That’s the Kind of Day it’s Been

You know you need to get more sleep when, mid afternoon, you realize that you’ve only put antiperspirant on one armpit.

Go me!

I’m having fun with working out in our home gym (read: corner of our bedroom where we’ve jumbled all our plates, bars, bench, dumbbells, elliptical and one of those lame ass Tony Little Gazelles – sole useful purpose: a prop for weighted calf raises). Last night, when I’m hitting my 10 on HIIT, hubby decides it’s a good idea to microwave some popcorn. The good? Not craving popcorn, anymore. The bad? A mess on the carpet beside the elliptical. Not something that people who work out in a gym have to contend with.

Another thing – watching out for cats. I don’t know how many times I’ve nearly smooshed Smudge with a bar and I fear for his tail around the elliptical, which he likes to rub against when I’m working out on it. The fun part, though, is when I’m doing crunches, he’ll come lay on his back beside me and look at me like, “this is fun, let’s all lie down on the floor togethers and shit. I dig working out!”

I’m too lazy to write out my dystonia update from last week and I have to get hopping on this bloody power point presentation that I’m going to be going through with a bunch of people in, oh, 45 minutes. I’m mostly just too darn excited over 23.6 per cent body fat that I hit this weekend – squee! Seriously, all I want to do is phone up everyone I know and obsess over it. Not particularly healthy, but whatever! Needless to say, I’m stoked for progress pics next week.

A Week with Dystonia

For shits and giggles, I thought I would provide a summary of my last week as it pertains to my generalized dystonia with a side of chorea (Oooh! Exciting!):

Monday, March 5, 2007
– Feeling great! Have a great workout! Work was great! Life’s great! Am a bit sniffly and I’m worried that I’m getting Kurt’s cold.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007
- Wake up with the start of a cold.
- Triggered by a touch from behind (my penultimate boss’ assistant grabbed my arm – sorry, no dirty story), which curled my right foot and both hands and caused my abs to contract, pulling me forward but I am able to walk
- Triggered by noise, as I have to knock on the door to the office because I forgot my key. Go into full body posture (legs up, shoulders pulled, arms sticking out, hands splayed, feet curled, neck pulled to the side) on the floor save the abs, which spasm hard. Mail Room Pat lets me into the office and we kind of drag/pull me in from the hall so no one steps on me – thanks Mail Room Pat! Because I’m lying down, my head is knocked on the floor every time my abs let go – ouch! A coworker brings me a sweater to put under my head. I kind of also want an advil or something. In five minutes, my body relaxes enough so I can get up. My feet are curled, my shoulder is pulled down, my neck is tilted and my abs are contracted, but I can walk to my desk. Throughout the morning, symptoms improve. At noon, I can walk a couple of blocks aided by my husband. By 2:30, after a branch meeting with our new ad agency, I am back to normal.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007
- Yup, it’s a cold.
- Fine throughout the day and am not symptomatic save for a slight “itching” feel in my abdominals and leg muscles (it isn’t really an itch, but it the best I can come up with to describe it).
- That evening, I get into a fight with my hubby over driving me somewhere as I’m not comfortable behind the wheel of a 1000 pound death machine when a horn honk might set me off. My foot ends up curling up and my hands splay out. It lasts about 5 minutes. Stress can set me off when I’m symptomatic and I find fighting with people (interpersonal stress) to be difficult to manage.

Thursday to Sunday , March 8 to 11, 2007
- I’m fine except for a wicked cold.
- Am able to do weight training but hold on the HIIT on the weekend.

Monday, March 12, 2007
- Wake up tired with that itchy feeling in my muscles again. My cold is almost gone, though.
- Have the occasional (like a couple or so an hour) muscle spasm in my abdominals throughout the day but that is it and I wonder why it wants to act up.
- Hubby slaps me on the ass (he does this, whatever) and my abdominals clench and my right shoulder pulls down. It lasts about a minute. Again I wonder why it is acting up.
- Oh, never mind, I get my period. It always acts up when I get my period.
- By 9:00, I’m fine again so I do HIIT.

The Squidge!

Hey! It’s the last day of my 3rd Body for Life challenge and I’m feeling really good. I did lower body yesterday and was able to increase my weight for both my squats and my straight legged deadlifts. Woot! I’m also starting to get… the squidge. Basically, the squidge is what happens when you start shrinking. It ain't pretty but whatever. It gets a bit worse before it gets a lot better.

You know those people with rock hard, beach ball sized bellies? Yeah, THOSE people. They need to get down with the squidge. The squidge is all good. My dad is one of those people and he’s proud that his belly fat is hard – um, no dad, that is not good. It means you’re at risk for a variety of serious health concerns…

My weight is also decreasing a bit – looks like I’m down around 148 or 147. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow morning since on week days I usually quickly suck back a litre of water and three cups of coffee before hitting the shower to go to work – doesn’t exactly bode well for happy discussions with the scale.

Webby has extended the deadline for entry into the tracker challenge. So, tonight a cheque is being couriered out and my next challenge starts tomorrow. I’m not giving myself a break – I think it would be weird having time when I’m not actively involved in a specific challenge (though not necessarily an official one – this current one isn’t going to be). I am totally bringing on the competitive freak for the next three months. God, I love competition.

Next week is going to be a big one for me. We’re going into the examination for discovery process. It’s all slated for Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m a bit freaked but I meet with my lawyer early Tuesday to get briefed on what it will entail.