1.2 pounds in 16 days

Hola!

Sorry for the brief hiatus...I mentioned in my last post that Zach's son was staying with us and it pretty much consumed any free time I had. Then, last Tuesday, I woke up to HORRIBLE sciatic nerve pain on my right hip. If you haven't had that, you are very lucky and I hope you never do! It is among the most painful things I've endured. It feels like someone stabs you with a knife, twists it so that pain shoots down your leg, and you feel like your leg is going to give out underneath you. Not fun. I got some muscle relaxers, pain meds, and Today I'm doing better and hope to be resuming my normal step count soon.

Despite the many trips to Taco Bell (Zach's son's favorite place to go), amusement park "food", trips to Dairy Queen, impromptu snacks and/or 4th meals, and the copious amounts of candy at the house, I somehow managed to lose weight while he was here.

To be honest, when I stepped on the scale yesterday morning, it actually showed a lower number - indicating that I lost more than 1.2 pounds. According to that scale, I lost 2 pounds. But I doubted that number so much because I knew that my eating had been erratic and definitely not as healthy as I usually am. Thinking that maybe I was a bit dehydrated, I rounded up to the nearest number. I figure if the 2 pounds are accurate, it'll all work itself out the next time I weigh.

I am proud that most times I ate only half of whatever was in front of me. Not only because it meant less calories consumed but because I actually was already satisfied and felt like stopping. There were times when Zach and his son would eat through "my" foods - like the 45 calorie bread, reduced fat peanut butter, or my Skinny Cow treats - very quickly rather than eating the stuff that we purposely bought for them. I wanted to yell "THAT'S *MY* FOOD! STOP EATING IT!" which obviously meant that something was being triggered. In reality though, there is always enough. And sometimes I stockpiled my favorite food and in the case of the peanut butter, I just went to Costco and bought two huge jars for them to devour. One time I told Zach that if he ate the second to last Skinny Cow treat it was his job to go and get more.

Although I've done a lot of mental work around food, I was amazed at how many times my desire to eat "my share" of something popped up.

Overall, I think I did fairly well. I racked up a ton of activity by going to batting cages, playing mini golf, playing at amusement parks, Dave and Busters, GoKarts, and human mazes. His son will be able to come and visit us over Christmas break so I'll have another shot at practicing a more balanced attitude towards food and being a sorta-step parent.

Steps

I mentioned last week that I've been tracking my calories on myfitnesspal and my steps on my fitbit.

I've put the last 30 days of my steps activity below...and you can see (even if you can't read the axis labels) that I've really "stepped it up" in my activity levels over the last week and a half.  The little one on the right side is today - and since it's not even 10 AM yet, I'm not down on myself for having it only be at 1500 steps so far.

I haven't gone way over my calorie limits according to myfitness pal in the past week, but I haven't been way under either.  Typically, I'm right around the limit.  Well, other than this past Saturday and Sunday...I didn't track anything so I have no real clue where I was.

My point is (and I promise, there is one), is that each step counts.  Literally.  Each time I choose the stairs or to walk around the building, it counts - everything adds up.  Somehow that makes me more motivated to execute on the healthy plans I have for myself.

Each time I choose to eat a Skinny Cow candy pack instead of a Snickers bar, I'm saving 200 calories - and that adds up.  Each time I choose to honor my body by not eating more (because I'm already satisfied, because I'm not really hungry, etc.), it adds up.

I believe that each step creates momentum.

In fact, I went to the GYN yesterday and was weighed.  I'm down a bit over 15 pounds since January and down 5 pounds since the beginning of July (per their scale and medical records).  I may not be making leaps and bounds, but these small steps are getting me to where I want to be.

In other (semi-related) news, Zach's son is staying with us for a little over two weeks.  He flies into Denver tomorrow night and flies home to New York on the 25th.  He's 13 and from what I remember the few times I met him years ago, he's a pretty calm, respectful kid.  Zach says he's awesome but a) most parents say that about their kids and b) he's not exactly around his kid a ton to know if the moodiness has taken place.  They talk regularly, but they're not exactly long conversations.  I'm pretty sure it involves a lot of grunting and ball scratching.  :)  So while I'm not exactly sure of how the next two weeks are going to go, I feel confident that it will all work out - one way or another.

Because he and I look to further our relationship, this is a necessary next step.  We need to see how we will all function as a family unit.  We need to figure out if there are any glaring issues facing us or if we have similar parenting instincts.

But just like losing weight is the next physical step in my journey to get healthier (and there are lots of little physical and theoretical steps that make up that big one), there are lots of little steps in the next two weeks.

The first step is picking him up from the airport tomorrow...and I'm excited to report back how all the other little steps progress.

Wish us luck!