The Creeping Crud

Ugh! That about sums up the past couple of weeks around my house. For those that don't know me, I have a super-charged immune system that breaks down maybe 2 times a year, usually around allergy season, long enough for me to get a summer cold and a winter cold. Because of seasonal allergies, I may get the sniffles a few times in between, but an actual cold is rare to me. Thanks to the super charged immune system, if I do get sick, I rarely stay sick for very long. A typical cold to me is about 2 days. This year, however, I have had back to back colds for about a month now. Not typical colds either, at least not for me. No, I have had the creeping crud for waaaaaaaaay to long and it has knocked me and my family on our collective ass! I am accustomed to nursing a cold for a day and feeling well enough to go about my day the next day. Not this time. This time, I find myself trying to go about my day by putting on a load of laundry and feeling like I need a nap after. This time, I get worn out and run down just by getting myself a drink of water. I have tried everything to get better, but yesterday I finally realized what is keeping me sick.

As I may have mentioned, my family recently completed building our new home. Due to the home's design and location, we have a wonderful cross breeze that blows through the house when the windows are open, so, given that I believe fresh air and sunshine are the perfect remedy for colds, I have thrown open the windows to take advantage of said fresh air. We live in South Carolina so the weather is beautiful right now and will be replaced with "OH MY GOD" hot in just a few weeks, so I'm taking advantage. In this new house, is a beautiful blue stained wood floor in the kitchen. It really is gorgeous, I'll have to share a picture:

Excuse the mess, that was shortly after we moved in, and that is my fat ass cleaning the kitchen, and my equally fat ass cat supervising.

Anyway, yesterday I realized I had to do some housework regardless of how crappy I felt, because we were going to be evicted when the health department condemned the house. The sunlight was shining in the back door and it illuminated a faint sheen of pollen all over my very pretty blue floor. I don't know how I didn't see it before, but there it was. Not only was there pollen all over the floor, but all over the table, the chairs, the light fixtures, everywhere! I could see my foot steps in the pollen. I am just enough of a neat freak to have had a panic attack and went right to work getting the stuff up. It apparently blew in with all the windows open and was trying to pollinate everything it landed on, including the people. Now, I'm not saying it's not a good idea to air the house out on occasion, but I'm feeling a lot better today than I have for about a month now. Hopefully, the rest of the house will start to feel a little better as well, but I am considering slipping everyone some Benedryl in their cereal just to be safe.

You Must Be Kidding Me!

I stepped on the scales this morning and it has not moved an ounce! This is both ridiculous and a wake up call. While overall my eating is better, it looks as though I need to take an overview of exactly when and how much I am eating and start journaling my meals. I hate food journals. They are tedious. What's more, my tendency to get obsessive about things poses a real problem during weight loss.  Check out my entry for the 5 Stupidest things I ever did to lose weight post. But, it is necessary. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying a plateau isn't to be expected, but plateaus usually come when someone has reached a leveling off point after a "significant" weight loss. This point comes for different people. A person with only 20 pounds to lose may hit a plateau after losing 10 pounds, but a person who has 100 pounds to lose shouldn't hit a plateau before at least 25 pounds in. Women are especially prone to plateaus, as certain biologic functions cause our weight to fluctuate throughout the month, but that's not the issue here.

I know I have not been drinking water as I should either. This is an issue with me. Diet soda is just so gooooooood! And I have a real affinity for coffee. I am not willing to sacrifice my coffee with real sugar and cream. I am a bit of a contradiction in that regard. On the one hand, I have no problem whatsoever drinking a  chemical filled diet soda, but on the other, I hate to defile my morning coffee with the artificial stuff. While I may not need to give it up completely, I don't have to drink it until 2pm each day. Maybe I might sleep better as well, if I cut down on the caffeine and sugar, and sleeping better also aids weight loss.

At any rate, here we go with the journal! Don't worry, I will spare you all the gory details of my food journal.

And The War Is On. . .

With my treadmill.  It sits there, staring at me, mocking me, taunting me, daring me to climb on.  That great black, mechanical beast snorts and breathes it's song of evil against dripping fangs and the rattling cogs of torment.  Ok, not really.  It is an inanimate object, and the snorting and fire is all in my head, but it's scary as shit nonetheless.  I know from personal experience, if I just get on the thing, consistently, in a few weeks I will begin to, not only enjoy it, but actually look forward to it.  Those few weeks in the beginning however, will prove to be hell. I know my legs will protest. I know my lungs will feel like they can't take in enough air. I know my heart will beat so fast I feel like it will come through my chest. My feet will hurt. My skin will flush a very unflattering shade of red. I'll sweat. I'll cuss. I will tell myself "Fat ain't so bad" and contemplate throwing in the towel. But I also know I can't do it without him.

