Day 87 - One more thing to add to my 'Do No Eat' list

And what might that be Jules??  You ask.

Well, good reader, let me tell you which food is added to my "Do Not Eat Because You Obviously Can't Control Yourself and Eat It Until You Have To Lie on the Couch and Wish for a Stomach Transplant" List...

PUGLIESE BREAD!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen.  I made the mistake of picking up another loaf because I had TONS of that pesto  left over.  *chirp chirp*  Ummm.... Okay, I had some tomato pesto left over.  And I'm here to tell you...

IT'S THE DEVIL!!! RUN!!! RUN FAR, FAR AWAY!!!  SAVE YOURSELVES!!!

Where's Dean and Sam when you need them?  (Supernatural fans will get that one.)

So I tried to get rid of it.
.
.
.
No really.

I tried to throw it away. 

But it came back.

 

So I stabbed it. 

It didn't work. So I stabbed it a few more times.

Finally, I figured blunt force trauma would do the trick.



 



 

I won.

Day 86 - I have a confession to make.

This week was a good weigh in.  It made me very happy.  Except....  see....  Yesterday, I decided to make the tomato pesto that I love.  And put it on bread.  So I had some.

Okay.

Maybe I had a lot.

AHEM!!

I might as well be completely upfront here.  I started with a loaf of pugliese bread. And this is what was left:

*sigh*  Yes...  I ate almost all of it.

I promise that I will not do that the rest of the week. Ummmmmm.... I promise I will try to not to do that the rest of the week. :)

On the kitty cat front...  Her numbers weren't great when we checked yesterday morning.  I got to keep her home but last night was tough.  It was my first time doing subcutaneous fluids on her.  She did really well, just laying there while I did it.  But man!  Talk about stressful and nerve racking!  (Is that redundant?) I've given animals shots before, but this is different.  1) The needle is HUGE. 2) You have an IV back pumping fluid in.  It makes this pocket of fluid.  ICK. But we go through it.  Seriously though... it was hard to get through. Between that and her meds... it was a tough night.  I'm taking her back to check her numbers tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted.

But it's the weekend so YAY!!!  I have no idea what my plans are.  Anyone have any good ideas??

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Day 84 - LHA Weigh In Day

Today was weigh in day for My Long Hot Active Summer.  

This week's loss: 2.7 pounds!!

WOO HOO!!  *does a little happy dance*

IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

Ha ha ha.  But really.  I haven't had really great numbers recently. So I'm pretty happy about that 2.7 pounds.  I didn't get as much exercise in as I wanted. But that's about to change.

See... I mentioned before that I had medical stuff going on.  Well, I had started a medication.  And it made me hurt all over.  Muscles that I didn't even know I had ached.  It made my heart pound and all sorts of crap.  NOT to mention, it shot my triglycerides through the roof.  My last blood test had it at over 300!  

So this week, not only was I off the medication, but I had to cut sugar out of my diet.  I even cut it out of my coffee!  HOLY BEJEEZIES!   I WHAT?!?!  Yes, that's right.  I cut it out of my coffee.  It was a harry situation.  Really, I was on the verge of hari kari.  But if it dropped my triglycerides by 170 points? I'll deal. :)

So that is now one of my goals.  Over at LHA, we came up with 4 booster goals to keep. Mine are:

1. To keep the refined sugar out of my diet.  Only in my coffee.  

2.  Get some form of exercise at least 5 days a week.

3.  Make sure I get my daily water requirements EVERY DAY.

4.  Learn to cook 3 healthy meals.  (Anyone have any?!?!?!)

So what are yours?  Have an awesome day!

P.S.  I put the picture on here because 1) I think it looks cool and 2) you can almost see the movement in the body in this painting.  And that's what I need to be doing.  Moving my body.  Later taters!

Day 83 - I've got a theory.... it could be bunnies!

Buffy must have beaten back the evil of the Hellmouth for now.  I've had a decent day. Yay me!  Enough for me to do the Numfar Dance of Joy.   (Yes, the Dance of Joy entails patting yourself on the head.)

I had to stay up last night ... or rather stay up all night... to work on a proposal.  It's not fun.  But if I want to have a job next year, it must be done!  I sent it off to my boss this morning, bright and early. So automatically, I feel like I've gotten things accomplished today.  That's enough to make ya happy.

I took Izzy, my kitty, back to the vet, trying to recoup her numbers.  But she's acting a little pep-ier.  So I'm taking that as a relatively good sign.

And seeing as how I hadn't really slept... at all... I went home.  I really did intend to get some work done. .....
Hey.
What are you laughing about?
I WAS!
But the pillow beside me.  Right there.  Tempting me.  Taunting me.  Begging me to lie my head down just for a second.  One little second.
.
.
Approximately 4 hours later....
I know.
So after a trip to Starbucks (sugar-free I might add), Target, and the vet's, I'm chilling out at home.

Remember the video I posted on my blog a few days ago from the Shaytards?  Well, I was watching his video today and he brought up a point that I think we should definitely think about.  Now, Shay had made a goal to do 100 miles on the treadmill before the end of the month.  But he fell behind because, well, life does get in the way.  Spending hours upon hours on exercise is hard on the lifestyle, family time, and well, just your mental attitude.  So he adapted his goal to doing 3.5 miles on the treadmill every day until the end of the month.

This is what I want to discuss.  So many times, we have a certain goal.  For some reason, be it loss of time for yourself, your family, your work, or just getting burnt out, we can't achieve our short term goals.  And I think that's okay! It's better to adapt your goals to something that you feel is more realistic than to get to the burned out stage and quit completely.

