Day 63--Week 9

Weight: 329 pounds; -.8 pounds this week; -20 pounds total

It sure looks like being sick, not exercising, and eating ice cream all week paid off...sigh. I'm amazed that I didn't gain any weight because a few days there with my belly feeling questionable, not knowing if it was because I was full from eating or full from being sick. This was a horrible week and I suggest not paying attention to it as I'd like to quickly forget it ever happened.

On the positive side, I am now officially at the weight I was when I started working out the first time in 2006 when my dad died. He abruptly passed of a heart attack that was most likely lifestyle related: high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, stress, anger management issues, alcoholism, sweet tooth, inactivity, you name it. At that time I vowed to change my life forever. I bought personal training sessions that lasted ONE YEAR and lost a grand total of 2 pounds. After one year, I went from 329 pounds all the way down to 327 pounds. My problem was I made my appointments twice a week, but did no other exercise at all, and didn't change my eating habits at all. I also didn't reflect or journal. I just thought doing the bare minimum would suffice. It did not. I was eating properly for a little while in the beginning, but I fell off the wagon. It was so all or nothing, and at the time I chose nothing. I thought as long as I'm moving, I'm better off than not. I suppose in some ways I was, but because really nothing had changed, it was a big waste of time.

So here I am now, at the same place I was 3.5 years ago. I'm proud of myself for moving backwards, making changes, and persevering. Even with a horrible week here and an embarrassing week there, I have a lot to show for it now. I may not be a huge WOW successful story at the moment, but my day will come where I can tell people how I struggled to lose this 200 pounds and I did it all myself. I'll share the tricks to make it easier--I've found this blog and my support system to be my lifesavers. 9 weeks in, or 63 days in, I'm still at the beginning and have the larger portion of obstacles to overcome, but look at how far I've come too. Already this is proving to be one of the most important things I have ever and will ever do in my own life and I'm holding on to that in every mistake and in every perfect moment.

Meals
1/2 bag Skillet Sensations chicken primavera (chicken, pasta, red peppers, carrots, seasonings)
1 kiwi
4 Oreos dipped in 2 tbsp peanut butter (a new found love)
2 cups of water

1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 apple
2 cups of water

3 cups of water

other 1/2 bag of Skillet Sensations
1 fajita tortilla
1.5 oz steak
1/4 cup bell peppers, onions, tomatoes
a swipe of sour cream and guacamole
2 cups of water

1 whole wheat hamburger bun
3 oz ground beef hamburger patty with BBQ sauce for BBQ-ing
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 tomato
2 pickles slices
2 cups of water

2 cups of water

Exercise
60 minutes interval hill treadmill (lower intensity than I'm used to--kept heart rate between 130-140 bpm)
6.5 minutes recumbent bike
35minutes lower body workout
15 minutes stretching

Notes:
-I have to say I ate what felt like a LOT of food today and still kept between my 1400-1800 calorie limit. I think there were much better choices than pizza and ice cream--:P.
-My exercise was less intense today because I'm still getting over being sick. I'm also still extremely fatigued for no good reason, or a plethora of reasons, and even started getting dizzy on the treadmill. I'm going to look into increasing my iron intake. I've been iron deficient anemic before so I'm assuming this is what it is since I still haven't mastered eating well and I'm nearly confident that I'm just missing nutrients to support all this activity. It's at least something to rule out. I've made an appointment for a physical on Thursday so we'll see what the doc says. I just want to make sure everything looks good. I missed my annual last year, so I'm anxious to get this year's (I usually get them around my birthday so I'm even 2 months late now). Anyhow, other than being really tired, today was a pretty good day and I'm so happy I did this well.