Weigh-Day

After losing every day this week (including yesterday, the day after being sick), I gained 0.8 lbs today. Oh well. It's still a total loss of 5.6 lbs for the week. I'll take it!
I didn't over eat yesterday and I went hiking for a couple hours, so I'm not worried that I did anything 'wrong' that caused a little gain - just a normal fluctuation combined with sleeping really poorly...I usually won't lose if I don't get enough sleep.

Victories for the past week include exercising every day, pushing my limits (even though that didn't turn out so well), no binging, no sugary snacks, generally eating well and drinking enough everyday, studying Spanish when I could, doing pretty well keeping up with the house, feeling like I was accomplishing what I wanted to at work and getting the grades back from my spring semester at UT that maintained my 4.0.

I didn't do everything I wanted, but I didn't get frustrated about that. Very successful week, I think! The only thing that's bugging me is that my anxiety is feeling a bit worse for some reason. I'd think the better diet and exercise would help. Maybe it's something physiological about losing weight that messes with my meds or anxiety levels. I plan on just keeping up what I'm doing, though. I see my doctor tomorrow for a check-up, so I'll ask her about that.

We have 2 weeks left of school and I'm ready to go! I have my lunch and breakfast packed, my clothes for the week laid out, and a to-do list a mile long. First item: average grades.
Better get going!

Getting active! Here I am at the bottom of the big waterfall at Fall Creek Falls, TN yesterday. Scary, rocky hike for me, but I did it!

impromptu weigh-day

Ryan weighed this morning heavier than he's ever been. Still not 'fat', but it's a rapid, significant gain & he doesn't feel well. So we decided that even though we've been planning turning things around and making a lot of lifestyle changes with a deadline of Friday after my finals are turned in, that maybe we should make some changes today.

We'd definitely been falling into the trap of "I'm starting healthy habits (insert day coming up soon), so I'll just eat this (insert random unhealthy junk) while I can." After he weighed I said "well, I guess I'll weigh today, too...but I know my body and I weigh 174. I don't even need to get on the scale."But I did so I could have an official # to write down and guess what? 173.6 I really can tell what I weigh with pretty good accuracy...I guess most of us can.

I'm 'this close' to having all my research gathered and organized and will be ready to start writing the papers tonight. Once I have all my ideas down, notes gathered and outline finished it won't take me that long....one or two evenings. I decided to quit grad school, simplify and minimize stress and outside-of-work obligations so I could focus on my health, and I've been soooo looking forward to it. We have a lot of physical activity planned for the weekend and blocks of time scheduled for healthy cooking.

I'm really glad because besides regaining pretty much all of my weight (I started WW at 176 last July) I have had a few mystery ailments pop up & they certainly aren't going to be made better by NON-healthy choices. I'm hoping they'll just magically clear up while I focus on health over the summer, but I think I'm going to have to go to the dr. for one today. I'm dreading getting on that scale...it makes me not want to go because I don't want them writing this # in my chart!!! I know that's silly, but it's how I feel. I'm writing these down so I can document them here for myself, but read on if you're so inclined. :)

#1 - From Sept. through ~Feb. my lips were peeling. I told my doc and we talked about basic things like staying hydrated and wearing chapstick...duh. A week or 2 ago I got some sore or irritation in the corner of my mouth...it got better but then a milder version popped up on the other side. Then my lips got irritated, red and painful including the area around my lips. I stopped using my chapstick and have been using Carmex and it's been a lot better but not great. I don't know if I developed an allergy to chapstick or what...

#2 - For a while now I've had mild, slightly annoying pain or soreness in my left index finger knuckle. I'm right handed and don't do anything with my left hand that should be able to cause a repetitive use injury. Yesterday, all of a sudden, the knuckle got painful and swollen and now it hurts to move it in any direction and it's hard to make a fist with that finger down. I'm not able to type with that finger either, which is really slowing me down. I'm a fast typist and I think while I type, so to have to think about which fingers to use instead distracts me from what I'm typing about. Not so much a problem here, but definitely bothersome for these final papers.

