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Since I have been sick the entire past week I have not worked out at all.  I have walked during my breaks at work, but I don’t really consider that to be a workout anymore.  I’m really bummed about missing an entire week of workouts.  And since I’ve felt so bummed, and so sorry for myself, I’ve completely abandoned my rules of what-to-eat and what-not-to-eat.  I’ve been comforting myself with food.  I’m completely shocked to have gained ONLY one pound this week.  Even though I’m starting to feel a lot better, I have a very busy few days ahead of me, putting even more of a delay on when I’ll get back to the gym.  I’m just looking forward to taking advantage of having next week off of work, so I can catch up on exercise.

Sorry to be such a downer.  I almost skipped this week’s post, because there really wasn’t much to blog about, nothing good at least.  But I was inspired by Richard’s diligence, so here I am.

I spent the first half of last week suffering from a serious lack of sleep.  I know that I am getting old because it took me three to four days to fully recover from last Saturday’s late night of drinking and partying.  Despite the lack of sleep, I managed to accomplish two early morning workouts, one on Monday and one on Wednesday.  Anyone who knows me well can appreciate how difficult it is for me to make it to the gym before work!

Wednesday I tried to donate blood for the third time this year.  The first two times I was sent away because my iron levels were too low.  This time my iron levels were finally good enough to donate!  My temperature and blood pressure also passed the required test.  Now it was time for the 50+ questions that they ask to make sure you aren’t a risky donor.  I started answering the questions:

“Have you had any tattoos or piercings in the last 12 months?”      “No.”

“Have you ever had sex with someone for drugs or money?”      “No.”

“Have you ever lived in Europe?”      “No.”

“Have you traveled outside of the United States in the last 12 months?”       “No.”

….”Wait!  What was the last question?” 

Oops!  I have traveled outside of the US in the past year.  I went to Costa Rica last summer, which is a malaria risk.  Turns out that I cannot donate for one year after such a trip.  The real kicker is that I have donated twice already since the trip.  Apparently I neglected to pay attention to the questions both times.  I had to explain this, extra paperwork had to be filled out and I feel like a jackass.

Thursday I officially “came down” with something.  I’m guessing that it is bronchitis, since it seems to haunt me on a yearly basis.  I’ve been puny, miserable and sick ever since.  The first few days, it was just a nasty cough.  The last few days I’ve had congestion on top of the cough.  Ick!  I managed to drag myself into work, but I’ve spent the rest of the time laying on the couch and feeling sorry for myself.

Benjy’s week was spent mostly at work.  He clocked over 50 hours last week, then he had to take care of me all weekend.  We watched a ton of movies and television.  We got sucked into the television show “Heroes”.  We are just midway through the first season.  I wish Benjy would hurry home so that we could squeeze a few more episodes in tonight.

I was thrilled to step on the scale this morning and see that I am down 1.5 pounds from last week.  That puts me at 150.5.  I am down seven pounds so far this year.  The 140’s are just around the corner!

I was very active and healthy all week…until Saturday night when I went out drinking with friends.  First of all, I consumed way too much alcohol.  The alcohol led me to make poor food decisions later in the evening…too much sushi!  And the next day I was absolutely useless: I didn’t exercise at all (barely moved from the couch) and ate a lot of crap (soda and chips).  This experience makes me wonder if I should add a rule about alcohol.  Hmm…I don’t think so.  I really don’t drink that often.  And when I do, I am usually able to consume a little more responsibly than I did on Saturday.

I’m also excited about the fact that I have not been to a fast food restaurant in over 5 weeks!  Sadly, that is a pretty big achievement for me.

I am also continuing to make improvements to my sleeping habits, and I’m noticing a lot of positive results there. 

…and goodnight!

Last Monday at work it was announced that my company will have another shutdown during the last week in February.  I think I will use this time off to hang out at home.  I’m trying to talk my sister, Leah, into coming for a visit.  I think that would be fantastic.  (Hint! Hint!)  Benjy had a great day at work on Monday.  He is really enjoying his new site-lead position on the current project.  He also really enjoyed crawling around in the ceiling.  It appeared to be one of those days where it was fun to get dirty, because he came home covered in ceiling filth!  He was exhausted and sore from the day, but he couldn’t stop talking about how great it was. 

Tuesday and Wednesday Benjy worked late and I spent some quality time at the gym.  Thursday, Benjy had to leave work early to see the dentist for a root canal.  I had a slightly more fun evening torturing myself at spin class.  Honestly, spin is one of the hardest workouts I have ever done, but I LOVE it!  If you live in the Athens area you MUST try Chris’s class at Georgia Cycle.  First class is free!

After a very busy and tiring week, we had a very busy and tiring weekend.  Friday night we had our usual dinner and Battlestar Galactica date at Laci and Alan’s.  Saturday night we celebrated our friend Josh’s birthday.  We started with touring and tasting at the Terrapin Brewery.  Then we had dinner (and more drinks) at a new sushi restaurant downtown.  The we went to a few of our favorite bars downtown.  First we went to Nowhere Bar to play pool.  Then we finished the evening, and closed down the bars, dancing at the 8E’s bar.  After over 8 hours of drinking, I was in very poor condition.  Thank goodness Benjy was there to get me home safely and to capture embarrasing video of me snoring when I fell asleep sitting on the toilet.  What a sweet hubby!

