Thursday

This week is dragging. I know, next week is vacation and all that, but I don't think it's that this time. I've been fighting a cold (winning, now), sleep's been disturbed (putting it mildly), we've been busy at night all week, and have had very little time to just sit and collect my thoughts. Although, reading that, you'd think I'd have started it out saying that the week has just been flying by. I don't know. 

158.2 this morning. To prove that it's out of my control, here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
  
• an apple
  
• 4 pieces of cheddar
  
• Olive Garden salad
  
• Chicken Piccata (covered in capers, tomatoes, and lemon butter sauce, not bad)
  
• 2 chocolate mints
  
• 2 small handfuls of cashews
  
• an indeterminate number of nasty cough drops
  

Oh, well that's why - all those damn cough drops. Except the day before, when I LOST like 2 pounds I'd eaten even more of them.

We leave for NOLA tomorrow. I will eat as well as I can - I will ABSOLUTELY avoid bread, after the last trip there - and when we get back, there should be enough light in the evening to get a walk in. I hope. And all of the list-making and other cat-herding, organization and planning stuff will be done, and we can settle down and start eating right and getting some mild exercise.

Wednesday

The cold continues apace. Coughed so much yesterday that I ache in all my interstitial ribcage muscles, my diaphram, and my pecs. I hope today is better, because another day like yesterday and I'm afraid I'll pull something or break a rib.

157.4 today. No rhyme nor reason for it. It appears at the moment that I have no control whatsoever of my weight. Because we ate Mexican for dinner last night, and while it wasn't the chips-fest that our last outing was, I had chips, and enchiladas on top of them. Sigh. Veg and dip and cheese at lunchtime, eggs with ham and cheese at breakfast. Oh, and ice cream.

No exercise, sleep was probably better than the night before, but only because I took myself off to the guest room and took a Benadryl. I know I woke up coughing once, and with a sore hip one other time - and then coughed a bit. 

I do so hate being sick.

Tuesday

I feel like stale, fermented shit. Shit that's turning into compost. I had really hoped to keep this cold at bay, limit it to a nose thing. Unfortunately, I had a coughing, well, throat-sneezing, fit on the drive home yesterday (pushing into danger territory), another at 1 am, one walking across the living room on the way to breakfast, and another at work.

I am now eating cough drops. I hate them. And they're tiny sugar bombs, which is worse.

Eating yesterday included eggs and sausage, an apple and cheese, shrimp on salad, and a chocolate. Maybe some cashews. As a result of this very short list, I lost a whopping 0.4 pounds. 158.8 this morning.

Thinking back, I was uber-exhausted 3-4 days driving home, prior to getting sick. I think it's possible that, once we got through the luncheon, I collapsed a bit. I really hope that there's not another collapse coming once we get through next week. I really really wish we were leaving earlier on Sunday, maybe only doing the Captain's coffee. That would at least give me a tiny bit of down time before having to go to bed. But I don't think it's going to happen. In fact, there's a very real possibility that we'll still be in NOLA at 7 pm. Which sucks.

Monday

I spent the weekend with a vicious cold. Saturday, I went to bed around 5:30, I think. Felt a lot better yesterday, and got a good night's sleep last night, so I'm not as exhausted today as I was either day of the weekend.

159.0 this morning; probably water. In my head. I was at 157.8 yesterday morning.

I am so very grateful, though, to have had this happen when it did. One week later, and I'd be doing the "having a cold" thing in other people's guest rooms and at a hotel, and trying to make it through Mardi Gras in a weakened condition. As it is, it hit big on a Saturday, when I was able to stay lying down most of the day, and two days complete rest have left me feeling pretty functional, even if stuffed up and a bit hoarse.

Obviously, even though the weather was pretty decent, I did no walking at all over the weekend. Such is life. I did get a 2-hour massage on Saturday, which was challenging, to say the least. I went through a lot of Kleenex.

