I did a full hour on the elliptical yesterday… which was fantastic! I broke it up into two 30-minute sessions and burned a total of 359 calories.

In other news, I found out a good friend of mine from New Hampshire passed away on Thanksgiving Day. He had been sick with cancer of the brain and lungs for a while. He was the friend with whom I would watch all the popular ABC primetime shows - Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, etc. As a matter of fact, I was the only one with him at the time he had a grand-mal seizure - about 4 weeks ago when I was still in NH - and I had to call an ambulance. We were about 15 minutes into “Ugly Betty” and he started seizing. Little did I know it would be the last time he would be in his apartment. They took him to the hospital where his mental and physical health dwindled quickly. The last time I visited him, he barely recognized me.

He was one of those people who everybody loved and he nearly always had visitors in his apartment. People could drop by any time of day or night and he was usually awake and watching TV. He always had whiskey on hand that he would share with everyone.

My ex-boyfriend out in NH is freaking out right now. He called me last night super depressed and crying with the news. He is a pretty bad alcoholic to begin with… when I was on the phone with him, he passed out. Which is a bit worrisome because he never does that. But they were like best friends so likely my ex is drinking himself into oblivion even more than usual. Good thing he has a new girlfriend to take care of him.

Damn did we all have a lot of fun times last summer (2006)… (except for the fact that I drank a lot of alcohol pretty much every day!)

So needless to say I’m a little down right now.

The good news is that tomorrow is my last day on my antibiotics. I cannot wait to get off of it.

How funny is this? I mentioned a few days ago that my weight had gone back up a couple pounds - 2.5 to be exact. Well, it has gone back down - and this is the day AFTER Thanksgiving.

I didn’t do too badly yesterday, but I did eat whatever I wanted. I had small portions of turkey, homemade mac and cheese, veggie casserole, a couple slices of lemon cake, a slice of pumpkin pie with cream cheese in it (heavenly, I’ll tell ya), stuffing, chicken later on, garlic mashed potatoes and a few other things I can’t recall.

So imagine my delight when I got on the scale this morning. The 2.5 pounds were gone. And this was AFTER lots of food and a semi-intense 45-minute elliptical workout yesterday. You all know I’m used to seeing the scale go UP after intense workouts, not down. Maybe… just maybe… my body is starting to really respond.

Today I’m planning to do 50 minutes on the elliptical.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I will be going to my Aunt’s house tomorrow and hang out with my cousins, sister, niece and a few others. I know I won’t go overboard at Thanksgiving… I’m never one of those people who stuff myself at family gatherings.

I am in charge of the veggie/fruit trays.

I did a 30-minute elliptical workout today and felt absolutely fabulous afterwards! The machine is awesome - using the heart-rate monitor hand grip, I was able to keep track of my heart rate and keep within my target area - which I NEVER do. I guess I’m more out of shape than I thought, for I was forced to slow myself down a couple of times in order to keep within my zone. Since I’m 30, my target zone is 95-142 bpm. I think one reason my heart rate kept getting so high during my workout is because I’m not used to working out my upper AND lower body at the same time, using resistance.

For those of you who asked, I got the elliptical at Sport’s Authority in Tulsa for $699 (plus tax).

I am utterly, completely and woefully mystified as to why I am not losing weight faster. This has NEVER, EVER happened to me. Usually within 6 weeks the weight is falling off me. Well, I have been at this for 8 weeks now, and my progress is lame at best.

But I’m not going to give up… I have all winter to lose this weight, dammit!

Well once again I’m nauseated from my antibiotics, so I’m going to bed. Ahh yes and another lovely side effect of the medicine is heartburn. Good thing I have my trusty Maaloxx! I was looking up Bactrim on the internet yesterday and apparently there are all sorts of horrible side effects that people have experienced. I’m hoping my digestive system and stomach cooperate tomorrow for Thanksgiving!

Well my elliptical machine is delivered and set up now! Here is a photo of it:

Not only can I turn the TV a bit to the left and watch a DVD or On-demand show/movie during my workout, but I also have a view out of the window if I so choose. (I’m on the 9th floor in my building).

So, I did a quick 5-minute workout to try it out, and let me tell you - I am going to get super fit as hell with this thing! Five minutes on level one and two at only a moderate pace really got me good. I burned about 30 calories in five minutes on that setting - imagine what I’ll burn when I up it to a higher level (it goes up to 10), higher intensity and for longer periods of time? There is a place to put in my weight before the workout, so I know it’s calculating things correctly.

It was a damn good investment, I think.

Now if only I will start feeling good enough to do a proper workout. Right now I am sipping chicken broth and eating lemon yogurt because my stomach has been been horrible today. I can’t seem to tolerate food. I know it’s because of the damn antibiotics I’m on for my ear infection. They always mess up my stomach but this type of sulfur medicine is the worst. I remember being one of the first people to ever take this type of medicine - back in 1999 or 2000 I took it for strep throat, and it worked well to treat the infection, but made me even sicker than I am now. Apparently this stuff is hard on the liver. Good thing I’m not drinking alcohol anymore!

Note to self: when pants start rolling down hips, it’s definitely past time to buy a new (smaller) size.

Screw the scale, overnight my pants no longer fit. It’s past the point of them hitching or sliding down. Now, they are just too big.

I am happy to report this.

That’s all for now - still sticking to my chicken noodle soup, lemon yogurt and toast diet!

My dinner tonight:

(Yes, that is water, not vodka on the rocks!)

So I’m taking this medicine called Bactrim for my sinus and ear infection. It has kept me pretty much nauseated and light-headed all weekend. I only took the Ultram for a couple days for the pain - I do not like it at all, as all IT does is make me dizzy and have this weird pain in my right side/back area (where my liver is). Usually I like narcotic painkillers (like Vicodin and Percocet) for pain as they relax me and get rid of the pain with very little dizziness or other discomfort. But Ultram? Forget it. Never again.

So my diet all weekend has consisted of toast, (low cal wheat bread), lemon yogurt and chicken noodle soup.

I measured myself today and my bust/chest area has gone down another 3/4 of an inch. My thighs have also gone down an additional half inch. But I got on the scale, and it has gone up. Apparently it’s all that my scale knows how to do. Up up up up up up up up up up up up. I mean really, it doesn’t matter what I eat or what I do, it still doesn’t go down.

It’s extremely upsetting, to be honest, and I don’t know what to do about it. I mean crap, I’ve tried low cal. I’ve tried high cal. I’ve tried low carb. I’ve tried low fat. What in the HELL do I NEED to do to lose some damn scale weight? Is my only option to stop eating altogether? Nothing is working. Absolutely nothing. And I have had it.

Due to the fact that I’ve been nauseated all weekend, I couldn’t go for my power-walks. The good news is that my elliptical is being delivered Tuesday morning. I plan to work out on it for at least an hour a day. I will gradually work my way up to 1.5 hours.

I don’t know, I’m just disillusioned at this point. I’ve been patient and I’ve been working damn hard. I do not have the option of just giving up, however. I guess the only thing I can do is just work even harder and eat even less.

And I need to throw my !#*^?*^%$ scale away for good!