I NEED to get on it!! I don’t do New Year Resolutions … never have. But, after the holidays, I often have to do Post Pork-out Planning!! Lord y’all, I’ve really been horrible on everything since around Thanksgiving. I haven’t worked out, completely fell off taking my vitamins/supplements and haven’t been drinking enough water at all. Not surprisingly, the scale and my heart are showing it (and I wouldn’t be surprised if my hair will too if I don’t do some immediate remediation!)! The scale registered as high as 130 lbs last week, though “the visitor” was partly to blame … but not much! That’s a gain of 10-12 pounds!! I was as low as 118 at one point but try to stay around 120. I will say that it dropped back down to 126.5 yesterday, but was up to 127.5 again today. So some immediate action is necessary if I want to be 120 by the end of the challenge!

But, far worse than the weight gain, I’ve had about three significant incidents of rapid heart palpitations over the last week or so. If I don’t sit/lay down and begin slowly breathing in and out, I can’t get it under control and I start getting lightheaded and dizzy. And, it doesn’t seem like anything precipitates it! I could just be standing or sitting and talking, and it starts!! It happened yesterday while I was on line at the movie theatre with my friends (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol — not bad!). I had to sit down on the floor to get my heart rate back under control. This only starts to happen when my diet is horrible and I’m not exercising. I know … I know. I will be making an appointment to see a doctor about it. My grandmother says that she experiences the same thing, so I wonder if it’s genetic. Regardless, I will getting back on my grind, effective tomorrow.

That is the reason this post is so late in the day (comparatively). I had to hit the grocery store to re-up on the necessities. I reeeealllly hate grocery shopping! I avoid it like the plague and try as hard as I can to stock up on several month’s worth of everything that is relatively non-perishable or can be frozen. This enables me to avoid major grocery shopping months at a time. I only need to go for quick, one bag trips for fruit and, maybe, yogurt. I really need to look into one of those grocery shopping and delivery services. Ahhhh … how awesome are those? And they don’t seem to cost much either. Given that I always get the same things, it would be pretty easy for me and probably totally worth it. The one downside? I wouldn’t get to use my AWESOME Lean Cuisine Rewards insulated, zippered grocery bags!

How frickin’ cool is this? I have 3 of these bags and I want more as I needed one more today at the grocery store! As I have a TON of LC reward codes that I’ve yet to enter, I’m sure I have enough to get at least two more bags, plus some other stuff. Yeah, I should own stock.

Last update. I did the style above e to hit the grocery store after my sister sent me this TOTALLY cute pic via pininterest (she’s addicted now).

We are not even going to talk about the flyness of the layered patterns in this outfit and the nude shoes right now. Anywho, I was eyeing the style and tried to imitate it. I figured the front was just separated and brought to the front and made into a huge, flat, two strand twist. But, I can’t tell what’s going on with the back. So, I decided to put the back twists into about 6 big two strand twists and then “braid” them all together down the back. I wasn’t really loving that look though, so I fell back on my ol’ stand-by, pin-curled twists! And, I’m liking it!

So, think I’ll tie it down tonight with my satin-scarf to wear to work tomorrow. I’ll accessorize with another Dollar Tree find that I got today and that I’ll reveal to you guys with my Dollar Store Haul post later in the week;)!

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OMGosh!!! There’s only a month left in our Grow Out Challenge!! Can you believe it?!? I hope to get some updates from all of you! Let us know how you are doing! What have you learned? Were you able to be consistent in maintaining a regimen and how did it evolve over the last five months? Inquiring minds want to know!

Also, I know those who provide updates would love to hear from all of you! Leave a comment, like the post or give a rating if you like a GOC update! A word of encouragement and support is always greatly appreciated! Thank you all!