The things we put ourselves through!

Hey there!  Happy 2023 to you!  I am hoping it is going wonderful for you.  I realize it's only a few days in but I am trying to have high hopes for all of you because I am not sure how to feel about this New Year just yet!

I was going to blog weekly about this process but I ramble too much so I had to cut this down to the first 3 days.  And trust me, I put myself through the wringer the first three days.  I just hope the following days have some kind of excitement in them!

I agreed to go on a diet at the beginning of the year.  My work bestie wanted to do it and I can stand to lose a little bit of weight so I thought, "Why not?  What could it possibly hurt?" Famous last words from Miss Shellie!  Well anyway, we did our planning and we both decided we would order some products that she had experience with before and had good results.  My thought was that I would blog weekly about what I go through while on this little program so if anyone wanted to follow along and read the good and the bad.  Just keep in mind that I added "the bad" onto that!

There's no crying in dieting so buck up! (I had to remind myself of this at some point) 

JANUARY 1ST, 2023 (as read from my journal so keep your hands close to your eyes in case it gets messy)

I started taking said supplements.  There was a chocolate mint mix that you put in water and drink a couple times a day, 1 capsule in the morning, 1 capsule at each meal, and a capsule at bedtime.  The one thing I was not looking forward to was that drink mix!  I don't care for chocolate and I really can't stand mint so I knew it was going to be one of those "plug the nose and drink it fast" drinks.  These supplements IMMEDIATELY curbed my appetite and took away my urge to snack (which is basically how I have been living for the last year).  They gave me that full feeling that I needed and raised my energy.  And to be honest, the drink tasted like what I think yoohoo would taste like.  A watered down chocolate milk.  No mint taste to mine so it was good enough I could drink it at leisure.

Now, when I say it was immediate, this is what I mean; I started them on the morning of Jan 1st and I didn't snack at work, had a sensible meal and when I got home from work I did the following between 00:15 - 02:00 (because I was full of energy):

- Went through the fridge and got rid of anything questionable in there and starting filling the garbage can.  

- Removed stuff off of my counters and cleaned them up real good followed by the sink!

- Emptied a very full drying rack (the rest of the world calls that a dishwasher but I don't like to use it for that).

- Vacuumed the living room floor and steam mopped the kitchen.  Have I mentioned I hate doing floors???

- Started laundry.

- Hand scrubbed and dried my bathroom floor (don't get too excited, it's a tiny room) but it's the chore I hate to do.  Floors UGH!!!  Yep, I strapped on my knee pads and scrubbed down all the cracks and crevices and pulled out the floor vent and cleaned that out.  After cleaning the toilet, even the toilet brush got a good cleaning!  I must ask this:  It is 2023, why haven't we found a way to keep the toilet from attracting hair and dust?  Why???  For the love of all that is good and Holy!

- I took down my winter shower curtain and valance and put up my regular, stand by shower curtain and hooks.  Found a new curtain  I had never used that matched in color so threw that up there (I literally done this twice deciding which one I wanted to use).  I even found the rugs that matched them all.  

I was starting to get the urge to move to my closets and purge, purge, purge!  But I held off!  I figured if I do all of this now, what will I have to do the rest of the days between now and the end of February??  Am I right??

Then I asked myself this, "Did Dana talk me into taking some form of meth?"   Because now my mind is going rampant and I need to start a list.  A long, long, long list of everything that needs to get done around here!  Is this meth?  Nope, it's Heaven!  At least for now!  I am loving this stuff!

So yeah, the list got made.  Purge clothes, washing bedding, wash blankets on the sofa, shampoo the furniture, vacuum basement steps, organize & purge holiday totes, bring upstairs trash totes down and get rid of, clean kitchen ceiling fan, get Valentine's Day decorations ready to be put out, etc., etc., etc.! 

There will be more to add to my list as soon as the weather starts getting better.  I hate winter now.  I want to wear a swimsuit and be warm.  Is that too much to ask???  So yeah, by the end of the night, I went to sleep hoping that I would wake up at a decent time and not feel groggy.

