Weigh-in: Weeks 6 and 7

Sorry I skipped the blog last week. Things have been a bit hectic. And, well, the news isn't good. One month into my renewed efforts and I was feeling pretty good about my progress. I was headed out of town for two days and had agreed to a two-day hiatus. It turned into a two-week detour. I'm so disappointed in myself.

I've gained back nearly everything I lost in August. I'm now down only 1.6 pounds since I started. I have all sorts of excuses, but it mostly boils down to emotional eating, stress and lack of tracking/planning. I'm in the process of selling my house and starting construction on a new house. While it's exciting, it's so overwhelming. We're also undergoing some changes at work, which is more stressful than normal.

I've had too many days recently where I wasn't sure I could get out of the bed. Of course, I did. But then I got home from work and wanted to retreat. I went in the bedroom to change my clothes after work yesterday and ended up curling up in the bed. Stayed there just a few minutes because I knew my boyfriend would start to wonder where I was. Then he'd want to know what was wrong.

It's not one specific thing. My life feels like it;s in constant chaos. As soon as I think I have something figured out or settled, there's a new fire to put out. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt a sense of calm and relaxation. I'm not sleeping well and when I'm awake, I feel constant tension in my muscles.

So, needless to say, I'm overeating and making poor choices. All I can do at this point is recognize the missteps I've made in recent weeks and try to correct my actions. The best place to start is with planning meals for the week ahead.

Weigh-in: Month 1

One month into my renewed efforts to eat better (and lose weight) and I'm feeling encouraged. I lost 4.8 pounds, which is just 0.2 pounds shy of my goal of 5 pounds per month. I still have a long way to go to get back to where I want to be, but at least I feel like I'm making progress. 

The next few months are going to be extremely difficult, though. For those who don't know, my boyfriend and I have put our house on the market and we're preparing to build a new house. We'll likely have to find a place to live once our current house sells and while our new house is under construction. It's all so complicated.

I've already had several meltdowns this week as we've completed paperwork. Having built a house once before, I knew it would be stressful. But I don't know how I'll make it through the next four to six months.

At the same time we're trying to nail down details to get everything moving forward, we're going out of town for a couple of days. We planned the trip before we'd made decided to pull the plug on a new house. It's an expense I wish we didn't have right now, but I'm hoping I can put my anxiety aside and simply enjoy a few days away from it all.

And, of course, I'll end up splurging too much. So I'm giving myself a pass for two days. After that, I'll have to buckle down and be diligent about tracking if I'm going to continue my progress into September.

Weigh-in: Week 4

I lost 1.2 pounds this week, which brings my total to 3.8. So I'm still shy of meeting my goal of one pound a week, but I'm gaining ground.

My final weigh-in for the month will be next Thursday (instead of Friday) because I'm heading out of town Thursday morning. I'm really hoping I can make a little more progress. My goal for the month was 5 pounds. I feel so close yet so far away.

Also, I'm surprised at my progress this week. I had two major slip-ups -- A Big Mac from McDonald's and a giant cheeseburger and fries from Carolina Ale House. Apparently, I was craving cheeseburgers this week.

I've got a few stressful situations coming up, so I'll have to be extra vigilant if I'm going to stay on track through the end of the month. I know it won't be easy, but I hoping that advance planning for pay off.

A bad day

I was an emotional wreck today. It started early this morning. I wasn't sleeping well so I turned on the TV. I kept wanting to fall back to sleep, but it just wouldn't happen. As I was binge watching Criminal Minds, I thought that maybe I'd stay in bed all day.

About 7:45, I took a shower and dressed for the day. I even did my hair (something I don't always do on the weekend) because I knew my boyfriend and I were planning an outing later in the day. For those who don't know, my boyfriend and I live together. He works nights so we have a general agreement that he gets to sleep until 11 a.m. or noon. Usually, that works out fine for me because I catch up on DVR'd shows and go to the grocery store.

Today just didn't go according to plan. My boyfriend startled me when I got home from Harris Teeter about 9:30 a.m. and things seemed off all day after that. I'll spare you the details except to say that the day ended with me in tears and him wondering what went wrong.

