OPI gel manicure gets...

....a big old thumbs down for what it has done to my nails.  They look beautiful while the gels is on my nails.  I was totally in love and was willing to spend $35 every two weeks.  Before my last application I asked the woman at the front desk if my nails should have a break because they seemed a bit weak.  She felt them and said they were fine.  I asked the manicurist the same question and got the same answer.  Well the joke is on me because my nails are peeling so badly and have broken down to where they were when I first got the manicure.  My nails looked great for several weeks but it came at a great cost.

In other news, I have been really trying to follow the dietary recommendations of my acupuncturist.  In case you forgot: cut out dairy, diet soda (or really any soda), cold drinks, add warm foods and add cinnamon.  Generally speaking the only dairy I am consuming is in my coffee in the morning.  I keep my Brita on my counter so that my water is now room temperature.  I have been having a harder time adding the warm foods, especially in the morning.  I am not sure why, since I love oatmeal.  It is a time issue, really.  I was doing great with the cinnamon, but it started to trigger some acid reflux, so I stopped for the time being.  The biggest change I have made, drum roll please, is that I have cut out soda!  I started by cutting down, and within another week I cut it out.  I did have some over the weekend.   But I don't like the way it makes me feel.  I was never a huge soda drinker until I lived with the hubby.  He LOVES soda, so we always have it in the house.  In large quantities.  And when I was pregnant, water plain grossed me out and I lived on 7-Up.

I was planning on getting back into the gym this week and then I get terribly sick.  Actually, last Saturday night I had it all planned out for the next day.  And then Lilly had a seizure at 6am and I was in the Overlook ped Er with her all morning.   By then my day was just shot.  Then whatever viral infection Lilly had I then got.  I was under the weather on Monday and then by Tuesday night I was sick as a dog.  This afternoon I started to feel a bit better.  In fact I had made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon and cancelled it.  So maybe tomorrow I will feel better enough to go do the elliptical for a bit?  Crossing my fingers...

gym update

On July 14th I had posted about going back to the gym for the first time in ages.  I am happy to report to my fabulous readers that almost 3 weeks later I am still going to the gym!  I even utilized he fitness room when I went to a hotel for a wedding.  I am feeling better about myself and when I go I try to push myself as hard as I can.  I used to feel that it was all or nothing...if I could not go for a full hour or more than I did not go.  And so it was nothing, for a long time.  Now if all I can go for is 30 minutes, I do that.  Yesterday my hubby had a doctor's appointment that would have interfered with my usual time.  I went right after he came home from work, before his appointment, for about 30 minutes.  I did the elliptical and some stretches and came home.  Today I can do a longer workout that includes my strength stuff.  Hooray for me and for hubby for supporting me in this!

My heel has been acting up so I try to limit my treadmill time and use the elliptical instead and avoid lunges for now.  My self diagnosis: plantar fasciitis.  Luckily it is not severe enough for me to head to the podiatrist yet.  I am trying to wear my sneaks as much as possible and ice it after a hard workout.

I have been resolute in my decision not to step on the scale.  In fact I put in the back of the linen closet while organizing this weekend.  I am so, so tempted to see if that number has changed but I am not secure enough yet to feel okay no matter the number.  So, in the closet it stays.  I am focusing, instead, on how my legs and arms are firmer and more toned, my waist is coming back, and hello...I have a collar bone!  I wish I had measured myself before I started because that is always a good indicator of fat loss.

Next on the list is to cut out the sweets in my daily diet.  The fruit is amazingly delicious right now so the  plan is to substitute fruit for sweets whenever I have that craving.  I also need to get back to carrot and celery sticks instead of crackers when I need a crunch.

the scale and whatnot

If you follow my blog (I hope someone says yes!) then you will know that I was attempting to follow Weight Watchers.  I say attempting because I was only really doing it full heartedly for a few weeks.  I would do well for a few weeks and then fall off.  Then I would get back into it but then stop mid-week or something.  There was always a reason why I was not counting points that day or following it exactly.  Or I would start counting the points and then I would get a bit psycho about it.  Only to myself, mind you, but I hated feeling that way, so then I would stop.  i would weigh myself every day, multiple times a day and I would allow the results to dictate how I felt about myself.  I decided not to renew my membership, even after I saw both my SILs who are following WW and doing an AWESOME job!  (Go Kelly & Gina!) I have realized that after trying WW 3 or 4 times that it really might not be the plan for me.  

You will also know that I had fallen off the exercise wagon.  I was doing some Wii stuff but nothing regular and I was not utilizing my gym membership.  Last week I started back to the gym and I have been going regularly.  And it feels amazing.  I mean, I am a bit sore but I am so happy to be back.  I was thinking that I was going to be embarrassed that the guys who work there would know that I was MIA for so long.  I am not.  I am not worrying about what other people think of me.  I might have to remind myself of that every once in a while but I am not letting it get to me.  I am concentrating on cardio and my ab exercises (which I learned in PT to help my back) and stretching.  I am hoping to do yoga again soon, but for now I am just incorporating poses into my post-workout stretching.  I need to build up the strength in my wrists before I start really doing anything with weights again, so plank, table, and downward facing dog and cat/dog are perfect for that.

Here is the big thing: I am not getting on the scale.  I slipped last week at one point and I could really tell how it mentally brought me down for a few hours.  Besides that one slip, I have not weighed myself in about a month.  I feel crazy good about myself right now.  I know that I did not lose all the extra pounds in one week at the gym, but I just feel better about myself.  I am a little bit firmer perhaps and my legs always get definition quickly.  The main thing is how my state of mind has been able to remain positive. Even this morning I was feeling so good about myself and like maybe I even lost a few pounds so I thought, "Maybe I will just step on the scale and see."  I resisted because if I stepped on the scale and I had not lost any pounds I risked losing my positive outlook.  Maybe someday I will be able to step on a scale without it affecting how I feel about myself that hour/day/week.  But until then, I have sworn off the scale!

Now I just have to remember all this when the going gets tough and work starts back up September 1st.