The Best is Yet to Come

Ugh. Dust is going to be my damn downfall eventually.

OK, finally feeling a little better. Finished a full course of antibiotics - gotta’ love Z-Packs. Still stuffy and feeling like crud, but nowhere near as bad as last week.

Went to the allergist on Monday - turns out that in addition to the dust and dust mites that I knew I was allergic to, I am now also allergic to grass. WTF????

Anyway, taking new allergy meds and considering getting shots - if it keeps me from getting these recurrent sinus infections that **** up my progress, then it’s worth it.

Right now taking Singulair and some new nasal spray called Omnaris. Going back to the allergist in two weeks and have an appointment with the ENT tomorrow afternoon to have my head examined.

Going to the chiro after work to have my back and knee looked at and then getting a workout in since the chiro is so very conveniently located directly next to my gym - that’s actually how I found her, she was in the newsletter doing some spinal screenings or something.

Diet so far today: 2 eggs, 2 slices wheat toast with 1 large coffee w/skim milk and a little sugar - but NOTHING like the amount of sugar Xil loaded his coffee up with on Saturday.  Good lord, talk about a sugar high!

Not sure about tonight’s workout since all I did Monday was cardio…….so I think I’ll try to hit chest and triceps along with back and biceps. Shouldn’t be that hard to add in.

ps - it turns out that my normal temp is a degree or two below 98.6, so I truly was running a slight fever. Yay, I’m not completely nuts after all!

Alright, now that the vehicular bullshit has passed, time to get back to it.

Breakfast: 1 egg, coffee

Mid Morning: 1 scoop of whey protein w/4 oz skim

Lunch: Turkey breast and veggies

Afternoon: 1 scoop of whey protein w/4 oz skim

Dinner: Chicken breast on the foreman grill and a small portion of rice

That’s the plan, we’ll see how much I deviate.

Workout plan for the evening:
dumbbell presses superset with flyes
close grip bench
cable crossovers
bench press
military press superset with lateral raises - both starting from seated position and press/raise while rising to stand
skull crushers

Cardio to finish it up.

I must say, I’ve done pretty well with most of my New Year’s resolutions, but really need to step up my workouts and diet. Once I’m back in the groove of things it’s super easy to stay there, it’s just getting back that sucks.

As for my other resolutions, I’m ahead of my new shoe buying quota - planned to buy two new pair each month. In January, I’ve now purchased seven. I’m doing moderately better with cleaning up my foul language, but there’s room for much improvement.

Happy Monday!

Woohoo, it’s only been in the shop for a freaking week and a half. How overly frustrating this has been. Finally picking it back up tonight after a rather costly and bizarre repair. One stupid bolt is going to end up costing almost $1,200. Go figure.

On the flip side, I’ve gotten an additional mile of walking in from going a half mile to and from my place to the train station, so there’s an upside. The only bad part is that it’s cold out! I frequently walk back and forth when it’s nice out, but hadn’t planned on doing it in the middle of winter.

In other news, most of my lab results have come back normal, but I meet with the endocrinologist again tomorrow afternoon to see what her thoughts are. My TSH levels are in line, TSH antibodies are high, testosterone is normal and most stuff checks out aside from being Vitamin D deficient. Isn’t everyone in winter?

It’ll be nice to be able to get in a real weight workout again, too. Dumbbells at home only get one so far, so it’ll be good to get back in the gym tomorrow night.

…find me sittin’ by myself
no excuses that I know.

So it’s Thyroid Awareness Month - heck, I didn’t even know there was such a thing. I see so many people with misconceptions about what it means to have an out of whack thyroid and it doesn’t really surprise me when most people WITH thyroid problems, as well as many physicians, don’t fully understand the scope of what living with this encompasses. It gets frustrating to hear people say that it’s just an excuse to be fat and lazy, when it’s truly not.

I’ve been groggy, irritable and been getting cold much easier lately (I’m wearing two sweaters and shivering) - not to mention my damn hair is thinning and my skin is drier than it should be. There are so many symptoms connected with having an underactive thyroid that I never really realized until I started doing more digging into the subject - with many things it’s like having a light bulb go on over my head because it makes so much sense when I look back at how I was when my dosage was too low. Anyway, I’m noticing that even though my levels are supposed to be "normal", that I still have a few of the symptoms and am looking to see if any alternative medications may alleviate that.

