Sorry I’m late again. I don’t know how there can be so much going on and nothing going on at the same time.

Anyway… I’m still sick-ish. Too sick to exercise and spend much time cooking. Clark was sick, then was better, now seems sick again. You know, we made it through most of the sick season pretty much unscathed (if I’m remembering correctly), and now we’re getting slammed. When mom’s sick, everything falls apart, and we’re on week two.

But, I’m getting better. I’m on antibiotics and an inhaler now, so it should be uphill from here. Right? Provided I find ANY time at all to rest.

I’m not going to bore you with long tales of things that have gone wrong (car trouble, for one) and things that have come up to keep me busy and not resting during the day. (Some of them have been fun). Just know that there are stories. Long, boring ones.

So, aside from the fact that I’m growing out of my clothes (grrrrr), nothing much is happening with Health Group right now. BUT, I’m still looking forward to starting things up when I can move and breath at the same time. And hopefully, that will be soon.

How was your week?

No Health going on here. I’m sick and miserable. Sinus infection. Coughing my brains out. Bleh.

So, not much going on here. Still not knitting.

My arms still hurt. I’m going to have to cut down even more on the guitar.

Liv’s birthday party is tomorrow, so I need to clean up, go shopping, and get ready for that.

Nate and I are thinking that we’re tired all the time and not sleeping well because our bed sucks. I think we’re going mattress shopping on Saturday if we can work the time out with the babysitter. Any suggestions? Nate wants to look at the Temperpedic memory foam mattress, and some mattress that is air adjustable. Sleep Number mattress, maybe? I’m not sure. He’s done the reading up, not me.

I talked a little bit to my friend Rachel about the Zone Diet on Monday afternoon. Quite frankly, I’m not in the mood to acquire and read yet another diet book, but I think I might try to incorporate some of the things she talked about into Calorie King. It’s time to renew Calorie King for the year, and after talking with Nate about it, I think I’m going to.

The Zone diet, according to Rachel, wants you to balance “blocks” of protein, carbs, and fat in each meal and snack so your body and blood consistently have the acids and such it needs to utilize your food and stored energy. Makes sense. She suggested I start with a 4 block diet, and if I’m not loosing weight, to move down to a 3 block for awhile. That’s what she did and she lost over 40 pounds. She was losing about 2 lbs per week, which is still in the realm of “healthy” weight loss more than freaky-fast-fad-diet weight loss that isn’t as healthy or sustainable.

The more muscle a person has on their body, the more blocks they need to sustain their muscle mass instead of breaking it down.

It’s basically similar to a lot of other things I’ve read and heard, when you look at the actual foods they want you to be eating. Good choices, healthy fats, good grains and veggies, etc. But perhaps a little more protein, and maintaining a balance of the three mentioned nutrients at each meal.

1 block of protein is 7 grams
1 block of carb is 9 grams
1 block of fat is 1 gram, which I think needs to be added on top of the fat that is already in the carb and protein of choice, provided they are already low fat choices.

A meal is 4 blocks of each. A snack is 1 block of each. Don’t go over 3 hours without eating (heard that before) until night time. (Hee hee. Nate asked if I have to set my alarm to wake up and eat when I first told him that, which is why I added “until night time” on there).

So, I figure that since Calorie King already breaks down everything I eat into their nutrient components, it should be easy to blend the two. I’m curious how these modifications will affect overall calorie consumption.

And I’m probably going to join a gym for some classes. If it EVER warms up and acts like spring here in the glorious Seattle area, I’d love to start walking the hills around my neighborhood again, but it’s freezing cold, and I’d be subjecting the boy to the elements as well as myself.

That’s what’s going on here. Nothing remarkable. But constantly busy, busy, busy. Seriously, I can’t believe how much stuff I have on my calendar. It’s really annoying.

I heard Janell say that when she started the 20/20 diet, they told her to treat it like a part time job, and to make that much time for it. I feel that I need to do the same. To change my habits. Mostly, to make time to plan meals and then shop for them. That’s my biggest hang up right now. I can manage to get exercise in if I really try, but the food part is killing me.

Wow, the weeks are flying by. I only managed a walk this week.

So my friend Rachel is coming over on Monday afternoon to talk to me about the Focus Diet. Have any of you heard of it or had any experience with it? She lost over 40 pounds on it, and she said it’s kind of a trial and error sort of thing to figure out exactly what my particular body needs to eat and needs to avoid because everyone’s body is different. That rings some bells to me.

