Weigh in #14

This will be a somewhat quick update since I'm a couple days late and I'm not sure what I'll be trying to fit into my day today. I took this picture on Thursday, so it was the day of the weigh-in. I'm down to 164.2 pounds this week, down .8 pounds since last week and 22.4 pounds since starting back in January. That's not bad for a week of starting a new job. A loss is a loss, you know, and I'm still at an average of 1.6 pounds lost a week.

How I Ate:

I ate an average of 1234.6 calories this week. It was a b0ring food week, what can I say?

How I Moved:

I made it to the gym twice this week for yoga, which was pretty good, and I also worked a couple days this weigh-in week, which involved a lot of standing and walking and a bit of lifting. If I can avoid eating or drinking while I work, I'll be in good shape to burn calories at work.

While I initially wanted to do cardio and Starting Strength/Practical Programming, I liked yoga and felt such an impact from it that I decided I'd try a month or so of just cardio and yoga (and perhaps pilates) to help develop my core strength. I feel like if I'm able to do leg press a huge amount and squat a small one, the legs aren't the problem, it's the fun little stabilizers in the back and abs, which get worked out in....yoga and pilates. Also, gosh, the feeling of calm after session of yoga is literally like nothing I've ever experienced. I realize that an actual yoga studio would be even better, but right now a big box gym is what I want for the variety of classes, free weights, and cardio equipment.

How I Felt:

Pretty good. This has been a busy week and I've had a lot of balls in the air. It's going to be a challenge to lose weight while working at a restaurant that serves delicious and borderline unhealthy food/portions, and it's also going to be hard to get exercise when I'm working. I've got a boyfriend to talk to every day and a family to spend time with. I expect the weight to be somewhat slower in coming off while making the transition to working. I built extra time into my goal to accommodate real life, and real life is happening. Honestly, I don't know how this next week is going to be, either, but even small movements on the scale like this week's are better than gaining.

I'm feeling good about my progress, though I sometimes wish I could push the fast forward button. There's a saying I ran across recently that I really grabbed on to: Most people don't want to lose weight, they want to have lost weight. I've been wanting to lose weight for a while and I'm starting to feel like, gosh, I've put in the time and effort, can't I just be at my goal yet? Can't I just have lost all the weight? I log every calorie I eat. I exercise. I cook for myself and my family so I'll know what we're eating. I don't call Kraft Macaroni and Chees, Hamburger Helper, an entire pound of ground beef in tortillas split between two people "dinner" like I used to. I learned to eat lettuce, spinach, celery, mangoes, Greek yogurt, dark chocolate, squash, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, eggplant. I don't eat out often, and I don't eat fast food alone like I used to four, five, six times a week. I had to be pretty bad for a while to get unhealthy. I've been really good for a while, can't I just be done with this? Can't I just switch to maintenance? Switch from focusing on the scale and the sizes I wear to focusing on a sport I love or what weight I can squat?

Nope. Not yet.