I am the worst!

At blogging, that is.

At this whole lifestyle and eating shift, I am kicking ass. Today, my total weight lost is 28.5 lbs. It helps that for the past 3 days, I have been smothering with a head cold that has left me unable to smell or taste anything. What's the point of eating delicious things when everything tastes like cardboard? Get in my belly, plain greek yogurt and rice cakes. Delicious.

This week is my 4 year wedding anniversary to a dirty ol' sailor. Since I married a filthy, salty sailor, it comes as no shock that he will be at sea for our anniversary (unless they end up in port for some unknown reason), so while I will be celebrating with him in my heart, we won't actually be celebrating together until he gets home next week. When you're married to a sailor, you get used to shifting special events. Christmas? Pfft...December 25th is just a guideline! REAL Christmas can happen in January! I used to wonder what the hell was wrong with people leaving up their Christmas tree so long, or putting it up so early. Now, I know.

But some people are just nuts.

Anyway, this morning I could almost taste things so I had fresh cherries and a flavoured yogurt instead of the revolting plain stuff. As much as I want to exercise, and am even dressed for it (right out of bed because I was hopeful!), I also feel like falling over because my ears are all messed up from this head cold so I get vertigo. Also breathing any harder than normal sets off a coughing fit that makes me feel like my head is going to rupture.

Coughing brings out my eyes.

Happy Monday, all. Wish me luck in shaking this plague before I pass it along.

Yeah, about that hiatus...

So, these past 6 weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. What originally started as mild discontentment with a few things snowballed into a serious discussion about moving out of province. We had our reasons for and against such a big change, and it is not off the table forever, but for now it is. Instead, we are planning to sell our home next year and move into the city so we have been doing a lot of repairs and maintenance around the house so everything is in good shape when we list next year. One of the major jobs undertaken was refinishing the stairs.

It was a lot of inconvenience, but KJ did an absolutely amazing job. He worked like a rented mule to get this done before he went back to work. My contribution was some indoor sanding and painting, where his was shit hauling the stairs down to the risers, sanding them, staining & varnishing them and re-installing them. It was intense! Despite all the hard work, and pride in the beautiful job he did, we're both still very much looking forward to moving closer to our friends, and a more reasonable distance to the coast guard base.

In other news, the exercise and weight loss journey is continuing along in the right direction. As of this morning, I have lost 22.5 lbs and am comfortably wearing regular sized clothing instead of an 18 Plus. That makes me incredibly happy. On Monday, KJ and I went to see San Andreas in IMAX 3D at the mall. Before we went into the theater, I went to a clothing store and had no idea what sizes to try on, so I tried on a bunch of different sizes. Long story short, not only was I pleased with the results, I got 3 pairs of pants and a blouse for $36 total. Hooray for sales!

Today marks the start of KJ's shift at work, so I had to drop him off at 5:30am this morning to catch a bus to Lewisporte. He made it safe and sound, and will hopefully head back towards town at some point in the trip. But till then, it's just me and the fuzz butts. I can't complain; he's been home every night for 2 months, and that is incredibly rare. Doesn't make the wait any shorter, though!

Anyway, I am back to focusing on my health and diet. That means more recipes, more exercise, and more blogging about all the bullshit I'm going through!

I know, I'm excited about it, too.

Hiatus ended

Hey guys.

Yep, still alive. Just took a hiatus from writing. I was having a moody week last week, and while I was still trying to eat well and exercise, I simply was not doing anything worth talking about. Bitching and moaning over not having the car because KJ was working, or feeling like punting people due to PMS? Waahhh... cry me a river, right? So, I took a break from writing about life because I don't enjoy writing about life when life feels that petty and mundane to me.

In any event, today was a great day. We're in the midst of a closet renovation. Our clothes are everywhere, and our bedroom looks like a bomb went off. Instead of sitting around in this mess waiting for plaster to dry, we went out for breakfast this morning, and then we took the dogs for a 6 km walk through the woods on a trail nearby. An hour and 9 minutes from start to finish, we were home. I had burned 620 calories, and the dogs were exhausted.

