So, right after the hubby and I got back from our honeymoon, I read an article about the "Newlywed 10". This is the theory, similar to the "Freshman 15" college theory, that within the first six months to year of marriage, women tend to gain 10 lbs (or more). The reasoning behind this is that after marriage when both spouses are working, most of the social time they spend together revolves around food: eating dinner together, going for coffee/dessert, going out with friends for food/drinks, family gatherings, etc. Of course, all the wonderful food during the honeymoon doesn't particularly help either lol.
The other reasoning is that, before marriage, women tend to eat with each other, and feel bad if they get a large, fattening meal when their friend is getting a salad. But, when a woman sees her husband get a larger, more fattening meal, she doesn't feel as guilty about getting the large, fattening meal. Personally, I have noticed it's easier for me to eat a larger meal when I go out with Bryan than when I'm with others.
Upon reading the article, I thought "Hmm, that's interesting. I think I'll avoid that", closed the magazine, and went on about my business. I did fairly well, watching what I ate, and even had a workout routine for a while. Then, I stopped working out...I hadn't figured out that while the ellipticals I have access to hurt my knees, the exercise bike does not. And then the hurricane came, and I had nothing to do for two weeks but sit on my behind and eat. Long story short, I got on the scale this morning, about 4 1/2 months after W-day, and went "I weigh WHAT?!? Gah. I've proven that dadgum theory."
I hate doing that. DISproving theories is much more fun.
Now, the question is, what to do about it? Well, I have a PLAN! (Smart of me, right? The better PLAN! was not to gain the weight in the first place, but since I well and truly bungled THAT...) This last week I started a workout routine again, and shall continue this week. The plan for now is to ride the bike 30 mins a day, Mon-Fri. This last week I only rode Mon, Tues, and Thurs...I hadn't taken my shots the weekend before, so I was achier than normal, and starting the workout routine didn't exactly help. I also do a bit of an abdominal workout and, of course, am trying to eat better.
Anyway, on the the PLAN! I will continue the daily 30 mins on the bike plus abs this week. Plus, on Tues/Thurs I'm going to try to start some light weight lifting...arms on Tues, legs on Thurs. With the RA, I haven't been able to figure out a weight regimen that doesn't cause my elbows to lock or my knees stage a mutiny. So, this time, I'm going to start slowly, with the absolute minimum and hopefully be able to get some muscle tone back. Yes, that would be nice. I know not to expect to actually SEE any results in the mirror for 4-6 weeks, but I am hoping to see the scale numbers start to decrease a bit sooner.
So. To lay out the ugly part: as of this morning, I weigh 170 lbs. NOT what I'd call my ideal weight :-P. When hubby and I got married, I weighed 155-160 lbs(closer to the 160). My short-term goal is to get back down to my wedding weight. That means, if I lose 1/2 lb a week, I'll have lost the 10 lbs by March. Obviously, I'm hoping to do it a bit faster than that. It would be nice to lose 1 lb a week, which means I'll have lost the weight by Dec/Jan. That's a much happier thought.
My ultimate goal is to down to 145-150, or 150-155 with good muscle tone. Obviously, I've got a lot of work to do.
The question remains: Why am I posting all this on the internet? Well, I want some sort of accountability, I guess. I'm saving up for a gym membership, and hope to have a few appointments with a personal trainer to help with the weight lifting dilemma, but until I accomplish that, I'm on my own at the workout room here at our apartment complex. So, my goal is to track my progress, honestly, once a week. Since I'm starting on a Sunday, I'm going to try to update on Sundays. Whoever is reading this, y'all are my "accountability". Not that I expect any interaction...it's more the actual act of recording this journey in a place where others can bear witness that will hold me accountable. Or so I hope lol.
Anyways, I was just thinking....and deciding to do something tangible instead of simply a mental exercise.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Hurricanes Blow
No pun intended.
So Hurricane Ike hit the Galveston area (and thus the Houston area) two weeks ago as of this coming Saturday morning. Hubby and I were in a mandatory evac zone, so we went up to my parents' house (Dad has a generator, had boarded up the house, and they have a gas stove and water heater=cooked food and hot showers!). I left school early on Thursday (b/c for some reason my district thought it would be a great idea to only call school on Friday...stupidity), because of the whole mandatory evac thing, and headed home to help Bryan finish packing up the essentials and getting the apartment as secured as possible. Then, we loaded up the pups and everything important we could fit in my car (pics, important papers, etc) and left. Little did we know it would be a full week before we brought it all back. Really though we were among the fortunate.