#3 - I'm getting what look like liver spots...a bunch on my lower legs and 2 on my face. I've showed them to my doctor and she doesn't think they're anything to worry about, but they sure ain't cute. :-Z

So...I'm drinking my plain lemon, ginger tea now and am going to eat clean and light today and probably bite the bullet and try to get in to see my doctor about the knuckle. I've really let my body down, but I hope it's not too late to turn it around!

Weigh-Day & Greenlife haul

163.8 this morning.
Down from 165.4 last Monday for a loss of 1.6 pounds.
Total loss of 12.2 pounds.
I exercised very lightly this week and didn't count calories - just tried to eat well. So, I'm happy with that :)
It's still a part of those same 5-10 pounds that I keep gaining and losing over and over again, but a loss is a loss and I'll take it! Plus - I haven't had any bad (i.e. bingy and careless) eating days for 10 full days now and I feel tons better - just happier and lighter and more energetic and hopeful.

We're back from Asheville and I'm officially on spring break and loving it! I slept in an extra 2 hours until 7:30 this morning and that feels great. I have our meals planned for the week already and I think that will help me stay on track.

Yesterday (3/15) I exercised for 30 min. on the elliptical at level 8 out of 25. I've noticed that I'd been getting headaches after I work out strenuously and I thought that might be because my heart rate is getting too high. So - yesterday I checked every once in awhile and I think I was right. I'm going to take it a little easier than my body feels like it wants to and keep an eye on that until it gets better. If I get day-long headaches every time I work out I don't think I'll be very motivated to do it, so - slow and steady seems like the way to go. Anway...yesterday's journal...

Breakfast: apple and 60 cal. light & fit strawberry yogurt at the hotel (if you're not used to eating aspartame, which I haven't had in a long while, it is really over-sweet and chemically tasting and pretty gross...but it was the best choice I felt I had)
Lunch: I thought we'd order pizza at the homebrew lesson but that must just be for the longer classes (ours was just 4 hours - some are 5-6), so I didn't eat lunch until 4-ish. I had a handful of raw cashews in the car and then at Greenlife (grocery store) I had tofu, steamed veggies, a small piece of cornbread and a piece of Ryan's super yummy roasted veggie panini (~2"x2")
Other: No dinner or snack because when we got home it was too late to eat. But I did have a taste of one of the new crackers we got from Greenlife (just 1 bite); and I tried one of my new teas (plain - no sugar, milk, etc.) - Moroccan Orange Spice. Good!

We got a huge haul of groceries at Greenlife - sooooo expensive :(
But we got great stuff and a lot of it was staples that we shouldn't have to buy again for months. I got a bunch of good quality dark chocolate because I feel like I can have a really small amount and satisfy a sweet tooth so it doesn't turn into an out of control craving. I got hot cocoa for the same reason. I only plan to have either about twice a week. All together the chocolate haul should last a month. (famous last words?) So - here's what we bought...

- tons of veggies (cabbage, broccoli, romaine, cucumber, red pepper, celery, squash, garlic shitakes, asparagus (just Ryan), parsley, sweet potatoes, garlic, English peas and kale)
- fruit (bag of apples, pears, bananas, lemons, limes, and avocado)
Vegenaise (vegan mayonaise - really good, although I never liked mayo, so I can't say if it's a good substitute)
teriyaki baked tofu
peanut ginger baked tofu
extra firm tofu (2 blocks)
tempeh (2 pound block)
garlic herb almond cheese
cheddar cheese
coconut oil
ketchup
bulk tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
Amy's tomato basil pasta sauce (my favorite but it's ~$7!!! So I only get it maybe twice a year)
brown rice cakes
brown rice thins (crackers) x2
multigrain flatbread
pasta (gobbetti shape, whole wheat)
rice noodle soup packets x4 (1 lemongrass chili, 1 garlic veg, 1 thai ginger, 1 Bangkok curry)
dried apricots (just Ryan)
dried figs (just Ryan)
raw almonds
raw cashews
dried pinto beans
dried kidney beans
dried black beans
dried split peas
large container of Nancy's low-fat plain yogurt (Just me)
2 Stonyfield Farms strawberries and cream yogurt (just Ryan)
2 Stonyfield Farms French vanilla yogurt (just Ryan)
Siggi's "Icelandic style skyr - strained, nonfat yogurt" - orange and ginger (just me)
Chobani non-fat, plain Greek yogurt (just me)
4 Yogi Herbal Teas (Moroccan Orange Spice, Lemon & Ginger, Berry Antioxidant, and Mexican Sweet Pepper - I'm anxious to try that one!)
Earl Grey tea (just Ryan)
Green & Black's hot chocolate
Vosges Naga Bar (half ounce chocolate bar, 41% cacao, "sweet Indian curry powder, coconut flakes, deep milk chocolate")
Lake Champlain Chocolates - peppermint crunch dark chocolate, 54% cocoa
Theo 84% cacao chocolate from Ghana
Rapunzel dark chocolate with almonds - 55% cocoa
Equal Exchange "dark chocolate with pure cocoa nibs" 68% cacao

