Catching Up !

 

It's been a while since I wrote and I'm not going to worry about documenting what I ate, what exercise I got, how I did on my mini goals or how I was feeling. At this point there IS no point .. lol .. and no one reads this but me !

Life has been relatively uneventful, but I haven't been able to commit 100% to diet and exercise. I'm still struggling and I'm really sad that I am going to Disney as a fat person. The goal right now today is to buckle down on December 10 after I get back. This puts me between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it seems like a good time.

I had said I wasn't going to go to the Cicero Walmart anymore, but I decided I wasn't going to let one bad experience scare me away. I'm not going to live my life in fear. I don't really know how I lost my phone and I've taken measures to ensure it doesn't happen again. That's really all that matters. I'm also trying to pay more attention to my surroundings and parking closer to the store. I used to park in the far reaches of the parking lot so I could "pull through" my spot and not have a bunch of cars around me. Problem with that is you could make yourself and your vehicle a target. So I park closer now. I still find spots to "pull through" and still get some extra steps in, but I'm closer to the store and other people. I feel a little more safe and the trauma of losing my phone has faded BUT ... I still don't like the store. Cicero used to be a "nice area" but that seems to have changed. There are so many trashy people ! So I'm going back to just going to the Central Square store. I'll take the small town farm crowd all day long ! The last few weeks have really been nothing more than work and the grocery store on the weekend.

Wednesday 11/1 was my November "office day". Bad choice !! We had our first snow of the season ! I ran into some brief periods of heavy snow between Mexico and Oswego and the visibility wasn't great because it was dark, but I survived ! The drive from Oswego to Rochester was worse and I was glad Chuck was driving and we were in his gigantic 4 wheel drive truck ! Snow was heavy, visibility was poor and traffic was slow but we got there safe and sound. The drive home was much better, though we did run into some rain/sleet/freezing rain. It was a crazy weather day - we saw snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, dark angry clouds and a bit of sunshine ! It hasn't snowed since ! Next office day is December 1 .. we'll see what the weather brings !

Sunday 11/5 was my annual pasta day with my family. Everyone except Michelle & Mike came and we had a fun time. I didn't get my Christmas decorations up this year. It just seemed too early and I wasn't feeling it this year, so I procrastinated until the last minute. I did get the process started and I had the tree downstairs but not put together or decorated. My sister and nieces offered to do the tree and I was so happy about that ! It's a tedious job and the tree looks great. It was nice to see Lauren and Alyssa do something together without arguing ! I do have more ornaments to add and I plan to do that and decorate the front porch next week while I'm on vacation. Those lights will be on a timer, so they'll light even while I'm in Florida.

I haven't been on the treadmill much this month. I spent many lunch hours working on getting the house in shape for company. It's pretty neat and clean now and I'm putting in more effort to keep it that way. I've kept up with washing any dishes I use, cleaning the litter boxes and just generally picking up anything I might have out. I also no longer leave the bowls of wet cat food on the carpet because Abby makes such a mess with it. It's now on a pad on the kitchen floor, which is easy to clean ! I still have some things to do, like cleaning out the office closet. Last Friday night I tackled the pantry. When I went to make my sauce on 11/4 I discovered that some cans of tomatoes were swollen and leaky and everything expired 2-4 years ago. I did use these tomatoes last year for sauce and I almost used them again .. but in the end I decided it wasn't worth the risk of making my family ill. I went to Walmart and bought what I needed to make sauce so everything was fresh. I had bought a huge amount of tomatoes back in 2018 and then went on Nutrisystem .. so I didn't use a lot of them. I used to make a big pot of chili or goulash or sloppy joe a couple times a year, in addition to my sauce, but those days are gone. It's a shame to see it all go to waste but it's money I spent a long time ago and what's done, is done. From now on I'll just buy fresh each year when it's time to make sauce. There is no need to stock the pantry with food. I didn't feel like the treadmill Friday night so I decided to continue with the laundry and get rid of those tomatoes. It took a while to open all the cans, dump the contents and then clean out the cans for the recycle bin, but I got it done ! I felt so good about that ! I also put fresh liners down on the pantry shelf and replaced the cans of tomatoes with cans of 1911 hard cider ! I still have some junk in the pantry to get rid of, but it's not food items. It felt good to put that box of empty cans out with the trash today !

