365 Grateful: Day 173 6/22/2014

I'm grateful to have shared this morning's stair walk with Terri.

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Round 7- Week 3 Weigh-in

I lost 2.4lbs last week to help me reach my weight goal

I still have perfect points for this game.

I'm determined to rock and roll during this last week of this round. I really would love to get to an even 40 lbs lost. Which would require me to lose 4lbs between now and next Wednesday.

Beyond that, I'm really focusing on preparing myself NOW for when this round ends so that I don't slip back into non-game habits and eat my way through the entire week off, only to have to spend two weeks getting myself back to where I was when the last game ended. I've been reading this book as part of my good habit for the game. And I've definitely struggled with a lot of the messages in the book.

My problem isn't when I'm on the game. When I'm on, oh man am I on. But just like that, when I'm off, oh man am I off. So the book is my precautionary measure to find new tools to keep me accountable during the time I'm not playing the game.

A few things I've learned from the book- some I'm already implementing and some I'll try after this round ends:
1. Write down the advantages to losing weight, carry them with me and read them at least twice a day. Refer to this list when I'm struggling.
2. Eat sitting down. I'm not much of a snacker, and again, being on the game really helps me keep this in check. But I do find myself every now and again standing while I eat my meals. The note I've placed on the fridge (STOP- if you're reading this while eating, go sit at the table). I laugh everytime I catch myself doing this.
3. Write down a food plan for the following day. For as long as I've been trying to lose weight, I've never actually done this. But I'm a planner. It's what I do for work. And I love to cross things off my to do list. This is one thing I've identified I'll do during the time I'm not playing the game so I can keep better track of my planned and unplanned food.
4. Stop fooling myself. Don't give myself permission to eat things for really lame reasons, especially nothing that starts with "It's okay to eat this because..." If I have to give myself a reason why it's okay to eat fill in the blank, I need to very seriously reconsider whether I should be putting it in my mouth in the first place.
5. Get back on my eating plan immediately after a slip-up. Ackowledge my slip-up, recommit myself to my food plan, draw a line, give myself credit for stopping, don't beat myself up, continue to eat normally and learn from my mistake.
5. Remember that the number on the scale is a guide to decide whether I should keep doing what I'm doing or make some changes.

For the most part, it's been helpful to get a different perspective and additional tools to help with what I'm doing with the Game. I think it can only help, even though a lot of what I've read in the book has made my eyes gloss over. I think if I can get one tiny nugget of information to walk away with, some new found knowledge, I'm better of for it.

Tomorrow I'll write a little more about how insanely the Game has taken off at my company.

PS- I can now do seven sets of the Santa Monica stairs. It feels amazing. I keep thinking, "I didn't know I was capable of ______." And seven f'n sets of those killer stairs was definitely on this list.

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That's What I'm Talking About

So I stepped on the scale today and discovered that I lost 3.8 lbs. Fantastic and encouraging. I worked hard this week and figured out some new ways that I know I need to live my day to day life, especially when it comes to food, nutrition, health and exercise.

I started out my day weighing myself and then knew from there I would write up my food plans for the week. Knowing that I lost was really helpful because it showed that what I did last week was working. So I sat down and wrote out my weekly food plan and then wrote down a list of challenges. They are:

1. Meghan & Rob visiting.
2. Limiting eating out.
3. Not drinking too much.
4. More exercise.

When you have visitors in town, it's almost a given that you'll eat out more. And as I learned this week, I absolutely must cut back (almost completely) the meals I eat out. I just have to, it's not good for me and trying to lose weight. So they arrive late Thursday night, which means in this week there's Friday & Saturday where I need to be careful. It's certainly not a challenge that I can't overcome, but one I do need to be aware of.

My sisters and I love to drink and have fun together. But the point of Meghan's visit really is to spend St. Patrick's Day with one another- it's like our Christmas, but better! So I have to keep that in mind and save my drinking for 3/17. I can do it.

And then finally, this week I only worked out twice. I'm not going to lie, the running has been a bit of a struggle for me. Getting back into it has been difficult. I ran a mile yesterday and it literally hurt towards the end- not my body, not my shins, nothing like that- just my breathing. It was hard. But I powered on after a very brief walking break and even did a set of the famous Santa Monica stairs.

First I went down the concrete ones- I think these are harder then the wooden set. Their closer together and obviously since they're made out of concrete, they don't "give" as much.



I walked to the next set of stairs, and continued up this set. I think these are easier.



They are easier, but the workout is still a bitch. It's just hard.

But of course, it felt really great afterwards.

So I am confident that if I pick up the workouts and continue to eat the way I did last week, I will see great results.

It's been a while since I've felt motivated and excited, but I am feeling just that. And I'm going with it.

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