An End of a Week

Time is flying incredibly fast, but I guess that just works out for my benefit. The only thing I hate about it is that I have all these great intentions of working out everyday, but because of my erratic work schedule, it becomes every other day or three times a week. That's still good, don't get me wrong, but not when I want to make substantial gains in a specified amount of time. I remember in college when I dropped significant inches/weight/body fat in 5 weeks because I had the schedule that allowed me to eat 5 small meals a day and have free access to Cybex equipment at a faculty fitness gym with Mark for two hours a day every day of the week. I had a routine; an environment set up for success. I have some weights here and a treadmill, so that's good, but I don't have all the weights that I would like, neither do I have the freedom of grazing throughout the day like I did. I think I also had more dedication because at the end of every week, Mark and I would calculate our body fat with the underwater weighing scale, which is the gold standard of body fat measurement. Knowing that I was going to go through the hassle of weighing myself (it was a very uncomfortable piece of equipment), motivated me to exercise and be disciplined so at least it was worth it. I lost a percentage of body fat per week, at least. The best I measured at was 17%, but that could have been a fluke, since after that I plateaued at 18-19% for a while, which is still fantastic for me. Now, I'd be lucky if I measure in at 25% body fat.
Having an "end of a week" is both a blessing and a curse. Weekly measurements really help me to gauge progress, but at the expense of being able to enjoy the moment. It helps to count down to important dates (going on vacation, the next paycheck, etc), but not make each day count. I look forward to each of my days off of work, and really milk them because I don't have a guarantee that I will have another full day off in a while. For example, last Tuesday was my only day off last week, because I had to cover someone else's shift on Thursday. I ended up having a half day on Wed and Thursday, but still, it's not the same as having another complete day off of work. To top it off, the previous day off I had was the Tuesday before. I've worked 6-10 days straight before, and told this new manager that I never appreciated that, so she had respected my wishes for 7 months. However, the nature of retail sometimes makes my preference impossible, which I can understand. So long as she doesn't make this odd scheduling a habit. If this happens again next month, I'll be sorely peeved.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to new opportunities where my schedule is more guaranteed, so I won't have to worry so much about what's ahead that I forsake the hear and now. Hopefully by June, I won't have to worry about this anymore.

Happy Birthday, Liv!

Enjoy your day! In your honor, I had an oreo cookie ice cream pie with a chocolate ice cream sandwich...mmm...doesn't beat sushi at Kimi's, though. I hope you pig out and gain five pounds like I did for my birthday festivities. :)