Got in a LATE ab workout last night……….but I still got it in, along with 30 minutes of cardio. Woohoo!!!

Diet could have been much better yesterday.

Breakfast:
2 eggs
2 pieces whole wheat toast
1 cup of coffee….yes, I put some cream and sugar in it. I’m working on that one.

Lunch:
6" flour tortilla
Grilled chicken
Salsa
sprinkling of white cheddar
tsp of sour cream

Late afternoon:
6" flour tortilla
Grilled steak
Salsa
sprinkling of white cheddar
tsp of sour cream

Dinner:
6" flour tortilla
Grilled chicken
Salsa
sprinkling of white cheddar
tsp of sour cream
8 oz milk

Yes, I know my diet really sucked yesterday. But it sure beats Monday where I had toast and eggs for breakfast, turkey and melon for lunch and two pieces of toast for dinner that I had to force myself to eat because I had NO appetite.

I frequently don’t eat enough…..yeah, shut up. But it’s often true. Other days I overdo it. Pizza is my biggest weakness, but I haven’t had any in at least two weeks….nor do I want any. That’s not normal.

Today will be better, eggs for breakfast. Planning on grilled chicken and some veggies for lunch. Have a doctor’s appointment that I’m not looking forward to in the afternoon and might not be up to a rigorous workout later, but I’ll see how it goes. Also have an appointment first thing in the morning with the endocrinologist to have her take a full look at my thyroid and see if she can figure out why I’m so sluggish, cold and tired - not to mention moody, lately.

I’d taken sudafed Monday at work and was completely wiped out between that and my sinus headache. I’ll admit it. I did jack shit Monday night.

What sucks is that I beat myself up and that doesn’t help things. I’d come home on Saturday with every intention of spending Sunday getting unpacked from being gone two separate times since the 22nd for Christmas and New Years (I was home 2.5 days in between), and cleaning up my place so that I could have a nice fresh start on Monday to kick off the new year right.

Sadly, Sunday was pretty much a nonevent, aside from having breakfast at lunchtime along with 4 cups of coffee at the Cheesecake Factory with two friends.

Still had the headache but made a major score on some throw pillows at Crate and Barrel - only saw them because I had to use the ladies room but they were PERFECT! I asked the price on them and was surprised that they were only $20 each, when I was expecting closer to $50. Turns out they were originally $70 apiece.

Anyway, got some new perfume at Sephora and then stopped at my favorite store, Zgallerie and found these beautiful placemats for my table, also on sale. SCORE!

Got home around 5ish and pretty much just zonked out. Nibbled on some chicken from the day before but barely touched it. Sent my leftover crabby eggs home with one of my lunch companions - I should mention that they both had cheesecake while I sipped my coffee and only had a bite from each piece. I was a good girl.

Regardless, the point is that I have a hard time working out when my house isn’t clean. I’m weird like that, I guess. So I straightened up tonight before getting in my workout - but it’s not completely clean. I suck.

So, right now my biggest focus is on adjusting my diet while I make sure I get my workouts in and making sure that I’m taking the right steps to ensure that I’m healthy.

……they don’t work
No regrets now, they only hurt
Sing me a love song
Drop me a line
Suppose it’s just a point of view
But they tell me I’m doing fine

So, that’s it, I’ve made peace with what was and what was not in the past year and have no regrets about any of it.

Diet has been good today, and will stay that way. I plan on fully kicking my own butt tonight with my workout. Tonight is chest/triceps and some cardio. And add to that, I still have to finish unpacking from being gone over Christmas, not to mention the New Year’s unpacking. Oh, can’t forget about laundry too!

It’s with a spring in my step and a whole heart that I move forward into the new year and concentrate on the most important person in my life - Me.

I picked up a few gadgets for myself over the holidays to better track my workouts and progress. Got a Polar F11 watch and a new Tanita BC533 scale (much more advanced than my old Tanita).

