Better Late Than Never

I know I usually post my weigh in updates on Friday, but Friday was an incredibly hectic morning, so I didn't exactly have time.  I am down another half pound this week!  That makes a grand total of 42 pounds!  Due to the move there is not likely going to be a weigh in this coming Friday since my scale will be packed... Austin here I come!

Read the following with caution, it's a little graphic.

So, why was Friday so hectic?  I have known for about a week that someone in my house has a UTI, as evidenced by the copious amounts of urine I was cleaning.  My initial suspect was Nora, but then the focus switched to Diddy as he has had recurrent UTIs.  As of Thursday morning, I was POSITIVE that Diddy was culprit, and had even made appointments for him to get checked out.  By Thursday evening I was POSITIVE that Nora was actually the sick one, as Sakief and I finally caught her red handed peeing on the floor.

No big deal right?  It's a UTI, I can clean the spots, and the vet should be able to see her soon to get it cleared up before the move.  Wrong.  Friday morning Nora started peeing blood.  Bright red, looked like she menstruating, blood.  I flipped.  Thankfully my vet opens at 7:30am, and I don't have to be at work until 8am, so I hastily got ready, through her in the car, and was knocking on their locked door at 7:25am begging them to see her. 

Turns out Nora has bladder stones.  Lots of them.  The X-ray was pretty impressive.  I'm almost surprised she has room in her bladder for any urine, seriously.  The solution?  Surgery.  Major surgery.  The Tuesday before I move.  Awesome.  Not to mention how much it's going to cost, but that's another issue all together.  I'm much more concerned about Nora's health and making sure that she's comfortable to travel all the way to Texas 4 days post surgery.  The vet assures me that she'll be fine if I keep her in a carrier, but she is so high strung to begin with, and has never had to be in carrier when we travel.  It will be interesting, that's for sure.


Happy thoughts for the rest of this week.  My stress level has risen to levels I didn't think existed.

Brand New Shoes

Hey, I put some new shoes on, and suddenly everything is right.
I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling.
It's so inviting,
Oh, short on money, but long on time,
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine,
And I'm running late,
And I don't need an excuse,
'cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes.

Yeah, I've had "New Shoes" in my head for the past few days.  Why you ask?  Because after hemming and hawing over getting new sneakers/running shoes since LAST SUMMER, I finally did it.  And by me, I mean, my fabulous boyfriend bought them for me as an early birthday present.

I've needed new shoes for a long time now.  It's embarrassing to admit, but I've had the same sneakers since high school.  Yeah.  I haven't worn them all that time, in fact, I hardly ever wear sneakers, but still.  I actually bought three pair of the same New Balances in high school (different colors of course, black, pink and navy), and have just gone through one pair every few years.  Black survived high school and some of college, pink got tossed in grad school, and now navy is getting the old heave ho.  So what brand of shoe did I choose this time around? Grey New Balance.  Shocker.  But I LOVE them. 

New shoes before their inaugural run!

I've taken a few pages from Cassie's book recently.  A few weeks ago Sakief encouraged me to start a couch to 5k program, but I shot him down; elliptical is just fine by me, and I don't really like to run.  But with Cassie getting inspired by her new shoes to start a C25k program, I decided to go for it. 

And it's not so bad!  I did my first run on Saturday.  Each run is perfectly laid out for me, which makes it easy.  The first run is supposed to be 30 mins, and I was able to power through and run for 45.  Yesterday I did day 2 (and got to test out my new shoes!), but I stuck to the 30 mins.  I did run a little extra at the end of the workout before cooling down, but basically stuck to the program.  I felt great afterwards!  Now if I can only remind myself of that feeling when I try to talk myself out of running... I'd really like to stick to it. 

Also, my new shoes felt really good on my feet, and I wasn't sore afterwards like I have been in the past.  I was waiting for some serious thigh pain this morning (you should have seen me hobble around on Sunday, but I think I might be able to blame that on drunk dancing in 4 inch heels all night), but nothing.  In fact, I may go for another run tonight. 

Comparison time!

Tonight Sakief and I are attending a wedding for one of my co-workers, Kerry.  Since I have been hesitant to buy too many new clothes that I may shrink out of, I had to pull a dress out of the closet for tonight's festivities.  I've worn this dress a couple of times before, most recently to Cassie and Bill's fabulous nuptials last summer.  Since I have lost quite a bit of weight since then I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a look at how I've changed, and wearing the same clothes always helps to put it in perspective.  Here we go!

With Dan at Cassie and Bill's Wedding

In the same dress tonight.  

I see most of the difference in my face, but you can also see it in my stomach and arms.  Harder to see it in my stomach in the second photo since it isn't a side shot.  I'm loving the difference!

Friday Frustration

This has been a bad few days personally, but not diet wise, thank goodness. This move, while welcomed with open arms, is definitely taking a toll on my stress level, as well as my personal relationships. I can't wait for it to be over!