A lot of things went wrong today. Nothing so bad that you'd expect me to be blubbering as I was. I've probably mentioned this before, but I'm a planner. I have a lot of anxiety because I spend my time thinking about every possible scenario. Every time I let my guard down, I get disappointed. When things don't go as I had planned (and I didn't anticipate a different scenario), I'm thrown and it never ends well.

With each hurdle today, I tried so hard to recover. By the end of the day, I just couldn't do it. My poor boyfriend had no idea how the train went off the tracks so quickly. Unfortunately, I saw it coming before I even got out of bed. There should be some sort of alert system. Maybe I could say: "Honey, the train might derail today. Buckle up."

Luckily, I have a boyfriend who actually went to sleep (because he has to work tonight) probably feeling like crap but telling me how much he loves me. What he should know is that I AM the lucky one. In the big picture of life, I'm so lucky to have found him. And the fact that he tolerates my emotional outbursts makes him a prince.

Also, I should mentioned that my emotional breakdown was triggered by planning dinner. Although it was tied to deep seeded issues in my personal life, the trigger was food. We ended up eating frozen pizza because that was simple.

PS - For those following along with my progress, my boyfriend and I made it through 19 hours of our fast. We couldn't take it anymore so we had a pickle, two olives and some carrots with ranch dip. Then we had a lovely dinner of chicken, rice and green beans. It was a failure and a success at the same time. I'm glad I tried it. I don't think we'll be doing it again.

Weigh-in: Week 3

I made a little progress this week. I'm now down 2.6 pounds total. That's still shy of my goal of averaging a pound a week. But a loss is a loss and I'll take it.

I didn't have a good week when it comes to making smart choices. I ate a lot foods I shouldn't have and I didn't track my points a single day. I know that tracking is the No. 1 tool for success. Why can't I do it? Probably because I'm eating the wrong foods and I know the tracking won't look good. I was tempted by giant muffins, pizza, wine and cake this week and I gave in easily.

In hopes of jumpstarting my efforts for this coming week, my boyfriend and I started a 24-hour fast after dinner yesterday. Luckily, I'm working from home today so I'll be able to better handle any lightheadedness or fatigue. I'm allowing myself a little coffee this morning because I don't think giving up caffeine on the same day I don't eat would be a good idea. Beyond that, I'll be drinking lots of lemon water and green tea. I've not done this before, but I can see the benefits of flushing out the toxins and trying to reset my system.

We're planning a light dinner tonight and then tomorrow I'll be back to planning meals in advance. And tracking!!!!! My boyfriend and I are going to Charlotte for two days at the beginning of September. I'm really hoping to stay on track until then. That way I won't feel bad about splurging during our trip.

Weigh-in: Week 2

Bad news. I gained 0.4 pounds. That brings my total lost since I restarted my journey to 1.8 pounds.

The setback is disappointing. I let emotional eating get the better of me this past week. I've been under a lot of stress and I haven't made the best good choices.

There's no excuse ... but it didn't help that we had pizza in the office twice this week. And then there were treats from the new Publix. Today alone we've had chocolate chip cookies, cake and chips with queso dip. I resisted the sweets early on, but the cheese dip proved to be too much. I had just a few, but more than I should have.

I'm having dinner out tonight. I have a plan that includes healthy choices. I just need to stick to it.

I'm going to regroup tomorrow and plan meals for the coming week. My goal is an average of one pound a week. I'll have to make good progress this week to catch up and stay on track.

Wish me luck!

Weigh-in: Week 1

Weight lost: 2.2 pounds

While I'm not ready to publicly report my actual weight as I used to do, I do want to report on my progress each week. Friday's are my official weigh-in day. I'm happy I lost weight this week, especially since I had a few setbacks along the way.

I feel like I'm off to a good start, but this past week wasn't perfect. What I'm happy about is that even when "splurging" I still made better choices than I made a week ago. I also cooked a lot of healthy food.

One area where I wasn't successful is exercise. I walked only one day and didn't reach 10,000 any days. Sigh

That said, I'm already planning meals for this weekend and next week. Saturday will be a challenge since I'm going to Ribfest. But I think I should be able to continue my progress the rest of the week.

My ultimate goal is to lose an average of 1 pound a week. I think I can lose 1 pound this week.