I know, it has been quite a while since I blogged. Trust me, it is not the only thing for which I am delinquent. I have not cleaned my house since prior to the surgery. Don’t get me completely wrong. I have vacuumed as needed, kept up with laundry and dishes, dusted a little, picked up whatever needed picking up, etc. But I have not cleaned the house. I am already behind at work. Yes, I have only been back for 11 work days (sheesh, is that all?) and am already behind. I did not send birthday cards to my stepmother, father, and there is not one in the mail for my brother. There are several thank you cards I should write as well.

What have I been doing? Well, healing and returning to my life. More specifically, I did return to work on October 29, 2012 and that was quite an adjustment. The first week was quite tiring. Last week was better and this week I almost feel like myself.

I have also been working out at the gym. The first couple of weeks was just walking on treadmills and stretching. On Saturday, November 3, I did my first actual workout – legs. I was so sore afterwards that I could not even return to the gym until Wednesday, November 7. On that day (trumpets and drums) I did my first upper body workout – back and biceps. It felt so good to exert myself, even if I was only curling 5 lb dumbbells. Thursday I worked chest and triceps (how I love the pump you get in the tricep when working out!) and then Saturday, shoulders. But Saturday was remarkable for something else. During my treadmill warm-up, I decided to jog the last 30 seconds at 4.5mph. It felt pretty good. So, yes, you can guess where this is going, during cardio I did modified HIIT (2 min walking at 3.8 mph alternated with 30 seconds jogging at 4.5 mph). ENDORPHINS!!! I was in heaven. Yesterday I did my leg workout and, although my legs were pretty tired (I added a very light RDL – 40lbs), I did the mini-HIIT again.

Bodybugg is back on my arm and I am logging my food. Halloween made clean eating rough; however, for the most part I am eating clean. I have been making a Crockpot full of chicken breasts, green beans, and cut up sweet potatoes for my lunches during the week and have set my average caloric intake to 1350 to 1500 per day. With the added HIIT, I may have to increase my calories a bit. I want to be sure I am taking in enough to start re-growing my muscles.

I am also busy planning for my soon-to-be 3 year old grandson’s visit. Oh, yeah, he is bringing his parents too. My boyfriend has begun putting up lights outside and they look great so far. I have ordered a few more Christmas DVDs so that we have “enough”.

Hmmmm, now that I think about it, considering that tomorrow will be 9 weeks since my surgery, I am not doing too badly at all!