and that's it!
pretty much all organic...maybe all - not sure.
Of course I forgot carrots and coconut milk...it's so annoying when you do a big, expensive shopping trip and forget 1 or 2 little things...oh well.
I'm off to see what's on my meal plan today. Something yummy I'm sure :)

leaving today!

Yay :) We're going on our trip for Ryan's birthday today! I'm super excited. I think he's going to really enjoy everything. I have surprises for every day that I know he'll love. And when we get back I'll tell you what that is.
I decided that I would tell him everything we're doing for each day at the beginning of that day. Except for today when I'll tell him when we leave. Actually, I put little cutesy poems in his birthday cards to tell him :)
I still have a lot of work to do this weekend, so hopefully I can find some time here and there. Maybe Ryan will want to take a nap or something :) I'm not a napper, so that's good study time for me. He's going to do the driving once I tell him where we're going so I can do some work in the car. That's always tough with the laptop though. But I'll do what I can.
I need stuff from the internet and I doubt the little B&B we're going to has wireless, so I'm going to try to download the pages I need to my computer before we leave.

I weighed in today since I won't be here tomorrow and even though I wasn't 'dieting' all week, I was a little disappointed. As of yesterday I was down 2.2 pounds from last weigh-in and then all of a sudden today I jumped right back up exactly 2.2 pounds to 166.6 -the same as last weigh-in.
Silly body! I guess I did eat heavier yesterday - right at the end of the day and unplanned.

Breakfast: banana and granola bar
Lunch: leftover pesto tortellini - I just packed the rest into the little pesto container, so not much
Snacks until I got home at 9 - Mary's Gone crackers (13), cashews (small handful), raw red cabbage, carrots, 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus
Dinner: (Ryan had surprised me and had it ready when I got home - I would've been okay without it, but it was yummy and the warmth was soothing to my cough) - a cup of potato and garlic soup, 3 slices of teriyaki tofu and a slice of toast with a sprinkling of olive oil and parmesan
Dessert: (really didn't need this - total impulse when Ryan brought it out - ate mindlessly while watching Top Chef - note to self: no snacking while watching food shows!) 5 Danish butter cookies

I'm don't have any plans to watch the diet while I'm out of town. I'm not going to go crazy, but I'm going to celebrate Ryan's b-day with him and not worry about it. Right now I'm mostly just concerned with avoiding binging or any hint of it like secret eating or eating emotionally, since those things crept back in the 2 weeks before this one and it scared me. And for me, I usually don't have a problem making healthy choices when I'm not doing those things. I love veggies and fruits and whole grains and all sorts of healthy foods - I don't like greasy foods or fast food at all - I do have a serious sweet tooth, but it's okay when I'm eating out and sharing and being social.

I'm off to pack, then I have half a day of work and we're on our way!

Weigh-Day

166.6
+0.8 from last week (but down 3 lbs. since 2 days ago when I put a stop to eating the house down)
-9.4 total
51.6 to goal

About what I expected. This is just 1.2 less than what I weighed when I started the detox.
The past 2 days have been good for diet, the 11 days before that - terrible! I'm actually lucky I haven't gained more.
I haven't exercised in 2 weeks.

It's a frustrating, unhealthy cycle I've gotten myself into, but all I can do is try my best today.
I might take Ryan out to Indian Buffet for Valentine's Day, but if I do that I'll eat light the rest of the day.

