I saw my Trainer eat a cookie today!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, he is human! And not unlike the rest of us, he can not deny the temptation of homemade Christmas cookies. One of the guys that works out on MWF was working out with me this morning, things are mixed up because of the holidays and time off, etc. So after our workout, which included a scolding for me because I mentioned cravings for Taco Bell, this guy brought in a few Tupperware containers of different kinds of cookies he made. There were the standards, decorated sugar cookies, peanut butter, & snicker doodles. But he had also made something with berries and nuts in it, and ricotta cookies which were covered in coconut. So it was pretty easy to steer away from the standard cookies, but I was so tempted by these new creations that I had never seen before. And not unlike a scientist who just discovered a new spices, I needed to know more, I needed to taste. But I didn't want to munch a few cookies, especially standing in front of my trainer and a couple other guys. And I totally expected a scolding like "You're just taking this hour of hard work you just finished, and flushing it down the toilet!" He really says stuff like that, I'm not even going to tell you what he said about Taco Bell! So, one of the other guys picked up one of the berry & nut cookies, and it looked soft and cakey, so I asked him to share a piece with me, and he took a big bite and handed me the other half. So I said "Gross!" And I broke off a small piece that was not touching his bite mark, and handed his bitten part back. But the small part I took was really good. Next I was eyeing to little coconutty mounds of heaven. And I said "Anyone want to share one?" And my Trainer took me up on the offer!! So he picked it up and broke it and I had half, and he ate half!! He really did! I seriously believed this guy lived off of oatmeal with berries, white meat chicken, water, and protein drinks! And Vitamins! But he ate a 1/2 cookie and then he ate a whole snicker doodle! And then he proceeded to tell me that he expects big numbers out of me in '09 and there is nothing holding me back but me! And he's right, and I'm trying.

Last night I had to stop and do a little Christmas shopping on my way home from work, and a little grocery shopping, and it would have been so easy to stop into fast food on the way home. But I went home and cooked chicken breast, broccoli and rice. I just need to do that more often.

I'm taking Christmas-time off!

(I almost put "I'm taking the Holidays off", but after my last rant I didn't want to be a hypocrite.)

Anyway, I'm not going to worry about dieting the next two weeks or so. I've been trying to do better than what I would have done last year, and that in it's self is a gigantic step. This past weekend we had alot of visiting to do, and one house had a nice spread of various tasty looking appetizers, pizza, chips & dip, lots of baked goods, and there was even talk of some ice-cream drink thing! I would have liked to get a plate and have two of everything. What I did was have one little chimichanga appetizer thing, and couple chips with salsa and guacamole (that's tomatoes and avocados, very healthy), and a small plate of fruit. Not too bad if I do say so, however I was forced, actually forced, I was fighting back and everything, to take some baked goods home.

From there we went straight to a 2-year-old b-day party where I had a couple little sub sandwiches. You know the kind that come on the party trays, where it was a big sub, but its now cut into small maybe 2" pieces. And then I skipped cake entirely. And after we got home for the night me and the hubby split one of the baked goods talked of earlier.

Then Sunday it was cereal for breakfast and out to do errands with the family. We stopped by a diner for lunch where I had a wrap sandwich and a bowl of cabbage soup. Not the beat, but you must understand, they had the breakfast bar laid out, and I would have loved to get plate after plate of waffles, and biscuits & gravy, and sausage and eggs, and all the sweets, mini muffins and danish, etc. But I had none.

And I am very busy from now 'till Christmas, and if I don't have time to cook, and we happen to have some Taco Bell, I will not feel bad for it. Because it is Christmas, and no one should feel bad at Christmas!

He sees you when you're sleeping....