He doesn't allow me to use the excuse of "too hot", "too cold", "rainy", "safety" or anything else I can come up. He is here, he is in my bedroom so I don't have to get in my car and drive to the gym. My pictures don't care if I haven't done my hair in a month, so it's not like I have to look for cute gym clothes. My son and husband know where I am at all times so when they can't find something that's right out in the open they can easily come and find me. I can put on dinner, jump on the treadmill, stir the dinner, jump back on the treadmill, and do it all over again.

If I remember correctly, that's the reason I got the thing in the first place and it's exactly the reason I hate it.

What a Crock!

I'm thinking of adding a couple of theme days to the blog, including a recipe day, and that got me to thinking about my crock pot.  Don't ask for the full run down on how I got from point A to point crock pot because a) I'm not a good enough writer to take you on that long and winding journey, and b) you'd lose interest somewhere around the point I was thinking about Harry Potter and how that ugly kid really grew into his looks.  Anyway, suffice it to say, the crock pot is useful to the dieter's arsenal because it will eliminate both the "I don't have the money to cook healthy food" and the "I don't have time to exercise" excuses.

First, the money element:

Crock pots are great for cooking cheaper (i.e. tougher) cuts of meat at a lower, slower temperature.  You can also cook leaner cuts of meat in the crock pot and still have it come out juicy without all the added fat.  Crock pots are also great for cooking big pots of healthy soups and stews that you can then freeze in individual bags for lunches and thus eliminate the excuse for popping out to get some dollar menu fast food. I don't care if everything IS a dollar, it's still cheaper to bring lunch from home.  And, because you are freezing your leftovers, you don't have the worry of getting burned out on eating the same thing for lunch tomorrow that you had for dinner the night before.  Variety is the spice of life!

Now, the time element:

How many people, especially women, give the excuse of not having enough time in their day to exercise?  Close to a billion.  That's just an estimate, but I'm pretty sure it's close.  It's no wonder.  I once worked outside of the home and I know from experience, sometimes moms don't have a chance to even sit down until around 10pm.  Forget about waking up early for exercise!  I never could do it.  I had to get up at 5:30 am as it was to get myself, my kid and my husband out of the door on time.  I had a 45 minute commute, one way, would often work overtime, come home and get dinner and a load of laundry started, help the kiddo with homework, clean the house, finish up dinner, eat dinner, clean the kitchen, do more laundry, do more homework, build a lego tower, get everything ready for tomorrow, lather, rinse, repeat. There didn't seem to be enough hours in my day to fit in exercise.

A crock pot can free up at least the hour you spend cooking dinner each night. You can just set up your meals the night before, throw it on before leaving the house for the day, and come home to a wonderful homecooked meal. It's almost like having a personal chef! Get some bagged salad and an easy side dish and you have dinner!

The only issue with crock pot cooking is finding healthy recipes that fit into a diet plan. To find healthier alternatives to crock pot recipes, one often has to dig a little deeper, but that's not to say it can't be done. Almost anything can be cooked in a crock pot with a little modification. I will be posting tried and true recipes on this blog beginning Monday under the heading of Monday Meals. If you have any you would like to share, please comment or send me an email. You will get full credit!

WARNING: This post may contain the "F" word.

Let's just assume every Monday post will contain the "F" word from here on out. Monday's suck. Monday weigh in days suck harder.

First, a disclaimer: my entire household has been sick this past week.  My son has been sick with seasonal allergies AND wrestling with getting a permanent molar.  So that's been fun. I don't care what doctors and dentists say, kids get sick when their teeth come in. Nearly every mother I have ever spoken with says the same thing and we can't all be wrong. My kid is no different. My husband has been working really hard, long hours because this is the busiest season for his business. As a result, he hasn't been feeling the best either. So I have two very sick guys to take care of. This has translated to grabbing what I could, when I could to eat. But, excuses are like assholes, we all have one. Right? Right! So that's mine.

Now, I crawled my fat butt on the scale today and I haven't lost an ounce! I have gained any, so I'm taking that as a victory in itself, but still I'm a bit disappointed. Oh well, back on the proverbial horse. Which leads me to the rest of my post.

One thing I have learned from being on one diet or another for the better part of my life is you have to keep going no matter what. As some of you may know, I am part of the forums at www.3fatchicks.com.  A very wise poster on that forum (wish I could remember who), quoted a book she read that said: If you were cleaning your fine china and broke a single dish, would you break the rest of the set? No, of course not. Well, weight loss is a lot like that. You will have ups and downs, and you will have days when you just can't resist reaching for that bag of chips, but it doesn't negate everything else you've done. You just have to get back on the horse and pick up where you left off. Had I kept this in mind, I might have avoided gaining and losing the same 10 pounds over and over again.  So, for today, I'm just going to say "Fuck it" and move on to the rest of my week.  Here's to next Monday!