It can't always be *AWESOME!*

Weight: 324
Total weight loss: 26 pounds

I just returned home from my evening walk. It was worst one so far! I think it's because my body is just tired and sore, but I only managed just over a mile in 24 minutes, and it was tough, I tell you. I was ready to give up at ten minutes out, but by then that wasn't really an option short of crawling home, so, I stuck it out and it was better than lint in your pocket. But not much.

Well, they can't always be awesome and exciting, can they? I think in light of feeling so fatigued, I will adjust my 3rd day of C25K to Wednesday instead of Tuesday, and give my legs a day off tomorrow. Maybe I will do some arm strengthening exercises -- I found my hand weights last night, tucked away in the basement. I have yet to get a pilates DVD, but that's coming soon. If nothing else, there's always the trusty Wii Sports to play, which was my only form of "exercise" when I first started on this little journey of mine.

You can see I had some more scale success this morning. We seem to be on a steady decline, which appears to be predictable if last month and this month are representative of my body's cycle. It'll be interesting to see if that continues each month. My Physics Diet chart has two little pointy red spikes that look like boobies from my recent weight gain,
see? Ha ha. I'm firmly back in the green now, though. I like those little boobies -- they're funny!

On the way home I had to stop at the store for just a couple items. To celebrate my raise at work, I decided to purchase half a dozen magazines, mostly of the cooking variety. Since we've been losing weight, C. and I have been cooking almost every night together, which is great -- no more bickering over what crappy take-out to get. He's been on a BBQ chicken kick lately, which is fine with me. It's fast, easy, tasty, and not half as bad for you as you would think. We throw breasts of chicken in the oven to roast, along with hand-cut oven fries and usually some sort of roasted vegetable, like brussels sprouts (my fave) or asparagus. But I am getting a little tired of the same thing every night, and despite owning plenty of cookbooks and cooking magazine back issues, I thought I would treat myself to a few more for inspiration.

Hey, it's not exactly sticking to my budget, but at least it's useful stuff, right?

Yeah, sure.

I especially love Cook's Illustrated and its offshoots, Cook's Country and these other volumes I've been finding, like one I bought today about lighter cooking. I figured, hey, they do all sorts of experimenting to find just the right ingredients, and taste does matter to them, even with healthier dishes. That one's going to come in handy quite a bit, I think. Plus, I am in love with the descriptive prose they use to talk about the process of arriving at just the right recipe -- the hows, the whys, the whats. I read aloud to C. about their version of oven fries, to which he replied, "Someone has way too much free time!" Ha ha. Well, that is their job, isn't it? I for one can't wait to see if the lighter meatloaf and the lighter fettucine Alfredo and the lighter cheesecake and the lighter oven fried chicken are really worthwhile... it'll be a rare, happy occurrence if so. And I will keep you posted and share those recipes I find worthy.

I guess my conclusion for today is that while I am enjoying the scale readings lately, I truly most happy about how the lifestyle changes I've been making are affecting my whole life all around, not just my weight. It's really been a pleasure, bumps and all.

Yours in 1% milk and Rice Krispies,

r.