Week 6 (I would love some cheese with this Whine)

This week did not really have much progress to talk about. I apologize for the following update:

So Sunday, the day I posted those pictures, I did some weightlifting with Scott, ran for an hour (still hovering around the 15 minute-mile mark) and then swam a little. I will say that after an hour of doing the Galloway method, I was no where near as tired and achy as I was after just a regular round on the treadmill at my own pace. But by the end of it all, I was absolutely EXHAUSTED.

Then Monday I took off from working out because I was officially going by the Galloway Method schedule which has you run a lot on Sunday, take Monday off, run on Tuesday, take Wednesday off, run Thursday, easy walk Friday, and Saturday off. Well that was all good and well until I woke up Tuesday morning with a horrible sore throat that wouldn't go away and my chest starting feeling really heavy. I got home Tuesday afternoon, took my dog out, and went to bed. Or I tried to. Couldn't go to sleep because I had shivers from a fever (low grade) and eventually I took a night time cold pill that wiped me out and took away the fever and left me sweating like a pig when I woke up at 2:00am from the piles of blankets I put on the bed. I took two more pills and was good to go.

Wednesday I stayed on the daytime pills so I could go to work (and I had to be at work by 7:00 that morning). Ran out of pills by 12:00 after which my head continued to swell with mucus until I left at 3:15. However, Scott sent me flowers which I got at work about 5 minutes before I left, and it made me feel better and more cheerful for my drive home. The most interesting part of the day was after lunch during our database training, a co-worker told me to "bring something to table" and I said, "All I have to give is mucus right now." You ever feel so sick you don't care at all what other people think at the moment? I'm sure I'll regret it later. I don't right now, though. Anyways, I got home, took the dog out, and went to bed.

I slept until Scott woke me up at 10:00pm with a phone call reminding me to make the chocolate toffee for the Valentine's Day party we were having at work on Thursday. My co-workers liked it so much, they asked me to make it again for this party. Well, crap. I thought no one would want to eat it because I'm sick, and I'll be stuck with perfectly good chocolate in my apartment that I don't even want to eat. (Although, for some reason this disease is making me crave macaroni and cheese and gooey chocolate like CRAZY. The only saving grace is that I don't pack those things in my lunch, so it's not available when I want it most, and I'd skipped dinner for the past 2 nights.) So I washed my hands every 5 minutes while I made the toffee and kept it as sanitized as possible and luckily, they ate about half of it at the party. I will leave it there until Friday and then take what's left of it with me to bible study Friday night.

So, needless to say, I have not done a shred of exercise since Sunday, though my diet should be making up for it considering Tuesday and Wednesday I'm counting a total of about 700 calories. However, today (Thursday) I did eat some cookie cake and other things at the party, so we'll push today's to something like 1,300-1,400 calories. Not expecting dinner tonight, though these cough drops I got are really helping with the sore throat today (Publix brand-sugar free honey and lemon cough drops). Still can't hear much outside of the constant ringing in my ears. It is unbelievably annoying. The pressure in there won't balance for nothing. And my nose and sinuses decided to catch up and play ball with the rest of the illness just yesterday. So I'm dizzy today and not planning on working out because everything just hurts and I don't want to embarrass myself by losing my balance on a treadmill, or walking to the door for that matter. (GOOD GOD, CAN SOMEBODY CALL THE WAA-MBLANCE?)

BUT, I haven't had a fever since Tuesday night, and like I said, my sore throat is finally starting to go away. Hopefully by Saturday I'll have everything hacked up and be back on track again. Wait a minute, that means I'll be resting. I can live with that!

I just remembered, I was going to introduce some organization to the blog:

EXERCISE

1 day (2 hours)


DIET

Thank y'all so much for the suggestions last week on lunch ideas. I made a couple of batches of white chicken chili on Sunday and kept one of them to eat for lunches. It's really good with some fat free sour cream and fat free shredded cheese. So easy to make if you have a crock pot, too. Just add a couple of cans of northern beans, 2 cans of chicken (drained), 1 can of rotel, any other veggie you want to spice it up with (I like onions), and then pour in some low sodium chicken broth (however much you want for your preference of consistency), turn on the crock pot and stir occasionally and you're good to go!

Next week I'm going to crack into some more of y'alls suggestions, though. Especially some of these new ones I learned about this week. Check it out:

Devil's Food Cake (of any brand) mixed with a can of pumpkin. That's right, a can of pumpkin. Nothing else (whatever you do, do NOT add water!). It's a bitch to mix together, but helps if you have a hand mixer. It will also look like a Martian landscape before and after you bake it, but put a little fat free cool whip on top and you have yourself a rich chocolaty almost fat free dessert! You can make it as a cake, or like Carla (the co-worker who gave me this recipe) makes them like cupcakes. I've tried them and they are FANTASTIC.

Carla also tried out some burgers this week that sound fabulous, and she gave me her permission to share it. It includes Jenny-O Frozen Turkey Burgers ALL NATURAL (95/5). They are individually packaged, but you can throw them straight from the freezer onto the skillet and cook. Then put it on a healthier bun with goat cheese, a nice slice from a good ugly tomato, a few banana pepper rings and add a little A-1 or hot sauce and some light mayo. She is an experienced connoisseur of foods both diet and non-diet, so I absolutely take her word on this and will be giving it a shot.

My friend Katie also gave a shout out to me about this yummy pickled veggie mix called Mezzetta California Hot Mix. Haven't gotten a chance to try it yet or check out the nutrition on it, but according to her you should be able to find it around the pickles. Normally that kind of stuff isn't bad and I am a SUCKER for pickles which are helpful snacks when on a diet. Some nutrition facts say pickles are 0 calories, others say up to 17 calories. Either way, how many can you eat at a time, right?

And if you ever crave something gooey chocolaty like I've been all week, my sister reminded me of the fat free and/or sugar free jello pudding available just about anywhere! It worked on my cravings. Thanks, sis!

Is it just me or did that sound like a pharmaceutical commercial crossed with mentos?




And lastly, I got some advice for anyone else who may be aching. Once again, I have not given this a shot yet, but another friend of mine, Jennifer, recommended a lotion for muscle soreness. It's called Village Naturals Therapy Muscle Relief lotion. She said it also comes as an oil or body wash and you should probably be able to find it around the bubble-bath kind of stuff (most likely in a Publix). I really can't wait to try this one out!

Next update won't be this whiney! I promise! I just need to snap out of this mess and get back on track. I haven't lost my drive for this yet! 3 weeks from this Sunday is the Disney Princess Half-Marathon!!

And for those of you following along and doing your own diet and exercise plan, keep me posted on how you're doing and if any of this is helping you out! Y'all keep giving me such good ideas for stuff and I want to make sure I can help do the same for you!