The power was out until Tuesday/Wednesday at my parents house, and until Friday here at home. The neighbor's tree fell over my parents' fence, but that part of the fence held up...of course, the side fence blew down, but whatcha gonna do? There's already a replacement. Hubby and I went walking around the neighborhood after the storm, and saw more of the same: trees down, fences demolished. The neighborhood as a whole was lucky too: only a few houses had trees actually fall ON them. Our apartment was completely fine...well the complex's fence fell down, but our apartment was fine. Of course, when we got back we realized we had forgotten something very important:
We left the fish in the freezer.
Yep, the freezer that had no power for a week. Mmmm did our apartment smell GREAT! (please, please note the sarcasm)
So for the past week, we've been using coffee grinds to absorb the smell...actually works pretty well. The fish smell is gone, but now we're trying to get the slightly funky old-coffee-mixing-with cooked-meals smell gone. At least now we might be able to light the candle and get coffee-vanilla scent instead of fishy coffee or vanilla fish, both of which are deeply disturbing not to mention icky. Hubby started back to work on Monday (they're superbusy and he actually has to work all night tonite :-( ), and I went back today. Granted, today and tomorrow are "cleaning/planning days" for teachers, and the kids don't come back til Monday, but it is nice to get back into a routine. Oh! And I've gotten back into a workout routine this week! Mon, Tues, and today I rode the stationary bike at workload 5, over 100 rpms for 30 mins., and then did my crunch routines! It's nice to have that routine back into my overall routine.
Well, that's my update on life. I'd like to ask those of y'all who read this to keep the folks who lost everything in y'all's thoughts over the next months...the devastation down here is fairly overwhelming and extensive. Like I said, we were lucky, both here and at my parents' house. It's actually pretty sobering, seeing the footage of places we've been within the last year totally torn apart or even completely gone. Kemah is in shambles, Bolivar is more or less wiped out (thankfully our friend's parents' beach house is still standing, though noone has actually been down to see it in person), and there are still many, many people without power or a place to live. Places filled with memories--pleasant and otherwise--are now forever changed and that leaves me feeling disconcerted. All of the memories have made me who I am, and for that I mourn the loss of these places and the very physical connection to these memories that they embody. At the same time, with the unpleasant memories, a small part of me is glad those places will never look exactly as they did.
Don't misunderstand me: I hope for the quick rebuilding and healing of this entire area, so that people's lives may resume and new memories can be made. But that part of me feels relieved that there is no longer the exact physical connection with the negative memories, even as I mourn the physical connection with the positive memories.
Like I said...disconcerting.
I know I'm not the only one feeling disconcerted, and that my own inner queasiness will settle in time...mostly, I think, by accepting the conflict for what it is and acknowledging the validity of both feelings, even though the relief is undoubtedly a selfish relief. One thing I've learned, feelings can be many, many things, but they are all valid.
For those others who are feeling disconcerted, and who's imbalance arises from a deep pain and sense of loss, I hope for nothing more nor less than peace. I hope they find their balance again, and that their lives continue the journey towards healing and rebuilding. If anyone badly affected by Hurricane Ike ever reads this, you're in my thoughts and prayers.
On that note, I'm gonna go to bed! I get to go back to work tomorrow! And then to the Aggie game this weekend!
So Hurricane Ike hit the Galveston area (and thus the Houston area) two weeks ago as of this coming Saturday morning. Hubby and I were in a mandatory evac zone, so we went up to my parents' house (Dad has a generator, had boarded up the house, and they have a gas stove and water heater=cooked food and hot showers!). I left school early on Thursday (b/c for some reason my district thought it would be a great idea to only call school on Friday...stupidity), because of the whole mandatory evac thing, and headed home to help Bryan finish packing up the essentials and getting the apartment as secured as possible. Then, we loaded up the pups and everything important we could fit in my car (pics, important papers, etc) and left. Little did we know it would be a full week before we brought it all back. Really though we were among the fortunate.
The power was out until Tuesday/Wednesday at my parents house, and until Friday here at home. The neighbor's tree fell over my parents' fence, but that part of the fence held up...of course, the side fence blew down, but whatcha gonna do? There's already a replacement. Hubby and I went walking around the neighborhood after the storm, and saw more of the same: trees down, fences demolished. The neighborhood as a whole was lucky too: only a few houses had trees actually fall ON them. Our apartment was completely fine...well the complex's fence fell down, but our apartment was fine. Of course, when we got back we realized we had forgotten something very important:
We left the fish in the freezer.
