When will this contest be over already?!?

So Thanksgiving has come and gone, I've been snacking on leftovers for days. Today is the last day of November, so I guess that means the contest is over. I kinda don't care. I was in the lead, or a close second for awhile, then I got sick, then I got discouraged, then I didn't even care. I did workout this morning, just 20 min on the elliptical, but it's better than nothing. Hard boiled egg for breakfast, turkey w/mustard and a tangerine for lunch, maybe a yogurt for a snack this afternoon. I have no idea what will be for dinner, I'm going to a Red Wings game with a friend tonight. So it's some kind of stadium food.....i would look forward to it as a reward if I had been eating great lately. But I know i have been pretty much been eating whatever I want, and the stadium food is so expensive. Maybe we will just get something before we go.

I guess the final weigh in will be tomorrow? I don't even know, no one has said anything about it! This whole contest totally sucked. We should have had weekly weigh ins or something. Then when I was doing good I would have had some positive feedback that would have kept me positive. And small negative feedback would have motivated me to stick to it. But I got nothing either way. The first month we all talked about it "Hey, how are you doing in the contest!" There was friendly competition. But it kept getting stretched out, and I totally lost interest.

I weighed myself this morning....233. That would only be 4 pounds lost in the last 3 months. I guess I should be happy about any weight loss, but I know i was down 15 pounds in the 1st month and then it has been creeping back on. I haven't weighed myself in a long time, so maybe some of it is water weight from eating crap all weekend, but that will just be a pound or two. I'll just try to get through the rest of the holidays without putting anything more back on, maybe peel a few more off. I really don't care right now.

Living on comfort food.

It's November, quickly headed for December, and here is Michigan, that means it's getting cold. It's that time of year when I am once again allowed to use my oven. (I am completely banned from using the oven in the summer, the hubby says it heats up the house too much. So in the past I would cook on the stove-top, or eat cold stuff like sandwiches, or get take-out! This last summer I learned to love the Grill!!!!)
So....last night for dinner I made a chicken pot pie. The night before I made enchiladas. Thanksgiving is in a few days, and I'm planning the foods I need to take to my mom's; candied yams, and cauliflower w/cheese......all things baked in the oven!
And while I am basking in the glow of warm-i-ness and yummy smells.....I realized that I am still supposed to be on a diet!!! The contest is still on!!!! It's over next week, and I was doing soo soo good for soo soo long...then I got sick, then my whole family got sick, (I just went to the pharmacy last night and dropped $72 on 5 prescriptions!!! BC for me, that's a standard, cough syrup for my daughter because her allergies are killing her poor little throat, and 2 different ear drops and an antibiotic for my son because his teething had given him a bad ear infection!) a few pounds came back on, I started working on getting them back off, then I...well....I kinda gave up! There I said it, the lure of taco bell and comfort food overcame any will power I was trying to have!

Just need to work on the diet!

So, I am just doing my normal workout plan again. No lunch workouts, and when B came over today to show me his new hear-rate sensor watch, I told him no more Monday night workout either. I feel good about this decision, I just need to do my moral cardio MWF and lifting on TTh. I think that is plenty of exercise, especially if you add in playing with the kids, and taking care of house, running errands, etc. (The trainer does NOT consider that stuff as work, but I figure if I'm moving around, not sitting on the couch, I'm counting it as work!) I even but a music channel on the TV last night and was busting a move while doing the dishes!!

So...the diet! I have been doing the protein shake after my morning workouts. I still have stuff leftover from the one time I did a fruit flush, it's supposed to be 3 scoops per 12oz of water, but that is 270 calories. So I decided that I don't need that much, and I have been having 2 scoops, so that would be 180 calories. I'm back to eating salads for lunch, and I'm going to throw a sandwich in maybe once a week so I don't get too sick of the salads. I've been doing really good with my meal-prep dinners! tonight we are having baked talapia!

I was over-exercising, and wearing myself out and making myself sick! and then I wasn't eating the best because I was rationalizing that "it was OK to eat a cheeseburger because I had worked out 10 times this week". When I think I will do better overall to exercise a moderate amount and concentrate on eating really good at work all week, pretty good at dinner each night, and having 1 cheat meal on the weekend.....obviously next weekends cheat will be Thanksgiving!

