Vacation !

 

I'm taking a break from writing about diet and exercise until December 11. I'm putting an incredible amount of pressure on myself and it's backfiring every single day. The more I obsess about it, the worse things get. I'm not stopping my efforts to eat right and exercise, I'm just not going to write about it quite so much.

So what to talk about ? Well, from now until December 2 I can talk about my preparations for Disney or whatever else is on my mind. I get back from Florida very late on 12/9 and will have Sunday 12/10 to unpack and decompress. I'll probably need to go to the grocery store too. I also have 12/11 off, so that will be the official launch of my latest weight loss and exercise journey.

Last night I tried on the denim shorts and capris that I bought on Amazon. The brand is Bandolino and I used to buy their jeans until they stopped making the skinny jeans I liked. I do love the shorts as they fit perfectly and they go right to the knee, which is exactly what I was looking for. I'm not 100% sure I "love" the capris but they do fit. They're a straight leg style and I'd rather they tapered at the calf. I may try taking them in since I'm on vacation as of 5 pm today ! I'm also going to take a trip to Target and Kohl's while I'm off to see what I can find in holiday gear. I'd like some more options in leggings and t-shirts.

I'm not talking about diet and exercise but I am going to talk about self-care, because it's been lacking recently. Last night I almost went to bed without a shower for the 2nd night in a row. It was almost 9:30 and I said to myself "I'm too tired". I've been going to bed later than usual because of these stupid slot games and I feel like I'm not getting enough sleep. Regardless, I forced that feeling away and took the shower anyways. I also moisturized my face and brushed and flossed my teeth. I was in bed by 9:45, so that little bit of self care took exactly 21 minutes ! Granted, I didn't wash my hair but still - only 21 minutes ! Things like this are important lessons. Getting in bed at 9:23 vs 9:45 didn't make that much of a difference and who doesn't feel better right after a nice shower ?!?!? My vacation will be a forced break from the slot games and today my thought is that I will not jump back into them after vacation. Instead of sitting on the couch for 2 hours every evening I need to be working on getting this weight off. I have the treadmill, the Total Gym and the bike, so I need to be using them ! Okay, that is straying into exercise but it's part of self-care.

Something else that has been on my mind is the effect Social Media has on people. I am so sick and tired of the whining and complaining I see. Social media used to be fun but these days it's just a forum for everyone to bitch and complain about every little thing. The iFit group in particular used to be a fun group where everyone focused on their fitness journey but now it is mostly whining and complaining. People don't seem to want to lift a finger to help themselves. It's sad to think that this generation of entitled whiners will someday be running this country. I spend very little time on SM now. If I'm honest, I stopped posting when my weight spiraled out of control but I'm also really tired of the nonsense. I'm also too embarrassed to post any photos of myself now, because I'm fat again and don't want to put my spectacular failure out there. Sad thing is, I will probably start posting again when (if) I get the weight back off ! LOL .. I am no better than the whiners and complainers, I guess !

So today I was awake just after 5 am and decided to just get up. I took the tags off the new clothes I got so they'd be ready to run through a quick wash. I plan to have as much as possible packed before my vacation is over since I'll be heading out on Saturday to get my cats to Erin's house and I'll be spending the night at Kim's house due to our early flight Sunday morning. Friday December 1 is going to be an office day so I'll be tired by the time I get home. That means I can't wait until the last minute to pack ! I am determined to pack a lot lighter this time - we'll see how that goes !

I surprised myself and managed to get a workout in before work ! It was "only" 20m but that is 1000 times better than 0 minutes ! I felt good this morning even though I was awake and up 2 hours before the alarm. Some mornings my body is achy and I just don't feel like moving. Today was not one of those days ! I know my weight has a lot to do with that, so the sooner I get this weight off, the better !

We had a beautiful pink sunrise today but that was just a warning that rain was on the way. Still, it was pretty to see ! Had I slept in I would have missed it completely !

