Insane schedule

The good news is I started physical therapy on my shoulder, which is great! But that is also one more layer of complexity on an already insane schedule. Seriously, between physical therapy, T's wack work schedule, holidays, work, shopping, I feel like I am being pulled in 567 directions at once. I find myself getting overwhelmed, which stresses out my husband, which I hate because right now his work is stressful enough. ugh!

Yesterday I went to breakfast with my in-laws, hit the gym, ate with friends (Jan was going to come over but she was sick), then fixed a turkey and we had a quiet meal when T got home. It was nice, but after dinner I spent probably 30 minutes wandering around the house just putting stuff away! LOL It does look better headed into the weekend at least. Very few leftovers left other than turkey, which was the plan.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Don't get discouraged - you don't have an expiration date!

Congrats to Paula who mentioned in the comments that she's had a run of a couple of good days. Awesome! Build on that and keep going!!

There's a lot of food around this time of year that isn't normally. And if you are the sort that wants to enjoy your grandmother's cornbread dressing or those special German Christmas cookies, I'm not going to judge you! It becomes a problem if you can't moderate those foods. Then it's easy to allow the stress of the season or the availability to short circuit your brain and justify having "just one more", which is often more like "all of them."

So there is a whole mindset built up around what a minefield this time of year is. And a lot of "diet" articles reinforce that idea. Well, only if you want it to be! I try to turn the frown upside down: There are foods I am going to want to eat. Because of that I am extra vigilant with my other foods. Little cheats I might normally let slide are off the table.

Here's my food for the week:

Breakfast: a boiled egg chopped up with a little cheese and half a slice of bacon. I mush it up with a half a tablespoon of mayo and a teaspoon of mustard and toast it on a slice of sprouted grain bread. I have my usual 2 cups of coffee with 2 T each of half & half. I forgot my 2 prunes, but I will have them later. I was still hungry when I got to the office so I had 6 raw, unsalted almonds.

AM snack: 1/2 serving (17 grams?) frozen mango chunks with 1/3 c homemade full fat yogurt.

Lunch: 6 oz baked catfish, 3 small boiled new potatoes, sauteed green beans.

Afternoon snack: 3 T tandoori flavored hummus & baby carrots.

Dinner: beef stew (homemade)

PM snack if hungry: 1/2 oz cashews

I have my relatively healthy grain early in the day then taper off. I stay away from processed foods, focusing on foods I've prepared myself and vegetables. My gym schedule is posted on the white board in the kitchen and is non negotiable - not because I believe in "burning off" the indulgences, but because when I am working out I tend to eat healthier and am more focused on my health overall.

I hope you all have a great day!

Accountability

I got my food planned and prepped, with extra healthy choices mapped out for the week. I have a scaled down Thanksgiving menu planned and I am not going to let the leftovers loiter! I didn't get everything done that I wanted, but my house is picked up and I feel ready for the week.

Make it a good one!

Disappointing

When you make a big meal that involves beef & carbs for your child the night before a weigh in? Yeah, nasty scale, I'm ignoring you!

Have a good weekend. :-)

Still here

Still here. Busy week. Good news at the ortho - shoulder is aggravated rather than injured (my bursa is inflamed). I do have rehab as well as exercises, stretches, and an icing protocol, but I should be good to go to teach my kettlebell class in January!

Rescheduled

I rescheduled my PMP exam until later in December. I didn't have enough time to study and do well. I've made out a schedule and a plan, so hopefully I can find some focus and get to it!

Goals and stretch goals

Good morning and happy Friday - we made it!

Thank you for the comments and good thoughts - we all go through rough patches - at work, in relationships, it's just a normal part of life. It is hard to compartmentalize, but it's important to not let the stress from one area bleed over and negatively impact other areas of our lives - at least not too much or all the time!

After dinner we went to Planet Fitness. We were both feeling cold and tired and wanted to hibernate. I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes. That's it - no tire flipping, no beast workout, just 20 minutes of brisk walking. At the end we both felt so much better! And we both slept better than we had in days.

