Traveling and Plans and Projects, Oh My!

Yes, it's been a few weeks!

I've spent the last three weeks traveling to Nashville (before the floods), North Carolina, and Ohio. Then I promptly got sick last week and am continuing to battle allergies this week. It's been an awesome few weeks.

Despite the travel and sickness and general malaise, there has been progress on several plans/projects. I have managed to not kill anything in my container garden -- in fact, stuff is growing! I've narrowed down my business school options and am now trying to figure out how to afford any of them. I'm still working out, doing the 30 Day Shred again. So sore am I. I've also started tracking my weight with the LoseIt! program - more to make sure my portions and calories don't start creeping up (like they did when I was traveling. Well actually, the calories didn't so much creep as make leaps and bounds; hello, lemon martinis and grapefruit gimlets and wine and copious amounts of delicious restaurant food).

The family is good. B is still potty training and I am continually amazed at the power of M&Ms as a motivating factor. His birthday will be here before I know it and then I'll sit and wonder how the hell I have a three year and have managed to not break him yet. Tom has some cool things going on and his school year is almost over; then it will officially be summer.

Finally, my bridesmaid dress arrived about a week and a half ago. I'm feeling so poofy that I have yet to admit that it's here or take a picture of myself in it. I'm giving myself a month to get my act together and then I am posting a picture no matter what. It will serve as good motivation, or public humiliation, or most likely, both!

In Which The South Beach Diet Fails Me Again.

When I'm chatting with friends, two of my go-to phrases involve the "definition of insanity" (doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result) and Sisyphean efforts. Probably because half the things I do in life tend to fall into these categories. Dieting has always been one of my Sisyphean standouts. Which brings me to the South Beach Diet, which I always think is going to work (and sometimes it does) but usually is just a big pile of fail.

I first tried the diet at its peak in 2003, a few months before my wedding. Actually, Tom and I both tried it. And we were cranky bastards the entire two weeks where you cut out sugar and fruit and delicious carbs. It's a wonder we still got married. Weeks three and onward were fine. Although honestly, I should have known that anything that tells you that cocoa powder, Splenda, and RICOTTA CHEESE make a delicious dessert is not to be trusted. Ever.

I've been dancing with SBD ever since -- whenever I get it in my head that I need to drop weight fast, I head right for the SBD.

Last week I was in Nashville for a client conference, so the week involved a lot of meals out, desserts, lemon drop martinis, etc. I came home and knew I needed to get back to my better-eating ways so decided to do SBD for a bit to "get back on track." Today's lunch? Spinach salad with carrots, tomatoes, and shrimp. I decided that I didn't need salad dressing -- oh no, just a spritz of lemon for me!

Yeah, it was bad. And served as a reminder that I am not going to lose weight for the long haul if I keep making myself eat stuff that I can't tolerate for an afternoon, much less forever. This might be the fastest attempt at SBD in my history. Sure, it seems like some dressing could have solved the problem, but I think the biggest issue was convincing myself that this was going to be good enough to get me through the afternoon until dinner. It so was not.

It did impart a good lesson though - sure, make your lunch (cheaper and better for you anyway), and include lots of veggies and good protein. But make it tasty, put some care into it. Add some carbs to lunch as long as they're not full of empty calories. I need to keep on my 30-Day cleanse, which was about making better choices, not dieting per se. I dropped almost 10 pounds that month, so why did I panic and go with SBD?

Old habits die hard, I guess. Time to start rolling that rock up the hill again ...

August 7

Remember when I said I was taking the GMAT this year? I just made my appointment for August 7.

It's on!

(I will not freak out, I will not freak out, I will not freak out ...)

Feel the (Fat)Burn

In my last entry I wrote that I missed running. I did, to a point; I guess more than anything, I missed *moving*. Being active, feeling good and not like an asthmatic 90-year-old.

So I got back on the treadmill. And immediately hated running again. It's just my nature: miss something, get nostalgic, take it up again and realize I stopped for a reason. Kind of like that time I thought I could wear jelly shoes in high school when they came back in the mid 90s. Yeah, not so much.

Anyway, my realization about hating running did not deter me from trying new things on the treadmill - mostly, the Fatburn program. In addition to the hopeful-sounding goal of the program, I'm enjoying the challenge of walking fast enough that I could run, but have to walk because my incline is at 6 or 7. I've even worked in a bit of jogging into the routine. Leg muscles I didn't know I had are sore after doing this program; overall this feels harder than jogging/running on a 1 incline, but I enjoy it so much more. Leave it to me to like something more difficult. That's also my nature.

