Ending the Month Down 2 lbs

Well, I started the month at 197.4 and this morning, I am 195.4.

In between it was quite the rocky road with lots of ups and downs.  I've posted my weight loss graph for the month so you can see all the fluctuations.

I did pretty well overall this month.  I've been consistent about riding my bike and I've done fairly well on the bowflex and total gym.

Things have also calmed down considerably since the beginning of the month so I feel very relieved about that.

My challenges now will be the birthdays and the football food.  I tried making "healthy" football food last year and it just didn't work out.  So, this year, I'll make my usual fare and just try to eat smaller portions - which will be easier if I don't drink the alcohol ... but really?  Football without alcohol?  Not so sure I want to go there!

At any rate, my bike riding seems to have returned to being a "habit."  Which is fantastic.  It makes a huge difference when I can do that every day and not even think about it.

So, I will just keep up what I'm doing and report in!

Feeling Good Today.

I feel great today!  Not sure why, since I'm actually up a pound.

I had a great bike ride this morning - went 56 minutes and really worked up a good sweat.  I will do the bowflex today - am still sore from Tuesdays.  I didn't get to do the total gym yesterday because of court, but I still feel good since I did the bowflex (and am feeling it!) on Tuesday, so the week is still going well.

I figure the pound up is just a normal fluctuation and I'll be back down tomorrow.  I handled the food fairly well yesterday.  I ate small portions, though I did drink 2% milk with dinner instead of my usual water.  I really wanted milk for some reason.

I'm optimistic today.  I feel like I'm doing well and am on the right track.

Part of that may be because I'm organized for a change.  I'm ready for the birthdays this weekend and have everything planned out and ready for the football games and the birthday party.  I always feel better when I have a handle on things.

I'm enjoying my workouts and I can feel changes in the way my clothes fit.

Plus there's been a little nip in the air in the mornings - it's starting to feel like Fall might really be coming!  I love Fall; it's my favorite season!  I always feel energized as the air turns a bit cooler.  It's still hot in the afternoons for sure, but I'm feeling hints of the coolness to come!

Also all the kids seem to be settling in to their schools.  It helps me feel better when I know they are all in a good place.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day!!

Still Doing Well.

I seem to be on the right track!  I dropped to 195.4 yesterday - woohoo!  I'm back up to 196.4 today, but I like the fluctuations that have that down tendency ... feels good!

This week's challenges will be:

Daughter number 4's birthday (she wants Dave & Busters) and strawberry cake
Daughter number 2's birthday (tacos ...) and chocolate cake
Football on Saturday - lots of football food (smoked butt, ribs, wings and dips)

Hopefully I will be able to control myself!  I think the key is to keep on exercising!

Which I haven't done since Thursday - I got a bladder infection and haven't felt well, but I'm much, much better today, so will start back up again!

I feel like I may be losing some inches as well - clothes are fitting more loosely.  I sure hope so!

So I will be good on the days that I can and try to control myself on the days that I can't.

Hanging in There.

I am working on my weight and seem to be holding strong.  At the moment.

I am finding that my weekly planning is working out pretty well.  It keeps me from being overwhelmed and on focus for a short period of time.  I always put an inspiring picture and quote on the front of my weekly planner and fill in my blanks as I go through the week.  That way I can see if there is a correlation between something I've done or eaten and a weight gain.

I've added back in my bowflex to my bike riding and total gym workouts.  I love the total gym, but there were certain muscles I just didn't feel were getting a very good workout with it.  I also bought some more Advocare products for weight training that are supposed to help recovery times and lean muscle building.  We shall see!

I am still having trouble with my willpower at night.  I'm great during the day - just having trouble at night.  I do much better on the nights I skip the wine, so I try to do that most nights now (which also gets rid of some unnecessary calories!).

I'm still not back down to the lowest I got last year, but I'm working on it!  I wish it was a faster process!

I just wanted to check in even though I don't really have much to report.  I'm hoping I'm coming up on a tipping point soon.  I'm just kind of holding steady and I know that with all the exercise I'm doing, at some point, it's going to tip and I'm going to lose some weight.

I'm tentatively positive.

No One Said This Would Be Easy.

I survived the trip to Indiana - did gain 2 lbs, but I'm hoping a lot of it is water weight from all the salty foods I ended up eating.  Amazing how much salt is in restaurant food.

It was a fun trip, but totally sidelined my healthy journey.  Other than I got a ton of exercise moving things up to her 2nd floor apartment.  And it was fun to enjoy the local college town atmosphere and foods, so I'm not upset at having enjoyed the foods we did.  It was a bittersweet trip - setting up our daughter's nest, but also knowing she is now 9 hours away and that we won't be able to see her until Thanksgiving.

At any rate, this month has been a disaster for my health.

So much is going on that I am totally unorganized (that's like one of Dante's circles of Hell to me).  I hate this.  When I don't have the time to get organized, I get unfocused and lose my edge on keeping myself on track.    I don't like this at all.

The good news is that next week looks to be much better.  So if I can just survive through this week, then maybe I can really make some progress.  And I'm doing my bike riding and hope to get back to the total gym (and I have decided to alternate back in my bowflex, too - it works different muscles).  I also managed to make a menu for the week and the grocery shopping is done, so there is a decent chance I will be able to do okay this week.

It just feels really hard right now.  Some weeks I feel like I just breeze along and everything is so easy and I have no cravings or challenges.  And then other weeks, it's just awful.

But, I knew this wasn't going to be easy.  It's something I really want, so I just need to keep on working towards it.

Set Backs

Totally fell off the wagon this weekend.  Had a date night with Mexican food and alcohol and then had M&Ms on Saturday and we ate Chinese on Sunday.  So I'm up a bunch of weight.

I know a lot of it is water weight and it will come back off, but I've got to figure out a way to survive problematic weeks.

This week is going to be awful.  I have registration for my 3rd grader today, court tomorrow, the first day of school on Wednesday and then we go to Indiana to move our oldest into her apartment for grad school.  This means I can't ride the bike Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Well, I say that, but I did manage 22 minutes on the bike this morning.  And I can probably get up early enough on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to ride the bike, but there is also going to be the food issue.  Driving 8 hours to Indiana and 8 hours back is going to make for poor food choices on the road.

The problem with last week was similar, and then throw in the bad choices and I just got derailed.

Sounds like excuses, doesn't it?

I can probably work in my bike riding - I just have to get up earlier (which is hard as I haven't been sleeping well lately - ever ... ).  But I can't do the Total Gym if I'm in Indiana.  And we will be staying at our daughter's apartment so it won't have a gym.  And food on the road?  Not pretty.

If I use my new "one week at a time" plan, my plan will be to try to control portions and to choose the healthiest options possible.  Most restaurants have healthier choices these days.  I can still drink a lot of water and as for exercise, I will work in my bike riding and do the Total Gym on Monday and Wednesday.  Then over the weekend, I should get exercise moving in furniture up two flights of stairs at her apartment and doing whatever shopping we need to do once we get there.  So it's not a total loss. It's just very frustrating.

The week after that is going to be a disaster as well, but the whole point of the one week at a time is that I only focus on this very short term so I don't get totally discouraged.

So that's the plan.  I'll concentrate on keeping to it.