Good Stuff

Well I got on the scale this morning for a before-vacation-peek and lo and behold it's moving downward at quite a clip. Thank god. This is the drop I've been waiting for. Granted, I don't eat perfectly each week, but I'm eating better than I was before I started back with WW online. And I'm working out harder and more consistenly. It's not quite enough to put up huge numbers each week, but in my mind it was enough to make SOME sort of a dent. And that dent has finally arrived. Like I said, my body does this. Waits and waits and then let's go once it's sure this is our new pattern. It is, Body. It is.

I didn't workout last night, I was so ridiculously tired (from a bizarre inability to sleep the night before) that I went right home, got a manicure for the trip, dropped off my laundry, ate some dinner, and was in bed by 9:15. It was essential. I was supposed to go see a friend's play, but he told me during the day that it started at 7pm, which I hadn't even realized even though I'd been planning to go for weeks. I couldn't go because I don't get out of work until 7. I didn't mind, though. I needed a night to myself. I've eaten rather light dinners the last couple nights...not on purpose, just because I'm not particularly hungry or I don't feel like eating. It's a welcome anamoly. I think opting to eat most of my calories in the earlier/midday part of the day makes a difference for sure. THat's something I'll have to try to keep in mind. I don't need to save as many points for the evening time as I think I do. (Good thing because I rarely end up saving as many as I intend to save anyway.)

Tonight I'm off to Florida. The low scale number and the way my body feels slim and tone and loose in my clothes are all making me feel pretty good and are a great way to start out this vacation. I think it will inspire me to get some exercise and eat reasonably on the trip. Like I said, I don't have a terribly hard time eating well when traveling so hopefully this trip will be no different.

I plan to go get some cardio in at lunch today. Might as well. Then i'll leave the office early, stop home, and hop on a plane around 7pm. The SUN and the warmth and the ocean....I mean, it's essential to my mental health. This trip is coming at a really nice time.

My mini goals for this trip:

exercise at least once, hopefully twice
eat within reason
drink lo-cal alcohol drinks, not 12 point frozen ones

Pretty simple.

floridian.

Allllright. So, I thought I'd check in. Frankly, it's partially to stave off the intense hunger I'm feeling right now. It's a bit too early to have lunch but I'm going to have to cave and eat something soon. I'm seriously ravenous. In fact, I've been ravenous since 7pm last night. I've eaten since then, trust me, but I'm insatiable right now.

Luckily, though, it doesn't feel like the death sentence it can sometimes be, this voracious hunger. Because I think it means I'm losing weight. :)

I've been working out pretty regularly and I'm finally seeing some results from the hard work I've been doing. I find that my body generally responds that way after a hiatus. It takes weeks sometimes for my body to go "Ohhhokay, we're doing this again? Okay, I can let go of some of these pounds." The same is true in reverse. If I'm in a really good place and I have a few bad days in a row, my body doesn't really register it. It just keeps on burning through it.

Hopefully I can work this in my favor for a little while. With a trip to Tampa on the horizon (we leave tomorrow night and come back Tuesday night) I'll need it. Although for some reason I don't anticipate this trip being a food fest. There's a lovely workout facilty at our resort. And the weather itself just begs to be exercised in. So I'm hoping to get in at least a couple workouts. And I find I don't usually eat a ton on trips like this. I'm so conscious of potentially overeating that I'll undereat without even realizing it. That said, WE'LL SEE. Ya know? I'll be drinkin', that I do know.

Things are good though, on this front. I feel slimmer, I'm loving my time at the gym. I'm consistently working out 3 times a week (combo of lifting, pilates, and cardio), which is not perfect, but consistency is key and I'm pretty happy with the results right now. Maybe it will bump up to 4 times a week as the weather gets warmer.

goals

So I'm going to set some minigoals for this week. I started a new weight watchers week yesterday and it went pretty well until dinner time when I ended up eating a great deal of snacks I'd gotten at the grocery store, in edition to my dinner and a delicious raspberry tart. Yah. They weren't terrible choices, but they weren't great either. And with a day of eating not-tiny meals already behind me, it ended up being a pretty unfortunate food day. But I'm trying lately to be as honest and accurate as possible when noting how many points I've eaten. It's the only way to make changes - to know exactly what needs changing.

I had a good workout yesterday after work, 45 minutes on the treadmill. I hope to go do some weight lifting at lunch today. But good workouts don't make a ton of difference if you're eating twice what you burnt off when it's over. Which is kinda what happened last night. I also felt stuffed, which was no good either. And I woke up this morning with an unfortunate headache that coffee has not shaken. Blech.

Mini goals for this week will include: 4 sessions of cardio, at least 3 servings of fruit and veggies a day, and as-accurate-as-possible food tracking.

The boyfriend is out of town this weekend - I wonder if that will help me to eat less. I have an engagement party to go to on Friday night that will decidedly not help me to eat less. But perhaps I can get away with only eating some. Instead of all.

The Given Circumstances

I know I haven't been updating this. My other blog has suffered too. I just don't have it in me to maintain the two blogs right now. I got a lot goin on.

Weight loss is the same. I've lost about 5 pounds since January 1, which is to say that the month of February saw very little progress. Not great, not bad, just not a huge focus at the moment. I don't have much to say about it other than I feel just fine about my progress.

I'm spending more time at the gym than I have been in recent months, ramping that back up slowly but surely, so that's a very good thing. Check back with me in a year and I should have made some marginal progress in the form of 6 pounds lost. ;)

I'm happy with whatever progress occurs. As long as I'm either maintaining or losing (and not gaining) I don't know what else I can do other than quit eating. Not gonna happen. So I'm fine.

I'm not suggesting that I stay perfectly on plan, I'm saying that I do the very best I can do each week with all the given circumstances of my life in this realm. Every week I eat a little less, exercise a little more...I cannot offer much else to the project than my best. 5 pounds in two months is pretty good for me.

Do I come on here and say this once a month? Probably. It remains. If i suddenly gain or lose ten pounds, you'll be the first to know.