Just got back from the dentist. My face is numb. Eating is a struggle. Alas. I won't write about it here, I already wrote enough about it in my regular blog. (Link on the right.)

So. Things are going well on this front. Weigh-in was today. Lost a pound. Not great, but I'll definitely take it.

The last several weeks, I've shown an increase in exercise. I was doing the bare minimum when I got serious about losing a few pounds back in January and I've since upped it a lot. But I think that increase in exercise also caused me to be hungrier (naturally) because even though I've been working out a lot more lately, I've also been going over my flex points each week, as I've mentioned time and again. So it sort of balances itself out and results in minimal or no weight loss.

I would say that this past week was my first week in quite some time of working out really hard AND eating closer to how I should be eating. For example, last week I went over flex points by 42. FORTY-TWO! Wow, I didn't realize it was that high. Yeeps. And this week I only went over by 24. That might still sound like a lot but it's huge progress for me. The last several weeks, including the week I was on vacation in Florida, have been, in retrospect, eating fests. I really don't FEEL like I'm eating that much! That's the funny thing. I make sacrifices every day, scale back on portions all the time, make healthier choices whenever possible. But the numbers show it. I've just gotten used to eating at this "maintenance" level, which would be great if I were hoping to maintain my weight, but I'm not. I'd like to lose ten pounds so I can have a goddammed plate of nachoes or a bottle of wine from time to time and feel like there's some wiggle room there.

So anyway, this past week was much better. I earned 21 APs (activity points for those non-weight watchers - you earn them when you exercise and you can eat some more food based upon them) which is the most I've earned since January 1. Like I said before, I've been conservative with how many APs I reward myself, (thank god, since I've been eating so many points) so I've probably earned more each week than I give myself credit for. But this past week was pretty good in terms of exercise. I exceeded my goal of working out twice over the weekend. I had an excellent workout on Friday night (some running and lifting), on Saturday my friend and I took a lesiurely walk around my neighborhood, but we walked for three hours straight! So that was really good. Then Sunday, Kevin and I popped into the gym while we were visiting his parents for a quick workout. Yesterday, Monday, was great too. I ran for 45 consecutive minutes outside after work. It's the longest I've run in months. It was great and my body and brain loved every second. It's amazing how quickly my body built back up to being able to run for longer periods.

I'm determined to make this week another great one. I'm really feeling my groove at the gym again. Having Kevin there, even if only in spirit, has made a huge difference. It's so nice to know he's working out too. So I don't see the workouts being a problem this week. I'll take today off, though. Sore and tired from last night's run.

Food - I think I can get it down to 10-over-flex, down from 24-over-flex this week. That means plenty of fruits and veggies, healthy filling breakfasts, bring lunches from home, and avoid fried foods and sugary crap. I will lick this if it kills me. Okaaaay.

Here we go.