How to get sidetracked in one slip

7/17/14
Coming up with what to write in a blog post is often times difficult. Finding time to blog can also be a challenge. I kind of use this blog as a type of diary, a way of thinking out loud and hopefully inspiring someone else who may be having the same type of struggles as I have.

So, new struggle... I fell. After spending most of last Saturday at my sons' school doing maintenance type of work, I came home and decided I really needed to water my yard. So, I went outside wearing my "Keds-like" sneakers and grabbed the hose. Now, we have a hill in my backyard. It's not very big, but it is somewhat steep. At the top of the hill I have hydrangeas and crepe myrtles. So, I walked about half way up the hill and started watering my plants. Well, I guess it didn't take very long for the water to roll down the hill and make it somewhat wet. And, my "Keds-like" sneakers don't exactly have the best traction. Can you see where this is going? I was standing sideways to the hill and slipped. Ouch. I fell in such a way that my right shoulder and the right side of my head hit the hill. My shoulder came up, my head went down and the right side of my jaw actually hit my shoulder. Hard to describe the pain I felt, but I literally thought I broke my neck because of the crack I heard when I hit. At the very least, I thought my head exploded.

But, still here -- no broken neck, no broken jaw, no exploded head. After several minutes of lying very still, I managed to get up. My husband took me to urgent care to have me checked out. I have a mild concussion and a very badly bruised jaw. I had a hard time eating for a couple of days, had to stick to soft foods. Wish I could say that helped me lose some weight (LOL) but no such luck. The biggest challenge I have right now is some dizziness which is to be expected. I thought it had gotten better, but came back last night with a vengeance. I went out for a rather longish walk yesterday afternoon because I was feeling better and think, now, maybe it was too soon.

7/21/14
As you can see, started this blog last Thursday and life happened - didn't complete my entry, lost my train of thought, etc., etc.

So, weekend was crazy busy. Boys' theater production - opening night is coming soon so they spent all day Saturday in tech rehearsal. What did my husband and I do? Did we take advantage of a day all to ourselves? Did we do something fun? Well, all depends on your definition of fun. We've been working on a backyard project, creating a fire pit -- at the base of that darn hill mentioned above.

Most of Saturday morning we ran (okay, drove) back and forth to the home supply center and rock supplier. Then, we spent the rest of the day digging, hauling, and leveling the area for our fire pit. We finished it late in the afternoon and it is everything I had hoped it would be.

Here is the finished product. It was so nice to spend the evening around the pit with my three favorite guys, enjoying conversation, lots of laughs, and of course S'mores! Oh, and you can't see it very well in this picture -- but that darn hill is off to the left - actually fell right near where the sprinkler is on the left side of this photo.

So, Saturday's exercise was the manual labor required to create this pit. Sunday, needless to say included not much more than getting up off the couch to go to the restroom. Okay - there was a brief jaunt to the grocery store and then to do some shopping for jeans for one of my teens. It was definitely a lazy day spent recovering.

No gym for me today either - spending the day deep cleaning my kitchen. Wiping down all of the cabinets and then "polishing" all of the woodwork.  Cleaning counter tops, all stainless steel surfaces, and floors. I hate cleaning -- but it must be done and since my guys are at theater all day, everyday this week, I figure I have a lot of time on my hands, with no interruptions, to get some necessary cleaning stuff done. On my agenda this week -- clean the kitchen, declutter while cleaning, tackle the mountain of laundry, iron my husbands slacks and shirts (hate ironing too), clean my laundry room -- dust bunnies took over and they're multiplying!! We have family coming into town next Saturday and I have guest room to prepare, general pickup, vacuuming, dusting - oh yeah and cleaning of bathrooms (ick) and anything else that happens to pop up along the way. So, can I count this as exercise? I think so -- it's not the cardio type that I would normally get at the gym, but I am moving around, using my muscles and this does burn calories and that's good!

After having a week of "recovery" from my fall, I'm feeling a little guilty for not going to the gym. But, I know that I needed to heal before I could get back to my normal routine. I still find that if I push too much, I get a little dizzy so maybe this plan to clean this week is a good idea and not push hard cardio and strength training for at least the first half of this week. I am a little upset because I'm up a pound since my last weigh-in probably because of not moving last week. But, at the same time, I need to remember that it's okay - that pushing myself could hurt me further and even the doctor at Urgent Care told me that I should take it slow and make sure I'm recovered before returning to normal activity.

