Thanksgiving aftermath

There was pie, lots of pie. There was turkey, lots of turkey. There was gravy, rivers of gravy. There was dressing, not alot but it was there. There were potatoes, salad and buns, cranberries, it was everything Thanksgiving dinner was supposed to be. And it was good. Too good I think.

Overall, the weekend was nighmarish if you care about your weight. Our wonderful wedding photog forgot about our engagement shoot Saturday morning so we ended up rebooking for Monday morning and went to breakfast. I had an omelete and some fried potatoes and toast. Not too bad, but I could have done without the toast. We made hamburgers for dinner, then sat down to a couple of dvds and snacks for the evening.

Sunday was turkey day so I enjoyed a bowl of Shreddies for breakfast before departing to Red's parents house for the day. There were crackers with pate and shrimp to munch on, fortunately I do not care for fancy crackers and pate nor will I ever eat shrimp so i settled for beer. Dinner was good, I ate well and then devoured most of a pumpkin pie, not to mention having a slice of a coconut cream pie as well. Her mom made 3 pumpkin pies, all different, so I sampled 2 of them. One of them came home with us along with the usual leftovers. Once home, I did have a turkey sandwich despite the fact I wasn't hungry. I just wanted it. How sad.

Monday we finally got our engagement shots done and headed home for breakfast. This time we made a kind of Denny's scramble with eggs, cheese and veggies with toast and bacon. Not the smartest move but it was damn good. Since just about everything was closed and we didn't have much to do, we hit the movies for an afternoon flick and after first deciding not to get anything to snack on, I ended up buying a bag of M&Ms and Oh Henry chunks. Big mistake as neither did anything for me, it was more just the habit. Afterwards, we decided to head downtown to the Rideau Centre which is always open on holidays. There, we passed a sandwich type shop and I couldn't resist this pizza croissant thing in the window. It was pretty good, but I mean let's be honest, I didn't need it nor was I really hungry either. Another one of those just wanted it things. Dinner was leftovers and more pie. i made a point of finishing the pies as I wanted Tuesday to return to normal. It did, sort of.

I woke up and decided that since we didn't really get a chance to sleep in during the weekend thanks to having our engagement shots booked for 8:30 two mornings, and the fact that neither of us slept well, I wasn't going to the gym. Instead I was going to salvage whatever I could of a fairly sleepless night and get up a bit later. As it turned out, I barely slept during that time and ended up wishing I had of gone to the gym. No, I didn't hop on the scale and I didn't want to. I knew what i had done, I didn't need to see it. Last night for dinner was a hot turkey sandwich and some of Red's moms turkey rice casserole that she had sent home with us. It was good and quite filling. I munched on fruit the rest of the night but in reality, I could have just passed. I wasn't hungry.

So this morning, I'm back to my usual routine. I hit the gym, did the full cardio workout and today I'll munch on my fruit and salad. Dinner is a mystery as Red is displaying flu like symptoms and might not be able to eat. No worries there though, if she's not hungry, I'll just enjoy some pea soup. Usually we'd do Subway as it's volleyball night but there's no point in that if she's on the shelf so to speak. It can always wait.

I've been thinking quite a bit about changing up my workout. Since forever, I've been doing the cardio thing: 2 25 minute sessions on the elliptical and 1 15-20 minute stretch on the stationary bike. Needless to say, I'm bored with it. Cardio is mind numbing and the only thing that gets me through it is my music. But as I stated before, I'm bored with the same tunes day after day. However, I can't find anything new that I want to listen to so I'm stuck. One way to fix that is to switch to lifting weights again, which is where my concerns lie.

I go on weight lifting spurts, lifting for a couple of months, then backing off and doing straight cardio. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, I lose much more weight faster doing only cardio. But I know i'm also burning muscle tissue so I'm probably not getting the full benefit. Plus, I'm not building core strength which is important to keeping your body strong over a life time.

Second, my body hates lifting weights. While I know how to lift properly and not overdo it, I still manage to tear or pull something and suddenly I can't lift for a while. It's frustrating but its the same thing every time. And I want results, results I can see. But even when I've gone full out for months, I never really see a difference in my body. Sure, I'm lifting more but no bulging muscles. It's disheartening.

And third, my shoulder is still aching. Its been like this for months and its being stubborn about healing. I used up my yearly physio alottment with my insurance provider fixing a back problem in the spring so any physio I receive now will come out of my pocket and I'm just not down with that. I know it'll heal eventually, but its a pain in the ass for now. Besides, its not the first time I've had stubborn aches and pains that refuse to heal quickly and it won't be the last. Besides, I'm almost 42, the body just doesn't respond like it used to.

So i need to come up with a plan; something that takes both cardio and weight lifting and gives me a workout that benefits me in a way I need to see, and doesn't bore me. I'll give it some more thought this weekend.