No, I'm not talking about Santa. And I'm not talking about God either. This is my workout/weight loss blog, so of course I'm talking about my trainer. Last week and this week I have been getting into the gym later and later. And I have all kinds of good excuses, traffic was bad, it took a long time to clean snow off my truck, blah blah blah! But my trainer sees right through it, he knows what it is, and if he knows, then I have to admit it to myself as well. I have been sleeping. It's snowy outside, my bed is warm and snugly. Why would I want to take my feet out from under the covers, where they are pressed against my hubby's warmth, and put them onto to cold hard wood floor!?!
Because I need to, that's why. We have been getting Christmas gifts at the office, we got a cheese set from one of out vendors this week. And I cut up the sausage and flayed out the crackers, and the guys I work with said they can tell I'm a Mom. And when it was all gone I cleaned up the crumbs and washed the knife and cutting board. And of course I ate some with everyone else. And I'm baking cookies with my daughter tonight. And I have my ladies Christmas pot luck tomorrow for lunch. So the only way I can pull through and not gain weight, is to work out like crazy when I have the opportunities.
It's almost seems like Christmas is centered around food. Family feasts, work pot lucks. I thought the wise men brought Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Not turkey, cookies, and a cheese set! And while I'm off on a rant, It's Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays! I say Merry Christmas to everyone I enteract with this time of year, store clerks, friends, neighbors, strangers who hold a door. And if they say Happy Holidays first, I say Merry Christmas a little louder. Those are the people who need to hear it. Because it is Christmas, and I am a Christian, and this is one of our most scared holidays, when our savior was born on earth. I have the radio on while I'm working today, and i have been singing along with Frosty, and Jingle Bells, and I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, but I sing Silent Night, and God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen a little louder. Sorry, just needed to say that.
So Merry Christmas, enjoy the blessings around you!

10 minutes is better than nothing.

Since I've been 'back' from being sick, I haven't missed a work out. But i really cut it short this morning. I left my house and should have been here in plenty of time to get in a good cardio. But then I hit traffic. This will be really local, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, sorry. I take I96 almost the whole way to work. But I get on at Beech Daly, then merge with I275, then split back off past I696 and continue along I96 East. So this morning I'm going down the e-way around Merriman, and I hear on the radio that there is an accident on 275 at 8 mile and it is backed up to 7 mile. A one mile back-up, no big deal. So I merge onto 275, and it is super slow, and then almost to a stop. Then I hear the traffic report again and they say it is now backed up to Ford Road! Well if I had known that I would have worked alittle harder to avoid it, because now it more like a 5-6 mile back-up. So.....I was later than I planned to be. I got here about 20 minutes before I need to start work, and it is about the time I usually start getting cleaned-up and changed. So I was going to skip it all together, but I thought, I'm already in my work-out clothes, and 10 minutes is better than nothing. So I'm proud of myself for making the effort, when I could of easily skipped it all together. And tomorrow I'm going to set my alarm a little sooner, after all, it is Michigan in the winter!

I didn't workout for a week, and alot changed.

Well, I'm getting better. I'm not better yet, but I'm getting there. I kept praying, "Please God, why am I still so sick, please help make me well." And God, in his infinite wisdom, made me worse, so that I would get off my whining butt and actually go to the doctor. So my throat closed up and I could barely breath, and I went to the urgent care clinic, and the doctor said he didn't even need to do a throat culture on me, because I had one of the worst cases of strep. So I am now on antibiotics, and I'm getting better.
And since I hadn't worked out since before Thanksgiving, I decided to give it a whirl this morning! Well I now have a new workout buddy. It's a Lady that I know from our purchasing department. She has been working out upstairs for about 2 years, but with one of the other trainers. Her normal trainer has not been showing up lately, like for the last couple months, and she saw me with my trainer all to myself. So she will now be joining me on my Tuesday / Thursday morning workouts. I don't mind sharing my trainer, I used to before. And now that I'm working out with another girl, instead of a guy like before, we can do things together. And also, in the 2 years that she has been using the facility, she has lost about 90 lbs. So that will be a great inspiration, and also some competition, for me. We had a good workout. My, now our, trainer was mostly focused on her because he has to learn what she can do, and show her how he does things. Like we were stretching between sets, and she was pulling her leg with the opposite arm, so he explained to her why you shouldn't do that and how it's bad for your knees, etc. And later we were doing tricep push downs, and he had to stop and show her the correct form. I guess her old trainer never took the time to explain these things. I'm thankful that when I first signed on I picked a trainer that does take the extra time to go over things and explain why you should do things a certain way. Not just because he said so, but because it will only help you in the long run. So he was spending alot of extra time with her. And he said he didn't want to push me too much since I'm still getting over being so sick. But then he came up and whispered in my ear, "Take it easy now, but I'm coming for you next week!" So it's on now!
And also, I lost weight while I was sick. Mostly I'm sure it was from being dehydrated, and not eating for days. But i also was losing weight before I got sick, and just never got weighed to account for it. So now I have been eating again, normally, for about 3 days. I was down below 230 while I was sick. But I got weighed today, and I'm at 235. I'm very happy with that! That's a total weight loss now of 21 pounds!!
Now I just need to stay strong going into the Christmas season. We already got chocolates from one vendor today at work, and doughnuts from another. So i need to keep the will power strong, stick to the workouts, and give my self the gift of a healthier, happier me!

