Weigh-In: Weeks 24, 25, 26: In Search of Zen

Hello Friends,

Long time, no see. I wish I had something to blame it on... not that I haven't been busy... but not enough that I should have ignored my blog for 3 weeks. Such is life, I suppose. Seems like I've been having the same feeling about the lifestyle change...

So, over the past 3 weeks, I gained .2lbs, lost 1.6 lbs., and then lost 0 lbs. I am still flirting with down 35 lbs. since the beginning of the year. I shouldn't be irritated... I'm still 10 lbs. over my goal for this time of the year. I was doing so well in the beginning - super-motivated, ambitious. Now, other things have my attention. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something I absolutely have to figure out how to balance my life.

I can tell you right now, this week has been particularly abysmal. I hosted a cast party for the show I was in earlier this summer at the house, and had a metric ton of leftovers that finally got out of the house today. One of my achilles' heels, though, was a cookie tray I bought at Sam's Club that was hardly touched. That tray of cookies was like having drugs around someone who was out of rehab. I know that's a pretty harsh comparison, but seriously, that's how it felt. I couldn't keep my hands off of the cookies. Even if I didn't want one. Even if I wasn't hungry. I would be walking through the kitchen and be like "ooh, cookie." And truthfully, I feel like shit. I've ate like shit, and I feel it. It's the re-introduction of large amounts of sugar to the body. I remember it from the last time I did this diet. I am lethargic, moody, and have a chronic tummyache. It's a terrible feeling, until your body adjusts to digesting or metabolizing sugar again. However, that's not really an option I'm considering going back to. So begins the official re-detox. And it will probably be equally sucky. I sit here writing the blog and want to do nothing except sit on my ass, which is totally counter-productive. *sigh*

I have about 15 more lbs. to go. I've done it at least twice over thus far. This should not be so hard. But it is. I have plateaued, and really, I think it's about finding some balance in my life.

Weigh-in: Week #23

*grumble*

I am officially sick of the whole once-a-month visitor/weight gain correlation. I don't really think I helped it much this week, though. Evidently, my post-show hangover also included generally poor eating habits this week. I ended up gaining 2 lbs. this week. :(

I'm not bummed, though. I'm learning that I go through this and to be patient. It's just a pain in the ass. And that perhaps I need to help myself through these wonderful times by actually not eating like shit, like I did this week. I had wings TWICE this week! I really need to get back into the mindset of self control. That's half the battle. CHOOSING what I SHOULD eat as opposed to what sounds good. But I'm going to do better. I am going to go back to working out. B/c the alternative is not something I am ever going back to. Period.

I will say this, though... was going through my summer clothes that I bought last year to go to Myrtle Beach. I had to give away a lot of the shorts and capris. They were ridiculously big. That was a good feeling. I'm down 2 whole pant sizes since I bought them, and it really does feel nice to put on jeans from college and not feel entirely self-concious in them (or the fact I can squeeze into them is nice, too!).

So that's where I'm at this week. Taking it all in stride, but beating myself up enough to stay motivated...

Tune in next time.... ;)

Weigh-In #11

Hi Everyone,

Well, at this point, I was supposed to be down 25 lbs. (at least according to my short-term goal). However, 2 weekends in a row of being away from home and doing things that are "out of the ordinary" put a bit of a hamper on it. Last week, I gained 1.4 lbs. This week, I am glad to report that I lost 1.2 lbs! So I lost nearly everything I gained the previous week. However, I miss this particular goal... I am down 23 lbs. total. But I am still not complaining. I'm double where I expected to be at this time, so YAY!

I did pretty well on eating good and exercising this past week. Went to the gym, exercised at home... could have done more, but I did better than I have been doing. This weekend, however, I went to Columbus for a weekend visit w/ the in-laws (the hubby and I along w/ the ma and pa-in-law went to visit my brother and soon to be sister-in-law!). Had a wonderful time visiting, catching up, talking wedding stuff, etc. And for the most part, my food options were pretty good. Stopping for ice cream was really difficult. Apparently, Columbus has this really terrific gourmet ice cream place called Jeni's. They have all sorts of kinda-funky flavors of ice cream and they are going to have an ice cream station type thing instead of a cake at the wedding, so we wanted to check it out. You can sample at this place all the different ice creams and they are fabulous... but instead of getting what I really wanted, which would have been a salty-sweet caramel ice cream, I ended up getting a kid's portion of Cardamom-Lime Frozen Yogurt. It was tasty, don't get me wrong. But I was actually half-impressed w/ my self-control.... :)

P.S. Kasey and Betsy, if you're reading this, I had a wonderful time and appreciate your hospitality in your new, beautiful house! Also appreciate the use of your bar and consuming a good amount of your wine and your Bailey's.... ;) I hope we can do it again sometime....

