Sometimes you just have to power through the week to get to the weekend and hope you come out alive on the other side. What a stressful week at the office. Deadline upon deadline upon deadline piled up all at the same time with the biggest challenge being that my ability to meet those deadlines was entirely contingent upon other people getting me information. Sometimes you feel like the job is spiraling out of control with no way to grab hold and keep the whole thing in check. Throw on top of that a terrible cold that Cece decided to pass on to me and you have a all the ingredients of falling off the weight loss bandwagon.
I remember reading a long time ago an article (I don't know from what publication) regarding exercise when you are sick. The gist of the article was that is is healthy and helpful to continue to work out if you have a head cold, even if it is a bad head cold, but to rest and discontinue working out if you have an illness more along the lines of the flu. The idea being that if you do some light exercise when you are sick your body will generate more white blood cells to help fight off the cold. I don't know if this is true but since I read it in a magazine instead of online I assume it is fact.
Monday was bowling night, so no working out there, but I was proud that I didn't overeat at the bowling alley because I got home from work so late I didn't have a chance to eat dinner at home. One victory in the books. Tuesday was the typical running night but the combination of getting home late from work and pouring rain I decided to postpone my workout until Wednesday.
That was a good decision and a bad decision. I certainly needed a good run by the end of the day Wednesday. Stress from work was piling up and working out is a good stress reliever. However, I had started to feel the symptoms of a cold coming on so I considered not running to rest up. As I talked about not going Rizzo reminded me how many times I had discussed the article mentioned above and she thought I should go out running to help kill the cold. So that is exactly what I did. I didn't run as fast or as far as I normally do but I did run as long (40 minutes) as is my typical run during the week so I felt good about that.
I don't know if it was a result of running when I was getting sick, the fact that Cece had a cold and was spreading her germs to me, the stress from work, or all of the above but I woke up Thursday morning with the feeling of death looming over my head. I didn't sleep well at all Wednesday night as the illness progressed and gnawed at my throat. There is no better feeling than waking up in the morning to a runny nose, pounding head, and a throat that only a fire eater can appreciate. I still had to fight onward so I took the hottest shower I could muster, downed some tea and DayQuill, and went about my day. What I didn't do is go on about my night. I would typically be out running on a Thursday evening but on this Thursday evening I decided to fall asleep on the couch at 8:30 instead.
Friday I felt better but not to terribly much better. I still wanted to get in some activity for the week with the hopes of not packing on too much weight because of this illness. How does the saying go, feed a cold and starve a fever? So I went out for a short jog on Friday evening and it felt great.
Saturday morning consisted of a normal routine. I was still fighting the cold but Cece and I still headed out for breakfast and the farmer's market. Our usual coffee house is closed for renovations by the new owners so we had to go to another one of our local favorites, The Bagel Cafe. It was a delicious treat and really helped in the "feeding the cold" side. After our morning errands I headed out for my long weekend run. Even with feeling under the weather I was able to get in 5.25 miles and about 10,000 steps on the FitBit, so it turned out to be a good morning.
If something gets in your way (like being sick or a fallen tree) you can either stop, turn around, or go plow through it. I chose to plow through both the tree and the illness.
Saturday night one of our good friends, Brenda, was back in town visiting from her home on the west coast. Rizzo and I are lucky enough to have family close by that loves spending time with Cece so my sister came over for an Aunt/Niece night while Rizzo and I went out to spend some time with our friend. We headed out for some drinks and some dinner. This is always a challenge when it comes to watching your weight because you want to enjoy your time and not restrict yourself too much but you also don't want to go overboard. I had some grilled chicken topped with cheese and a side of rice and beans at a Mexican place in Crystal City which I think was just the right balance of splurging and keeping it in check.
After dinner we headed over to a Crystal City bar for some drinks where I grabbed a Black & Goldings beer, which is an English Bitters beer that is a collaboration brew by Three Notch'd Brewing and Oskar Blues. It was a delicious bitter beer and the perfect way to finish off the evening out.
Poorly lit selfie of Brenda and me.
As is the typical routine, I got up Sunday morning for a short run before the inevitable weigh in at Weight Watchers. What I didn't expect to happen was for me to twing my knee again but it happened. Perhaps it is the cold temperatures or perhaps my physical age is finally catching up with my emotional age but either way my knee hurt so I had to settle for a good long walk. I like to think that is what put me over the top because it was another good week on the scale with a loss of 1.2 pounds to bring total weight loss to 57.6 pounds and a current weight of 209.8. It may only be .2 pounds under the 210 mark but it is still very exciting for me because I cannot remember when I had a weight that began with a 2-0. This is also another milestone. As of now I have lost 20% of my total body weight. Seems pretty crazy that I am literally 20% less of a person but there it is.
Coming up next week blogs will include wrapping up the three part series of yard work and I will disclose my biggest fear. I'm sure it will be a hoot for all.
P.S. On an unrelated note, I wanted to share how Cece eats on a regular weekday morning. I fear she may get spoiled. Below is a picture of a typical weekday morning breakfast. Yes, that is a cheese omelet with sliced grapes. She may be spoiled but at least its all fresh food which I think is very important.