But we have this almost obsession with achieving goals, and when we don't, we want to just quit.  But it's important for us, and that includes me, to realize that we aren't Wonder Woman.  (Or Super Man for the guys.  Although, Wonder Woman could SO kick Super Man's butt. DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!  Plus she had those really cool bracelets.)  And we will have times that we will need to alter our plan to suit our goals and our lives.

I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I felt that I should remind myself of this fact too.

Hope everyone is having a great day!  Tomorrow: weigh in!

Day 82 - I think I live on the Hellmouth...

Maybe it's the fact that I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer lately... a lot lately... but I think I may live on the Hellmouth.  I need a Scooby Gang.  And some stakes.... and some eye of newt...  whatever they used.  I'm a chemist... and as Willow said "Chemistry is a lot like witchcraft.  Only less newt."  (And for those people freaking out right now, no, I am not a witch. It's a show. ;)

ANYWAY, things have been going... that's about it.  The problem is, my cat has gotten really sick.   I know, it really seems weird that I get so upset about my cat.  She's almost 19 and bound to get sick, but my dog and cat have been more supportive to me than most people.  

I had to take her to the emergency vet Saturday night.  I haven't slept much, or exercised much. But I haven't overeaten, which is a sure sign that I'm overly stressed.  Because if I'm not hungry??  That's a big ol' OH NO!  Usually, I'm thinking, "Where are the chips and salsa??  Oh and the cookies! Need cookies!" ha ha ha  But for now, my kitty is doing okay.  

But in the progress department, I'm eating healthy and not speeding over to McDonald's and ordering a large sized meal. See????  PROGRESS!! :)  *does a little happy dance*

So cross your fingers that Buffy gets here and shuts down the evil Hellmouth that I'm living on! :)

Oh, and here's a picture of my doggie and kitty chilling on my their bed.

Day 78 - LHA Update and Odds and Ends

Hi everyone!! As you all know, I'm doing the Long Hot Active Summer challenge. Because I'm crazy. And stupid. Just kidding. It's actually pretty cool in my opinion! And this week, I thought I did pretty dang well! 420 minutes of exercise. WOO HOO! 

You know how you have this good feeling about where you are. You don't give the scale the evil eye because you have a feeling it will be a good number. And then....... I stepped on the damn scale.

1/2 a pound?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! *insert lots of cussing here*

But it is half a pound.  I have to stay positive. I do think that there might be something going on medically that might be screwing things up. I'll keep you posted.

Now, I don't know how many of you are as addicted to YouTube as I am. But there's one family who vlogs on YouTube that I find funny and completely adorable. That would be ShayCarl (also known as Shaytard) and his family. They go by Shaytard, Mommytard, Sontard, Princesstard, Babytard, and now have a little baby (name still up in the air as either Rocktard or Brothertard). Shay is starting back on his fitness/diet routine. I thought I would include his video on my blog because a) he's really funny and b) I think we can all relate! (Direct Link: ShayCarl and his treadmill)

Day 76 - Note to the unwise (ME)... aka The Work Shoes from Hell

Hello all!!  First, I feel I should mention that for the next few weeks, I will be blogging a bit more sporadically.  See... there's this pesky proposal thing.  It's how I get my salary. And since I don't want to be jobless... and therefore homeless... I have to write these proposals.  I hate that part of my job. I really do.

That being said.  Today, I decided to go for a walk with a couple of my coworkers.  I hadn't planned on it.  I didn't even have clothes or shoes to change into.  But hey - my shoes are okay to walk in. Or. So. I. Thought.

I had on my work shoes. The ones I wear when I'm in the lab.  You would think "Oh, well, they are broken in.  I'll be okay."  But after mile 1????

HOLY MOTHER*BLEEP*IN' OWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yeah.  I'm in pain right now.  But hey - I did the full 3 1/2 - 4 miles.  Yay me.  And by the way, they get heavier as you go. By the time I got to the end, it felt like these shoes had become two toddlers that had latched onto my legs and I was dragging them, dead weight and all, down the road.  I'll put it to you this way... on the last little bit, I tripped on those little reflector things that are glued to the road.  Yup.  And those things are maybe an inch off the ground. I'm just graceful like that.

Tomorrow: weigh in day for LHA.  See you guys then! Byeeeeeee!


And just because I found this really funny and wanted to make you laugh:

Day 69 - Taking a moment from science writing...

Thank goodness! Have I mentioned how much I hate to write science publications???  If not, let's just say that I'd rather jab my very sharp, very pointy, mechanical pencil in my eye than to write a science paper or proposal.  I'll let that image sink in for a second.
.
.
.

Now that I have that out of the way...

I read an article today that really kind of annoyed me:  Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?  Now, I get their point that a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.  A pound is a pound is a pound.  But what annoyed me is that Laura Stusek, fitness coordinator for Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah,  made it seem that we say this as an excuse for our scales going up instead of down.

The fact is, the same amount of volume of muscle is going to weigh more than the same volume of fat.  In other words, if you lose a volume of fat, and gain the same volume of muscle, you are going to weight more.  Period. End of story.  I don't use the saying as an excuse, and I don't think that other people do either.

However, I think that the point of the article is that we shouldn't be scared of gaining muscle because the scale might go up.  The fact of the matter is, having more muscle means you burn more calories.  And that means less fat.  And that, is a fantastic thing.  It means, more energy, more fat burning, more everything really.  So don't be afraid to pick up those weights!

She also makes the point that you should look at how you are feeling, and how your clothes are fitting, and I totally agree.  Absolutely.  And I think her major issue was that because we are scale obsessed, we are scared that adding muscle is going to make the scale go up.

And besides, if the hamster can do it, I guess we can too. :)
So there's my two cents for the day. Have a fun Monday!