I Got 99 Problems but an Eliptical Machine Ain't One

Ah January.

How thouest hast kickest my ass.

My mood this past month has basically been either

Bored
Cold
Sad
Tired
All of the above.

Writing here has been next to impossible given the demands at work, but slowly things are easing off. I have an awesome new hire to replace the Employee From Hell, my boss gets back early February and mid-month we have a couple of new interns starting for ten weeks. I shall shortly be experiencing the joys of actually being on a team and not doing the work of three people.

I also am no longer on contract and have my role permanently. I also got a raise. Given the state of this economy, I'm very happy about and grateful for both.

In the meantime, I went and got a sleep test in early December. This week I got the results and they show that there is nothing physiology wrong [i.e. restless legs syndrome or sleep apnea - thank God!] but when they measured my brain waves it showed that have something called Sleep Fragmentation. I get next to nowhere near the required amount of deep sleep and as I move from one phase of sleep to the next, my brain essentially "reboots" and goes back to the beginning as it were.

So I have a medication to take every night for eight weeks and the hope is that this is all I have to do. Essentially the medication will help retrain my brain to transition through the sleep phases normally. A few years ago I never would have countenanced such a step, as the idea of taking a presriptive medication for sleep would have struck me as a bit extreme. I wasn't someone who saw myself as having sleep problems per se. But after nearly 8 years of not having had a solid night's sleep, and having tried everything else, I was more open to it.

The result is that since taking the medication for five nights now, for five nights I have slept right through until morning and have woke up feeling like I've actually slept. Frankly, it's a revelation.

Workouts also continue to go well and I am now in the "burn" phase where the intensity is seriously picking up. I got measured on Friday. I havent' lost any weight, in fact I've gained four pounds and my waist size has increased, But ALL my other measurements have come down, which proves that I am building muscle with my weight training. My clothes are also more slack, and I'll getting a cool indent at the top of my arm as muscles develop.

My trainer thinks my work stress and lack of good sleep is contributing to my lack of weight loss overall and it's still early days yet. She's not worried since I am generally on track. Now that my sleep is better, the results I hope, will be better next month when we check in again.

I have to admit though, there was a part of me that early on, thought I just couldn't do this. It was a needling little fear that I decided to ignore and I concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other, just doing something however little, on a consistent basis, day by day. I promised myself that if nothing else, I would show up, that baby steps were enough.

But now suddenly, all the sweating and aches and shoe horned rises out of bed early in a winter morning seem to be paying off. All of a sudden, walking into a regular sized clothing store and buying off the rack one day seems a distinct possibility for my future. So does running a 10K and dancing in a musical and biking in France.

Current Workout Song Obsession: I Didn't Mean to Turn You On, Mariah Carey, Glitter
15 min mile pace: 3.8
Jar Opening Propensity: Pretty damn good.

PS. Her producer/boyfriend at the beginning cracks me up every time.