This week, I am looking forward to some normal-life kind of stuff. Staying at home this weekend. Catching up on some cleaning and other stuff.... next week, my office is moving, so I'm planning on trying on keeping home life normal when work life turns to chaos!

I also have a new goal - when I lose 9 more lbs. (which will bring me to an even number w/ regards to my weight), I am allowed to get some new clothes, given that I can hardly keep my pants on my ass anymore. I don't have a time frame to get it done, necessarily, although I'm hoping for w/in the next month or 6 weeks... b/c I really do want some new clothes. So that's what I'm looking forward to. :)

Talk to everyone later. :)

Day 11: Break on Through to the Other Side

Hello Readers:

Been meaning to write all week, but have been very busy with work and other life stuff. The beginning of this week has been a struggle. As I completed the first full week of my new life, I ended it feeling not as peppy as I expected. Monday, I took a Zumba class for the first time. And it kicked my ass! First off, it was WAAYY more intense than the other workouts I've been doing at home. I thought I would have liked it more than I did, given my background in dance and such. Believe me, it's not that I didn't like it. I did. It was just an ass-whooping! And I was completely drained Monday after it. Tuesday, I was expecting to be sore as hell. I was not, surprisingly. But instead, I was entirely exhausted. I think a lot of it was that I did not consume enough calories on Monday to make up for what I burned off in Zumba. *Note to self: Eat well on days I do Zumba... live and learn, I guess* So I spent Tuesday soooo tired, grumpy, and feeling generally crappy. Not to mention, b/c of things w/ work and life, I was very stressed. So it was a bad day. :(

Yesterday, I felt a little better. Still stressed about things, but better. However, I felt the best all day after I worked out at 9:00. I didn't even do that much... just some cardio boxing classes on the Your Shape for Kinect and a few gym games to cool down, but afterwards I felt perkier than I had in days. Today, I feel great, actually. I've had a lot of energy today and feel pretty good about things... maybe I've had my break-through of all the hard stuff and can move on. :)

Things I've learned over the past week:

- Cracker Barrell = not the best place to go on a diet. Carb City there!!!! I had 1 biscuit (a significant cut down from the number of biscuits I usually eat there...), and it felt like a rock hitting my stomach.

- I like Applebee's low-fat menu. Had a fajita there last week which was delicious. This week, we went to finish off our gift card, and tried their under 550 calories menu. I had a 7 oz. steak with shrimp and a light creamy sauce, with a bruschetta topping, a few roasted potato slices, and a broccoli. It was wonderful. I was also quiet full when all was said and done.

- Since I've started all of this, I haven't noticed that I've lost any weight yet (unfortunately...), but I've noticed I feel better. I had stomach aches frequently, and other tummy issues more often than not. Since I've started eating well and exercising, I haven't had a stomach ache at all (aside from being hungry... LOL). So there's definitely been some physiological changes going on inside... which I'm sure needs to happen before the outside changes.

Yesterday's Menu:
Breakfast: A smoothie (which I looove!) with strawberries, banana, peaches, and raspberries, low-fat vanilla yogury, 1 cup of cranberry juice (b/c I didn't have any milk), and a few ice cubes. Was really swamped at work, and did not eat my morning snack until 11:45 (bad me!), and I had an apple.

Lunch: Leftovers from Tuesday - 1 medium chicken breast cooked with olive oil, Italian seasonings, garlic, and lemon, and 1/2 cup of rice, and a handful of almonds.

Mid-afternoon snack: 1 small clementine

Dinner: Applebee's... see above...

Evening snack: A few spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt while I was prepping my smoothie ingredients for today since I was still full from dinner.

I'm hoping the good ju-ju will continue, and that I'm through the worst of the cravings and moodiness.

Til next time... :)