Updating numbers from August

I originally posted these stats back in August, and I thought it would be fun to update them to see where I stand now. I'm definitely losing more slowly than I was back then, but the weight is still slowly coming off. As long as the scale keeps trending downward, I'll be happy!

• I'm 3 pounds away from the "normal" weight zone (164), which is my initial goal, and which would put me in the "normal" weight range.
• I'm 17 pounds away from my ultimate goal of 150.
• I've lost a total of 33.5 pounds in 225 days (about 7 months) that I've been tracking my weight.
• That's an average of 0.15 pounds per day or 1.04 pounds per week.
• In the past 30 days, I've lost an average of 0.55 pounds per week.
• If I keep losing 0.55 pounds per week, I'll reach my initial goal of 164 right around New Years.
• If I keep losing 0.55 pounds per week, I'll reach my ultimate goal of 150 before my 30th birthday.
• I'm 92% of the way to my goal of 164 and 66% of the way to my ultimate goal of 150.

Thanksgiving

So, I actually LOST weight over Thanksgiving. Do people actually DO that? I'm so proud of myself! This morning I was 167 even. And I'm wearing a pair of size 8 pants from the Gap. Size 8! That's smaller than I've ever, ever worn in my life. They're a little tight, but I'm wearing them! And I can't wait for them to be too big like my size 12s are now.

In addition, Josh has decided to give Atkins a try, and I'm really excited for him. I've got to remember how to cook for Induction, though. It seems like such a long time ago and so restrictive now that I've expanded my horizons. But I told him that I would do two weeks of Induction with him if he wanted to try the diet, so we're going to do it together. I hope he's successful!

A Post-Trip Update

Well, my trip went really well. I gained a little bit of weight ... about 0.5 pound ... but that could be attributable to any number of things beyond eating habits.

I'd say I did moderately well during the conference. It helped that I was able to have a big bacon and cheese omelet with bacon and sausage every morning for breakfast. It usually held me over to the point that I didn't even need lunch. But when we did eat lunch, it was either baked chicken or steak at the conference itself or a big, delicious cobb salad from room service. Dinners were where I tended to indulge, and I ended up having dessert a few times, but my meals themselves were chosen wisely, and I usually had a salad or a steak with veggies. It also helped that there were usually low-carb snacks set out at the breaks -- fruit or nuts or cheese or sauteed/raw veggies.

Anyway, I'm fairly proud of how I did while I was there, but I'm even more excited about how quickly I got back to reality and back on track. I didn't let a few indulgences trip me up for a month or more like they did at the last conference. So that's a big win.

I've got another conference coming up in February in San Francisco. It's only about 10 weeks away, and it'll be a little bit different because it's not our conference. Fortunately, California is pretty in-tune with healthy eating, so hopefully there will be healthier options than there were in Orlando last year.

So, so tired

Stupid rain and overcast cold weather. Makes me want to stay in bed. However, it makes having to get up a LITTLE better when the scale says 169.2 instead of all of those crazy things it has been saying.

Nothing too much to share today. I've just stopped eating candy and my own baked goods, and that seems to have helped. I've been doing 40 carbs a day, but I think I'm going to try to stick at that same level while I'm in San Diego and possibly for a while when I get home, just to try to make sure it's an OK level for me. I think it's treating me OK, and sweet potatoes are definitely a good addition to my diet; they really fill me up!

I've made a few treats for my trip. I'm going to try to keep some on me at all times so that I'm not as tempted by the many, many snacks that sit out all the time. I made some of this Peanut Butter Granola, and I found the cutest, tiniest apples at Trader Joe's that I'm going to take. Oh, and I bought some sugar-free candy to help with some of my Halloween cravings, and I'll take any of that that's left. Hmmm ... what else ... I might take some flax crackers and will probably take some nuts. Fingers crossed! :)

Stupid Scale

OK, so I'm not really retracting my love for my new scale. I'm just sad that it keeps showing me these crazy numbers that keep INcreasing instead of DEcreasing. And I know it's my own fault, but I feel like the scale could cut me a LITTLE bit of slack. I mean, it's Halloween and I'm baking like a crazy person and I should be allowed to taste a little teensy bit of the delicious-smelling banana bread that I made for Josh and Oliver, right? I thought so.

Anyway, the scale was up again today. Back to 170. BOO! Now that's scary. I really haven't been deviating too much, but I've been adding back in starchy vegetables like peas, carrots and sweet potatoes, so my carb count is about 40 these days. Adding a bite of chocolate and half a slice of banana bread to that takes my carb count WAY high, and I know that's what's causing the problem for me. I wish I could just get rid of all of the chocolate in my house. I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins about a week ago, and I ate one the night I made them and haven't eaten another one since. Hopefully I won't eat any more banana bread either.

I'm going to try really hard to stick to my plan today and not eat ANYTHING other than what I've planned for. I've really got to get a few good days under my belt so that I'll be motivated to stay on track while I'm in San Diego next week. It's crazy because I KNOW that I don't want to gain weight and I KNOW that I have to make good food choices to do that, but somehow in the moment, it just doesn't seem to matter, and I'll eat that slice of banana bread or sneak a piece of chocolate. And it's all downhill from there. I've got to remember how good it feels when I make good choices and see the results on the scale.

Up Slightly

Well, I was up slightly over the course of the weekend. We went out to eat Saturday night, and I had worked all day around people eating bagels and cookies and rice krispy treats and I resisted them until about 5:30. Then I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be there and started to get hungry, so I ate a rice krispy treat. Then I got home and ate a few pieces of Halloween candy. Then we went out to dinner and I ate a piece of the bread. Then we came home and I ate popcorn, because, what did it matter at that point?

Yesterday was better, and I mostly avoided the Halloween candy, limiting myself to one Kit Kat bar. But, the scale remembers Saturday! I was up to 169.8 this morning.

I'm adding back in some starchy vegetables this week. I could probably stick with the fruits a bit longer, but I want to try something else. And I feel like fruit is probably going to have to be a very small part of my ultimate diet. It seems to make me hungry, which makes it much easier to give in to cravings.

Yesterday I made a pot roast with carrots and sweet potatoes, and I seemed to do pretty well with those new veggies. I had it again for lunch today, and it's kept me full in a way that I haven't been when I've been eating mainly fruit as my fruit/veggie portion of my meal. I'm aiming for 40 net carbs this week. I may stick at this rung for a couple of weeks, since I'm going out of town next week, and I don't want to try new things when I'm not really in control of the food/portion size/etc.

Here's to a good week!