Yep, the freezer that had no power for a week. Mmmm did our apartment smell GREAT! (please, please note the sarcasm)
So for the past week, we've been using coffee grinds to absorb the smell...actually works pretty well. The fish smell is gone, but now we're trying to get the slightly funky old-coffee-mixing-with cooked-meals smell gone. At least now we might be able to light the candle and get coffee-vanilla scent instead of fishy coffee or vanilla fish, both of which are deeply disturbing not to mention icky. Hubby started back to work on Monday (they're superbusy and he actually has to work all night tonite :-( ), and I went back today. Granted, today and tomorrow are "cleaning/planning days" for teachers, and the kids don't come back til Monday, but it is nice to get back into a routine. Oh! And I've gotten back into a workout routine this week! Mon, Tues, and today I rode the stationary bike at workload 5, over 100 rpms for 30 mins., and then did my crunch routines! It's nice to have that routine back into my overall routine.
Well, that's my update on life. I'd like to ask those of y'all who read this to keep the folks who lost everything in y'all's thoughts over the next months...the devastation down here is fairly overwhelming and extensive. Like I said, we were lucky, both here and at my parents' house. It's actually pretty sobering, seeing the footage of places we've been within the last year totally torn apart or even completely gone. Kemah is in shambles, Bolivar is more or less wiped out (thankfully our friend's parents' beach house is still standing, though noone has actually been down to see it in person), and there are still many, many people without power or a place to live. Places filled with memories--pleasant and otherwise--are now forever changed and that leaves me feeling disconcerted. All of the memories have made me who I am, and for that I mourn the loss of these places and the very physical connection to these memories that they embody. At the same time, with the unpleasant memories, a small part of me is glad those places will never look exactly as they did.
Don't misunderstand me: I hope for the quick rebuilding and healing of this entire area, so that people's lives may resume and new memories can be made. But that part of me feels relieved that there is no longer the exact physical connection with the negative memories, even as I mourn the physical connection with the positive memories.
Like I said...disconcerting.
I know I'm not the only one feeling disconcerted, and that my own inner queasiness will settle in time...mostly, I think, by accepting the conflict for what it is and acknowledging the validity of both feelings, even though the relief is undoubtedly a selfish relief. One thing I've learned, feelings can be many, many things, but they are all valid.
For those others who are feeling disconcerted, and who's imbalance arises from a deep pain and sense of loss, I hope for nothing more nor less than peace. I hope they find their balance again, and that their lives continue the journey towards healing and rebuilding. If anyone badly affected by Hurricane Ike ever reads this, you're in my thoughts and prayers.
On that note, I'm gonna go to bed! I get to go back to work tomorrow! And then to the Aggie game this weekend!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Still Alive!
I'm still alive I promise! I started teaching school two and a half weeks ago, and the majority of my time has been wrapped up in lesson plans, grading papers, and thinking of new ways to wrangle the attention of 150ish high school freshmen and sophomores. It's been exciting, that's for sure! Basically this is my day:
Up at 5:30 am. Get dressed, put on makeup and jewelry. Make lunch for me and for the hubby. Reset alarm clock for hubby, kiss hubby, and leave by 6-6:10 am.
Drive to school. Get to school at 6:20-6:30 am depending on traffic and what time I left home.
Scramble to make sure everything is ready for students/stand at my duty station (on wednesdays).
Spend 1st period observing the floating teacher in my room/hurriedly getting done what I couldn't get done before school.
2nd&3rd periods: teach the lesson, give assignments, review assignments.
4th period: the school's news programs come on, and nothing much gets done for the first 20 mins. Then kids go to lunch, and I have 20 mins to scarf food, go to the bathroom, and either relax or (more often) work on things STILL not done from this morning. Kids come back:teach, assign, explain, review.
5th&7th periods: Repeat. And TRY to get them to focus and listen.
6th period: My "free period" as one kid called it today: during which I go to staff development/grade papers/take and pick up copies/check my box/meet with my mentor/meet with parents if necessary/and hope that my feet are only hurting because I've been on the ALL DAMN DAY and not because the RA is going to flare.
After school, I leave anywhere from 3:30 to 4:30, depending on if there's a meeting/kids need tutoring (on tuesdays and thursdays mostly)/Spanish Club meeting (wednesdays)/how long it takes me to input attendance, grade stuff, and get the room ready for the next day.