Of course today is weigh in day, and I'm done another pound! I was hoping for more, in fact, I was SURE it would be more, but alas, I'll be happy with a pound. At least I can really feel like I'm back on track since it's two weeks in a row since my gain, that I've had net losses. There is still some frustration on my part, but only because I felt like I had done so well this week, and that the scale should have shown me more, but like I said, I'm happy.

With only a few weeks until my birthday, I am a little worried that I won't make my goal of the next decade, but that just fuels my motivation to do better.

Of course I have a friend's wedding this weekend, so who knows how well I'll do there. However, if I can make every other meal healthy, I think I can keep myself on track.

Next week marks my last full week of work! Including today, 9 working days left at Sacred Heart! Ah!

Back on track!

Despite my best efforts over the weekend (and even breakfast last Friday, following my last weigh in post), it took until Tuesday to really get myself back on track. I was not expecting any weight loss this week, and wouldn't have been surprised to see that I had gained a little like last week.

That's why it was very nice to see that I was actually down a pound from last week! That makes up for the half pound I gained back last week, and then a little more. I'll take it! Next week I expect more out of myself though. Despite my laziness when it comes to working out, I'm moving around a lot more, and doing a good bit of heavy lifting as I pack up my life once more, so hopefully that helps out this next week!

Of course today we're hosting Kerry's bridal shower in the office, which means potluck, which means a lot of delicious food that isn't on my diet. Come on willpower!

Pounds down: 40.5
Pounds to go: 59.5

I can do this!

Chicken Nuggets

I love chicken nuggets. And chicken strips. And chicken patties. And basically any sort of breaded, boneless, perhaps fried, chicken. It's my weakness. I'm a particular fan of the McChicken (this is the only fast food I ever crave these days, gross), but that is not the point of this post.

Yesterday was a rough day for me. It's no longer a secret, I am moving to Austin in a few weeks to be closer to Adam, Erin and Maiya (more to come on this). Of course in order to do such a thing, I had to give notice at my current job. Thankfully the news seems to have been received well. Anyway, that was yesterday's task, along with telling others whom my move affects. It's definitely the least pleasant thing I've had to do in awhile.

Typically Tuesday is my night to cook dinner. Sakief is in class until 9 pm, so I like to have something cooked for him when he gets home. Knowing that I was having a rough day, Sakief suggested that I just pick up something easy at the store, like a frozen pizza. Frozen pizza (or any pizza for that matter) is obviously not on my diet. And after about a week and half of struggling with my will power, I have finally had it back on track, and didn't want a pizza to ruin it again.

But I also didn't want to cook dinner. So I caved and got a pizza... for Sakief (I didn't eat ANY of it... and he managed to polish off the whole thing). But what to get for me? I spent probably 30 mins staring at the food in the frozen food aisles (time which I probably could have used to just cook something healthy), but I was determined to find something "easy" that was within my low carb restrictions.

Enter "Perdue Simply Smart Chicken". This is probably the most exciting find for me in a long time. Low carb chicken nuggets that aren't plant based (and are DELICIOUS)! Don't get me wrong, I love me some chick'n veggie products, but when you're an omnivore such as myself, nothing really beats a real chicken nugget.

Here are the stats for one serving (5-7 nuggets):

Calories: 140
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 6g
Protein: 17g

They are definitely still not an everyday food, but a great sometimes treat! They are also somewhat expensive, so not something I can afford financially or diet wise all that often. But for about $9 you get 7 servings, so not too bad. Of course I could (and would) eat the whole bag if you let me, but I managed to restrict myself to 2 servings at dinner last night. I hardly ate all day because of my anxiety (also not healthy, and I don't recommend this), but 2 servings was well within my limits for the day, so nothing to feel guilty about.

Enjoy friends!

(Good) Friday

As always it is weigh in day. Unfortunately this week is the first week that I didn't lose any weight, in fact, I am up a half a pound from last week. And you know what? It's ok. I am not disappointed in my weight gain, but I am disappointed in my attitude this week.

It's been a particularly stressful week, which has affected my mood and my sleep, and then it all becomes a vicious cycle. When I'm tired it's hard to put some pep in my step, and my attitude gets worse and worse.

Because of my bad mood I also didn't eat so well this week. I have no one to blame but myself.

I did work out three times this week, but it just goes to show, that exercise and good diet go hand in hand. You can only work off so many of the bad calories you take in.

I'm determined to turn my attitude around this weekend, and am excited to start it off with no work today! Three cheers for working for a Catholic health system who gives us Good Friday as a holiday! I'm also very excited to be having some friends over for a modified seder this evening as it's the first night of Passover. Fingers crossed I don't screw up the lamb... if I don't, hopefully I can post about it!

Thanks again to everyone who continues to support and encourage me! I'm sure I'll have lost some weight by this time next week ;)