To Rest, or Not to Rest

My kiddos are reading Romeo and Juliet right now, which makes me want to wax poetic about every aspect of life, including - apparently - exercise.

For the past four weeks, I have worked out for six days and taken one rest day - without fail.  As all good training programs emphasize, a day of rest is absolutely imperative in order for muscles to repair themselves and for the body to become stronger so that it can continue to handle the stress of more workouts.

Generally my rest days have been Thursdays, as for some reason they are consistently crazy-busy days for me.  Instead of going to Max Life on Thursdays then, I have been running approximately three miles every Sunday.

Until this past week.

I had a jewelry party on Thursday so could not work out, and I also skipped Sunday.  I was ridiculously tired from a busy week, a late Saturday, and had a lot to do on Sunday, too.  I just needed a break - and so I took it.

On Monday, I had my alarm set for 5:00 a.m. so that I could make an early-morning session since I knew an evening workout was out of the question (we had Family Night at school, and I was in charge of running it).

Well...I slept in and did not work out.  However, this was mostly intentional: my back was killing me, and I was in dire need of a visit to my chiropractor.  I thought that throwing around kettlebells was probably not the best idea.

It turns out that I have a thoracic and rib subluxation, likely caused by muscular issues in my neck and upper back.  (At least I think that's what it is.  I try really hard to understand chiropractics, but I am convinced it's just magic.  I really don't get it.)  Basically, my rib is dislocated, which causes my shoulder blade to ache incredibly, which makes turning my head either direction very, very painful.  I had a lengthy appointment yesterday followed by stim, and I have another set up for tomorrow.  Everything was in place when I left yesterday, but since the muscle is messed up, it's likely to be out of whack again tomorrow.

Thank the Lord for ice.

So to make a long story short, I skipped two days of working out last week (since I count the weeks as Monday through Sunday) and have already skipped once this week.

And you know what?  I think that's okay.

I was a little over my calorie count yesterday, and it was all thanks to my sweet tooth.  I didn't teach yesterday and instead had an all-day Pre-AP training.  As usual, the presenter had brought a bag of treats for each table: conversation hearts, Twizzlers, M&Ms, Butterfingers, etc.  I did such a good job of resisting - until the end of the day when I got very, very restless.  I dug through the bag and found a piece of chocolate and debated...and debated...and debated:

And when I couldn't talk myself out of it it kept staring at me from my computer, I just had to devour it.  And, despite me not even liking Butterfingers, it was totally worth it.

As I mentioned previously, it was a super long day, culminating with Family Night, an event that I put on as part of the grant that I coordinate for my school.  Expecting 150 people to attend, we ordered a lot of food:

Ten three-foot subs, four 12-inch subs, a bazillion bags of chips, and 12 bottles of Hawaiian Punch.  And Subway donated three trays of cookies.

I fit all of the Subway grub into my car, and for a whole five minutes, I had to smell the deliciousness of the cookies wafting up from my passenger seat.

And after two hours of setting up, presenting, and tearing down, I succumbed - and ate a chocolate chip cookie.  Unfortunately, one cookie from Subway is a whopping 220 calories.  Uh, excuse me?!  I guess I really didn't need that...

Today, I did a much better job of sticking to the plan, despite it being another crazy-long day.  I taught, worked an after-school study group, worked out, sped back to school for yet another family event/activity expo, went to the grocery store, and cooked an easy, comforting dinner:

My mama's White Chili.

People: make this.  It is embarrassingly easy and ridiculously delicious (and, as evidenced by the recipe below, very approximated):

• Saute half an onion and some garlic in a little olive oil
• Dump in two cans of Great Northern beans, two cans of Cannellini beans, two cans of diced green chilies
• Toss in two sliced chicken breasts (or, if you're super lazy like I am, a package of Oscar Meyer salad-ready chicken)
• Douse with cumin and cayenne
• Top with a smidge of cheddar cheese (and tortilla chips if you enjoy extra calories)

According to My Fitness Pal, one serving (and it makes four) has 423 calories, 5.5 grams of fat, 66.9 grams of carbs, 21.2 grams of fiber, and 37.4 grams of protein.  Wow.

I'm off to ice my dislocated rib and start writing a Debbie Downer post for y'all - to be posted tomorrow at some point.  Get excited.

G'night!