As of this morning my Four Week Feel Better Plan is concluded. And the results? I definitely feel better! I was toeing the line of being depressed (not sure if it was the possibility of actual chemical depression or just a really blue period), but I think I dodged the bullet! I got myself off of sugar-snacking, got myself back outside walking my dog consistently, got myself back to the gym, I’m sleeping better, feeling better and (I think), looking better. I have a bit of spark back and I’m looking forward to things again. I have energy again and I’m consistently cooking and prepping food. I’m (strangely) able to hop out of bed on gym mornings and not feel like I’m dragging a semi-trailer along behind me. All good things. And I attribute MOST of these good things to quitting sugar.
So what happens now? I’ve converted my Four Week Feel Better Plan to a Living Plan and have another 4 weeks marked off with prescribed gym days, an extended embargo on sugar (really needed something to be “decided” before the Halloween candy made it into our house) and a couple of general wellness items (vitamins, bedtime, stretching etc). And so, on I go.
Unfortunately I’m starting Week Five fighting off a cold. At least I think it’s a cold. It’s been so many years since I’ve actually had a cold that I barely remember what it’s like! I have a sore throat, stuffy nose and achy joints. I’m going to tea & water myself all day long today and I have a delicious warm and comforting dinner ready when I get home from work so hopefully that’ll do it.
I was supposed to go to the gym on Saturday morning. And I did. Go all the way to the gym. Parked my car, climbed the escalator and walked all the way into the change room. The whole time cringing at every left step. I had twisted my knee doing some gardening on Friday night when I stepped off a crooked paver and with already tight thigh muscles from the gym day on Thursday, it was fairly painful. I hemmed and hawed about doing my Saturday workout and ultimately got back in my car and went home. Jogging and then squats and step ups are nothing to do with a sore knee. I felt stupid checking out of the gym 3 minutes after I’d checked in……..but I didn’t feel guilty or bad about my decision. I just figured that these things happen and I’d prefer a skipped gym day to a skipped gym week or month if I really did hurt myself.
Again, unfortunately, if I actually am sick (and I refuse to admit that yet) then tomorrow morning’s gym date might be in jeopardy also. We’ll see….I was laying wide awake this morning at 4am (feeling like garbage) and could have easily gone to the gym if they’d been open. Tomorrow could still happen! Plus, isn’t it “starve a flu, do squats for a cold”? 😉
I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures from the weekend. The first is my enormous “lap sausage”, snuggled up on me while I was under my electric blanket on Saturday morning after my gym-fail. And the second is a shot of some insanely delicious (if somewhat visually unappealing) Apple Almond Pancakes that I made on Saturday morning. They are completely clean (Whole30 approved if you do such things) and so delicious. I drizzled mine with some warmed coconut butter. The original recipe makes about 8 small pancakes so if you’re sharing with someone you get approximately 1 egg, half an apple and some almonds for breakfast…..which isn’t a lot so next time I would double or even triple the recipe. Next time I would also fry them on both sides and then finish them in the oven on a baking sheet….the batter is very wet and takes awhile to firm up in the middle. If a person were to fry them on both sides and then bake them all at once, you could have a nice pancake breakfast and even the cook could sit and eat! (click the picture of the pancakes for the original recipe!)
Wish me luck tomorrow morning with the gym. It was frosty out this morning and will be even chillier at 4am. Ray’s on graveyards though so there’s no “but it was too snuggly in bed” excuse because I’m in there all by myself anyway.
Happy Week!
THIS was hard to stop doing when it was time to get on with the day!
Fitty vs Fatty 