It’s Thursday.  My last entry was Monday - egads!  I need to put more effort into keeping this updated.

This week has been busy, but I am still going to the gym everyday!  I almost didn’t yesterday, Wednesday, because I decided on Tuesday night to get a bit more sleep and go after work instead.  The Celtics had just won an amazing series and I was up a little bit later than I should have been; I only had one drink in celebration though - a glass of red wine - woo!

I got up an hour later the next morning and I was surprised at how much easier it is for me to get up in the morning.  I am totally not a morning person at all and have always struggled with getting up before 11AM, but Wednesday morning was the first time since working out that I found it easy to get out of bed.  Exercising really does give you more energy!

Unfortunately, after a day at the office, I was tired and reluctant to go to the gym after work.  I decided to just go home and try out the DVD that came with my new stability ball.  However, while walking to the subway, I realized that I would regret not going to the gym.  I’ve been to the gym for 10 days straight and I didn’t want to end my streak.  I’m lucky that my gym is on the way home.  I forced myself in and did 35 minutes on the bike and I am so glad that I didn’t skip it.  I went home and had a healthy and delicious dinner: grilled chopped chicken in salsa with sauteed peppers and onions, wrapped in whole wheat tortillas with fat free sour cream and freshly made guacamole.  Mmmm!

I’ve been eating pretty well overall.  The provided lunch at work is still an issue.  I thought about bringing in my own lunch, but with me going to the gym before work, I need to get some sort of insulated lunch bag first so the food doesn’t spoil in the locker room.  Other than that, it’s getting easier and easier to make healthy choices and I actually WANT to choose something healthy.  My attitude and habits are quickly changing for the better!

As for the food “side effects” I mentioned in the previous post, I think my breakouts are from the new sunscreen I bought, not the increased dairy in my diet.  I’ve stopped using that sunscreen and my skin has been improving.  Though right now, my back is covered in raised, red welts.  It looks like I was attacked and scratched by something.  It started yesterday around noon. I started feeling itchy on my back, so I scratched it.  Then my upper right arm got itchy.  I noticed small red bumps clustered together.  Soon my sides and areas on my thighs were itchy.  I knew I was haven’t an allergic reaction to something.  As I get older, it seems my allergies get worse, and I’ve had allergic reactions before (sulfites and bee stings), so I recognized what this was.  Frustratingly, I didn’t know what was causing it.  As I’m sitting here typing this, my back is very itchy, and though the bumps on my arm is gone, it’s more like they blended together and formed one old shaped, raised itchy area on my skin.  I’ve been trying to figure out what could have caused this.

Was it the wine I had on Tuesday night?  Now and then I’ll have an allergic reaction to wine if it contains a lot of sulfites, but in the past it was just slight itchiness (no welts or hives) and/or wheezing that lasted for less than 30 minutes.  I was stung by a bee a couple years ago and about a week layer I was covered in hives.  It was miserable!  On Wednesday morning I felt something crawling on the back of my neck, pinched it up and it was a tiny ant.  Did it bite me?  Am I allergic to an ant bite?  Other possibilities include my new stability ball which I inflated and used briefly on Tuesday evening, or perhaps the fact that I wore a bra for most of the day on Tuesday (I usually don’t wear bras; can’t stand them).  Though this has never happened with my bras before, I’m considering it because the welts are concentrated on my upper back and near areas where my bra straps were.  However, this wouldn’t explain the hives on my upper arm, sides, and thighs.  Argh.  I hope it’s not the ball, though it seems that if I scratch an itchy area (gently) it soon gets worse and develops raised welts.  So does this mean maybe I have some lingering irritant underneath my fingernails that are causing reactions to the places I scratch, or does this mean the places I scratch are already affected and scratching just makes it worse/spreads the reaction?  Bah!  I just hope it goes away soon.  It’s very uncomfortable.

Anyway, it’s getting easier and easier to the gym.  I feel confident that this isn’t going to be a temporary thing.  This is definitely going to be a part of my life now.