Massage - ??

I reward myself with a massage every now and then and St. Patrick's Day was one of those days.  I really enjoyed it a lot and felt great.
I had to go to AAA to see if I could get help from them as I had not received my tags.  It was freezing cold in there and after waiting an hour they did give me tags.  However, I was burning up and freezing and kept feeling worse.  I came home and the rest of the weekend was spent wrapped up in a blanket wearing sweats.  I had the chills, maybe even a fever and sore body.  However, I did not feel like throwing up or anything else.
I hydrated myself all weekend and even managed to make it to church and teach my RS lesson.  
This morning I felt like I could make it to work but by the time I got showered I felt so worn out.  So I did an olnine urgent care - PlushCare online appointment.  So I have one of three possible things wrong with me:  a kidney infection, a UTI, or  muscle exhaustion.  So in a bit I am off to a lab to do a UA.  
This of course happens during the middle of round 2 - and I did lose some weight this past week but I am 13 lbs away at my half way point.  So all I can say is that I hope I can do this - and that I don't have muscle exhaustion.  Because I am sure I can still workout with a kidney infection or UTI but not with muscle exhaustion right? 

No blogging in a while I see

OK so I just realized how long it has been since I last blogged.  Only once in 2017 and so much has happened.  This post is going to be about something I have been working on since January 9 and I am very happy with the changes I am seeing in myself.

The Cypress Camp Transformation Six Week Challenge that I started on January 9 was a success (my goal is to complete at least three rounds- hope I can do it).  I lost XX.X lbs in the first round.  I was even out sick for a week and had to double up on my workouts the final week.  It was hard work and a lot of fun.  So here is a little blurb about what I did.

I will not lie the first day I started the challenge I was maybe 15 minutes in and the thought of " I can't do this, what am I thinking? How can I sneak out and let them keep my money and getting up at 4:30 AM was so not worth this" was in my head.  I had to push myself and tell myself I was not a quitter and I needed to keep going - I  believe in myself so much that the following week I went to work out at 4 AM.  I saw my family on February 5 and had completed four weeks of my challenge - I don't recall how much I had lost by then but I do know my skinny jeans felt looser and I was able to wear my black boots with them.  Yes, the jeans were on and my boots were over them.  I found this to be exciting and a sign of my progress even if nobody had noticed.  However, nothing made me feel more happy then when my sister in law Elaine told me I looked great.  Not because I was proud but because she knows the struggle is real for those of us who try to lose weight, work out, try to eat right (ok maybe I didn't do that so much because I am not into cooking) finding time to work out and just be healthy.  Those words she said made me determined and realize that I could do this.  So thank you Elaine - you were the first to notice and let me know;  tI can still hear you saying that and that is what keeps me going on days I feel like it would be better to sleep in.  The picture above is of me that day - see I am all smiles because my boots fit over my jeans and legs.  Or maybe I was just happy to be with my awesome family celebrating Spencer's birthday!!


I did get sick that Wednesday and didn't work out and lost my voice!!! I wanted to lose lbs not the ability to speak so I was in bed for almost five days and while I wanted to go work out the most I could manage to do was get dressed only to crawl back in bed.

This meant that I had to do double up on my workouts on the final week and really work on drinking my water and eating my meals.  I did it and boy was I sore by the day before the workout!!!  

The day before Monday weigh in I had high anxiety and kept thinking:  There is no way you did it; you didn't work out for 5 days, you are still sick and you haven't worked hard and you are going to be an ounce away from the 20 lbs".  Yes, I am my worst critic and biggest negative talker (which is something I am working on in 2017) but I found a silver lining.  I reminded myself that no matter what the scale said - I had lost inches.  My clothes felt looser, I was not feeling like I wanted to quite and out of breath as I was my initial workout, so no matter what the scale said I had put in some good workouts and was eating healthier.  
I stepped on the scale and when I saw the number and knew I had gone over 20 lbs. I was super happy and couldn't believe it; I lost over 20 and could go on to Round 2.  

I had a relapse with my cold and started losing my voice on Tuesday afternoon - I went home early and rested.  I thought of calling in sick the next day as I just couldn't get up to go work out so I let myself sleep in until 6:30 AM.  The rest of the week was just horrible I had trouble eating and I was cold or hot and felt like I had a fever most of the days.  So no workouts.  I didn't have to weigh in that following Monday the official start of Round 2 and I so wish I had.  A week later I weighed in and I still had not worked out as much and I had gained 5 lbs back.  I was so discouraged but knew I could not be defeated. 

Round 2 Week 2 ends today.  I would love to tell you it has been a breeze and I feel like I lost those 5 lbs and some extra - but how knows and I am very doubtful.  It isn't because I have not worked out or eaten healthy.  It is more likely because I have not been able to eat more past than my second meal of the day (which takes me all afternoon/evening to finish).  However, my clothes are still loose and my friend Lisa accepted my invitation to Pack the Camp Saturday and has been going with me at 5AM.  While I am greeted by new  I did reward myself by buying myself two dresses that were a size smaller.  I probably could have gone two sizes smaller but I thought they looked tight and I wanted to give myself something to wear to remind me of the hard work I have done.


Here is a picture of me at week 2 after my workout and the final weight in for the first six weeks with me holding the sign showing the world I lost 22.6 lbs. 

It was during the final week that people at work started commenting about how it looked like I was losing weight.  Someone even said - wow you must have been really sick as you lost some weight.  At first I thought wow - jerk (they offered me cupcakes a day after that) then I told myself let it go - they just don't know how to give a compliment.