Week Eight. Week Nine. Can these two not count?

Well. So. How are you, I am fine.

I so don't want to write this blog.

It would be different if I had some BIG NEWS to report! Instead I'm stuck here on this plateau, which isn't so much a plateau as it is me just taking a two-week long breather on the side of a mountain. See, and that's just it.. I feel like I could have had progress to report but instead I have to sit here and tell you that the scale didn't go down from lack of effort. In a lot of ways, it's a bummer to be held accountable (in the form of a blog) for my weight goals! But it's also exactly what I need.

So what went wrong..? Well, I hardly even count this last week. I put in almost 80 hours, and it was all I could do to make it through the day. It wasn't so bad at first, but by Saturday I was eating whatever I could get my hands on. But the problem lies in that second sentence. I've had busy weeks before (granted, never this busy) but I have been able to successfully maintain a healthy diet. For me, a huge part of it is in the preparation the night before. I have to prepare my meals, or at least decide in advance what I will buy for lunch. But leaving the house at 6:30 and coming home at 10 didn't leave me much time or desire for grocery shopping, cooking, planning, or anything really, unless it involved my face mushed into a cozy pillow.

I'm looking at another long week. I'm sure it won't be as rough as last week since the conversion happens tomorrow afternoon and the bulk of the work I had to do was in preparation for the conversion. However, I am more determined than ever to find ways over the little speedbumps that I keep stalling out on. I bought hearts of romaine, spinach, bell peppers, strawberries and grapes. I am going to make salads in advance and put them in individual containers. Then in the morning I will be able to just grab one and go. And if you have never tried a salad consisting of hearts of romaine, spinach, chicken or tuna, bell peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, green grapes, almonds, and roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette, you must try one. You will see why I want one almost every day. Ooh, as long as we're on the subject, I also heartily recommend homemade breakfast sandwiches. I make an egg english muffin almost every morning, and it's so fast and easy! Just get a ceramic bowl with a very small base (or large coffee mug) and crack an organic egg into it and stir it a bit with a fork. Cover it with a paper towl and put it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Flip it over and put it back in for another 20-30 seconds. You will have a perfectly delicious fried egg that is the exact size of your english muffin. I like the wheat english muffins (I think they say Light or something?). They are soft and have amazing flavor. I toast one, put my egg on it, and then use Hellman's mayo made with olive oil. Okay, so I'm not a purist. I'll use any way possible to get some of the good fats in. One egg muffin is around 220 calories, but it depends on how much mayo you use. Pair it up with an apple or pear or grapes and you've got a quick and filling breakfast. (If you want to make it with cheese, sprinkle a little cheddar into your egg before you cook it. It just takes a little longer in the microwave. It's also a few more calories, of course.)

Sorry, not sure when this turned into a cooking blog.

Remember two weeks ago when I pumped my fist in the air and declared that I WOULD be working out and posting about it to boot? Let's just say that Newton wasn't kidding around when he was talking about objects at rest remaining at rest. I am the dictionary definition of inertia, and I have hit a total mental roadblock on finding momentum.

Oh, but it's so easy, right? Now it's your turn to shake your fist in the air at me, hopefully in encouragement, and shout at your computer screen, "Just START! You'll see how easy it is to keep going!".. but believe me, I'm saying it right along with you. I just cannot seem to find the time. I know, I know, if you want to get something done, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse. So let me just say that this week, I'm going to figure out what those excuses are, legitimate or not, and find someway around them. For example, one of the things that hinders me from working out in the evening is that I hate to go in the basement when Jett is sleeping upstairs for fear that I'll be on the treadmill and I won't hear him wake up and start crying. It's a sub-conscious thing, for the most part. But my solution is that I'm going to buy another baby monitor. Our first one broke, and I haven't taken the time to replace it until now. Once I have a baby monitor, I won't have that as a roadblock anymore. Another excuse: I drive two hours a day. I've been over this already. I don't think this one is so much an excuse as it is just a mental anguish of mine.. oh to have a whole two hours more in every single day! I can hardly imagine it! Surely then I'd have time to exercise.. and do all the other eleventy billion things that I can't get done...... right? If I'm totally honest with myself, I can admit that the two hours I spend driving are some of the best hours of my day. It's the time I unwind, relax, think, daydream, speculate, resolve, and curse out other drivers. Although I'm getting better about that last part. I'm just kidding... I'm getting worse. NOT my point. I get more done during those two hours than I realize. The time that I spend unwinding in my car after work is time that I don't have to spend unwinding at home. And the nice thing about the car ride is that it's a pre-determined length of time and then I'm done, as opposed to unwinding at home where time always gets away from me and suddenly it's time to go to bed and I haven't exercised yet. So.. solutions: well, I have a couple of grand ideas that I'm hoping to implement, and soon. First of all, assuming that I get out of work at a decent time this week, I am going to commit to staying off the computer until I have exercised for the evening. Because let's face it, I can stay entertained on the computer for hours. If I ever sit down on my computer first, I should know by know that I won't end up exercising. So that's going to be my first commitment. Secondly, I'm going to start walking on my lunch breaks. I can eat while working, so now I will get at least a half hour of walking in per day. This is contingent on the weather, of course. But this is something simple that I can implement. And hey, while we're at it, let me commit to this: if I have to cancel my walk due to inclement weather, I'll climb up and down the stairs for a bit. How's that? Finally, and this is my favorite one of all, there is a pool on campus just a few minutes from where I work, and it's open to the public. My co-worker Lisa and I are going to attempt to go swimming on an extended lunch hour at least twice a week. I'm so excited! I won't be able to start this until next week, which is a huge bummer, but I'll do my walking in the meantime.

So there we have it.. tackled a few issues, got a little determination back. Let's see if we can get some momentum this week. Shooting for big numbers now!