Posts made in March 1st, 2013

a day in my life: february 28, 2013

28

Posted on Mar 1, 2013 in Lifestyle

A few folks have asked how my life has changed now that I’m working for myself and I thought ADMIL post would be a great way to show what my days are like now. Things have certainly changed from the last time I did a weekday ADMIL post. Admittedly, this particular day was a little unusual because it was my weekly errands day, but it still gives you an idea of what life without a job is like for me. So here is my Thursday, February 28, 2013.

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Wakeup.

Facebook, Twitter, email, Instagram…in bed.

Up! Bathroom, take out mouthguard (classy), brush teeth.

Morning chores: feed the animals…

..unload and load the dishwasher…

…make the bed.

Tea time! Spend some time planing my day.

Make a list of stuff I need to get while I’m out.

Spend some time finalizing the Wellness Calendar.

Write and schedule the Wellness Calendar post.

Breakfast time! Overnight oats.

Eaten while reading and commenting on blogs.

Time to get ready!

Dressed.

Hair did.

Snacks packed.

Let’s go!

Right on time.

Drive.

First stop.

Bye Babyface! Have a good day at work!

Drive.

Grocery store.

A few groceries.

I <3 self-checkout.

Snack on some veggies in the grocery store parking lot while approving and replying to comments.

Time to get going.

Cross the bridge. Hello, Louisville!

Grocery stop #2.

Grab just a few things I couldn’t find at the regular store.

Walk across the street. Hello, lover.

So. Much. Pretty.

Manage to grab everything I need for a set of shower invitations I’m working on. Score!

Done in Louisville. Time to head home.

Eat a hard-boiled egg while driving. Don’t try this at home. I’m a professional hard-boiled egg eater.

Back home again…

Stop for gas.

Rock out to MJ.

Home! Greet the two fluffy loves of my life. Note: extreme tailwagging.

Unload and put away my loot.

Start working on a recipe for a freelance project.

Set up my “photography studio.”

Get to shooting.

Sit down to approve and reply to comments while eating lunch.

Start working on my Accountability Update.

Write for a while, then take Puppyface out for a potty break.

Come back in and keep writing.

Time to peel myself away from the computer.

Unload and load the dishwasher again.

Put away laundry.

Bundle up! We’re headed outside.

Make some tea. One for me. One for Babyface.

Time to roll.

Puppy’s going with me!

Clementine while driving. I eat a lot in the car, apparently.

30 minutes later, and we’re here!

The welcoming committee…

Walk Puppyface around for about an hour.

Time to go get Babyface!

Hiya, hotstuff. Let’s go home!

Home.

Jammie time.

Leftovers for dinner.

Downstairs to watch The Americans (so good!) with dinner.

Once The Americans is over, start working on those invitations…

…while watching the Blackhawks.

Two periods go by, and I’m still lining envelopes.

Finally done with the envelopes. Woohoo!

Decide it’s time to relax. Grab my computer, recline on the couch. Write some more.

Finish that post. Start working on this one.

Lots of photo editing in this one.

Computer is about dead. No interest in getting my cord. Must mean it’s time to really relax.

Computer closed. Watch the last few minutes of the game…

…while giving lots of love to this fluffyface…

…and this fuzzy little kitty.

Hawks win! It’s a good time to be a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

I’m exhausted. Bedtime.

Bathroom, brush teeth, mouthguard in.

Hello my comfy, comfy friend.

Good night!

accountability update #7

11

Posted on Mar 1, 2013 in Motivation

Happy Friday, friends! I have to be totally honest with you—this week has been a bit of a bummer. I blame it 100% on the weather. I haven’t seen the sunshine all week. And it’s been cold and snraining (snow+rain=snraining) all week-long. I just want sun! And spring! And 70°! Is that too much to ask?

Usually, when I get down in the dumps, my healthy lifestyle kinda goes down in the dumps with it, but I think I managed to still do pretty good this week.

Food

Still no tracking this week. I am just not in the right mindset to be tracking food right now. Every, single day this week I’ve sprung out of bed and said, “TODAY! Today is the day I’m going to track my food.” And then I don’t. It’s 95% pure laziness with about 5% lack-of-necessity. The scale keeps moving in the right direction. I feel like I’m not overindulging. I feel like I’m eating the right things. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

So I decided, instead of beating myself up every week here for not tracking my food, I’m going to just go with it for a little while. As long as I keep losing weight and keep feeling good, there is no need to log my food. For some reason, tracking my food is just not sinking in with me right now, and I’m going to stop abusing myself over it. Done.