From a food perspective, I'm still struggling. I bought candy for my pasta party (excuse) and nobody really touched it. I had intended to make little stockings of candy and didn't do that. So I've been eating the candy and you know what ? It's not that good ! How many times have I said that about food items ? I don't know what has happened, but a lot of products I used to buy and enjoy are just not good anymore. I think they've cheapened up on the ingredients and that is reflected in the taste. Going forward, if I want chocolate I'm going to buy something good. No more big bags of snack size stuff. If I want a Twix I'll buy one full sized bar. Same for Snickers or other candy bars.

As I mentioned, I'm not losing weight and I'm going to Florida as a fat girl. I know it's going to be a struggle to keep up with Lauren but I am going to do my best to keep up. Maybe that struggle and the break from my normal routine will help snap me back into a routine to get this weight back off.

Speaking of Florida, Alyssa and Erin agree to keep the cats for me - which is a big relief. I know they won't pamper Abby the way I do but she survived last year and I'm hopeful she will be fine this year. Now I remember why I didn't get on the treadmill during lunch Wednesday ! I discovered Abby had fleas ! I am not sure how that happened, but I decided to give her a bath. She did not like it and I'm sure it was traumatic, but I am so glad I did it. I couldn't believe the number of dead fleas I saw when we were done. She was loaded with them. After her bath I dried her as much as I could in a towel and then got out the electric blanket. Thursday I found more flea dirt on her and 1 live flea, so I will keep an eye on that and keep brushing her as much as possible. Yesterday morning I found a couple of dead fleas on the couch, so I'm hoping I got them all. I suspect Minnie has them too so I'm brushing her as much as possible too. I have Thanksgiving week off so I may try to give them both a bath. Abby won't be that hard, but Minnie is heavier and feistier, and that will be a struggle.

I haven't been hitting my mini goals, but I haven't given up on them. I've decided to limit them to weekdays AND to document my progress with a 1 day delay (ie: Monday's results will be documented on Tuesday) since some of them occur after I stop writing for the day. I've also changed the exercise goal to "at least 30 minutes", instead of twice per day. I'm going to try starting a YouTube series on December 10, when I relaunch a serious effort to lose the weight. I'm hoping to find some inspiration !

Below are the mini goals and yesterday's results:

• get up when I wake up - no
• make my bed - yes
• dressed before 8 - no
• clean litter boxes - no
• vitamins - no
• magnesium - no
• Metamucil - yes
• exercise at least 30 minutes - yes
• take a shower - yes
• 10 minute cleanup - yes
• skincare (face & body) - face & hands only
• brush teeth - yes

Last week flew by ! Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away and I'll be in Florida in 3 weeks ! I finally placed an order for a magic band, Christmas ears, a backpack, a fleece jacket and a holiday t-shirt. Everything shipped quickly and I got everything but the jacket today. I was disappointed in the backpack as it's much smaller than I expected. I love the magic band and I was able to charge that and get it paired to my phone. I love the ears too because they are sparkly ! The t-shirt was another disappointment as it's not white. It's more like an ivory color. My fault for not reading the description on the backpack and the t-shirt ! The jacket will be delivered tomorrow. I also ordered a few things from Amazon that will be delivered tomorrow or Thursday. I bought a pair of denim capris and a pair of denim bermuda shorts, along with an oversized white t-shirt with a holiday design. Temps in Orlando could be in the high 70's/low 80's during the day so I don't want to limit my wardrobe to leggings.

I didn't get on the treadmill Friday, but I didn't spend all my time sitting on my ass. During lunch I folded and put away all the laundry and threw the last load in. I also cleaned the litter boxes and swept the laundry room floor. I'm going with it because keeping the house clean has been a struggle and I'm on a roll ! What hasn't been a struggle lately ? My weight .. exercise .. self care ... you name it ! It feels good to be keeping the house in shape instead of stressing about exercise. Saturday I pretty much did nothing. Sunday I went to Delta Sonic to get gas and then Walmart to shop. $305 later I headed home with most everything I need for my trip. $57 of that bill was for a spinner carry on bag. This will be much easier to manage. I'll have a checked bag, the carry on and my Disney duffle bag. I plan to get the majority of my packing done while I'm on vacation.