For obvious reasons, I spent today feeling very ill and pitiful.  I was so pitiful that all I could do was sleep and watch movies.  Benjy spent the majority of the day playing paintball.  A few of his co-workers coordinated a game and he was really happy to get back into an old hobby.  He hopes the group will get together for more paintball in the near future.

Did you all know that this week is Random Acts of Kindness Week?

I didn’t write a weigh-in blog last week because I was relaxing in St. Louis.  I did weigh myself the day before I left for my trip, one day before my usual weigh-in day.  I was happy to see that I was down one pound from the week before, putting me at 152.  I had done a good job of following all of my food rules the previous week and I had been active at the gym, so I was very happy to see a loss before my trip.

Just a refresher on what my “food rules” are:

1. All food I purchase at the grocery store should clearly fall into one of the 5 main food groups: meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables and grains. (For example, I cannot buy any frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, chips, cookies, hamburger helper, etc.)
2. Avoid all deep fried foods.
3. Avoid all soda.
4. Limit high fat and high sugar foods.
5. When eating out, avoid any establishment with a drive-thru.

I’m allowed to break ONE rule ONCE a week.  I am also allowed one chocolate treat each week. 

Last week, most of which was spent in St. Louis, I kind of took a little break from the rules.  I did not “forget” about the rules entirely, but I certainly allowed myself to break more than usual.  I figured I should cut myself some slack while on vacation.  Also, I really wanted to make the most of the opportunity to try new foods and enjoy new restaurants.  I kept up with my standard workout routine and I’m happy to report that I maintained my weight this past week.  I’m really happy that I avoided gaining weight from my vacation.

Two highlights from the past couple of weeks:

1. I ran into a former co-worker at the gym.  I hadn’t seen her in a little over a year, and it was really cool to see her surprise at my appearance.  The first thing she said to me was “Erin?!  You look so trim!”.  That was great to hear!
2. I had my yearly physical.  I was down 12 pounds from last year AND I lowered my cholesterol from 236 to 182!  I’m ecstatic!  Also, it was nice to hear the doctor refer to me as “healthy”.

Click here for an interesting article about “Real Food”.  This article reflects a lot of my thought process when I decided on my new eating strategy and my food rules.

Last Monday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical.  Everything appears to be in good working condition.  I will pick up my blood test results tomorrow.  I’m eager to check out my cholesterol levels.  I asked the nurse over the phone and confirmed that it is below 200.  I am also eager to see my TSH levels.  The doctor told me that I was “healthy” and I really enjoyed hearing that.

Tuesday I traveled to St. Louis to enjoy my week off of work with my parents.  (Benjy stayed home since he didn’t have the time off of work.)  The entire trip (car, plane and metro) was completely painless.  There was snow already on the ground from the night before and it was snowing as my Poppa and I walked home from the Metro.  I was so excited!  I couldn’t remember the last time I saw snow before this trip.  It snowed the rest of Tuesday evening and I got to enjoy it even more as we walked to dinner that night at a Thai restaurant.  Wednesday, I signed-up for a week long membership at a gym that was just a few blocks from my parent’s loft.  So, there was even more fun walking in the snow for me!  

I went to the gym a few times during my visit.  I had to, because we were eating a lot of delicious food: a Cuban sandwich from the City Diner, oysters from the Broadway Oyster Bar, a hot salami and roast beef sandwich from Gioia’s Deli, a BBQ Spud (a baked potato topped with BBQ pork, baked beans and cheddar cheese) from Pappy’s Smokehouse, Indian food from the buffet at India Palace, and dim sum at Lulu’s.  (Am I forgetting anything Momma and Poppa?)

Another great thing about this trip was the opportunity to see some extended family.  I got to visit my grandmother twice.  During one of the visits we met the calmest little chihuahua ever, Paco!  I was happy to see that my grandmother was in relatively good spirits and I really enjoyed our time together.  I also got to see several aunts, uncles and cousins during our dim sum outing.

Another thing happened during my trip to St. Louis…my parents got me hooked on Six Feet Under.  I am loving this show even though all of the characters are C-R-A-Z-Y!  I’ve just started season three, so don’t tell me anything if you’ve already watched it!

I flew home from St. Louis on Sunday afternoon.  Another wonderfully uneventful trip.  I drove straight from the airport to Alan and Laci’s Super Bowl party.  None of our friends at this party were particularly loyal fans of the Steelers or the Cardinals, but we all chose a team to root for, and I’ve never seen this group get so worked up over a football game.  It was a great game!  It was so energetic and suspenseful!  And Bruce Springsteen rocked our socks off!

We got home after 11 p.m. and it was so hard to get out of bed for work this morning.  I should be getting to bed a little earlier tonight, but I think we’ll watch the newest episode of The Office instead.

Enjoy pictures!

SNOW!

Oysters!

Grandma and Paco!

BBQ Spuds!

Angela and I at Dim Sum!