I'm Sick!

Yep, sick! Strep throat if I had to guess, but I didn't go to the doctor or anything. I busily did all of the Thanksgiving things. Cooked, Baked, went to my mothers. I ate whatever I wanted, which included dessert and wine, because it was Thanksgiving, and I was with my family, and I was celebrating, and being very very Thankful!!
Then Saturday night my son woke up completly hysterical! He was throwing up, and i'm sure he had no idea what was going on, being only 14 months old and all. So we got him calmed down and cleaned up. And I went to bed. Sunday I skipped church, and now seeing how sick I am, everyone should be thankful I did not bring these germs near you. I did go grocery shopping, we were out of the necessaities. And that wipped me out. 45 minutes of grocery shopping = 4 hour nap! Then I got up Monday to leave early to work out - but I didn't even make it out of my bedroom. I turned off the alarm, stood up, layed back down and re-set the alarm for another hour of sleep. Then I did get up, go to work, tried to drink some tea but my tthroat hurt so bad I couldn't swallow it. I didn't eat any breakfast, everyone that saw me asked if I was ok. Then at lunch time I started getting chills, so I went home. I said a quick Hi to the babysitter, and went straight to bed, where I stayed for 5 hours until my hubby got home from work. (I'm so lucky the babysitter stayed) Then he made me a nice dinner, and I ate about 4 bites of it. I just can't swallow. When I was sleeping I would wake up about every 20 min in a puddel of drool, it couldn't go down so it was just going out. Not nice I know, but it's true.
Then Tuesday I skipped work all together and stayed in bed all day. Around lunch I decided that I was completely dehydrated seeing that I hadn't really eaten or drank anything since lunch on Sunday. I choked down a little cup of jello, and tried to eat some sherbert. And I was just holed-up in my room, and I would hear my son in the living room being cranky, and I would just pray that he feel better, because he is so small and he doesn't know whats wrong, and I would take all his sickness and pain so he wouldn't have to endure it. Normally he will be walking across the floor and he will stumble, because he doesn't have that whole walking thing down 100% yet, and he will just get back up and keep going. But the last few days he will be walking across the floor, and he will stumble, and he will just lay down and start crying like it is the end of the world!
So I tried to eat some dinner last night, I got down about 10 bites this time, so i figure my home remeddies must be working. I put a big pot of water on the stove and just boiled it all day, and i would put my face over it and breath the steam. I also gargled a ton of warm salt water, and took a couple steamy showers. So today i'm at work. I'm sitting at my desk, not being all that productive, and everyone is scared to come near me in case i'm still contagious. I had about 1/2 my tomato soup for lunch, which is the most i've eaten in about 4 days.
I've lost about 8 pounds, but not in any kind of way you would want to, and i'm sure it will come right back as soon as I can swallow again.