Originally published at Angels Dust. You can comment here or there.
I've been on a diet since last Thursday and it's going good so far. I think my main motivation for dieting is of course the cruise I'm going on next month. My source of motivation...diet pills. I decided to be safe this time and spent a pretty penny on the FDA approved diet pills, Alli. I like these pills a lot better than other ones I've tried before because these don't make me jittery and make my heart feel like it's going to beat out of my chest.Additionally, I've been logging what I've been eating for a few days now. I use The Daily Plate website. (I created a public profile.) I have my weight loss goals set at 2 pounds a week and a calorie goal of 1,665 calories.
Here's an example of what I had for dinner this evening:
Vegy burger patty with sun dried tomato cheese wrapped in a tortilla. Cucumbers and carrots dipped in light ranch dressing. A pickle, and a Sobe pomegranate life water.
Alas, my dieting adventures would not be complete without a gym membership. I've had one for a few years and would casually go, then when I started college classes back up this year, my workout routine took a back seat. My Philippines trip that I just got back from put pushed my workout regimen further back. I did my first "official" workout session since starting my diet with my co-worker, Carla and I'm hurting. I plan on going to workout every other day at least. This Thursday I am going to try one of the gym's Yoga classes and see how it goes.
I've lost 10 pounds so far this year without hardcore dieting. I'm down to a 175 from 184 and I'm determined to keep going. I'm tired of going clothes shopping and dreaming of wearing the cute clothes that would only look nice on skinny people. I'm also tired of going shopping and having all the "big people" sizes gone first because they are the most popular.
My only downfall that will pull at my heart strings for the next month is that I've been majorly craving my favorite candy, Peanut M&M's, but I think I can live without them for a month. However once I get back on the plane to come home from my cruise, you best believe I'm having a serving in my hand getting off the plane.
Originally published at Angels Dust. You can comment here or there.
I just thank God that if I never see another miracle in my life again, I witnessed my aunt breathing again, which is a wonderful miracle.
If I never missed a day of work for one year, I probably still would not have enough paid time off to dance over to the Philippines for three weeks. Any time less would just be a waste of money. But here I was within a week of knowing I would be leaving the country, I was packing my bags to travel halfway across the world. This is the ultimate stress episode to me.
I wish I had a profession that let me travel more often to see them though. I dream of, every year, for at least a month, I can go to the Philippines and visit my family. Not worry about finances, wondering if I'm going to get paid or not, not worry about bills when I get back because I took so much time off I'm not getting paid. It's hard enough finding a profession that I can tolerate doing for a living. It's even more depressing to put that profession on the back burner for a few weeks and then having to come back to it and face reality that your working a job you don't want to be doing for the rest of your life.
Maybe one day...until then it's busting butt for the next four years in school to get that Bachelor's degree. Which reminds me, I have to study for a math test I missed while I was i the Philippines.
Originally published at Angels Dust. You can comment here or there.
It's always hard to attempt to recover from jet lag within a few days, but I have to do it, I go back to school and work Monday.
I arrived back in the United States from being in the Philippines for two and a half weeks last Thursday. The very next day, I had tickets and meet and greet passes to a New Kids on the Block concert, where I didn't attempt to recover from my jet lag and stayed up that night...all night. (I will talk about this later, this day is another story in itself.)
It is truly sad to leave my family in the Philippines. I got used to having family around all the time, to those who know me, you know I hate being alone. The company of having my family around was nice.
Not to mention, a trip to the other side of the world is not exactly cheap, so it's a trip I cannot take often. Since I was a kid, I've been going to the Philippines every 5 years or so. Well this time I waited almost 7 years, which is 7 years too long. Hopefully I will not make this mistake again. I plan to be very frugal with my vacation time at work so I can have the opportunity to fly back out there and see them again in another couple of years...not 7.
The flight back was rough. I flew from the Philippines to Guam within 5 hours and had a 7 hour layover in Guam, so I had a lot of time to do absolutely nothing. Then I flew from Guam to Tokyo, where I flew to Houston, Texas and waited another four hours, not to mention the amount of time it took me to get through customs. They shave you with a fine tooth comb, which I guess is a good thing.
Here it is Sunday morning, and I'm not tired and don't see myself sleeping anytime soon since I took a 6 hour nap. Seeing there is a 12 hour time difference between Ohio, USA and the Philippines, it might take me a good week to get adjusted. Let's just hope a gallon of Red Bull will keep me from falling asleep at work and during class this week.
I took almost 400 photos from my Philippines trip, but you can see them in my photo album.
