4 Hour Body Check In-Skinny for NYC

I blogged about my failure to save money at the grocery store today at Petit Fours and Hot Tamales. You can read about my crazy adventures here. Part of the reason I fail miserably at coupon clipping is that I don't shop interior aisles very often. And the 4 Hour Body diet calls for a lot of meat, eggs and vegetables. Those items are rarely coupon items. I won't lie. This is an expensive diet because you have to cook a lot of meat. Meat is not cheap. Period. So that's a huge downside. The upside of the diet is that I LOVE meat so I enjoy that aspect of the diet. And beans are cheap. One eats a lot of beans on this plan! A steady supply of Beano is necessary.

I'd post my stats this week, but to be honest, I've been battling a massive sinus infection for days so I haven't been able to exercise or follow the plan 100%. Beans and steak don't really comfort a sick body, do they? Nope, what comforts a sick body is chicken soup, a cookie, and some tender loving care from the family. I haven't "cheated" that much, but carbs do help. So I've allowed myself a bun once and some potatoes. No pasta. I haven't caved and eaten pasta. I have put sugar and milk in my tea because I feel like putridness and this is a comfort for me.

I'm actually really bummed about getting this sinus infection because I was on a great roll and doing so well. I complained about it to Darling Hubby, and he said, "Be patient. You're in this for the long haul, not a the short one. This is just a temporary glitch and you'll be back to full gear soon enough." I loved that support!!

So this week has been a no-go, but I will get well. When I do I will be back to working out regularly and following the 4 Hour Body plan religiously. This is the thing about lifestyle changes: be gentle on yourself when you have not so gentle days hit you hard.

How do you handle illnesses when you are on a diet plan? Do you cut yourself some slack? Do you feel defeated? How do you get back on the wagon?

Just When I Thought I was Home Free

I got sidelined again by the dreaded bacteria in my system. Apparently, hot flashes aren't accompanied by fevers of 100 degrees. Darn it! Called the doctor and had to go in for a rosephin antibiotic shot to battle the peptostreptococcus magnus bacteria refusing to leave my system. Argh!! That meant going and getting squeezed in where they could fit me and pretty much ate up an hour and a half of my time. Blah. But the nurse was kind and the shot didn't hurt as bad as the last time I had it.

Let's hope it works! Meanwhile, I head back to the doctor for a follow-up tomorrow morning at 8:30AM to see if I am healing properly. God, I hope I am. I am so sick of this interfering with my life. And I am a bit frightened as well. This is a bacteria in my abdomen! Visions of hospitals and IVs and more doom dance through my head on a regular basis right now.

The only thing that is keeping me sane is the writing. I managed to work on the first two chapters this morning. I utilized a judge's edit (very kind!) and feel better about the story overall. And the comments about the beginning were good, so no need to change much other than the "kiss" scene. I think I can manage it. This afternoon I plunked down some more stuff for the query by cutting and pasting different ideas together as well as pieces of another short synopsis I had written eons ago. 

Now to work on the actual synopsis. I have one. It's not perfect, but it is done. I plan to go into it and make sure I have all the main plot points in it, as well as something that shows my characters and my writing voice. Baby steps. It's all baby steps. I figure if I spend an hour a day on the dreaded and dastardly thing, I might have one ready by May 2nd.

Writing stories is so much more fun!