The Quiet Life

Weight: 324.8
Total Weight loss: 25.2

It's been a relatively quiet, uneventful past few days. Sort of. Yesterday after work I drove straight to Hamilton, ON to meet up with one of my best friends and her cranky but adorable hubby for AYCE (that's All-You-Can-Eat, in case you didn't know the lingo) sushi. Since that city is about halfway between where I live and where they live, we try to have dinner together every so often (though not nearly often enough!) and enjoy the indulgence.

Here I must say that E. has been one of my most inspiring folks... she's lost over 80 pounds so far doing an Atkins-like diet that has helped her totally free herself of diabetes, and she even wears PANTS now! While I could never follow her plan of eating, it totally works for her and her hubby, who's also lost quite a bit of weight. So yesterday we were talking a little bit about that, how it truly IS that there will never be one magic bullet for losing weight. Just like what I'm doing isn't necessarily going to work for someone who has to keep an eye on sugar, or other considerations, I cannot deal with a low-carb diet well (been there, done that – it made me feel ill after a few weeks) and would never be able to make it a lifetime proposition.

And how long did it take for me to find my personal magic bullet? Most of my life, about 30 years. But hey, better late than never, right? I also really had to come to terms with a lot of emotional baggage before I could really set myself out on this journey. I'm still dealing with it, and probably will for a long time. I should probably get some more therapy, too, eventually. For now, though, and for the next couple years until I meet my goal, I'm relying on sheer will and determination to get me where I want to be. It won't be over after that, but hopefully by then this will all be old hat and the mindset won't be so put-on, but totally naturally occurring. (You know, that old "Fake it 'til you make it" technique? That's what I am relying on.)

So we enjoyed the sushi and the company, as usual. I gave myself some license to not think too much about what I was eating at dinner, but I bet if I broke it down it wasn't all that out of bounds, mango ice cream included. Afterwards, our little trio went for a short stroll down the street, and I didn't even get one ounce of winded. Progress!

You can see in my weekly stats that I am down just over two and half pounds from last week's, which is nice, but I am still a little grumbly because I've seen the numbers lower this month (OK, just for like two days, but still). I have another week to meet my monthly goal of ten pounds lost, and I am not sure it's going to happen this month. BUT! OK, so I am whining a little. BUT! Seriously, I am happy to have lost five pounds, or seven, or whatever it will be on April 7th. It's been admittedly hard to remain optimistic and excited about the changes I've made, lately, since the results haven't been quite as good as I'd hoped. It is at times like these, though, when I need to persevere and really keep focused on my goals. I've already achieved too much to give up now. While I do have so far to go, I'm well on my way, and I need to keep that in mind -- NOT how slow it seems to be going. Slow is good. Slow means that it will be easier to keep off once I arrive at my goal.

Today was a weird day, full of bickering and bad moods (PMS, anyone?). C. and I ended up designating today a Treat Day, but I actually stayed under calorie limits, I think. Apparently the thrill of eating pizza no longer requires me to eat the whole thing, but two slices plus a salad suited me fine. Kind of funny when that happens. It was totally automatic. It probably also helped that we slept for a good portion of the afternoon, and then ate fairly late -- and I don't like to go to bed with a full stomach. No more eating for me tonight.

I haven't bought the iPod yet, but plan to order it tomorrow. I'm starting Week 2 of C25K tomorrow, and will finish it out on Tuesday and Thursday this coming week. My Tuesday run will be the first, hopefully, accompanied by music! Excited!

Finally, today also included a trip to the city library, where I checked out a bunch of books that talk about money and fitness (separately, I mean!). I'll probably write some mini-reviews about them in the coming days and weeks, so be on the lookout!

Hope this finds you all well, happy, and healthy!

Yours in lettuce and hardcovers,

r.