My online shopping spree continued ! I ordered some stuff from Bath & Body as I had a $85 gift certificate. Cost me $2.32 for 4 body wash and 5 foaming hand soap ! That was shipped yesterdat and will probably end up at the post office. I had moved my next Nutrisystem shipment to 11-20 but I ordered some gift cards from Costco yesterday and moved it up to 11-15. I don't want to take a chance on a shipping delay going to 12-2 or beyond. I'd rather have the shipment here and stored well in advance. I won't be placing any more online orders until after vacation !

Yesterday was a good day ! Breakfast was french toast & yogurt, morning snack was a vanilla shake, lunch was chef salad & a pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese & an apple, dinner was broccoli & roasted turkey, evening snack was a chocolate cupcake with whipped cream. Yesterday's other indulgences ? A bit of chocolate syrup in 1 cup of coffee and a bit of caramel in another.

I got on the treadmill during lunch and and after work ! I logged 59m10s plus 12 minutes of warm up/cool down, for a grand total of 71m10s ! This is a great way to start off the week ! Now I need to carry the momentum through the next couple of weeks. I'd be happy to drop 10-15 pounds before Disney !

Today was another good day ! It was trash day and I got lucky - the trash men came about 10 minutes after I put my bin out ! It's no big deal if I miss the pickup. I don't put it out every week during the dead of winter. I only have 1 bag a week and I have a gigantic bin.

From a food perspective, breakfast was waffles & yogurt. Morning snack was a chocolate shake. Lunch was chef salad & pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese and an apple. Dinner was green beans & a chicken enchilada. Evening snack was a lemon zest cake with probably 1/3 of the whipped cream I would normally use ! I also had a yogurt after my evening workout. I had to stop the cool down because I was feeling weak and instead of opting for candy I decided to have a yogurt. The protein in 80 calories of yogurt was better than a flood of sugar from multiple pieces of candy. I feel like I recovered faster.

Speaking of exercise, I logged 62m45s plus 9.5 minutes of warm up/cool down for a grand total of 72m15s. I will take that ! My little toe on my right foot keeps bothering me. For some reason the little rubber sleeve I've been using to protect it will not stay put. Today I took off my shoes after my lunch workout just to give the toe a break. We'll see how that works out over the next few days. 

I've had a good couple of days when it comes to diet and exercise and I'm proud of that. I was thinking I'd like to see 5 days in a row but the second I started thinking that way I felt like I was yet again putting unnecessary pressure on myself. I need to continue taking one day at a time. A repeating pattern in my life is the minute I accomplish something I take giant leaps ahead and set all kinds of unreasonable goals. I continually set myself up for failure. Although I've only been "good" for 2 days now I feel a little slimmer. I'm deliberately avoiding the scale because it tends to demotivate me right now. The plan right now is to make it to December 10th as best I can. I plan to fully enjoy myself at Disney and that will involve food ! However, I'm going to try hard to avoid stupid calories. For example, last year I bought this customized caramel corn. The first few handfuls were great and the rest went in the trash. I also had a deconstructed key lime pie and that was awful. I'm going to be more mindful of what I'm eating and try to keep the sweet stuff to small portions. The best thing I had during that trip was the chocolate covered strawberry dole whip at Disney Springs. It was SO good ! I also had some decent pizza at Epcot. Sprinkles cupcakes at Disney Springs were junk. Chicken at Guy Fieri's restaurant was junk. I wasn't impressed with the food at all and I think part of the issue was the ongoing fallout from COVID. I'm really hoping things are getting better AND that I stay healthy this time around ! I did buy some Airborne and I'm going to start taking that the day after Thanksgiving. I bought enough so that I can take it through the end of my trip.

On that note, it's getting late and I need to head to bed. For some reason I am hungry tonight so I need to go to bed before I bed in trouble in the kitchen !