The lesson learned? Branch out; don't feel like you have to subscribe to an exercise or plan because everyone says that's the fastest way to reach your goal. For the longest time I pushed myself to run because I thought that's what I had to do to make progress. Turns out it's a lot more effective to do what I enjoy and I'm more likely to stick with it. Why has it taken all these years for me to realize this?? I'm a little stubborn sometimes.

This realization has kick-started a movement for me in pursuing other goals as well - I'm more willing to look at alternatives to accomplish what I want rather than hold on to a notion of how I'm "supposed" to do things. It's quite freeing (and scary and kind of stressful, but I'll go with "freeing" for now).

Inspiration in Aisle 5

I hit the grocery store this Sunday on my own and took way too long to get everything and was, for some reason, scattered as all get out. So when the cashier mentioned that the chicken breasts were buy one, get TWO free and I could get another package, I went for it (What? Chicken is expensive, yo.)

I was a total dork and ran over to get the chicken and come back because the last thing I wanted to be was THAT person that holds up a line, then meanders all over the place before coming back, earning death glares in the process. No one was behind me at the time but I ran anyway. And as I ran, I realized something pretty shocking: I missed running.

Me. Missed running. This is huge. And so not what I expected to pick up at Harris Teeter that morning.

So I'm getting back to it -- quite delayed, as I have the "fun" known as Little Gym tonight so I'll be back to it tomorrow night. Why not Sunday night or yesterday, you ask? Or the last two months? Because I was busy and had stuff to do, of course.

But yes, tomorrow. Back on the treadmill FINALLY. Not signing up for a race anytime soon because have I mentioned that I hate training? But you never know, I might be willing to be talked into the Turkey Trot 10K come November.

Green Thumb, Maybe? We'll See.

So I am not usually a get-out-there-and-get-sweaty girl. I'm more of a sit-in-the-AC-and-watch-other-people-work kind of person. But for some reason, I have always been weirdly obsessed with yard work. Not that I've done a lot of it, mind you, but when I do it sets off some sort of synaptic misfire in which I truly believe I can march into Lowe's, buy a bunch of gardening supplies, and do something with them. Successfully.

I think my interest goes back to being a kid and spending summers with my grandparents. My Pop Pop was an awesome gardener, y'all. He had a huge plot where he grew potatoes, cucumbers, squash, and ... tomatoes. OMG, the tomatoes. They were so good, and to pick one off of the vine and eat it in the warm sunny backyard was summer for me. When I think about my Pop Pop (he passed away in 2001) I always think about those tomatoes and his garden - and I think he would be thrilled that I thought about them. He loved working hard and having something to show for it (he was a carpenter. I like to think he and Jesus are having a grand old time up in Heaven).

*Sniff* Anyway. Gardening.

It all started this weekend when we cleaned up the front yard and I got the notion that if I was good at raking pine needles and leaves, surely I could plant some things and grow some of my own veggies and herbs, right? Then I would really be eating local, har har. Yeah, it was that bad.

I'm Googling "container gardening" and considering what I want to plant. I can't really consider an in-the-ground garden right now because we have loads of deer and if I put in a ton of work into a garden just to have freeloading deer come and eat everything ... oh hell no, Bambis. Grow your own delicious local produce!

(And yes, I know there are deer-preventing things you can do. I'll research them but right now I'm sacrificing logic for sarcasm. Shocking, I know.)

So yeah, another plan in place - I've heard container gardening is relatively easy so hopefully I'll have something to show for my efforts. I can feel my thumb turning green already!

Same Old, Same Old

Still working away on this cleanse thing. Lost another pound last week for a total of 8.5 in three weeks. Not bad for my slow-losing self! 31.5 pounds to go ...

Can we talk for a quick minute about The Biggest Loser this season? I was so inspired last season by Shay and Abby and their respective stories, and this season ... meh. It's still incredible to see everyone shed the weight so quickly, but I'm not super into it this season. Methinks they're just airing seasons too close together. Then I caught a TLC special on season 3's winner Eric, the one who gained most of his weight back and is now trying to lose it again. I would have felt sorry for his gains if I wasn't more concerned about his narcissistic need to be on TV all the time. Guy's got bigger problems than an addiction to fast food.

Otherwise, it's just the same old routine for us as we head into Spring, although this is the busy season. My head is already spinning with all of the projects I need to complete by end of Q2 and the Q hasn't even started yet! The husband is also frantic as he hurries to complete the school yearbook by the end of the month. Right as he gets to breathe a sigh of relief, I start traveling in April and May. Good times!

But yes, it's the same old routine ... I really need to think of how to make our busy lives a little more fun/interesting as it warms up outside. We can't save *all* of the fun for summer. Perhaps an Awesome Spring Plan? If I have time, that is.