There are 6 weeks left in the year. I would love to lose 6 pounds by year end, but that's not really realistic - still, that's my stretch goal. My goal is to get under 145. Since I weighed 148.0 this morning, that is a goal of losing at least 3.1 pounds - so a half pound a week. That feels doable.

I lost 1.8 pounds this week. I've been bouncing a lot, but that's some good downward progress - especially in a tough week. I've worked out 4 days and am going to the kettlebell gym in the morning, so I'm hanging in there. Maybe with tears and some snacking, but I'm not throwing in the towel by a long shot!

Have a good weekend!

Not exactly true

In my last post, I said I didn't know what's going on. Not exactly true. Work sucks and my job stress is at an 11. I need to learn to compartmentalize work and leave it at the office because it's only going to get worse until I get a new job. I need to focus on doing the things I need to do to take care of myself and my family. Stress eating and stress in general isn't helping - it's hurting. Thankfully I have that appointment with the counselor in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that will help.

A bunch of stuff, not much studying

Besides work, I've gotten a lot of things accomplished the past couple of days, sadly studying for my PMP is not among them. I can't seem to focus. Not sure what's going on.

Le sigh.

Just ugh

Work was beyond frustrating yesterday. I just ran out of the proverbial spoons. Had insomnia. At 3 AM I felt something akin to despair. It was scary because honestly I'm dealing with some stuff but nothing of that magnitude.

I am feeling better today. Still stressed and a little overwhelmed, but better. This is the article with the meals I used to make breakfasts:

https://greatist.com/eat/healthy-freezer-meals

I made the breakfast quesedillas, bagel bombs, and oat bars.

Take care of yourself.

Awesome workout

Brad at the gym has had shoulder issues and recently had surgery. I told him what the doctor thought might be my potential issue(s), and he gave me exercises that were safe as well as some great rehab type stuff. It was a terrific workout!

One challenge is that my husband is not as much of a morning person as I am. Additionally, his time table is much tighter than mine, so I am generally in charge of getting his breakfast while he takes a shower. While I am perfectly happy eating the same thing 5 days in a row, he gets bored. And I like to get out at a reasonable time as well. 

I found some prep ahead freezer safe breakfasts and picked 3. That way he has a nice selection and a good 2-3 weeks worth of breakfasts in the freezer - more if I mix in something else from time to time. Win!

I saw this in an email the other day and I thought it was perfect.

If you aren't where you want to be with something, why not start now? :-)

Have a great weekend!

Two steps forward, one and a half back

It's so frustrating how you will do so awesome for days and days, then drink a beer and poof, the scale is up a pound. Drinking lots of water and limiting carbs today.

This week has been nuts. My boss is out for the week - on an actual vacation with his wife, so naturally stuff is blowing up. LOL.

Did my mid week food prep yesterday so I have breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners to get us through until the weekend plus.  So yay me! Going to the gym this evening, so I will let you know that the trainer has to say about workouts with my shoulder.

In other news, I got a haircut at lunch today.

Take care.

Too much reality!!

One of the things we came home to was a bill from the IRS. UGH!! I swear some days I feel like we will never be out of debt, let alone get ahead. Le sigh. Oh well, we will deal with it. Ugh, I say, ugh.

In other news, thanks for commenting Paula! My shoulder is feeling better! I haven't been lifting weights, but I've spoken with the trainers at the gym and they are going to help me with a plan. I have been doing cardio. My weight continues to creep down, but downward it is moving. So that is good!

I am taking my PMP exam on December the 9th and I need to buckle down and study. I am dreading both the studying and the taking of the exam.

Here is a lovely shot of today's breakfast. Clearly I should be a food stylist. LOL

Yogurt with some raw oats, raspberries, chia seeds, and a sprinkle of granola. I should have added some nuts but I forgot. Oh well. It was yummy!

Take care.

Back to reality

I am back from a lovely vacation with my husband. We went to the mountains! We went to the beach! We had alone time, time with family, cooked in, ate out, went to an SCA event and ended it all with the Jewish festival. Even though we did a lot, it still managed to feel largely relaxing.

Win.