Monday, Monday…can’t trust that day…

I am so overwhelmed with the amount of cognitive work that I’ve forced upon myself these past eight months. I’m getting tired and burnt out. The sunshine is back, spring is in the air…and that means that smog is returning (good-bye picturesque mountain views), the heat will be unbearable and sitting in traffic will find my clothing soaked through with sweat. Charming, eh?

There’s nothing like starting out the week in a grouchy mood!! Tee hee, anyhow, it is a fresh day to work on the BTD. I also printed up a list of Tier Two bennies to load up on this week; we shall see how that goes. My goal is to drop 10 pounds by April 7th (a full four weeks from yesterday). I’ve only lost five pounds total since January, so I’m looking to make this stick.

I’m tired of feeling so ugly and yucky, and with my coursework/driving conditions drastic measures are needed. I’m of course going to still eat (too old to starve myself anymore), but I’m going to lay off sugar/honey in my coffee and tea. I’m also going to lay off the very non-compliant Girl Scout Cookies and any other processed sweets. Beyond my regular swims, I’ve re-begun my quick cardio morning workout and will throw sneakers in the car so that study breaks find me taking a brisk walk around campus rather than hopping on-line in the library. I’d like to include some weight training, but the (free) campus fitness lab is open at times that are inconvenient for me. There may be some opportunity on Wednesday, Friday and the weekends…so that will be a goal to work on. The yoga thing keeps falling through because I have no extra money and none of the scheduled times fit.

Blast this crazy year!!! At any rate, I hope that this finds YOU all well and compliant. Thanks for letting me rant…yet again!!

Hey y’all…it’s official…either I’m getting old, or the BTD has gotten me so healthy that I can’t successfully mistreat my body anymore. I went out to a club last night to see my friend’s band and only had part of one shot (bought for me by someone else). The only other thing I had to drink was a glass of very sugary lemonade (non-alcoholic). I got to bed late (3 am) and woke up at 8:30 (why, oh, why can’t I sleep ‘til 10 even!) with a grouchy tummy and a general hang-over kind of out of it feeling. This is very depressing news. I know it’s from the bit of alcohol, sugar and lack of sleep…but it’s nice to be able to go out once and a while…the problem being that I can’t afford to be lazy the whole (or even part) of the next day. Ah well, more examples of growing up and supposed maturity…

The other bothersome fact is that I’m completely bloated and gross this morning. My belly and hips for sure, and even my face a bit. It’s so ugly feeling! And I have a date tonight!! The plan for today is to take an extra long, if easy, swim (in the bright sunshine, yay!), take mini-naps if I need them and get as much homework done before tonight as possible. You can bet the farm that I won’t be enjoying wine with dinner, either…it’ll be water or green tea for me all the way! I’ll also load up on extra superfood to try and cleanse my system a bit.

That’s it for me for today. Be well and stay smiling…

Eww…my kitchen smells like a big flesh ball! Yuck! I’ve been pretty compliant on the BTD this week (aside from the great Girl Scout Cookie debacle of Sunday night), but haven’t had any protein. So I made some of the ground turkey for breakfast (mixed with onions&mushrooms, rice and beans of course!). I know that LR4YT suggests food combining, but honestly, right now, I just don’t have the time. So my plan of action is to stick to bennies/neutrals with a big breakfast (highly recommended for us AB’s) and small foods throughout the day. Aside from the animal flesh problem, I also continue to struggle with getting in enough grains. I’m not too fond of sandwiches, but may just have to suck it up and buy some bread (only bennie of course!!). I love tortillas, but don’t eat home enough to grill them properly…

Ah, well, time to run off to school. The pressure of this semester got amped up about 30% this week and my head is spinning. There’s a mountain of work to get over before May and the completion of this degree. In my weakest moments, I begin to reconsider the decision to pursue the PhD…it’s an awful big commitment. Thankfully my weakest moments don’t stick around too long!! The vigorous swims every day have a way of washing those “bad” thoughts right out of my system.

Have a great weekend, eat with compliance and be well!

It is so funny how sometimes even the best intentions just aren’t good enough. I stayed up Sunday night until 2:45 a.m. (Pacific Time!) re-reading Harry Potter #4…again. I had re-read #5 in January and needed to escape last week. My solace was found inside the pages of that enormous tome. However, I had work to do for my consulting job on Monday morning and of course, a full day and night of classes afterwards. Being sleepy was not on my list of things to do this week. But I did still get to the pool and completed the entire workout. I only had one cup of coffee in the morning, and guzzled green tea and water for the rest of the day. I didn’t have too much food with me, but didn’t buy anything from the campus junk either. So what I’m rambling about is that my best intentions were to get to bed early on Sunday for a fresh start to the week, and eat Tier 2 bennies to drop weight. At least what I ate were bennies…and the sleep will just have to come over the next couple of days. Sadly, today finds me unable to really cook again (more consulting work to do), so I’ll be heavy on the fruit and leaner on the veggies. Fuhget’tabout any meat…no time to cook flesh until Wednesday.

And now, to make matters somewhat confusing…I am writing this at 11:47 pm PT on Tuesday night. So it’s almost Wednesday already, the post will read Wednesday 3 am ET and I’m a wreck. I’ve been caught up under the tidal wave of this Master’s work and consulting job and I haven’t been able to catch any air. I didn't even get to vote today because I forgot to file a change of address to get my new polling place. Not that I was anywhere near home long enough today to go exercise my civic duty. Tomorrow, today, whatever…Wednesday! Is my day “off” with no classes to go to, just a day to do paperwork, errands and research. Yeah, that’s not happening this week. I have to get my taxes done, but they’re a million miles away because nothing is close in LA, especially when you’ve lived all over it. So what does this mean for the BTD? I ate another whole box of Girl Scout cookies, that what it means!! And I’m not going to get to go to the market for veggies tomorrow, that’s what else it means!! And I won’t get caught up on sleep, and I’ve got enormous boils erupting on my face because of the bad food I’ve been eating but…at the very least…I have been in the pool every day, so there’s something.

Okay, so these blogs were supposed to be honest (if not edited…sorry!) and that’s what you’ve gotten all along from me, but today’s is honest and fuming…I wanted it to get out there and if I took the times to get the fumes out, it wouldn’t get submitted until, oh, I don’t know, Friday!! So I promise that my next blog won’t find me feeling sorry for myself…and within the next couple of entries, I’ll share my infinite wisdom for time management, self-love, happy, healthy eating and creating a balanced life. And if it’s not really infinite wisdom, but trial and error learning...you’ll get the idea just the same.

Be well…

Blast that East Coast time difference!! The leap year blog was written on Feb. 29th my time!! I'm not completely cracked...