Tonight for dinner, we made a vegetarian eggplant lasagna (that's using slices of eggplant instead of noodles), and a Caesar salad and it was frigging delicious! I highly recommend trying it if you have a gluten allergy. I didn't realize I was sensitive to gluten (or something in breads and pastas) until I had bread after 4 weeks without. My guts were in agony! Then again, maybe it was all the pulled pork... who knows? I am queen of the pork fart, after all.

Miss me?

Impressive, and gross.

I have been having great success this week. As of this morning, I am down 16.4 lbs from my starting weight, and I can see a difference in my face and midsection. I haven't been exercising at the gym as much because of the car situation due KJ's work schedule. I honestly hate going at night. I am a morning person. I like to get up and get moving. Putting it off until 8 PM is rough. I only have enough energy in me to eek out 30 minutes of cardio, and then I am done.

Because of my personal preferences in exercise, I have been diligent with food and it's really helping. I haven't gone over 1400 calories since Saturday, and they've all been good calories. No junk, no eating out of boredom, and when I do feel like eating, I make smart choices.

One of the things I have been curious about since the fat's been going away is what exactly the amount of fat actually looks like. One pound of fat looks is about the size of a coffee cup, for example.

Gross, right? At 16 lbs lost, I wanted to know what that looked like in a lump. Since I am proportionate in my weight loss and gain, I can't fathom just how much fat I have lost because I lose all over, not just somewhere like my gut. Thanks, Google, for finding it for me:

What a beautiful curio cabinet display...

THAT. IS. DISGUSTING...
I am glad it's gone. I'll be glad to get to 20 lbs gone, and happier still when I get to the goal I'm striving for. One pound at a time.

Knitting, Sitting & Shit Ankle

The ol' shit ankle is flaring up again. I don't remember what I initially did to it, but two years ago I was walking and rolled my ankle on the edge of the pavement, causing a huge flare in the original injury and was hobbling around for several weeks, icing it and keeping it elevated. Last week, while walking Bisou, I had to defend her against a roaming Husky who was trying to make her its bitch. When I pivoted on my left foot to scare away the offending roamer (it worked, by the way), doing so must have aggravated the Shit Ankle Gods, because it's been going out on me at random ever since.

Last night when KJ got home from work, we went to the gym and I got on one of the elliptical machines. Ol' Shitty was yelling at me on every downward step on the left foot, so I had to give it up and go for the bike instead. I guess it's just as well. Change in the gym routine is good, I'm told, but I prefer ellipticals to bikes. I also prefer morning exercise to 8 PM exercise, so an 8 PM bike ride was blaaahhh.

Pain is not helpful, you guinea pig asshole.

In dog news, Tipper is on a diet of white rice and boiled chicken as of yesterday morning, and she seems to be enjoying it. Her butt has ceased falling out as of Saturday night, thankfully, and she's feeling much better (as I type this, she is quietly woofing and rumble-growling at a pedestrian walking a dog up my street). I was pretty concerned and horrified all day Saturday, but she's back to normal.

So, Shit-Ankle Sunday resulted in a lot of quality time with my couch and knitting needles. I finished this right-hand mitten this morning, having worked my way to the thumb yesterday.It still needs to be felted (ie: boiled and rubbed furiously). Working with double-pointed needles is not always my favourite thing to do, but if you ever decide to try it out, I highly recommend Caspian from Knit Picks. They are not only pretty, but they have excellent points and are lightweight and don't fall out of your work like the nickel plated ones do.

Pre-felting.

Compared to a finished, felted mitt.

Now to enjoy a cup of coffee, start the left mitt and try not to fall asleep because I woke up too early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. 

