Day 266: (Week 38) 100 Day Count Down

314.2; -2 pounds since Week 34 (4 weeks ago); 34.8 total pounds lost

As you can see in this last month I've lost 2 pounds. Yikes.

It's not even a little upsetting to see that it's only 2 pounds. I'm not in denial that I worked super hard and am entitled and deserving to have lost 10 pounds or something like that. I really did not focus on myself. I know exactly why I didn't lose much. I know exactly what I did, remembering all the fast food I've eaten, the every cancellation email I wrote to my personal trainer burned into my memory. Excuses passed, I know why I'm here and I take responsibility for that. Do better today. I'm not going to wimp away on my 2 pound loss either. I moved and ate fast food for a month, and didn't work out but I lost 2 pounds anyway. Why? Probably for passing many times of fries and cokes, though not all times. Probably for ordering one hamburger instead of two, all the times. I'm not perfect. I'm not a healthy nutritionist. But I'm always conscious of my decisions and if I'm going to make bad ones, I'm going to try to make them not as bad. I don't have to be all or nothing. I can go to fast food and I can eat a salad. I'll take the salad with grilled chicken and the whole packet of dressing if it means I'm passing on the burger and fries. Maybe soon I'll talk about healthy alternatives at the drive through. I've sure had my share of practice this past month!

I'm talking about eating fast food and not working out, and what's coming to my mind is fatty on the couch packing away the greasy calories and watching TV in my yoga pants. I hope this impression is not what you're getting. I've been BUSY moving, busy eating salads with my hamburgers, and busy being active just not at the gym. This is why I was still able to lose weight, albeit not a significant drop in the bucket. So don't think because life gets busy you can throw it all away. There's still health to think about--it just wasn't my TOP priority this month. Have faith--there's no falling off the wagon anymore. Feel free to live your life making better choices and accepting failures. I hope this doesn't get tiring to hear, because it's what I've learned to be the truth and it helps me to hear it occasionally.

Today is Day 266. There's 99 days left until I've been doing this for one year. It feels like another milestone--another refreshing jolt to refocus, reflect. I have my personal training session tomorrow, something I've missed for two weeks. I think eating a healthy dinner tonight and starting tomorrow with a heavy workout will be a good way to re-energize sore jointed, bloated me. Now that the move is behind, it's time for me to move my behind!

-e

Meals

1 cup OJ extra pulp, vitamin D and calcium enriched

1 1/2 cups mixed fresh fruit (cantaloupe, blueberries, honeydew, pineapple)

2 cups of water

1 lean pork chop

1/2 can low sodium cream of chicken soup

2 TBSP non-fat sour cream

1 boiled onion

7 baby red potatoes roasted in olive oil with light garlic salt and pepper

2 cups of water

bag of M&M's

Exercise

25 minute walk dog around the block

25 minute walk dog around the block

(to be continued)

Notes

I forgot to mention since we moved in a little over a week ago, I've been getting over an hour a day of leisurely walking the dog around the block. Not having a fence for the dog to run around has required us to move more. I'm actually enjoying what I thought was going to be a real chore. I could stand not having to spend 5-10 minutes each time afterwards rinsing off his muddy paws (thanks Spring) but I'm used to it now. Normally we would play tug-of-war with him inside and take him to the dog park where I could just stand for a half hour if I wanted and let him play around. I think it's been good on B, and for Andrew and me to be able to spend more time with him. I love our new neighborhood too where I feel safer, so I imagine the fence going up in the summertime won't impede these daily walks that we're growing so fond of.

Day 239-Day 265: (Weeks 35-37) Moving

For the first two weeks I was gone, I really don't have a reason why I wasn't around other than that of getting ready to move. These last two week have been full of the move.

I was moving...

It's been a very stressful time. A couple of weeks I haven't even had access to my computer. I kind of dropped off the face of the earth, but I'm still here.

The house is amazing. I'm enjoying every corner, room, counter, toilet, window. Because we're built in a new development, our property has yet to be graded due to the frozen ground. We expect we'll get our top soil starting sometime next month, and following that a fence, some grass, and everything else that will make life even more fun to live.

Our now huge basement has lots of room for us to move around to work out in. I'm able to have my treadmill, hypocycloid trainer, and bowflex, all set up and ready to use. It's just setting them up that's going to be the tricky part. There are still boxes--boxes everywhere. This is the project for the the next month. Finding an area to set up the "gym."

Speaking of the gym...I have taken two weeks off. The first week I was just overwhelmed with my responsibilities getting our house in order to move. There's a lot that goes in to sorting, packing, stuffing, taping, and playing tetris in the living room. I'm so relieved to be done that part! Last week, after the move I had injured my knee from 3 days of carrying this body up and down flight after flight of stairs lifting a range of light to heavy boxes. A day after we moved in I took B for a walk outside since he can't go "out back" yet since we don't have an "out back" and he saw a puppy neighbor and pulled me through the mud suddenly twisting my ankle. I thought my leg joints were going to fire me. I had put them through Hell these past couple weeks.

After some good massage therapy, I think I'm ready to go back to the gym. I've built up a fair amount of fat reserves, binging on the pizza at 12:30am, and the left over hamburger breakfasts. I'm still not a master at this whole food preparation thing, not even a novice. I have to admit during the move, I threw away everything for me and focused on the work. Now it's time to focus on me again, and maybe one day I'll learn how to balance both so I'm not playing catch up, yet once again.

I'm excited to get my at home gym ready. Once July comes, my membership comes up for renewal. I'm sorry to say I'll have to not renew now that we're playing responsible and paying a mortgage again. I'm blessed that I have had the opportunities to learn what I have. I still have 5 good months of the gym-gym, and about 40 more personal training sessions. It will be one solid 5 months to focus and get me ready to do this on my own. I'm a little scared, but it is what it is. It's also an opportunity to talk about the differences of being spoiled at a gym versus doing it at home. I embrace the challenge!

There aren't many people that comment anymore, and no I'm not fishing for comments...what I'm saying now is I cared at first about what people thought, but now I don't. I'll keep writing for me and using this as another tool for success. So go me! This writing has helped immensely and it's everything that's changed my way of thinking about how important it is for me to be healthy. 34.8 pounds down is 34.8 pounds lighter (and healthier on the inside) than I was if I never started this thing. Being a healthier me is all the accolade and validation I need! To those of you who do continue to read or are new to reading, my only hope is that you can learn from my mistakes, and take any good you find in this and apply it to achieving your own health goals. We CAN do it. We WILL do it. Just DO it a little bit each day, a little progress along the way.

-e