Sick House

Somehow, within mere hours of uttering the phrase, "I haven't caught a cold yet this year!" I came down with, you guessed it, my first cold of the season.

I've now passed it on to my little one, who got to try a cough drop as her first ever piece of hard candy (have I now scarred her for life, thinking all hard candy tastes like mentholyptus?)

Despite being sick, I'm still working out every day, just not as hard as I was last week. I'm still doing my hour to hour and a half, but I'm not pushing msyelf so hard that I pass out. I don't have a fever, so as long as that is true, I'll keep exercising. I imagine while I'm cycling that I'm pushing all the toxins out of my body, that every drop of sweat is a bead of cold virus.

I know, don't you totally want to go to my gym and use the machines after me? :-) I noticed the gym is out of hand sanitizer, everyone is so afraid of catching germs.

Last week I burned over 3,100 calories during my workouts at the gym (my handy dandy heart rate monitor tracks it for me!) I know I am taking it easier this week because today I burned only 470 calories instead of my usual 570 calories in the same amount of time.

Thank you all for your good wishes!!! So far, so good.

It's time for an update

OK folks, here goes with an update...

Most of you appear to be scared of my "Before" photo, and trust me, since I've seen it, I am, too.

However, here's how things stand. 6 Pounds lost in 1 week, jeans that would not fit two weeks ago now fit, I'm up to working out an hour and a half in one session. I also notice some changes in my body. My husband says my face looks thinner, and I notice it in my tush (from the elliptical machine) I will give updated weight results after my weigh-in day, which is on Thursdays.

My husband bought me this really awesome Polar heart rate monitor (in Pink, no less!) and according to my trusty HRM, I've burned over 2,500 calories at the gym this week alone. I worked out with my trainer Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I did at least an hour of cardio on my own at the gym Tuesday and Thursday, and I will be doing an hour on my treadmill at home today.

Also helping me along my journey is Weight Watchers online. I attended meetings two years ago and lost 30 pounds in 3 months, so I know WW works for me when I put effort into it.

In case you're wondering, I'm doing the Flex plan, because I'm a math geek and anything with numbers is really fun for me. Don't forget, all of that activity I'm doing earns me activity points, so I get to eat more calories than I would if I weren't exercising.

If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is! All of a sudden my life is very, very busy. I'm focused right now and on track, so it feels great. I feel good, my energy level is higher, my mood is better, and I'm even sleeping better at night.

Another added bonus I'm enjoying- I'm at the gym SO MUCH right now, I'm actually making friends at the gym!!!

So, get out there, and move!!! See you at the gym!!!

Ow ow ow ow

I'm not usually one of those people who make New Year's Resolutions. I gave up on them many years ago. I hated making the same resolution year after year. I thought if I needed to make the same one next year, I haven't succeeded, and it made me feel like my past year was a failure.

With that aside, something propelled my lazy butt into a gym on Monday.

Yes, a gym.

I won't name names, but I absolutely LOVE this gym. I last belonged to a gym that is, oh, fairly popular in Southern California due to their low prices and shuffle-the-crowds-through mentality. I hated having to wait for equipment, and my out-of-shape self never felt I belonged in that particular establishment.

This gym? This gym is fantastic for several reasons. It's CLEAN. Spotless. They're always cleaning it, and for a germophobe like me, well, that's worth every extra penny. It's not so crowded, and the crowd that is there is really nice! People have said hello and struck up conversations with me, not something that happened all that often in my last gym. As out of shape as I am, I don't feel like I'm completely out of place in this gym. I had one woman come up to me and say, "Good for you! Getting out here so early in the morning isn't easy, good for you for getting started!" And folks, THAT was awesome.

But it gets better.

I hired a personal trainer.

I'm under a contract, too, so I can't fanagle my way out of it. (Ditto on the gym- I paid up front for 2 years- no more excuses!) Three times a week I will meet with my trainer, and two to three days per week I will do cardio.

It's Friday afternoon and I've so far survived working out 5 days IN A ROW.

I'm sore as can be and when I walk I'm saying, "Ow, ow, ow" and I'm sure I'm making funny faces.

But I'm there, I'm doing the work, and it's hard, I won't lie to you.

I promise I'll let you know how this turns out. Aw heck, in the spirit of National De-Lurking Week, if I get 100 comments I will post my "BEFORE" photo here. If I get 200 comments, I will post my "BEFORE" measurements. So post away! I'm sure you wanna know.

A new year, a new blog

I've had a lot of fun posting here, but as you can plainly see, I just haven't been giving it the love and attention it deserves. I will do my best to pump some love into this site this year, but most of my blogging love is going to go to my new blogging venture. Please visit me over at

http://sandiegopadresmom.mlblogs.com/

If you even remotely love baseball, love the Padres, or have a family, I hope you'll visit me on my new site. If you see me at Petco Park, please stop and say hello.

I hope to be adding some cool features (read: columns!) to the new blog, especially focusing on the family viewpoint of Padres baseball.

To celebrate the new year, my family went on a tour of Petco Park.

That's me, looking very happy to be inside the Padres dugout, with my Dad, who I think thought it was pretty cool, too.

Happy New Year 2007 to everyone! I hope this year is fantastic for all of you. Thank you again for your continued readership.