I'm off to get a pile of work done.
Trying to be extra productive so I don't have to bring work with for my weekend away with Ryan for his 25th b-day next week. :)
I'm sooo excited.
I hope he loves what we're doing although I can't talk more about it because even though I don't think he reads my blog, it's not a secret from him and, well...you never know when he'll get curious.

Oops - almost forgot my food journal from yesterday

breakfast: rice cake w/1 tbsp. almond butter
lunch: lentil veggie soup
snack: 12 (?) baby carrots, 13 Mary's Gone crackers and 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus
dinner: 2 pieces of Ryan's shepherd's pie (tofu/veggie)
snack: orange
I remembered my multi and drank at least 10 cups of water - I was thirsty!

Didn't add up points or calories. I'd say ~24 points if I had to guess and maybe ~1400 cal.
I should enter it later just to see if I'm guessing close or not.
I wish SparkPeople had a recipe function like the WW recipe builder - where you just enter your recipe and the number of servings and it figures out the info in each. I know I could do it manually, but it would be convenient if the site did it for me. They don't have that feature, do they? Hmmm.
A little low on protein and veggies but not too bad. Normally I'd have more veggies with snack but I need a trip to the grocery store.

Weigh-Day - Detox Week

Check out the scale giveaway on Roni’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an Affordable Food Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for contest details!
I want one of those super expensive, super awesome Green Star juicers (makes everything...including banana ice cream that tastes just like Chunky Monkey, but is only made from bananas, no sugar or cream). Around the holidays they were giving a food scale away with them, but I didn't buy one - the juicer's a reward for losing 40 or 50 lbs somewhere down the road...but I sure could use a scale now! :)

Anyhoo....
As expected, the scale was up a tiny bit (0.2 lbs) this morning from yesterday because my low calorie day from being sick on Thursday gave me a falsely low # on the scale Friday. But it's still all good.
Today I'm at 161.6 which is a total loss for the detox week of 6.2 lbs! Sweet!

Basically, that undoes the damage I did to myself in January plus another 0.6 pounds gone. So - it's a good jump start to my healthy lifestyle recommitment.
I'm 0.6 pounds away from being back to my 15 pound loss, ~3 pounds away from my October low and 10% total loss, and about 6 or 7 pounds from being comfortably (key word) back in my size 14s! (never thought I'd be happy to be BACK in 14s, but hey...we start from wherever we're starting, right?)

I updated all my measurements (to the right), but I'm not sure how accurate they are. It's hard to measure yourself - especially your arms...
But, everything in the midsection seems about right.
I'm down 3.0" at the smallest part of my waist, 2.25" at my belly button (which is actually the top of my hip bone...I'm very short-waisted), and 0.5" at my hips. I will always be biggest at that part and lose most slowly from there too...it's just where I store my weight and why I'm at a bigger size than a lot of you probably would be at the same weight. It's also the place I'm likely to have loose skin when I get to goal...that lower tummy area...blech.

This detox is actually 11 days long and today's supposed to be a juice fast day. But you're not supposed to fast if you're recovering from being sick, which I am, so I'm not fasting. I'm just going to keep eating the way I've been for the 7 day 'prequel' to the fast. I'm thinking of just seeing if this is something I can keep up for a while since it's not an extreme detox...just very clean eating.
I'm going to add yogurt back in, and eventually I'll add some sweeteners (my favorite hot sauce has agave syrup), gluten (haven't decided about bread, but at least so I can use soy sauce here and there and the multi-grain tempeh I have in my freezer) and soy protein isolates (fake meat products - hard to live without them at least sometimes - Saturday is usually veggie sausage day).
I'm going to try to continue to eliminate or strictly limit refined carbs, many sweeteners, caffeine, and unhealthy fats. No more 100 calorie packs, muffins at Starbucks, regular chocolate consumption, etc. I think those things are just good for my sleep and anxiety, not to mention my waistline.

Here's what I learned this week.

