I’ve made it through six weeks! Barely. I have to be honest – last night I was seriously thinking about throwing in the towel. I’ve been bummed all week about my gain last week and despite exercising a lot more and being more careful staying within my daily points, I didn’t really expect to lose much this week. But I stepped on the scale this morning and was absolutely thrilled to see that I lost 2.4 pounds! That’s my second biggest loss so far and incredibly exciting. It’s given me fresh motivation to keep going.
I think my biggest stumbling block right now is that evil voice inside my head telling me I can’t do this. I can’t seem to get out of my mind that I’m never going to get to where I’d ideally like to be, so there’s no point in trying at all. People keep reminding me that this is a long process – a complete life change if I ever want to keep the weight off. Results are not immediate and it’s supposed to be hard. But nobody likes doing hard things, especially when it means denying yourself the foods you enjoy day after day after day.
I’m not sure what I did differently this past week, but it obviously worked. I don’t think I’ve gone out to eat at all. And I didn’t eat many of my usual afternoon snacks of crackers or chips. I gave in and bought apple dip, which isn’t so great, but it made me eat a whole lot of apples which I don’t really like by themselves. I also made a conscious effort to drink more water and simply move around more. I didn’t necessarily exercise more, but rather found more active things to do with purpose around the house. Vacuuming with vigor, cleaning out the van, picking up toys whenever I see them throughout the day, etc. Every little bit counts, right?
Although I am really excited about this weight loss and hope I can report another loss next week, I’ve also decided to stick with my plan to take the weekend off. My birthday is on Sunday and I had/have a lot of fun things planned for today and this weekend. I don’t plan on eating like crazy, but I don’t want to count points and feel guilty about everything that goes into my mouth either. I’ll indulge a little the next few days and then be really good next week. I think birthdays are worth giving in a little. Which is why I made myself this delicious little cake! It’s actually triple fudge brownies layered with peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough frosting. That slice I had for dessert tonight was the most sugar I’ve eaten at one time in six weeks! But it was oh so good. 🙂
In other news, my daily photo assignment is coming along. I took this of Shepard yesterday while I was vacuuming out the van. He was having a great time pretending to drive!
And to kick my birthday weekend off, I spent some time with my mom and brother today going out to lunch and then pumpkin hunting afterward. The first place we stopped at had the friendliest farm animals I’ve ever seen! This donkey was so cute, I wanted to take him home for a pet.
He seemed desperate for attention and decided to chase Shepard as far as his rope would go to get it. Shepard was terrified, but it was pretty funny to watch.
The pumpkins were all extremely overpriced, in my opinion. I thought for sure that if we went to a farm in the middle of nowhere we’d be able to find some for less than $10 each. Nope! So I settled for some poorly expressioned photos instead.
That’s it for week six! I’m not feeling very optimistic for week seven after this weekends’ indulgences, but I refuse to feel guilty about it. I’m getting a much better hold on what I should/need to eat to feel comfortably satisfied without overdoing it. I just need to stick with my instincts. The decisions are getting a lot easier!
