31 October 2015

One step up and two steps back.....


Love Springsteen even if that is not quite what I wanted to say....

Back from my WW meeting and I'm up 1.4#. Now, I need to keep this in perspective. Is this a surprise? No. Did I eat with some abandon this week? Yes. Did I indulge in candy on more than 1 day? Yes. Did I track everyday? No. Did I go over my points excessively a couple of days in a row? Yes. Did I have a whole lot of stress this week? Yes. So this upward movement is no surprise at all. All this does is make me want to focus harder on eating right and getting some activity in.

Which leads me to this, I have signed up for a 50 miles in November challenge. Starting tomorrow, I have 30 days to log 50 miles. That is approximately 1.67 miles per day. That is more than I am getting now so it should be a good boost. I would also like to add in some workouts. I have not worked out all the logistics yet, but I'm thinking treadmill in the morning and short workout in the afternoon/evening. I know initially it will be a matter of forcing myself to do it, much like the morning treadmill. But eventually it will become a habit, much like the morning treadmill.

So it's November 1st, let's make some goals for the month and not just move through it on cruise control:


  • Track everything, food & exercise, everything - this just needs to be done. No special equipment, no special routine, just do it. 
  • Restrict sugar intake to less than 30 grams a day - this will require me to track my food in myfitness pal along side the WW app. This can be a little humbug, but I only need to do it for a bit to get the sugar under control. 
  • 2 miles everyday - if things remain the same, this will require me to either walk at night or to start jogging. 
  • Start jogging - at least 2x a week jog instead of walk
  • Workout 3x per week - add in some crossfit style workouts a couple of times a week
  • Water, water, water - nuff said

Those are good, reasonable goals. Nothing too harsh, but increase the movement more. Right now, I think I'm going to take a little nap. Still working off the sugar hangover from yesterday.

Relearning things


Back in 2007. in this post, I extolled the vitrues of eating protein. I discussed the realization that I had made about sugar and simple carbs and the lack of fullness associated with both. Well, apparently I've forgotten all about that. I've gone back to WW and back to eating crap again. Yesterday, we celebrated Halloween at school. There was candy everywhere. I had bought some the week before to give to my classes - and got yelled at for it - so I had that too. I was doing okay until I succumbed to the call of the candy siren. And I had a couple pieces. Then I had a couple more. Then a couple more. You get the idea. By the end of the day I felt like crap. Absolute, utter crap. I cannot eat like that. I just can't. I could hardly keep my eyes open last night. After writing about how I felt my energy returning, I quickly chased it away. So, I need to rethink some stuff. Yes, I am back at WW and yes, I can loosen up my eating a little, but I still have to do what works for me. What works for me is protein and no sugar. Eating good food instead of junk. The crap is just not worth it. It doesn't even taste that good. So seriously, let's eat like an adult and not a 12 year old.

I have to leave for WW soon. After yesterday, not really sure how this will go. Going to grab a Starbucks on my way to help wake my ass up. Okay, off to jump in the shower real quick.

29 October 2015

Today is


I am not feeling well, and I'm at a point where it is not crucial if I take a day off, so I am home sick today. Being a teacher, it is difficult to take a day off. But there are times during the semester when it is easier than others, this is one of those times. Also, everyone around me is getting seriously ill with the flu. Since I'm not feeling well, and have no desire to catch the flu, I decided a sick day was the best course of action. I can rest and hopefully not catch what everyone has. Believe me, there are times when I have been deathly ill and still dragged myself into work because of what was going on. I'm hoping to avoid that this year. Anyway, I have things to do for school even though I'm not there. I started grading the AP tests last night, I guess I can finish them as I rest today. Oh joy.

So my phone died a week or so ago. If you had asked me before it died if I used my phone often, I would have told you no. That would have been a lie. I have found myself in so many positions in the last week where I needed my phone and couldn't use it. Ugh!!! I am getting a new one, but they are out of stock and so I wait. If I'm feeling better later, I may run it to the Sprint store and see if they can do anything. I also need to run my car over for a quick check, hopefully I can do that this afternoon.

Weight Watchers has been going pretty well. Not perfect, but good. I have started eating like a normal human - whatever the hell that means. But I have a decent breakfast, not heavy on protein or carbs or anything in particular. I have a decent lunch, again not heavy on any one thing, but a mixture of good healthy food. I eat dinner. No real snacking, except when I come home from school and I have got to break that. No after dinner snacking. What I've noticed this week is that I'm feeling good. Really. Really. Good. I'm tired at the end of the workday but not that bone weary exhaustion I get. I want to work out in the morning, I've been jumping on the treadmill religiously. And I've just been feeling awesome. I feel good. I like this feeling. I like feeling like a normal person and not some zombie by 4 p.m. in the afternoon. I did have a little candy binge yesterday. I think I had 4 tiny Butterfingers and 4 ting Twizzlers. Not great, but not as bad as it could be. I don't particularly feel like I'm losing weight, but I'm okay with that. I'm not making drastic changes, so I don't expect to see drastic results. I'm more than happy with just feeling much better.

Part of it has been the removal of stress. I do not bring work home, except for once in a while. 99% of the time, work gets done at work. I have removed the stress of walking the dogs during the week. That was a big stressor. I was so tired and having that hanging over my head just made it worse. Now that I've removed that, things are better. The first week at Phoenix was a huge stressor - that was last week. But I already feel a little better about this week. I probably graded the discussions wrong, but I do not even care. I have reached the point where I just want to get through this. Besides, I have realized that it seems mostly up to me so, whatever. I've also stopped stressing about my dissertation. I know what I want to do and it will get done. I don't work on it everyday, but I work on it more than I think I do. So removing stress has definitely opened things up for me. Once the stress is gone, things really start to flow. I have the energy and the desire to do things that stress prevented me from.

Okay, I've been walking on the treadmill the entire time I've been writing this. That has totaled to 31 minutes. Easy, peasy. Now time to go shower.

27 October 2015

Just popping in for a



I am walking on my treadmill at the moment. It is 5:30 a.m. and I really want to do another 5 minutes or so. I started my 2nd week of WW on Saturday and while I am not perfect, I am far better than I was without it. Yesterday when I came home from work I was not exhausted. I did get tired in the afternoon and I did have some coffee to drink, but I did not nap when I came home. Huge success. Also, I want to walk on my treadmill in the mornings. Yesterday I only had about 15 minutes, but I did it. Today I rushed to get everything done so I could jump on. It took a while, but I think I'm beginning to turn the corner on energy. Jeez I hope so. I probably shouldn't get too excited. I should see if it happens again today. The thing today is, I have no last period and we are having the honors assembly. I could leave at 12:35. I'm trying to decide if I want to or not. I could stay and sit through a boring assembly and then after school. Or I could leave early and come home and get some work done. Hmmmm.... tough choices. Something to think about as I get ready for work. Okay, gotta run.

25 October 2015

Walking, walking, walking


This is where I will be spending most of my days from now on. I've said it before, but this time I mean it. I am going to write my dissertation right here. Walking stirs the creative juices. How many times have I gotten seriously great ideas while walking the dogs? I know that part of it is the peace and quiet of the walk, but it is also the walking part. So I want to lose weight and I need to write a dissertation. Boom. 2 birds, 1 stone. I need to do a little rearranging in this room in order to make it completely workable, but I can do that today. I also want to do more than walk, but I have 24 hour fitness for that. Hopefully, the more progress I made on my dissertation and the more weight I lose, the more energy I will have and the more I will feel like doing. Baby steps, baby steps.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...