1) I eat a lot of convenience/pre-packaged foods - frozen meals, veggie burgers, crackers, granola bars, cereals, cups of yogurt, etc.
2) It takes planning time and effort to eat a diet based on whole foods. Planning is going to be the biggest factor in my success.
3) It's hard to eat too many calories when you're a vegetarian not eating a lot of prepackaged foods and planning ahead.
4) It's easy to eat too many fats (avocado, nuts, almond butter, etc.) when you're looking for filling snacks and avoiding packaged things. Even good fats need to be in the right proportion to your total calories, carbs and protein.
5) It's very easy to eat too much sodium if you're not paying attention, and especially if you're eating a lot of pre-packaged foods. I need/want much less salt if I season after the dish is finished cooking - just while I'm eating.
6) I can eat the recommended # of WW points, but come in way too low on calories. I'm going to enter my food in SparkPeople's nutrition page AND WW Online for awhile, so I can track both. I'll get a more complete nutritional picture of my diet and feel comfortable that I'm getting enough calories in the right proportions of food-types.

Yesterday quick totals (actual/goal) are...

Calories: 1,373/1,200-1,550
Fat: 41g/32-56g
Carbs: 212g/163-236g
Protein: 53g/60-127g
Fiber: 43g/25-35g
Sodium: 1,116mg/0-2,300mg

WW Points: 23.5

I ate...

Breakfast: 1 banana
Lunch: 1/2 portion of leftover light split pea soup w/coconut milk; 1 c. red cabbage; 6 baby carrots
Dinner: 3 Tacos w/soft corn tortillas (not 100% sure these were legal on the detox), mixed beans, mixed veggies, red cabbage, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, hot sauce; and 1 beet with rosemary, olive oil and garlic.
Snacks: 9 cashews; 13 Mary's Gone Crackers - herb; 1 large orange; vanilla whey and berries protein shake w/flaxseed oil, bluegreen algae, probiotics, and cran water.

Whew! I think that's all for today.
Have a good one!
I'll be right here glued to my desk studying ALL DAY...that's what being sick and out of commission for 3 days does to my weekend! Yay! :-P

Weigh-Day Restart

Up 2.8 lbs. to 167.8 today. And really, really feeling it. Pants are tight, I notice the weight on my body, I feel heavy.
This is a bigger number than when I declared my restart on December 7th.

So - I decided that because of that and because this is the first day of my 11-day detox, I'm going to declare a NEW restart day today.

I never really did much of a diet restart anyway. I didn't feel ready or into it for some reason, but now I do.

I'm going into this new restart and detox caught up (pretty much) on both work-work and school-work, with some new good habits (reading before bed, sleeping enough, taking a multi everyday, exercising more consistently, staying on top of chores and personal grooming type things)

So - I updated my measurements and things in my stats to show today as day zero. They were pretty much the same as when I'd taken them in November - about a quarter inch gain all around.

I don't know why I'm not more upset about the big gain this week. Probably because it's my 1st day of TOM, and I ate salty food much later last night than I usually eat anything - so I know it's probably some water retention. And also because this is a new day and I can't control last week. I knew my eating was bad. My exercise was better than it's been in months, though, so I'm also trying to count little victories.

Plus - it's like taking a bad picture when you're about to start a new diet or exercise regimen and thinking "Oh well, at least that'll make a good before picture" :)
At least 167.8 is a good before weight, right? :)
Here's hoping for a good restart/detox day!
I'll try to stay on top of TwitPics (I got out of the habit when their site crashed last week) and update detox progress daily.
Happy Saturday!

Weigh-Day

At least I didn't gain :)
Weight today is 165.0 which is down 0.2 from last week.
That's not too bad, really. Since last weigh-in, I only had 1 totally on plan eating day, 3 pretty terrible eating days , and 3 days (2 hrs 50 min.) of exercise. This week was heavy on stress with my 1st observation at work, 2 days of driving to Knoxville for class and the uncertainty about going to grad school (then the added gift of stress I gave to myself by not reading my articles for class until the day before). But I felt like the work week ended well with my spurt of energy and happiness yesterday. I'll try to build on it.

Although last night I was back to the restless sleep and nightmares. I have no idea why - I had a good day, I did eat sugar but it was at noon - hours and hours before I went to bed. I had a glass of wine, but I don't think that could've done it....I had tons of physical activity with the gym and then cleaning the house for hours. I unwinded before sleeping by reading my book (not a scary book) for 20 minutes. It's a mystery!