My Nutrisystem frozen order was delivered today and the non-frozen is expected tomorrow. I had no trouble fitting it all in the freezer as I've been ordering fewer frozen dinner entrees. I like the non-frozen chicken alfredo and rotini with meatballs, so I've been ordering some of those each month. All of my online orders have been delivered now and my Bath & Body order is waiting for me at the post office. 

I managed to get a second workout in during lunch but I couldn't muster the ambition for another one after work. I'll take 52m59s plus 12 minutes of warm up/cool down. That's 64m59s that I wasn't sitting on my ass ! The next challenge is getting at least one workout in each day while I'm on vacation ! There won't be time on Thanksgiving as I have to be out of the house around 10 am and I have to transport the stuffing, gravy and a pie. So this is the only day I will give myself a pass.

My work day was productive and not as frantic as it usually is on the last day before vacation. This is because I've spent the last week getting my work in order. I resisted the temptation to take on new work and instead focused on what I had. Once this vacation is over I'm only back to work for a week and then I'll be off to Disney. I should have a lot of claims that are "ready to go" so I may put in some OT. After Disney I work 9 days and then have the week between Christmas and New Year off. Hard to believe we are this close to 2024 ! I really want to be able to buckle back down with my diet and exercise. I tried on January 4, 2023 and I'm going to try again on January 4, 2024. This time next year I will be back in my size 10 jeans !

Lately I've been a little anxious about my heating system. I've had issues with it every year since I moved back into the house, so I'm paranoid now. 2 days in a row I've heard water gurgling through the system in the laundry room. That panics me because I had an issue once where the valve that is supposed to bleed air out and allow water to refill the system was stuck, so the system was full of air and had no water to circulate. No water = no heat. I'm trying to convince myself the gurgling is normal and it's just coincidence that I was in the kitchen when the system was purging air or refilling. The past incidents led to gurgling throughout the house and that is not happening. I also get panicky when the registers are not warm, even though the thermostats in the house indicate the temp is at or above the set temp. It makes sense that no hot water would be circulated to a zone that doesn't need it. I went down to the basement today even though all thermostats in the house were at or above the set temp. It worried me that none of the zones were lit up on the box .. even though the lights are an indication that the zone needs heat. Obviously if the zone is at temp it doesn't need heat and the light for that zone will be off. I had hoped the siding would help with the heating and I'm slowly starting to realize that it did ! The upstairs has been maintaining 68 degrees, which is the set temp on the thermostat. Because I'm paranoid, I bumped it up to 70 before my shower tonight so I can see if the registers get warm. I'll turn it back to 68 when I go to bed. Yes, I am nuts. The living room/dining room have been at or above 71 and the thermostat is set at 70. The laundry room/kitchen has been at 70 as well. This is all unusual ! I'm used to my heat basically running constantly to try and maintain the set temp. The laundry room and the upstairs was always below the set temp and the registers were always warm because the system was always trying to get those zones up to temp. We'll see how the system handles January and February ! During the coldest part of winter I never saw 68 degrees upstairs. I'd be lucky to maintain 65 even though the thermostat was set on 70 or 72. Same goes for the laundry room. I used to run an oil filled heater in my bedroom 24/7 (mostly for Minnie) and I have an electric blanket. I might not need them any more ! I also have 2 electric space heaters that I used in my office and in the living room. It would be great not to need them either. It's hard to dial back my paranoia, especially since I'll be gone for a week soon. Last year my pipes froze in the kitchen the day before I left for Florida ! I've since learned that turning on the faucet when temps are below zero is a bad idea as they can flash freeze. I'm pretty sure that is what happened as I had water when I got up. Once I used the faucet they froze up. Fortunately they unfroze before I left, so I didn't have to worry. Lesson learned ! I recently compared my latest gas/electric bill to last years and my usage is slightly lower even though the average temp is the same. We'll see if I get any $300 bills this winter ! I used to keep the thermostats on 72 but most of the time I never saw that temp on them. Right now I have the upstairs on 68 and the rest of the house on 70 and it's comfortable. I'm just not used to the heat being able to maintain the temp I want. I've NEVER experienced that in this house and I've owned it for over 18 years !

On that note, it's late and I'm heading for bed !