Oh, hello, May – where did YOU come from?

Official weight @ 04/26/2013: 189.8 lbs

And then: Official weight @ 5/3/2013: 190 lbs

I fully understand that it’s only .2 lbs, but I haven’t been able to exercise really at all (hence the lack of updates) for the last week and a half. My last workout was 4/24. I missed that Friday due to kids getting to bed late and general life-getting-in-the-way-ness. Saturday didn’t happen because my toddler refused to cooperate with his scheduled nap time. That night the hubby and I had plans to go out which I wasn’t willing to postpone or cancel for a workout. Monday night I went with my dad to see Gary Johnson speak in DC and didn’t get home until 10pm… Tuesday morning I woke up with a nasty case of bronchitis, which meant I could look forward to about a week (if not more) of no strenuous exercise thanks to my bronchial inflammation. So on top of all of this, I’ve been pretty diligent about my caloric intake ESPECIALLY since exercise hasn’t been happening for me… I would venture to say I may even run the risk of under-eating some days over the last couple weeks… and I reflect a .2 lbs gain.

GO HOME, SCALE, YOU’RE DRUNK!

I’m thinking about only weighing myself once a month in order to break this bipolar “I don’t need you – NO WAIT! I NEED YOU!” relationship I’ve been having with my scale lately. I mean, seriously, I just posted about how “I don’t care how much I weigh” because I know it’s always going to be right around the same number until I really start putting in the effort and dropping the fat… and, hell, even THEN it may STILL be the same damn number.

I’m feeling really good about the way I look, lately, and that is definitely what matters in the whole scheme of things. So, here we go, let’s just make it a goal:

Goals for May:

1. No weigh-ins until June 1^st
2. Get back on my lifting program (after I’m no longer sick, of course)
3. QUIT SMOKING

I used to blog about my smoking a lot (tracking how much I was smoking, etc.) and then I just sort of stopped. I obviously quit while I was pregnant with my youngest and I pretty much quit blogging at that time, too. I sort of reformatted once I started back up and that’s when I dropped the smoke-talk. I didn’t exactly plan to start back up after Nolan was born, but it happened. It would kind of come up here and there – like a couple months ago when I blogged about how I had almost completely quit and was smoking only a few cigarettes a week (down from a half pack to a pack a day). I kept pretty steadily with that “I’ll have one here and there” mentality… until the weather got nice. Spring/Summer is sometimes just the total bane of my fit/healthy existence, which seems totally bizarre. So I go from smoking, literally, maybe 4-5 cigarettes on a random Friday or Saturday night if I’m having drinks… to smoking half a pack a day again. Then I get bronchitis. Coincidence? I think not.

So now I’ve decided I need to just quit completely. A friend of mine is also quitting, so this way I can be healthier (and richer) while also supporting her in her efforts. It seems as good a time as any. I’m currently 3 days without a cigarette. However, this is not unusual for me, as I regularly will go days between cigarettes (especially if I’m not feeling well). Once we reach the 3 WEEK point? Then we’ll do a little happy dance. Tonight will be a major test as I’ll be drinking and visiting with one of my best friends who is currently visiting from out of town – and although there are a couple other smokers in the group, the majority of folks that will be at this gathering are non-smokers. Since I’m still hacking a lung from this bronchitis, I’m hoping it will be easy to avoid the urge to smoke. I’m trying to think of it this way: the more I smoke tonight, the longer it will take to get rid of the bronchitis, and the longer it will be until I can get back into my lifting routine – which of course means the longer it will be until I get my body looking the way I want it to.

Now to review April Goals:

1.  Keep active during rest week and start stage 2 of NROLFW
2. Get to bed at a decent time 7 days a week
3. Make more time for fitness with James

Number 1: we all know that I did a fairly decent job of taking walks and doing a couple other workouts during my rest week, but because it was well planned I feel like it didn’t go as well as I would have liked it, too – plus the emotional kick-back of not getting those lifting endorphins. I did start Stage 2 of New Rules and then promptly quit and began Stronglifts 5x5 instead. Now I’m on a forced sick rest. BOO.

Number 2: I am definitely getting better about not staying up until 3am nearly every weekend, but I haven’t improved quite as much as I would have liked to. I’ve rolled myself back about an hour, averaging about a 1:30am weekend bedtime… the flip-side of this is that I’m regularly staying up until midnight or later on work nights, as well. This means I’m keeping a similar circadian rhythm, BUT it also means I’ve gone from averaging close to 8 hours of sleep a night, to averaging closer to 6. No bueno. My priority, not just for this month, but here on out – is to shoot for 7 hours of sleep every night.

Number 3: This didn’t happen really at all, but not for lack of effort on my part. Now that the weather has warmed up James is outside playing with his friends daily. It’s not active/fitness time with ME, but it IS active/fitness time he’s getting that he wasn’t before. I’m taking this off the priority list for the time being. (ps – we did take a 2 mile walk together last week, during which he bitched and moaned the whole time.)

So that’s what’s going on with me. I’m still here, I’m still alive, I’m still taking lunch walks when I can and hoping to have a miraculous bronchial recovery and get back to lifting next week. How are you all of you doing out there in Reader Land? Does the warm weather bring up any bad habits for you?