I think it's my thyroid

So I'm over the big sickness that took down my whole family for a few weeks, we are all over that now. But I just can not get my energy back. I hit the snooze like 100 times and I have not been able to make any lunch time workouts.

D wasn't here to workout this morning, I guess she is sick and off for a few days. So it was just me and the trainer. We had a really good workout, he put on those big padded gloves, and I did front snap kicks into them, really gets your heart rate up! I also did some curls and presses. But mostly we talked about my thyroid medication. I told him since she moved my dose down to 88 I have had a lot less energy and have plateaued on the weight loss. He said that he was proud of me that I wasn't getting discouraged and that i was still working out every day, even though I wasn't getting much results. I told him that I was getting results with the 2-a-day workouts, but then I wanted to take a nap on my desk by 3 in the afternoon. so he told me to stop trying to do lunch workouts, not that I have been doing them much the past few weeks, but now i guess they are 'officially' done.

I know I haven't been eating the best lately either. but yesterday I had a lean frozen meal, and today I'm eating salad with tuna. I have started to have a protein shake after my morning workouts instead of my normal egg or yogurt. I don't know if that will help with anything, but it's a nice change-up....and it's chocolate!!!

Trudging along

Well I had a good workout this morning, but am skipping a lunch workout today, in the on going effort to get better. I think I am definitely much better, but not 100%. Hubby is slowly getting better too.

I figured that there are about 9 weeks left in this year. And If I can steadily lose about 3 pounds a week (a fairly healthy rate) then I will be under 200 by new years. So If you break that down further, that's about 1/2 a pounds a day. I was 226 yesterday, and 225.25 today. So that is 3/4 of a pound and above the average that I need to stay on pace.

I know this is supposed to go on over Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I'm not going to freak out when I don't reach my goal. I have not reached most of the goals I have set so far...the weight I am now (in November) is more than I had planned to be in June!!! But...I have lost over 30 pounds total, in a little over a year, so it's a slower pace than I would like, but at least I'm going in the right direction.....AND!!! I didn't even tell you this!!!!

We do Health Hammer at work. Which is a guy that comes in with a bunch of equipment, and does a bunch of quick tests on you, blood pressure, weight, blood, stuff like that....and my cholesterol dropped over 30 points from last year!!! My blood pressure and weight and BMI, and fat percentage were all improved too. So I'm not only loosing weight, but I'm getting alot healthier too.

Starting to get better

Man! I wasn't kidding when I said I was sick. When was the last time I posted? Like 2 weeks ago???? My whole family was sick, me, both kids, and worst of all the hubby. Early last week the hubby was diagnosed with pneumonia! He is just now getting better, but not out of the woods yet. They say his immune system is really down, and if he got the flu or anything right now it would be bad news!

So I have been trying to take care of him and the kids, I work, then soon as I get home he goes to bed and I get the kids dinner and take care of them until bedtime. It wouldn't be bad, except that I'm sick too (We went to the doctor, it's just allergy problems that me and the kids have, but I'm sure that's how the hubby's started too, it just ran into his lungs and took him down for the count) so I haven't been able to get the rest I need, so what should have been sickness for a week or less, has now stretched on for 3 weeks!!!

I'm not even going to say I have been eating well, because I haven't been. And I skipped most of my workouts last week. I did cardio Monday, morning, lunch and plyo after work with B. Then did my morning workout Tuesday, and then threw in the towel.

The last few days the hubby has been feeling alittle better, so I have been able to get some rest. (I was up most of the night for about 3 nights in a row just listening to him breathe, I was so scared he wasn't going to be ok) So this morning I did 430 calories on the elliptical, but I'm not doing a lunch workout, or after work. I think I will just do mornings all this week and see how I feel.

I weighed in this morning, 226. Not too bad considering I have been munching Halloween candy and leftover cheesecake the last few days. My Dad is turning 60 this weekend, and we are having a big party with all our family and friends, over 100 people. So I would like to look nice for the people I haven't seen in a long time. But i also don't want to over do it and end up like a pile of poo again.