JANUARY 2, 2023

I slept pretty darn good!!!  Just like I suppose a rock would sleep!  I woke up at 05:30 and let the dogs go potty and went right back to sleep until 10:00!!!  That. Was. Exceptional!

So here I was again, going at it like it all had to get done now.  Now I have never been a breakfast eater and at 53 years young, I am not about to start now so I was a little light headed upon entering the world of awake.  I got through it though.  

Got the Winter comforter washed up and put away and dug out a couple of extra blankets to keep me warm for the rest of this miserable weather.  Started in on washing the blankets on the couch and the dog beds.  As of this writing, I have 2 more blankets to go.  

I was a good girl and got my exercises in.  I couldn't find a picture of 3 dogs in a gal's face while she is doing crunches but that's how my predicament went!  

I grabbed the curtains out of the bedrooms and got them washed and put back up.  Livingroom, dining room and kitchen are on the list to do!  I mean, why not???

I pre-made some meals (that I have yet to actually eat because I keep forgetting) to take to work so that makes life easier.  Mmmmm turkey roll-ups!

And it happened.  I got through both of my bedroom closets!  I actually purged more clothes than I thought I would and it felt amazing!  I can't wait to drop them off the next time I go south so I don't have to look at them again.  

So, again I asked myself (out loud this time), "Did Dana introduce me to meth???"  Wait till you hear what she did to me though!  She talked me into doing this "diet" with her and then puts not one, BUT TWO boxes of chocolate covered cherries in my cupboard at work.  WTF Dana???!!!  Why would you want to sabotage me? You should have done the money challenge AND THEN sabotaged me!  Duh!

I was hoping to see some kind of fluctuation in weight by the second day but that may be asking a bit too much, too soon.  I'm not a patient person but I think most people that know me, know that already.  Anyway, I did not see any difference on the scale.  

Goal weight loss for week #1 (by Jan. 8th) is three pounds.   Cross your fingers and I will suck in my gut.  -_- 

January 3, 2023

Remember, there is no crying in dieting.  I said it myself.  Well, here's where I got to remind myself of just that!  In the very early morning hours, all hell broke loose.  The bowels (pun may have been intended) of hell reached out, grabbed my soul and took it for the spin of it's life.  A long, agonizing, almost-spiritual spin, had Satan not been the one driving that bus to hell and back!

Folks, when I say it was bad, I mean it was bad.  I have done sweatin' to the oldies and I would rather do that any day compared to this!  I felt numbers and heard the voices of both yellow and green!  And I don't mean the M&M's!!!  All I could see was a mystical glaze take over me as I begged for 

to come take me away because it sure sounded like a less painful thing than what I was currently experiencing.  I mean, I am laughing about it now because... I like to laugh at myself.  It makes the pain feel like it has less of a hold on me.  

My weekly weight loss goal for myself was set at three pounds.  In a matter of 12 hours, not only did I meet that goal but I exceeded it by a pound.  I don't recommend that to anyone BUT I now have four days to maintain before starting on week #2.  And to be perfectly honest, I don't even care about having a goal for week #2.  I may just concentrate on maintaining a week or two.  Who knows.  

Now, before you get any ideas that I was putting something in my body that I probably shouldn't have, you first need to know this.  The stomach ulcer that I lovingly refer to as my volcano, reared it's ugly head. 

There could be a multitude of reasons for that.  It could have been the supplements.  It could be diet-related.  It could be stress-related.  Heck, it could have just been that my volcano needed a good eruption.  Boy, did it ever have a good one!  I have been under a little stress at work and I am diligently trying to get it worked out.  It may take some time and it may not work out in my favor.  Time and the strength of my will is going to determine this.  

So I took that day to do absolutely nothing more than I had to. Mainly because I couldn't mentally or physically do anything. But I did get some meds down and the fire put out.  

I will break here and work on the next three days.  I promise they won't all be long and boring and show all my bad decisions!