When it comes to the quality and amount of food I ate, I think I did awesomely this week! We even had pizza and I managed to not go overboard, which is pretty much unheard of. I’m getting in a ton of fresh fruits and veggies, which I think really helps me feel full without feeling like I’m overindulging in not-so-good-for-me foods. One of the biggest helps this week was the massive amount of food prep I did last weekend. Having all of this healthy, already finished food stashed in the fridge made breakfasts, lunches and snacks a breeze this week!

How to improve next week: Keep on keepin’ on. Make sure to do my food prep this weekend! It’s a pain in the butt to spend so much time prepping food on the weekend, but it sure does make everything run more smoothly during the week.

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Fitness

I can feel myself slipping into the “well, I don’t have time, so I’m just going to skip my workout today” mindset. Which is totally absurd. Because (a) I don’t have a job, of course I have time and (b) it’s 30 minutes out of 1440 minutes in a day, I think I should be able to find that kind of time. The truth is, I have the time, I just don’t want to workout.

I did manage to do Bikram twice and yesterday, Puppyface and I bundled up, went to a park and did a nice long walk outside in the snrain. Sometimes I forget that even just a simple walk is better than nothing. Granted, going on a “simple walk” is no longer simple for us since we have to drive 30 minutes to a park. But you get my point.

I’m getting really excited for the days when I don’t need to “go workout” because my exercise is built into my day with gardening, yard work and general living-in-the-countryness. I’m starting to see that now with hauling maple sap up to the house. Two sap buckets at 30 pounds a piece, up and down a big hill multiple times a day is definitely a workout.

Overall, I’m not too crushed about my workout week. Was it my best week ever? Nope. But I did good enough.

How to improve next week: Stop making excuses. If I can fit in 30 minutes of Candy Crush Saga before bed, I can fit in 30 minutes on the treadmill.

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Hydration

Alright. I’m slipping again with my water. I do my best with water when, in the mornings, I make sure to chug a glass of water first thing. Not only does it help wake me up, but it jumpstarts my metabolism and makes me more apt to drink water throughout the day. I just haven’t been doing that. Also, with this yucky weather, I’m cold pretty much 24/7, so drinking cold (or even cool) water does not sound appealing. But I do have this magic thing on my faucet called a “hot” knob and I should maybe try it sometime.

Most days I hit my goal this week, but there were a handful of days I only got 5-6 cups of water. Not good enough for me.

How to improve next week: Drink 16 ounces of warm water first thing in the morning. Before my tea. Before unloading the dishwasher. Basically, roll out of bed, drink water.

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Weight

Starting Weight: 236.8 lbs
Last Week’s Weight: 230.1 lbs
This Week’s Weight: 229.1 lbs
This Week’s Loss: -1.0 lbs
Total Loss: -7.7 lbs.

Woohoo! Still moving in the right direction. More important than what the scale says is the fact that my clothes are starting to fit better again! Yay! If I’m being totally honest, that was pretty much the major reason behind my renewed commitment to weight loss. My clothes were getting so tight that it was either time to buy a whole new wardrobe or time to lose some weight. I wasn’t about ready to buy all new clothes. So yay! I’m happy my jeans are slowly becoming comfortably-buttonable again.

Speaking of slowly, I’m really happy to see weight coming off at a slow pace this time around. Back in the summer, I dropped almost 20 pounds doing The Skinny Rules. The rules worked for me. The weight came off quickly and in big, honkin’ chunks. But the truth is, The Skinny Rules weren’t a sustainable lifestyle for me. And eventually that caught up with me, and the second I stopped following the rules to the letter, the weight began to pile back on. I’m not saying that’s what happens for everyone, but what I am saying is that, for me, the best way to lose weight is not by manipulating my body, but instead by just being mindful of how much I eat and how much I move. Sure, it means the weight kinda trickles off, but it definitely feels more permanent when it does finally disappear. It’s a lesson I’ve learned countless times before, but it’s always good to be reminded.

Oh! And I also decided to change my “starting weight” on this little weight in from my all-time starting weight of 272 to the starting weight of this here little weight loss adventure—236.8 (on January 20th). It helps me keep in the mindset of my current efforts instead of focusing so much on the big number from years ago.

How to improve next week: Just stay mindful of what is going in my body and how much I’m moving around. If I do that, the right things will happen. Oh, and relish in my well-fitting jeans!

How did your week go? Was it healthy? Did you hit your goals?