kettiecat wrote: »

I put heavy whipping cream in my morning coffee.

I wish I could, but I'm very sensitive to dairy proteins. When I have coconut milk, I use that though... The stuff in the can meant for cooking, not from the containers meant for drinking.

I just realized how funny it looks that I'm talking about going to the gym to use the machines and also posting principles of my strength training saying that I don't need a gym and fancy machines. For me, gym = cardio during crummy weather...other than, hopefully, the TRX class.

Jeff has been a gym rat for around 15 years with a few breaks here and there. I actually had to drag him there this week! We haven't had gym memberships for about 4 months, and once that much time passes it gets easier and easier to make excuses to put off going back. I'm glad we upgraded to the hospital's wellness center though. The staff is nice...from what I can tell after only 2 visits. Our previous gym gave us free membership for 2 years because we're both veterans, but there was no staff. Just a key code to an old, school gymnasium with some free weights, a few weight machines and a handful of threadmills. The atmosphere wasn't great either because it was in an underground level of the old school with horrible lighting. At the hospital, one whole wall is floor to ceiling windows on the second floor. I guess the one pitfall so far is that we don't have 24 hour access. Not that we usually need that option, but sometimes it just doesn't work to get there before closing time. They closed at 6 tonight and it's around 0*F and windy outside, so I missed my cardio today. I plan to go to the gym tomorrow morning since they will close at 1, I believe. If I can't make it there, I'll do a video workout at home.

I did get up and do my strength training this morning, so I made it all 3 days. Next week may be more challenging. This is my week with my 2 youngest kids home. I have to get up earlier with them for school than I do when they are with their dad. I haven't decided yet if I want to still try for getting that workout in before the rest of the house is awake, or if I will modify the goal to do the workout immediately after I get them to school. Will think on that one over the weekend.

I joined a group on here where you can track and share your walk/run/bike mileage in relation to walking through middle earth with Bilbo or Frodo. There's a website that has it all laid out so you know that if you go X number of miles you'd be at a certain location from the stories. So cool! I love it.

My biggest loser challenge group has weigh in on Sundays, and I'm feeling a little bummed about my weight not really dropping. In fact, it's gone up a few pounds since I reached that 30 pound loss milestone. I'm retaining water because of ovulating and because of muscles repairing themselves, but even considering that, the scale is not being very nice to me the whole past week. I'll do measurements again on Sunday too, so maybe there will be progress there. I did notice the other day that my calves have shrunk. I haven't been measuring specifically, but I put on a pair of leg warmers that I used to have to squeeze my legs into and now they slide right on. I might start measuring there too.

I am seriously being tested on this journey. I'm too the point of being pissed off about having GAINED about 8 pounds in 10 days even though I'm doing ALL off the same things I've been doing. Grr. I'm not giving up, but man this sucks. I'm at a loss as far as figuring out any kind of cause for the major gain. No sodium overload. No carb overload. No dehydration. No hormonal events. No binge eating. No new meds or med adjustments. No sore muscles in recovery. I was over my calories once in 10 days. I just don't understand. I have a medical scale on wood flooring that's connected to cellular modem computer transmitting to the local VA hospital. I'd think that they'd notice the trend and question it, but maybe I just need to call and ask if it ever needs to be recalibrated. They're closed today, so I'll plan on calling tomorrow.

I made it to the gym today and restarted C25K. It's been several months, so I figured I'd start back at the beginning. I was able to run an average speed of 4.7mph. I've got some work to do to get back to running at about 5.8mph. When I was done on the treadmill, I went over to the rowing machines and did 4 minutes of tabata sprints. It's the first time I've tried it, but I really liked it and I think I'll plan on ending all of my gym workouts with that. I still need to get my bodyweight training in for the day. I'm wishing I would have gotten it done early this morning, but 6am was just not calling my name. I will make it happen tonight though, and try harder to get up really early on Wednesday. Will be continuing to work on that goal this week as well as aiming for HIIT/Tabata training daily.

I've had a great couple of days. Exercising daily has been going well. Took Thursday off from a formal workout and danced around the house to loud music while I did some extra cleaning. I've typically only been eating back a small portion of my exercise calories unless I feel like I really need to eat something more, but often I find that I'm not going hungry by not eating back those calories. Last night, Jeff and I drove about an hour and a half to go have a birthday celebration with one of my best friends who was born on the exact same day as me. We went to a small Mexican restaurant and then to a movie. I ALWAYS get popcorn at the theatre, so I logged that first and used the rest of my calories and macros to plan what I could eat. Anything with dairy, beans, or rice as a main ingredient was out. We ended up getting a big fajita platter with 4 meats and the typical veggies. I was really conservative with my portions of fajita beef, chicken, and shrimp. I also had the little lettuce/pico de gallo/guacamole salad that sits next to the beans and rice, a side of guacamole, and 2 small fajita tortillas. Of course we also had to have birthday drinks, but I opted for a lime margarita instead of strawberry or mango and got the smallest size. The wait staff came out to sing to us and brought tequilla shots too. Whew! We had a good time, and I only went over my calories by 40.

Today, Jeff and I went to get pedicures and new running shoes for me. We went to Applebee's, so that was another experience of picking from a menu to fit my calories AND macros. Ended up getting Bourbon Street Chicken & Shrimp with steamed veggies in place of the roasted potatoes. I could actually only eat half of the meal. When we ordered, it turned out that we got items from the 2 for $20 menu so got a free appetizer...that's a slippery slope. Asian Sweet & Spicy boneless chicken wings. I did the research first and decided that I was only allowed 1 piece. Yep, just 1. I did it. I wanted more, but really decided ahead of time that the consequences were just not worth it. I also got a free Red Apple Sangria as their birthday special. That would have put me over my calories and carbs, but when they brought it out it was much larger than I had expected....and it was terribly sweet. I sipped on it through our meal, and left half of it on the table when we left.

My final look at my nutrients after dinner showed that I was significantly low on protein and fat....and calories too, for that matter. I hadn't eaten my pre-exercise amount yet. I joked with Jeff that my evening snack would have to be 2 slices of bacon....except I wasn't joking. Such a wierd concept sometimes, to eat more fat to lose fat...but it's obviously working. Anyway, had my bacon and kombucha for my evening snack and finished my day with 214 calories to spare.

The scale has been going down consistently for a few days now, and if it continues at the current rate, I could be back at that low point in about a week...whhhheeeeen I'll have another hormonal water retention event....so maybe that low point will be in a week and a half or so.