She’s a personal trainer at a local gym, and I’m thinking about joining and taking some pilates classes, something I’ve never done before, but have been interested in.

I’ve been wanting to do something different, to freshen up my attitude and outlook, and hopefully, this week will get me going.

How was your week?

Bad week. I exercised once. I feel like a cow, and I’ve been huffing and puffing a little bit.

Bleh.

We’re a little late, but we’re here with Health Group. I exercised Mon, Tues, Wed, and Thurs of last week. Ate too much junk.

My pants are tight. I’m really annoyed.

How was your week?

My elbows/arms are killing me. I’m now willing to go to the doctor, but I don’t know when I’ll find the time. Clark and Abby have birthdays this week, and while Clark’s is going to be easy, Abby’s having a dinner party for 10 or so.

In the guitar department, I’m now looking at Taylors. They’re amazingly easy to play, and really well made. They feel good, just holding them. I’m thinking that even when I get my arms fixed, I might as well take it as easy on them as I can to avoid a repeat. A low action guitar should help? They make a cedar and mahogany, grand auditorium that I’m going to try to hunt down today. I like that wood combination, but haven’t tried it in a Taylor yet.

Hi! It’s been a few days. My elbows still hurt, though they’re a little better, but I’m probably going to have to break down and see a doctor. My guitar teacher said that it isn’t normal. I’m out of excuses.

This week was up and down. I had a couple of great days, exercised three times, and the rest of the time….

I ate too much food.

But, I can tell that I’m getting stronger physically through my exercises. I’m getting better. I’m at peace with it.

How was your week?

Quite frankly, I’d love to just sit here and type/chat with you. I’m in kind of a relaxed, conversational mood, but I have an hour to get showered, dressed, and the house cleaned up before Nate and I go on our date, and I don’t really have the time.

So I’ll be quick.

I’ve been having fun with music. Nate bought an interface-something-or-other to allow me to plug into the computer and record, so maybe at some point, I’ll be able to post a song and you all can hear me sing!

That’s relatively terrifying to me, but I’m actively trying to overcome this ridiculous fear I have of performing in front of people. I can sing. I know I can. I’m tired of choking when I know others are listening.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to this week. I haven’t tried the interface-something-or-other yet. Probably Monday, once the girls go to school.

Well, it wasn’t a great week, but not a complete bust, either. I exercised Monday and Tuesday, and ate appropriately. Wed, Th, Fri… I slipped. But I’m ok. I was busy and I didn’t have a lot of good food choices in the house. So I snacked a lot, which makes it harder to track in Calorie King, so I didn’t do that, either.

And I’m REALLY sick of chicken. I don’t want to eat any more chicken for a couple weeks.

I’ve gained 4 pounds from where I’ve been sitting for awhile, and I don’t know what’s up with that. I didn’t mess up that bad. It must be fluids or something. My body is doing something weird. Four pounds?

I’m going to have to drop my weight regimen until my elbow heals, but I’ll continue my physical therapy. Maybe I’ll add a little bit of treadmill or neighborhood walks? I don’t know.

How was your week?

Well, it was a good week, not so great of a weekend. I’m not breaking momentum though. I figure, two good weeks is halfway to a month, and a month is an accomplishment. I’m working towards a month, then we’ll work on 6 weeks.

I ate pretty well, avoiding sugar (’til late Friday night, and Saturday, and, uh, Sunday too) and I exercised every day. I feel good. My skin is better.

My wheatgrass is ready, I’ll start juicing it tomorrow.

I’ve noticed a couple of things. Firstly, my motivation and determination seem to be directly linked to my menstrual cycle. I’m always gung-ho about a day or two before my period starts and that’s when I tend to initiate. It’s gotten kind of ridiculous in it’s predictability because it isn’t intentional, but it’s consistent. (And yet, it continues to take me by surprise which brings my intelligence into question).

It HAS to be a hormonal thing.

Interesting…

Also, I’m scared. I’m scared of a lot of things.

I’m afraid of losing momentum and quitting, again, and feeling like a total loser, again.

I’m afraid of NOT quitting, only to find out that what I was sure would work for me won’t. Then what do I do?

I can’t decide which I’m more afraid of, but I’m feeling extremely fragile. And it isn’t that time of the month. If it was, I wouldn’t have caved this weekend.

I take consolation in the fact that if I wasn’t working on my body and my health (inconsistent and inadequate as my efforts may be), I’d unquestioningly be in worse shape than I am now.

And that’s something anyway.

And that’s my update for the week.