I've always had vivid nightmares. When I was little they were usually either about enormously oversized gorillas (which I was in no way afraid of in the waking hours) or super-fast freight trains. In both sets of dreams, most of the time, I could hear either the gorilla stomping or the freight train approaching in the pitch black dark before I could see them and then they'd emerge and close in on me. In one very creepy variation of the freight train dream I got on the train and it was decorated Victorian style with a music box playing and girls in frilly dresses playing games on the floor...but not in a cute way...in a very 'twins from The Shining' style. And in a few variations of the gorilla dream I was sad for the gorilla - once I went to visit him either in prison or behind bars because he'd been captured by the circus (can't remember), and in one he'd been killed and there was a funeral procession through town....the street was covered with banana peels and other parts of fruit he'd left behind and everyone was crying.
I also remember a recurring dream in which I was playing board games in the hall with my mother when all of a sudden she'd start counting backwards from 10 (in a very monotone, sort of robotic, unfriendly voice). I'd have to get the game cleaned up and be back in my bed before she got to zero or unmentioned 'bad things' would happen. What was wrong with me?! They sound like anxiety and guilt dreams to me - maybe I've always had anxiety....hmmmm....
For a long time most of my nightmares were pretty genericly about me being chased by a group of guys with either guns or knives and then being shot or stabbed.
Now they're often about someone breaking into my house and hiding inside to attack me.
Well...I don't know...I just wish they faded from my memory more quickly when I woke up.....

Anyway...I changed my exercise tracker (bottom of the page) to a more reasonable 6000 minutes of exercise by my b-day July 18th instead of the 9000 I had before.
I'm going to finish my tea and head off to the gym for my Saturday strength training work out. This will be the first time in a long time I've actually stuck to that schedule 2 weeks in a row. Maybe I'll head to the sauna with my book again :)

Weigh-Day

Ouch - up 3 pounds to 165.2
I knew it was coming though - no way to avoid that when you eat like I ate this week and don't exercise much.
Okay...moving on.
I kept up with the TwitPic journaling today and I think I like it :)
My pictures keep coming out with funny, unnatural looking colors and a lot of blurriness - I can't tell if it's me or the camera - maybe I'll figure that out someday soon.

Food Journal:
breakfast: - 1 granny smith apple, 1 Clementine, 1 Van's wheat free flax waffle, & 2 tbsp. raw, creamy, organic almond butter (7.5 points)
lunch: leftover tortellini (1 c.) with pesto (1 tbsp.) and parmesan (1 tbsp.) & leftover roasted veggies and tofu (12.5 points...maybe...Ryan made the roast last night but forgot to measure the olive oil, so we estimated 1/4 c. which was probably a huge overestimate...oh well - we'll measure next time)
snacks: banana chips (6.5 points), 3 ginger chews (0.5 points), and 1/3 c. mixed M&Ms and mini Reece's Pieces (est. 7.5 points)
(no dinner - big, late lunch and too many snacks)
total: 34.5 points

Exercise Log: (I didn't remember to bring a notebook with, so this is as best I can remember)
Strength training at the gym and abs video at home - I worked out for a total of 1 hr. 35 min, but I'm just counting an hour because of all the rest and stretching between sets.

Abs: Denise Austin "personal training system - abs"
Biceps: curls, 12.5 pounds, 3 sets, 15 reps
Triceps: kickbacks - 5 pounds, 3 sets, 15 reps; extension (overhead) - 5 pounds, 3 sets, 12 reps; dips (machine)- with 112 pounds of support, 3 sets, 10 reps
Shoulders: front raises - 7.5 pounds, 3 sets, 15 reps; side raises - 5 pounds, 3 sets, 15 reps; overhead press - 10 pounds, 3 sets, 12 reps
Chest: fly (machine) - 45 pounds, 3 sets, 12 reps; seated press (machine) - 45 pounds, 3 sets, 12 reps
Back: seated row (machine) - 50 pounds (?), 3 sets, 12 reps; pull-down - 55 pounds (?), 3 sets, 12 reps
Lower body (all on machines): abduction - 100 pounds, 3 sets, 15 reps; adduction - 80 pounds, 3 sets, 15 reps; extension - (? weight), 3 sets, 12 reps; seated curls - (? weight) 3 sets, 12 reps); press and lying down calf raises on same machine - 100 pounds (?), 3 sets each, 15 reps each