FML

Well, today has been one of those days where I am sad I own a big dog. Don't get me wrong; I love my dogs. But today, out of the blue, Tipper's colon decided to become the bane of my existence. It's like she found a Poo Salad of her own. It was a disaster of epic proportions because, naturally, she has no sense and likes to walk through the land mines she's launching. I've wiped her ass (and washed her goddamned hairy feet) more today than I've wiped anyone else's ass (and feet) before in my life.

Stuff like this makes me 100% certain I should not have kids.

I called the vet since there was blood present in the catastrophe, and naturally the vet's office is closed on Saturday. Luckily, the vet on call was super friendly and sensible, deterring me from coming in for Emergency service for the runs because it's really common.

"Just withhold her food today, supply her with lots of water, and tomorrow feed her some cooked rice and chicken breast, and save yourself $350 in emergency fees. If it worsens, call me back and bring her in."

Deal. And thankfully, it has not worsened. It's practically stopped as of an hour ago, so fingers crossed she's all better. She's back on duty, jumping up every time I cough because I'm sure she thinks I'm choking to death. Guess she knows CPR or the Heimlich...or just doesn't want to miss the show. Either way, she's her normal self. Let's hope it stays that way.

Or else.

In addition to all the terrible things I have seen and smelled at home today, I also saw and smelled some terrible things at the gym! See, I got up at 6 AM and drove the Cap'n to work so I could go to the gym. At 6:45 AM. On a Saturday. Let me tell you, in case you've never seen it first hand, the people in the gym at that hour on the weekends look and smell like they ought to be buried.

Or like they'd recently escaped the first attempt at burial.

What I'm trying to say is the gym was full of some very, very old people this morning. Kudos to them for getting up early and working out. I know people half the age of some of those guys who can't walk the length of themselves without panting, let alone wake up at the crack of dawn with intent to exercise. What is not cool, however, is the amount of farting that happens when the gym is full of old folks. So. Much. Farting! It was almost impressive, once my eyes stopped watering. I was afraid I'd end up with pink eye. There were more farts in the air than there was oxygen. When the exercise machines say you should stop use if you become short of breath, dizzy or feel faint, I don't think that scenario was what they had in mind.

Maybe I'll pin this up next time...

I think I'll stick with my usual gym schedule from now on. The oxygen saturation is better in the late morning/early afternoon.

Free Shoes & Fat Loss

Today is starting out as a good one! I stepped on the scale today after 2 weeks of disappointment and irregularity to find that the number has dropped. Finally! In addition to the weight loss I've been waiting on, I remembered this morning that I still had 2 credits on JustFab from earlier this year. That translates into $88 worth of shoes for $20, shipping included. It's a good thing we're planning on a shoe rack for the closet renovation next month...

I may have a problem.

Tonight, we're heading out to a customer appreciation party for my friend's realty company (even though we're not customers), and since KJ has the car I can't get to the gym so I will have to get creative with the exercise. I could walk outdoors, but it's back to being ass-chillingly cold again these past 2 days. I hate going for walks when it's cold outside. Yesterday, it was windy as hell and snowing off and on all day!

On the diet front, I have been doing pretty great. It's interesting what you can learn when you actually read the labels on food and do a little research. For instance, the bagged sweet kale salad from Costco is surprisingly high in calories and sugar. The bag says a single serving is 1 cup, which (for a salad made of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages and kale) is really not much. So why in the hell is it 140 calories per serving? Turns out it's the frigging dried cranberries. I assumed that dried cranberries were just cranberries, but no sir. They're dried, sweetened cranberries. I was eating this salad several times a week, and it was packed with sugar. Not anymore! I've been picking out the majority of the cranberries, leaving only 8-10 pieces per 2 cups of salad.

I'm also exercising epic will power... the following treats have been laying around my house for weeks now, and are still unopened. Anyone interested? Free for the taking.

You can't get me!

Happy Friday, folks. Hopefully yours is as good as mine!

• Starting weight: 255.6 lbs
• Today's weight: 242.8 lbs
• = 12.7 lbs lost