Sudafed and Mucinex are my constant companions until this clears up for good, though - I DO NOT want it to hit my chest.

Friday

And thank Goodness it is. Bad, bad night last night. I slept fine until around 2 am, and then was awake until slightly after 5. Fasciculating legs, threatening to cramp if I so much as bent them slightly. A stuffed up head and rough throat (I don't think it's a cold, but am not sure what it is) and that hopeless feeling of just being awake. Which sucks. I took a mucinex for my sinuses, and they stopped bothering me, but my legs are still at it. I guess I need to drink some bouillon.

157.2 today; here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• lemon gelatin water
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• veg and dip
  
• 2 pieces of cheese
  
• mahi with crab meat and lemon butter sauce
  
• green beans
  
• a couple of spoonfuls of cheesy grits with andouille
  
• a handful of cashews
  
• a handful of salted dark-chocolate almonds
  

You know, that last item SHOULD have taken care of any cramping, right? Carbs, salt, etc. Nope. I haven't taken magnesium this week; maybe that's it.

In any event, I'm super tired today, and achy. Once I got up, I took aspirin as well. And I have a 2-hour deep tissue massage tomorrow, which should help with some of it. I haven't looked at the weather, but if it's decent, I mean to get a couple of on-purpose walks in. And spend quality time getting organized for our Mardi Gras trip, since that's in a week (how on earth did it come so fast???).

Onward.

Thursday

Mexican food for dinner last night. 158.2 this morning. I really need to lay off the chips.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• lemon gelatin water
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• veg and dip (carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, HVR in sour cream)
  
• 2 pieces of cheese
  
• chips and salsa and green sauce
  
• chicken with pico and cheese and avocado
  
• about a tablespoon of black beans (they were nasty)
  
• a small handful of cashews
  

I think that was it. Hungry by dinner time, but I think the veg-and-dip helped overall, so I'm doing it again today. Not that it helped with the chips, but you do what you can. We finished the basket of chips, pretty much. Sigh.

I came pretty close to my step goal yesterday, by running errands after dinner again. It's still darkish in the evenings, and pitch dark in the mornings (not that we really want to get up early in any event). Evenings may be getting close, though - I think we were in the car en route to dinner when the sun officially set.

Sleep was okay - not great, and we haven't managed to get Charlie to sleep in his crate since we got back. Sigh. We're figuring it'll have to wait until the weekend to work on that. I feel rested this morning, and alert. That's a good thing.

Oh, and I wasn't sleepy on the way home last night. Still not sure what that was about.

Wednesday

So this is weird. Two days in a row, I've driven home slapping myself in the face to stay awake. I come out of work just freezing, turn on the seat heater and car heater to warm up, and the instant I'm no longer freezing, I get amazingly sleepy. I put on extra base layers today, to see if that will ward it off, but it's bizarre - especially as I haven't been able to take a nap for the past 3-4 years or longer, and don't usually get sleepy in the afternoon.

I suppose it could be low-carb flu, as I get back to normal eating after last weekend. Maybe.

157.8 this morning. Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• 4 pieces of cheese
  
• about 1/2 pound of grassfed ground beef (patties)
  
• mustard and ketchup
  
• green beans
  
• a Lindt truffle
  
• about 2 handfuls of roasted peanuts
  

I think that was it. I was quite hungry in the afternoon, too - maybe related to the sleepiness. And I got a good night's sleep the night before, so it really didn't make sense.

Walking adequate, because we went grocery shopping after dinner. I also did my shoulder exercises, and am starting to think I need to raise the weight level from 3 lb to 5. Maybe.

I brought veggies and dip and cheese to work to eat today - hope that is enough. Turned a carton of sour cream into dip with Hidden Valley Ranch - not paleo, but ultimately, a minor part of the overall food, so I hope it won't cause issues.

Sleep seemed okay last night - although we haven't got Charlie into his own bed yet. So I wake up with him pushing against my back, and it's a bit painful. But I felt rested, and didn't wake much in the night.