…..to live, to love today
‘Cause it’s a brand new year

Seeing the world through rose-colored eyes
Yeah, this is my one big chance and I’m gonna take it twice
With the past down below, I know love lifted me up here
So I’ll take a breath, kiss the sky, toll the bell
‘Cause it’s a brand new year

Resiliently reclaiming me
Refining my recovery
Untwist my fate, unlock the gate
Let’s make a little noise
‘Cause it’s a brand new year
Oh, welcome to my revolution

Welcome to my revolution, baby, yeah
Lucky you, lucky me
The way we were meant to be
This is my one resolution and I make it with no fear
It’s never been so clear
Second chance is what got me here
To live, to love today
‘Cause it’s a brand new year

SheDaisy

The new year is always a time for reflection and taking stock of what is, what isn’t and what should be. This year is no different.

I’ve had an interesting year, but it was lacking in some areas which I’d really like to address this year, so my resolutions are twofold. I plan to very much focus on my health, nutrition and fitness for the first half of the year and finally hit my target goals. Last year was full of distractions and deterrents and I plan to fully eliminate those as much as possible this year.

The second half will include focusing on some other areas of my life, including reevaluating some personal relationships and either improving or eliminating them. Time to cut the slack and get rid of any excess baggage.

Of course I have some other resolutions that are much simpler: quit swearing so much, wear less black, and most importantly, buy more shoes!

I love the holidays - but I hate the temptation! I’m proud of myself for doing as well as I have over Thanksgiving, especially since I was out of town - it’s always so much more difficult when you’re at someone else’s home.

Tonight is chest/triceps. Ugh. I hate working chest.

Diet going decent, except I missed breakfast this morning. I MUST get my ass out of bed earlier - it doesn’t help that I was up past midnight putzing around my place and that when I finally went to bed I couldn’t sleep.

But in good news, my tree is finished!

Right on time too! Started yesterday up in Wisconsin and I ended up driving through a ton of slush only to arrive at my home with NO snow on the ground. None! It was weird going from driving through a snowstorm to just rain.

Luckily, at some time after midnight the rain turned to snow and there’s a lovely blanket of white covering Chicagoland. They got dumped on so bad back up north that my nieces have a snow day and are off of school.

The holiday weekend spent with family and friends was just what my mind and spirit needed so I’m glad I was able to spend the time up there. Last year I didn’t go up for Thanksgiving because there was a snowstorm and it simply wasn’t worth a 4 hour round trip for turkey.

Happily, I only had 1 small piece of pumpkin pie which is a major weakness. My diet was pretty decent during my visit back home, but it’s much better now that I’m back with my own kitchen again.

The tree is up and I have some finishing touches to put on my holiday decorations, but after that it’s time for a good, sweaty workout. Woohoo!

And today is both.

I should be excited about the 3-day work week and looking forward to spending the holiday with family, but right at this moment I just want to go back to sleep - but only if I don’t have the terrible dreams again that disturbed and kept me up most of last night.

There’s a lot to be done between now and Thursday but I’ve got a decent handle on most of it and am looking forward to tonight’s workout even though it’s going to knock me out.

You betcha, time for a massive change. After meeting with a friend who is also a bb.com member and a personal trainer, my workout and diet has been completely revamped. If it doesn’t kill me, I’ll end up looking much better in a few months!

I’m switching from lifting on Monday/Wednesday/Friday to a five day with some serious cardio added in. Chest/triceps on Monday, abs on Tuesday, back/biceps on Wednesday, more abs on Thursday and legs/shoulders on Friday with just cardio on Saturday and Sunday. The biggest change is that I’m going with much lower weights and supersetting tons of reps.

My diet hasn’t changed too much except that I’m watching my sugars more closely than before and am aiming for 1,500-1,600 calories a day.

Working out through the holidays and eating right is going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it. Luckily, I still have gym memberships back home for during the holidays when I’m out of town and can still maintain some sort of decent workout schedule. Thankfully, they’re only closed on the holidays which are both Thursdays - I can still get in a decent ab workout if I make it a priority.

I plan on rewarding myself the day after Thanksgiving with a trip to the spa for some pampering.