Must Be February

Well I kind of just dropped off the face of the earth this month.  Totally unintentional!  February is the month when people start to get discouraged and they feel stagnant in their workouts, the number on the scale, the food their eating.  And that's where we lose another chunk of people who decided to dedicate this year to themselves.  It's sad to see but I have to say this year with the Shrinking Jeans FB group, there's a whole lot less of that happening because people are being honest about when they fall.  They are asking for the help and motivation to keep going and it's working!  That all being said, let's dive into my last few weeks.

I started off the month really strong with two back to back bike rides that were well over 10 miles each.  By Superbowl Sunday, I was on the verge of a major head cold that knocked me down.  I missed 3 days of work, I rested, I ate soup and drank lots of liquids, I did EVERYTHING that I should have to get better.  Fast forward to the middle of the next week.  I dragged myself to one of those fancy Healthcare walk-in places at Walgreens and I'm told I've developed an acute case of bronchitis.  (I literally can't breathe when I'm walking or talking too much).  So I walk away from there with an inhaler to help but nothing else.  AAAAAAAnd fast forward to Sunday of this week.  I'm having stomach pains.  Pain that I'm not familiar with and I'm well acquainted with pain in my abdomen...  So I blow it off and assume it's just an upset tummy.  Monday morning rolls around and I couldn't get out of bed for work. So I called in, and went back to sleep.  After 18 hours of sleep, I decided it was time for the ER.

6 hours, a doctor shift change, and several tests later, no answers.  I have some sort of stomach infection but since they can't narrow it down, they can't give me anything for it... WHAT? #annoyedmuch?  So I'm home until today and I have to go back to work tomorrow, but I'm not feeling any different.  I had to follow the liquid diet to the B.R.A.T. diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast for those who aren't parents like me and didn't know).  I'm dabbling in real food today because I'm literally starving.  I ate nothing on Monday and my total calories yesterday were just over 700.  So I tried some oatmeal with my toast.  My hunger pangs are happy but my stomach and abdomen still hurt.  If it continues while I work the last two days of the week I will have to figure out where to go from there.

So!  Because I've been up and down sick for the last 3 weeks, I feel like a total slacker and failure.  I stopped the calendar workout, I stopped taking my photo a day, I haven't walked outside of what I can at work, I biked on Sunday, but not very far...  I am resting.  And at this point it legit sucks.  I'm tired of it.  I feel like all the weight I'm losing is new muscle I've just recently built up...  When do I get a break from the ick?

Today was Wed Weigh In and I'm now down 18.8lbs since Jan 1st.  I've lost 9 pounds since Feb 1st and none of it was lost in a healthy way.  I know that it's not ideal, but once I can eat real meals again, I'll do everything I can to keep it off and start from there doing all the healthy stuff again.  Pardon my sickly look :)

 Once I'm back up and going strong again, I may pick up all my tracking and motivation, but for now it's all pretty much stopped.  I'm still tracking on MFP but that's about all I'm doing since there's too much ick and not enough healthy moments this month.  Thanks to everyone who has showed concern.  I appreciate the well wishes.  Hope everyone else is still going strong!