Stress Free Vacation

My weigh in on Monday showed a decrease.  I was down 2.3 pounds.  But, overall I'm still up .7 from my lowest weight. 

I was hoping to have lost the entire 3 pounds before leaving for our family vacation yesterday.  We're spending a week at my parent's lakehouse in Tennesee.  Even though I packed my blender, shakes, and diet food, I'm anticipating some extra weight coming on. I just know what happens when I go there.  Lots of food.  Lots of booze.  It is what it is.

We left yesterday with a car full of stuff.  Our clothes, my food, and some stuff my dad asked us to bring (boxes of home grown tomatoes, jars of homemade salsa, and a case of Westerhall rum).  It's a 9 hour drive to their house and we were ready to get there.  Especially me.  I have really been looking forward to this get away.  And, yes... the diet and potential weight gain has brought on some anxiety... overall, I'm excited and eager to be away for a few days. 

We barely got out of Louisiana and into Mississippi before our car broke down.  Yep.  Broke down.  We had just stopped in Picayune (MS) for some veggies.  I had left mine in the fridge at home and was already starting to feel hungry.  So, we ran in quick and grabbed some.  When we got on the on ramp for the interstate, the car started acting funny.  And, it eventually stopped running.

Now, here we are 90 minutes into our trip with a car full of stuff and my lap full of veggies.  It's nearly 100 degrees out.  And, we break down.  Perfect. 

After numerous attempts to determine what the problem is, my husband gives up.  We call a tow truck and take it to a dealership.  Thank goodness there was one just an exit away.  Another great thing was my father was scheduled to drive to TN later that day.  He was able to leave a little earlier than planned and picked us up.  He also had a packed car and that was a little challenge, at first.  But, we packed what we could in and left our car in Mississippi.  And... got ourselves on hit the road again. 

Let's just hope the dealer doesn't call with some really bad news.  I was really hoping for a stress free vacation. 

Steady Jog

Yesterday's spin class was more like a boot camp.  It was 10 minutes intense spinning, then jogging the track, then rigiourous ab exercises, then back to the track, then more intense intervals on the bike. 

I was pretty worried I'd be out of shape for class since I have been so relaxed in my workout routine.  And, I could feel myself struggling at first.  But, overall I surprised myself. 

I'm not a big runner/jogger.  I do short bouts of it.  But, between my foot injury and my weight, I have never enjoyed it.  Our instructor had us do 5 laps of straight jogging.  A year ago I would have never been able to maintain it.... a steady jog.  But, yesterday I did.  I was pretty proud of myself.  It's good to see my physical abilities improving.  I need to keep challenging myself, though. 

Male Envy

I'm experiencing some serious male envy. 

I've come to realize (actually, this isn't really a new realization) that I really don't want to work out midday.  Once I'm dressed and ready for the day, I don't want to change into workout clothes later and get sweaty.  That just means I have to shower, reapply makeup, dry my hair, etc.  It's quite a hassle. 

This is what makes me envious of men.  I keep thinking if I was a man, I could get in a quick workout midday.  I wouldnt have to deal with all the nonsense that women do.  They really have it easy.  They don't have the makeup or accessories of women.  Taking off my jewelry can take a good five minutes sometimes. 

I recently blogged about not wanting to exercise.  I missed my workout last Friday morning and packed a bag so I could work out at the office.  But, I really couldn't make myself do it.  The biggest obstacle, in my head, was having to go through the process of getting ready again.  It was overwhelming.  So, I never worked out. 

Oh, to be a man....

Yo-Yo

I've been in the maintenance phase of the diet for 22 weeks.  In that time, I've lost and gained... mostly lost.  I've watched others yo yo the entire time.  Up 4, down 2.  Up 3, down 1.  The ups are usually higher than the downs. 

This week my scale has really been yo-yoing. A lot.  I was down 6 pounds from Monday to Friday, but today I am up again.  So, I have no idea what to think about the weigh in tonight.  I'm just going to hope it's not another gain.  I'd love for it to be a loss of the entire gain I've had plus some.    But, that seems pretty unrealistic. 

Anyway, I'm hoping this isn't the beginning of some ongoing pattern as a yo-yo.

Just say NO....

to exercise. 

That must be my motto coz I sure haven't done any.

Seriously,  none all weekend.   None Friday.  None Saturday.  None today.  Nothing.  Just can't get myself to do it. 

Friday I slept in some and even packed a bag so I could work out during my day... nope.  Didn't do it.  I even had plenty of time.  Just couldn't make myself go.

Saturday I had a morning rehearsal and then spent the afternoon/evening with a friend and our girls.  I just never tried to get in exercise or really even cared.

Then today... my nephew came over and a friend of the kids.  I could have snuck in some, but (again) I just didn't even try.  So, I know this will probably impact the scale tomorrow.  And, I should care more. 

I hate that I don't.  Sure, I don't want to gain any more weight.  But, I don't really want to work as hard as I need before either.  This slump of mine needs to pass.  Real soon.

Scaling Down

My 3 pounds weight gain on Monday has shown strong signs of disappearing.  The scale this morning brought great hope.  Perhaps it will all be gone, and then some, on Monday's weigh in.  I've been pretty focused this week on water intake, exercise, and what I'm eating.  Let's hope I can keep focused through the weekend.  I like see the scale go down again.

Stress Density

In November I wrote about stress density and my inability to lose weight and all the stress I was under at that time.

Here I am again.  Only in November, I was probably more rigid in my diet.  I was still really in the box - unlike now where I've been cheating more.  Cheating... meaning I eat outside the core curriculum (beyond box food and fruits and vegetables).  I've had more drinks lately.  A lot more and more often. 

But, this has been a very stressful time for me.  The last few months at work have been very challenging.  A lot of growth (which is great) along with quite a few dozen moments of frustration.  Along with that there have been several other things I'm juggling that are causing anxiety and stress.

Monday night's weigh in was my worst.  I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.  The scale (over the weekend) had been warning me... really, really warning me... that it was going to be bad.  It was less bad than the warning signs, but I was still up almost 3 pounds.  I'd been pretty proud of my track record.  My biggest gain to date was 1 pound, once.  Any other gain was like .4 or .2 or .5 once.  I basically call that maintaining. 

For the past few weeks I haven't seen a loss.  It's been up .2 or staying exactly the same or down a tiny bit.  But, up 3

I talked to Ginah about the stress I've been under.  And, that I've had more drinks lately.  And, yes... I believe I am responsible for this gain (to some degree) with bad choices.  I also know that I'm very stressed and I've felt especially dense.  My skin is tight.  My legs are tight.  My clothes are tight.  To make matters worse, my blood pressure is elevated. 

I've got to get myself back on track coz I really hate the way this "density" feels.