Condensed Week

I know it’s been over a week since I’ve posted, and that’s mostly because working last week, or rather not working or kind of being on call really threw me off. It was actually more of a bother than I thought it would be. Last Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday despite not supposed to be working I was kind of beck and call girl and worked a lot more than I should have. Thursday was then my 31st Birthday which ended up being a pretty nice day. I shopped. I haven’t really shopped for anything personal for myself in a very long time so it felt both nice and scary to walk into Victoria Secret and spend $80. No coupons. Just hand over my debit card and pay $80. I did get 6 pairs of underwear and 2 bras so it’s not like I was completely crazy. Also, I really needed them. Anyhow, I wish they were smaller sizes but for now they will do. I should also mention Last Tuesday, the 25th I lost 1.2 pounds, making a total of 10 pounds lost in the three weeks. I was okay with that. Thought I had worked harder but it all evens out.

Then this weekend hit and me and my mom hit up the shopping, as in coupon shopping hardcore. I got tons of stuff, actually made quite a bit of money. I work Rite-Aid of all places to make lots of money in rebates. Ridiculous for sure. Anyhow, in the 2 days of shopping I made like $330.00. Yes, MADE on top of spending pretty much nothing out of pocket and getting over $1000 in product. I am pretty dang good at couponing. You know how crazy and obsessive my personality is that allows me to do weight watches so well, yeah, that extends to coupon girl as well. She is pretty good at it. Plus my intelligence makes me a crazy good target.

For instance today I stopped by rite-aid and checked out with my favorite checker girl. I’ve actually developed a relationship with the checkers at my Rite-Aid. Anyhow, I did two separate transactions. One transaction total before coupons = $67.77. Second transaction total before coupons = $69.79. I handed over my coupons and the first transaction cost me 33 cents and the second one cost 6 cents. Yes, a total of $137.56 in product for a whopping total of 39 cents PLUS I get back $10 at the end of the month in a check made out to me for some of these purchases. Basically the net result is I made $9.61 free and clear to take home my $137 dollars worth of product. Now, a lot of the trick is buying the right product that is on sale, that triggers rebates, that has coupons, etc… there are whole websites devoted to this practice that I have learned to frequent.
What did I get for my $137.56 today? Well, I got 2 cans of beef broth, 3 bottles of Veet, 2 bottles of Nivea Body wash, 4 bottles of TreSeme hair care, 3 Monster Energy Drinks, 1 birthday card for my sister, 6 bottles of different nivea for men face washes, 2 physicians formula eyeliners, a can of del Monte corn, and 2 Pairs of little kids Barbie sunglasses. I think that was it for today. Most of this product I didn’t want and/or need, but buying the right products allows for money back and gets you some product you do want. I did want the card for my sister, I did pick up the 3 energy drinks because I wanted them, and the 2 pairs of kids Barbie sunglasses are for my niece who I will be visiting this upcoming weekend. I made the $10 from all the Nivea product. I DON’T need anymore body wash/face wash product, you should see my insane stockpile. Someday I really should take a photo of the crazy amounts of product that have overtaken my gym. But my end result, story is, but it was all free, or rather I MADE money. I am really good at making money on product actually. All I can say is that I had the right amount of coupons to get the product for the price I do. It is completely legal and legitimate. I go to Rite Aid multiple times a week and use coupons and pay nothing for product and have a pile of receipts that confirm it is fine.

Anyhow, that was just today. I can’t even being to tell you how much shit I got over the weekend and how much money I’m getting back. Good times.

So anyway, my life was busy coupon shopping this weekend. I did get in a workout on Wednesday, took Thursday my birthday off, got in a workout on Friday, got in a great one on Saturday and then took Sunday off because my legs hurt from the crazy good intense workouts on Friday and Saturday. Then I worked out both Monday night and Tuesday night. I plan on going home and hitting it again tonight. I need to because I leave right after work tomorrow to head down to visit my family. My youngest sister graduates from College this weekend and it’s also her birthday on Friday so lots of family events this weekend. I won’t be exercising tomorrow night. Although I plan on bringing workout clothes and at least hitting up a run on Friday if nothing else. She actually graduates on Saturday.

Anyway, yesterday was weigh-in and I rocked the scale again after that 1.2 pound loss the previous week. Shockingly, somehow I lost 4.2 pounds this week making it a total of 14.2 pounds lost in 4 weeks. But at least I have not given up either the exercise or the couponing. I am managing to find a balance somehow of both activities that I do love.

I should talk about my workouts a little bit. Some are harder and some just fly by. But either way, I have great days where I can actually run. Twice I have run for 60 minutes straight. Mind you, I am not running fast, but consistent. I can tell I am improving and that is all I’m going for. In a months time I am able to run consistently and that is so much more than I can say when I started a month ago.

Going in reverse order this is the last week or so of exercise:

June 1 (yesterday Tuesday): 60 minutes (Run 48) 5.1 miles, 720 cal
May 31: 65 min. (run 45) 5 miles, 700 cal
May 29: 2 hours (2 different 1 hr. workouts) Total = 9.6 miles, 1300 cal
May 28: 1 hr 50 min (2 different workouts) Total = 10.1 miles, 1450 cal this is where I ran a solid 60 minutes in a row… yeah!
May 26: 90 minutes (Run 85 of 90!) total – 11.1 miles, 1530 cal…. Yeah, this was my best workout, I rocked it!!!!

I will try and get in an hour tonight. I have been working yesterday/today and tomorrow full 8 hour days so I can’t get in as much exercise. Like I said, this weekend will be hard. No exercise tomorrow, Friday I have to make myself exercise. Will take Saturday off. I will travel home on Sunday but will try and get in a run Sunday night. That will remain to be seen. Next week is supposed to be my light week at work. 7 hours total for the week, but we will see. I should be able to get in some better workouts next week.

I am loving my running right now and don’t really seem to mind eating less food than the days of chowing down full on McDonald’s meals. It’s nice to know that in 4 weeks I can take 14.2 pounds off my body. I still have lots more to go, but now I once again believe it’s possible. Sometimes you just need to get that jump start to believe you can do it. You need to see a little success to keep you going in the right direction. That is exactly where I’m at. I will never profess to have any answers as clearly I keep replaying this same game over and over again. Lose the weight, love myself for a while, gain the weight back, etc…. but I ALWAYS believe this time can be different. Naively I go into it every time thinking this one could be the time that it actually sticks. Stranger things have happened, I mean I actually have a savings account, and that is something I never thought I’d be able to do. I haven’t overdrawn my checking account in almost a year so people are capable of change. Why can’t my weight loss endeavors really stick this time? I am every day growing and changing and maybe I can do this this time, FINALLY.

Until then I am enjoying the balance I have struck between the different faucets of my world. I managed thru both Chris’s 31st birthday last Tuesday and my 31st birthday last Thursday, eating out, seeing Sex and the City 2 (which I thought stunk actually!) so I am sure I can handle this weekend. Although this will be the first real test of being completely back on program and being away from home. Having to get in the exercise and eating healthy in the presence of celebratory activities. We are going out to dinner on Saturday night so I will just have to make the best decisions possible, but honestly I am not worried because I am in the zone right now.

I don’t believe for a second that even if I work my ass off this week (which I don’t think is going to happen given all the obligations I have), that I really could show a big loss this week. Since my last week was so good I will have to settle for that 1 pound loss if even that but just maintaining thru this week will be fine, given all the other factors I’ve got going on. And with that, I should probably get back to those obligations.