Day 117

Sunday Rundown:

Weight: 200 lbs

Weight lost this week: +2 lbs

Total weight lost: 37 lbs

Bust: 40 1/2" (1/2" lost since last week, 5 3/8" lost total)

Waist: 35" (0" lost since last week, 5" lost total)

Hips: 46 1/2" (1/4" lost since last week, 6 3/8" lost total)

(The measurements are old; I can't find my tape measure, but I'll track it down tomorrow and get it updated.)

Bummer-post incoming. The last week has been hell. Most of you have probably heard the story by now: I was burglarized last week. Someone came into my apartment while I slept and stole $3000-$4000 worth of stuff. They left me alone, thank God, but I'm still really shaken by it. I've spent most of the week trying to get my life back in order (with my mother's help, fortunately, or else I'd still be totally screwed). The long and short of it is that my workout and eating schedules went to hell for a while; the burglary, coupled with my off-days from having flu symptoms the days prior to the burglary, means my weight jumped up alarmingly eagerly. It's scary how quickly the human body is willing to regress.

If nothing else, this week has made me REALLY mad. The workouts I got in today and yesterday helped, but I've still got a lot of anger to work out. Should help me rage my way back on track. Cross your fingers for me, guys; I need all the good juju you can send my way. Hopefully I'll have good news for everyone next Sunday.

Day 103

Sunday Rundown:

Weight: 198 lbs

Weight lost this week: 0 lbs

Total weight lost: 39 lbs

Bust: 40 1/2" (1/2" lost since last week, 5 3/8" lost total)

Waist: 35" (0" lost since last week, 5" lost total)

Hips: 46 1/2" (1/4" lost since last week, 6 3/8" lost total)

Ugh, this was a rough week. The first half was great - found out my favorite water aerobics class has evening meets during the week as opposed to just the one crack-of-dawn Saturday class, and got some great cycing sessions in. Then, around Thursday, I started feeling lousy. Not terrible, not curl-up-on-the-couch-and-don't-move, per se, but enough that it impacted me. But - I didn't turn to comfort foods to make myself feel better, and I kept up with my workouts ... downside, though, is that whatever my funk is sapped my appetite. So no pounds lost this week. Well, technically, I lost like 3/4 of a pound, but if I start counting every decimal pound I lose, then I'm going to go mad. Until it's a nice round number, no post.

Cooking was pretty basic this week, nothing I haven't tried and succeeded at. I turned to garlic chicken stir fry more than once ... if it's possible to overdose on that, I could be in trouble down the road. I did turn to chicken noodle soup on my most pitiful sick night, but I sculled through it until I got a good chicken-to-noodle ratio. Meaning like all chicken, and only a few noodles. Not the usual sick-day soup I'm used to, but still good. Suppose all the good feeling's in the broth anyway.

All's still well in the GA realm ... came up with some fairly original activities for the week, and know all my students' names (thank you, Mel's Guide to Winning Ppl Over ...). And I'm still loving the advising office work. The atmosphere is so great there! I figured 4 hours of that a day would have me watching the clock like crazy, but I haven't been tapping my foot once. I love it there! And I'm getting a little more autonomy too, getting to feel out the advising process and all that it entails.

Been missing the girls a lot more this week, especially on nights out. Nate, Huck, and I had a ridiculous evening at Blu earlier this week, and about every other comment or silly toast made me think how much the girls would appreciate it. I don't feel like I'm any less social ... it's just a different kind of social, I suppose. Ladies! Come visit Norman so I can teach you the toast!

And now, I'm going to take some Nyquil, go to bed, and hopefully wake up with this weird funk behind me. I do not have time for illness; immune system, wake up and fix this so I can get back to business as usual. Yes?

Day 96

Sunday Rundown:

Weight: 198 lbs

Weight lost this week: 1 lbs

Total weight lost: 39 lbs

Bust: 41" (1/4" lost since last week, 5 7/8" lost total)

Waist: 35" (0" lost since last week, 5" lost total)

Hips: 46 3/4" (0" lost since last week, 6 1/8" lost total)

Finally, a flicker of progress! Not the 2-5 lbs a week I was losing (ah, how I miss those days), but at least a sign that I'm not scheduling myself to death in vain. Amazing how tenacious a body can be when it thinks it's found equilibrium ...

I tried a Zumba class at the Y for the first time today, and let me just say DAMN. That's a hell of a workout! Remember, I haven't done Zumba since like the first week of HFFC, back before we figured out it might be doing me more harm than good. But it definitely felt good today. I even had a spot with a clear view to the mirror, and I wasn't totally appalled by myself like I was the first time I tried Zumba. I looked pretty damn good, actually! Kinda sweaty and red in the face, but otherwise good! They even played one of my favorite songs - Jai Ho, from Slumdog Millionaires (granted, it was the glittered-up Pussycat Dolls version, but still good). I left the Y with my shirt like two shades darker than it was when I arrived ... thank god I didn't wear one of the white shirts, or I would've gone transparent and started offending the Y patrons' good Christian sensibilities.

Cooking is still going well, although I'm finding myself only actually cooking like 3 or 4 nights a week. Most of what I make creates leftovers, and in the process of trying not to waste anything, I'm eating a lot of repeats. Not that I'm complaining - it's all come out pretty tasty so far (save for the chicken capri, which I forgot to rub with garlic powder prior to cooking and was tragically bland). I've been behaving myself pretty well with free meals, too ... driving down Lindsey the other day, it occurred to me that I cannot remember the last time I had fast food. No McDonalds, no Arby's, no Wendy's ... the closest thing I've had to "fast food" is the odd Subway sandwich. It's an oddly gratifying feeling; I mean, for a while there, the Arby's on Lindsey knew my usual. That's always a bad sign.

I'm still loving my GA work, I've even been out shopping for more professional clothing to wear while advising; I'm not required to dress up, but I feel like I should a bit if I really want to make an impression. Also, as of today, my novel mentor Mel got the rough draft of my SR novel back to me! Which is why it's almost 3:30 am as I write this post: I find myself having a hard time focusing on anything else tonight. It's not a ton of changes, just a few pronoun confusions and some rephrasing for clarity's sake. Turns out I write with a lot of semicolons; who knew?

I've made a promise to myself this week - no walks. I have no means of figuring out precisely how long my routes are (trying to find a good iPhone app to track it, if anyone can recommend me one), and I think I'm cheating myself out of some butt-busting workouts without meaning to. This week, it's all Y, all the time: kickstep, Zumba, and maybe even a cycling class ... y'know, if I decide I'm up for that kind of self-flagellation, haha (honestly? I kinda miss Carla's cycling class! The bane of my workout schedule, and I'm really missing it). Wish me luck this week, guys ... I've tentatively scooted off my plateau, it's time to drop some serious weight!