All in all, not a bad day. I poked around some blogs and the WW message boards, ran some errands, cleaned the house a bit (more to do tomorrow), watched the miserable Titans lose their way out of the playoffs, remembered my vitamin, had fun with TwitPics, talked to my mom, and...I think that's it...the day really flew by!

I guess I'm going to get ready for bed at 9:30 on a Saturday night, because I'm just that exciting!
I always get so wiped out on weight lifting days - and I want to get in some more reading time.
Hoping for a good, productive day tomorrow before my first real classes of the semester at UT on Monday.

Just checking in

I didn't post my weigh-in on Saturday because I was at my mom's house in Chicago and I think her scale is off - or mine is - anyway, I'm not exactly sure but there seems to be about a 4 pound difference. I did weigh, and the scale said 159, so that was probably 163 on my scale which would be a loss of .8 pounds. However, my eating hasn't been great since then, so I think I've pretty much stayed the same.
I haven't been binging which is huge for me, but I have had sweets and spinach artichoke dip and pizza...things like that. I have noticed that during a few stressful moments that happened to occur while I was eating, I stopped paying attention to my food, started eating much more quickly and mindlessly, and ate more than I otherwise would've. Definitely something I need to watch.
I'm not stressing about it. We got back home yesterday and have been busy trying to get the house together, run errands, unpack, reorganize and get ready for Ryan's family to come for a belated Christmas celebration this weekend.
Also - we bought a new TV! It should be here any minute along with the cable guy whose going to upgrade us to HD and DVR. We're really excited! I ordered a blu-ray player and Planet Earth (and some other stuff that came with it) on Blu-Ray. I can't wait to see how it looks!
We got a good deal, but it's still a huge expense. Our TV was from the 80s, so it was time, and with the digital tv signal switch coming up, it seemed like a good time. It's a 40" Sony KBR6 series. Hopefully we'll love it!

Weigh-Day

I just weighed in and updated my weight-related stats in my stats section and my tracker which lives at the bottom of this page.
Weight is 165.2 - that's a loss of 1.6 from last week. Since last weigh-in I had 4 days not-tracking at all or being sensible about food at all, 3 days tracking and feeling good about my choices and 4 days of exercise, so I'm happy with a small loss.

Goals for today are to keep focusing on making the right choices in the small moments and not obsess about the big plan or being perfect, to do my weight-lifting at the gym, to do some work and clean some more.

I caught myself, while I was making my tea a little bit ago, starting to calculate "if I lose this much per week, that means this much per month, and I can be at ___ by then and maybe ___ by then...." and then I stopped it, because all that's ever done for me is provide maybe a momentary bit of something like dreamy euphoria and make it sooo much harder to see that 1) my life is only the sum of small, daily choices; 2) I'm in this to change my lifestyle, not obsess about numbers; and 3) to accept myself when my choices are not 100% perfect.

Weigh-Day

So - yesterday I got 7 1/2 hours of sleep, but I almost fell asleep at work when I didn't have any students. I almost fell asleep at my meeting after work. I tried to watch Princess Mononoke with Ryan and fell asleep. So I finally threw in the towel and went to bed at 8. And I just woke up at 7:30!!! Oh well - I guess I needed it.
I had missed my weigh in for the past 2 weeks. I weighed at 166.8 earlier in the week and that was what the scale said today. Not too great, but nothing more or less than what I expected.
Tomorrow is my official restart. I like to weigh on Saturday and start my week on Sunday.
So, I'm just going to focus on the positive until the restart.
I got PLENTY of sleep.
I didn't buy candy bars or do anything that could be considered bingey.
I got a little work done.
I stayed hydrated.
I...ummm....I think that's it.
Today I'm writing my final paper for my History of Education class ALL DAY. I can't wait until that's over!