tonight should be interesting to say the least, but I’m very much looking forward to being back in the gym.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well - so, no half-assed effort forthcoming, it shall be all out war. Failure really just isn’t an option at this point, unless we’re talking about lifting until failure.

I curse myself for totally letting myself go in my mid 20’s - looked at the scale one day and it said 265. I wanted to put my head in the oven - except we had an electric stove and it wouldn’t have done any good.

I’ve had quite a few ups and downs since last Fall and haven’t gained weight, but I’ve lost muscle and my bodyfat % has definitely gone up after looking at the pics - and yes, those pictures are worth 1,000 words - and none of them are good.

Thankfully, my doc should give me the go-ahead to get back to lifting when I see him tomorrow and then it’s going to be a very focused and determined journey to dump the rest of the weight.

Diet has been a big sticking point for me - and there is such an overload of opinion on the right way to do it, so I’m going back to what worked for me and will see how I do - may tweak it along the way depending on how it goes. Low carb, high protein and around 1,300-1,400 calories a day. Going to add skim milk back into my diet, but only around 12 oz a day mixed in my protein shakes. Fortunately, I don’t have any junk food in my house so there is no temptation there - and it’s time to go grocery shopping for some veggies and more meat.

Will be forcing my lazy butt out of bed to get back into doing cardio twice a day again in addiiton to lifting on Monday/Wednesday/Friday.  Looking forward to running in the mornings again…..starts the day off on the right foot.

…ugh. I just took some new pics and am NOT happy with pretty much everything between my neck and ankles.

Yes, I’ve had some setbacks and some injuries since last Fall, but come the heck on…..I am so completely disgusted with what the camera just told me that I will NOT be posting any new progress pics until I can refrain from having the urge to take a hammer to the poor thing.

It is with renewed determination and an outright REFUSAL to accept failure that I step back into the gym on Friday after getting the all-clear on my back and shoulder from the doc.

I refuse to settle for having a mediocre ass.

So, I finally found a new doc down here in Chicago…..out of necessity and a bad sinus infection, of course. It saddens me deeply to switch from my doc in Wisconsin who’s treated me for almost 20 years.

The good news; however, is that I absolutely love her. It’s not often that you get a good one on the first try, so I count myself lucky. I asked her about switching from my current synthetic T4 to a combination T3/T4 for my thyroid to see if it makes any noticeable difference. She was very open to my questions and concerns…I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

She also referred me to a chiropractor, who I’m seeing tomorrow - can’t WAIT! My back has been bugging me for a few months now, so relief will be nice. The other nice thing is that he also does acupuncture and nutritional counseling, as well as refers many patients to a beautiful spa in Chicago for massage therapy.

My workouts have sucked lately - been mainly just doing cardio. Switching my gym membership from a single club to multiple locations, so that should help to deal with the summertime activity interference.

Diet has been decent, but can always use some improvement.

Other than that, life is GREAT!!!!!