"Finals Week"

I am exhausted.  This was the longest week I've had in a long time.

Sam used to tell me that I had to "contain the crazy" during finals week in college.  He needed to focus on his exams and whatever drama was going on had to be shelved.  For the first time (I think ever) I told Sam I was "pulling finals week" during a Tuesday phone call while I was at my wit's end.

I attended a mixer event with my boss and sales manager on Wednesday night, and was up this morning at 4:50 to get to a conference in Anaheim.  Needless to say I am totally exhausted right now.  And sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching last Sunday's Walking Dead.  (Side note: I have appreciated the less gory Walking Dead story lines lately).

Lack of sleep, the stress of all these events for work, and Hunter getting up in the middle of the night the last couple of nights has taken it's toll.  I'm not sure if I want to pop open a bottle of Chateau St Jean chardonnay or spoil myself with take-out (neither of which are Making the Cut friendly ideas).  I would normally say that sitting down and curling up with a good book sounds like a good idea but even that sounds like too much mental effort.

If it weren't Sam's stupid 2nd year schedule maybe we could have had dinner together, but he's up at the hospital on call tonight and I am not really feeling like driving all the way up to the hospital to get dinner.  The hospital doesn't exactly have lots of healthy dining options near by.

I also realized that I have a hair appointment before Jackie's wedding scheduled at the time as Sam's great Aunt's birthday party on April 27.  I had thought (for some stupid reason) the party started at 3pm so I booked the hair appointment at noon.  Unfortunately BOTH things are set for noon.  So now I need to reschedule my hair appointment or arrive late to Aunt Elsa's birthday.  I just don't have too many options for getting my hair done with all the wedding festivities in the weekends prior to the wedding.  C'est la vie.  Perhaps I'll have to skip out on the gym Saturday morning and try to have my hair done earlier.

Training

Bubba stopped me on my way into the gym yesterday and wanted to train me for an hour but I told him that I was on my way into spin class.  He asked me to come back after class and talk to him.  So I did.  

Turns out it was a bit of a sales pitch and he wants me to buy into their personal training program.  Hmmm, I see.  So we talked a bit about my fitness goals and my history with training and exercise and then he asked me to come in tonight at 6pm for a workout.  

I knew going into this whole thing that he was going to try to pitch me on a $140 training program working out with their trainers once a week.  Oh wow.  For that much money I could do a lot of stuff, and frankly I am not that impressed with the trainers I see on the floor when I'm coming to and from spin classes.  

Yes, I want to get back to training... I need to begin weight lifting more.  I need to build up my muscle mass to help me burn calories and fat and get myself back into good shape.  I need to focus more on my core and my upper body instead of letting them get their entire workout at spin class.  Today, I go forward, but not with Bubba.

Side note: In Making the Cut is going pretty well and I'm getting to try LOTS of new recipes.  The book says I should be eating cottage cheese.  I have always been kind of iffy about the way cottage cheese looks, so I've shied away from it.  But today I found "small curd" cottage cheese.  I had it with strawberries for dessert and it was pretty good!  It's kind of like cream cheese only lumpy and more watery.  But still, I was impressed.  it's not sour like yogurt which was really, really nice.  

Cleanse: Take 2

So I'm doing another cleanse with my former (and still fabulous) personal trainer turned friend Amanda.  This time, however, I know that I am committed to a 7-day cleanse followed by an intense 30-days based on Jillian Michaels' book Making the Cut.

How is it going?  Well, I have to say that egg whites are NOT my favorite thing en mass.  I am supposed to be eating 6 each morning and I'm lucky if I can get 4 down.  It's not that I don't like eggs, but I am too lazy to get up early enough to make them and eat them at home.  Thus, I am bringing them to work and eating them when they are slightly cooled.  Not super appetizing as it turns out.

Other than the eggs though, things are going okay.  There is a LOT of variation with the meals on this plan compared with the one we did last year- but I do miss my heirloom tomato, arugula, hummus and Ezekiel bread sandwiches.  And, super plus, this one uses dandelion root tea to help purge extra water weight and reduce bloating.  Apparently dandelion tea has lots of benefits and is also used for detox purposes and it cleanses blood and improves organ health.  Who knew?!  It does taste a little earthy, but it's like ice cream compared to that horrible hemp protein powder I bought last year.  I had to replace that crap with Bluebonnet brand protein powder which was at least edible.

The only downside is that my energy is completely depleted.  Seriously.  Like I was sitting on the couch last night at 8:20 and was about to pass out so I made Sam put on True Blood so I could make it until at least 9:00.  (Side note: Sam started us on True Blood over the weekend and were on Season 2)

Anyway, not to dwell on the negatives or get off topic: the cleanse ends on Sunday and the real work begins on Monday.  Jillian Michaels has 30 days of food scheduled by meal for each kind of metabolism- fast, average, and slow.  According to the quiz I took, I have average metabolism and am a "B-group" person.

I have tried so many things to lose weight and my most successful thing was religiously following Weight Watchers.  I guess I am just hoping that I can lose the 10-20 pounds Jillian's method promises to shed and then I can get back to wearing my clothes better.  I just really want to get rid of the 20 pounds I've gained since I started working again in November 2011... preferably before Jackie's wedding on May 4 when I need to squeeze myself into a bridesmaid's dress and walk down an aisle.  Hmmmm, now that wedding season is around the corner I am thinking I probably should have been more serious about weight loss starting January 1 like I had hoped to be.  Better late than never I hope!