I get home between 4 and 5, depending on when I left and how bad the traffic was at that point. I take the dogs out, figure out when hubby will be home, and SIT THE HELL DOWN!!! YAY! Then, I read for a bit (if I'm lucky), the hubby gets home and we figure out dinner, and I grade papers. I also try to clean the place up a bit, do laundry, take out the trash, clean up the kitchen, and straighten the bedroom (damn beagle chewed a hole in our BRAND NEW comforter this morning...grrr) and bathroom.
9pm roles around and I get in the shower. Out of the shower, dry the hair, go to bed by hopefully 9:30 pm, more often 10 or 10:30.
Repeat.
So yeah, it's been busy. Thank God above for the weekends...though I find it sad that 9am is now "sleeping in" for me....so does the hubby lol. This last weekend was wonderful: we relaxed, went on a motorcycle ride, had dinner with friends, and spent Sunday with my in-laws. There was a bit of a stressout over budget stuff, and where to find money to play with, and my high potassium reading, but everything has been worked out so far...I find the results of the re-blood test tomorrow.
In other words, life is INCREDIBLY hectic, and I'm exhausted...but life is also very, very good at the moment! I really do enjoy the TEACHING part of being a teacher...it is all the "other" stuff that is wearisome. The hubby has been wonderful helping me adjust to the transition (witness this morning when he woke me up b/c the alarm apparently didn't) and I sure do love that man :-). Anyway, I've got about 30 mins before showertime...so I'm gonna go play with the pups!
Hasta luego!
Up at 5:30 am. Get dressed, put on makeup and jewelry. Make lunch for me and for the hubby. Reset alarm clock for hubby, kiss hubby, and leave by 6-6:10 am.
Drive to school. Get to school at 6:20-6:30 am depending on traffic and what time I left home.
Scramble to make sure everything is ready for students/stand at my duty station (on wednesdays).
Spend 1st period observing the floating teacher in my room/hurriedly getting done what I couldn't get done before school.
2nd&3rd periods: teach the lesson, give assignments, review assignments.
4th period: the school's news programs come on, and nothing much gets done for the first 20 mins. Then kids go to lunch, and I have 20 mins to scarf food, go to the bathroom, and either relax or (more often) work on things STILL not done from this morning. Kids come back:teach, assign, explain, review.
5th&7th periods: Repeat. And TRY to get them to focus and listen.
6th period: My "free period" as one kid called it today: during which I go to staff development/grade papers/take and pick up copies/check my box/meet with my mentor/meet with parents if necessary/and hope that my feet are only hurting because I've been on the ALL DAMN DAY and not because the RA is going to flare.
After school, I leave anywhere from 3:30 to 4:30, depending on if there's a meeting/kids need tutoring (on tuesdays and thursdays mostly)/Spanish Club meeting (wednesdays)/how long it takes me to input attendance, grade stuff, and get the room ready for the next day.
I get home between 4 and 5, depending on when I left and how bad the traffic was at that point. I take the dogs out, figure out when hubby will be home, and SIT THE HELL DOWN!!! YAY! Then, I read for a bit (if I'm lucky), the hubby gets home and we figure out dinner, and I grade papers. I also try to clean the place up a bit, do laundry, take out the trash, clean up the kitchen, and straighten the bedroom (damn beagle chewed a hole in our BRAND NEW comforter this morning...grrr) and bathroom.
9pm roles around and I get in the shower. Out of the shower, dry the hair, go to bed by hopefully 9:30 pm, more often 10 or 10:30.
Repeat.
So yeah, it's been busy. Thank God above for the weekends...though I find it sad that 9am is now "sleeping in" for me....so does the hubby lol. This last weekend was wonderful: we relaxed, went on a motorcycle ride, had dinner with friends, and spent Sunday with my in-laws. There was a bit of a stressout over budget stuff, and where to find money to play with, and my high potassium reading, but everything has been worked out so far...I find the results of the re-blood test tomorrow.
In other words, life is INCREDIBLY hectic, and I'm exhausted...but life is also very, very good at the moment! I really do enjoy the TEACHING part of being a teacher...it is all the "other" stuff that is wearisome. The hubby has been wonderful helping me adjust to the transition (witness this morning when he woke me up b/c the alarm apparently didn't) and I sure do love that man :-). Anyway, I've got about 30 mins before showertime...so I'm gonna go play with the pups!
Hasta luego!
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