7/23/14

And, here I am again -- got sidetracked a second time from finishing this entry. UGH :)  Well, off to a crazy day of running errands. Oldest son cracked his ipad screen and need to get that repaired, then need to go to the grocery store to stock up for family visit. Didn't finish my cleaning - I was exhausted yesterday - so it's back to that today. I figure as long as I stay busy -- I'm good. Busy means I'm not sitting in my family room eating and watching HGTV all day long.

Anyway, to anyone who might be reading this blog -- hope your week is going great. Hope you're doing well on your journey, whatever it might be, and, hope you don't get constantly side-tracked like I feel I'm getting this week.

Looking back .... Looking forward.

I am happy to report that I have worked through my plateau!! I'm now down almost 10 pounds (9.8 to be exact) total and I'm feeling pretty good!

It's been a crazy summer thus far. My teens are both involved in a summer theater consortium and I've been chauffeuring them to and fro for the past several weeks. On top of this, we made a quick trip to Albany, NY for my niece's high school graduation. And, when I say quick -- it was leave home at 5:30pm on Thursday and return at 2am on Monday (total of about 23 hours driving.) Can we say whirlwind??? Then, to top off everything, my sweet lil' Disney (doggie from previous post) has had some health issues in the last week and a half causing lots of worrying and stress. She seems to be doing much better now, thankfully, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that she'll be okay.

Just celebrated my 24th wedding anniversary. Wow!! As I look back on the last 24 years and all of our ups and downs - I can honestly say that I am married to one AMAZING man who has loved me throughout this crazy journey that we're on. He's loved me skinny, obese, and every size in between. He's supported every hair-brained idea of how to lose weight and been my loudest and most supportive cheerleader.

Here we are, way back in 1990. So young and in love :)

And, here we are just a couple of months ago, not as young but still very much in love :) 

I can't imagine doing this without his support. In fact, not only is he supporting me -- he's actively participating. You see, as in most marriages, when one person gains weight, the other joins in on the fun. So, thankfully, he's also decided to join in on the fun of taking the weight back off again. Do I want to get back to my wedding day weight? Well, of course I do -- but I'm also aware that may not be a realistic goal for me. I struggle to lose weight, I struggle to stay thinner - I think more realistic is just to get into my "weight range." Right now, if I had to pick a number I'd like to reach - it's 140lbs. Why this number? Well, it's where, I think, I will look and feel good for my build, age, and the fact that I'm trying to add muscle while losing fat.

On the day of my wedding so many years ago, I weighed 125lbs. I don't think I could maintain that weight now. First of all, I'm gaining more muscle while, hopefully, losing fat. Secondly, even back then, I was just over 130lbs. in the weeks leading up to my wedding - but with stress and constant motion in the week before the big day I lost about ten pounds - my dress was baggy on my wedding day (sigh.) Thirdly, I'm 24 years older now and I'm just not willing to starve or workout constantly to maintain that weight. I believe I can be fit and healthy while weighing slightly more than I did on that wonderful day so many years ago.

So, what did I do to get through my plateau? Well, to be honest -- nothing special. I ate regularly, normally, watched my calories -- but some days I went on the higher side of my calorie range and some days I went a little lower. I continued to exercise, tried to do something everyday, but at the minimum I did cardio five times per week. There's no magic bullet, no mystical pill, no genies in a bottle. It boils down to hard work, determination, and not giving up.

As I look forward to many more years with my wonderful husband, I keep thinking of one of the messages I heard repeatedly at my niece's graduation: "Dream Big. Sweat Hard." Nothing worth achieving is going to come easy -- you're going to have to work for it and work hard. It's true in so many aspects of life... work, raising children, and yes, even marriage. And, it's true in weight loss. While there are many "diet aids" out there claiming to be the magic remedy needed to lose weight, guess what? Not going to happen without putting in hard work! And, so, that's what I'm doing - working hard, sweating hard, and dreaming big!