Day 6 & 7

I'm happy to report that the weekend did not totally kick my ass. This is actually the best weekend I've had in a while as far as food consumption goes.

I wasn't feeling that great this weekend so I did do any proper working out. I never feel badly about taking a weekend off from exercise because I do so well through the week. Anyway, we went out for dinner last night and had a really nice Chinese meal. I'd eaten breakfast late and skipped lunch so I kept things under control calorie wise. Today, we made a "big breakfast" at home. It was really delicious, filling and low in fat. We had "break free" eggs, turkey sausage and home made whole wheat bread. My hunny even made potatoes with lots of garlic and fresh dill. It's amazing how you don't miss the butter and fat when you have lots of good fresh herbs around. It was so good and filling that again, we didn't bother with lunch. We're neither of us all that hungry right now so we'll probably have a very light dinner tonight.

The first week went really well. My goal for this week was to not show a gain this weekend (because of TOM -- I always gain a couple of pounds and then lose it later on). This week, I met my goal and didn't show a gain at weigh-in yesterday! Also, I exercised Monday to Friday before work. I didn't do as well with my water intake as I'd have liked but I'm finding it harder to do this now that the colder weather is here. It's pretty chilly in my office so it's a struggle to get the extra water in. I'm working on it though, never fear. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how week one of my "Holiday Challenge" went. I'm sure that it will go even better next week. I know that I can lose the 10 pounds by Christmas day because I'm off to such a great start. Yay me!!

Day 5

Yes, I did get through Day 5, never fear!! I just didn't post yesterday because I felt like hammered crap all day.

When I got up yesterday, I had a headache and just felt generally yucky. I did a really light workout when I got up and managed to get showered, dressed and into work. By 10 a.m. though, I was feeling really really bad and I went home. The rest of the day, I just sort of slept and wandered around the house. By late afternoon I was feeling much better and today I'm doing okay. It sort of felt like part flu, part allergies. I had a headache and my eyes were driving me crazy, like they do when the pollen is high.

I was quite proud of myself yesterday too, btw. Usually when I'm home sick, I get bored and I start to snack. Yesterday though, I had had my regular breakfast and coffee. About an hour after I was home, I got kind of hungry so I had what I would have had if I was at work, a banana. Around 1, I had lunch (a TGTB frozen meal) and an apple. I didn't snack for the rest of the day and even though we had pizza at dinner, I kept what I was eating in check and remained on plan.

So far, today is going well too. Weekends and days off from work are the toughest for me but I've been keeping busy today getting my Christmas decorations up. I'm keeping positive that I'll be able to remain on plan for the rest of the weekend. I weighed in this morning too by the way. I maintained this week which meant that I may have actually had a loss ...I always gain a little when it's TOM and that all started up today so...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll actually be down a bit next weekend!

...Day 4

Woohoo...I've got day four behind me. It was another perfectly on plan day. I've been a bit crampy today and this afternoon, I felt like I was starving to death (for about 10 minutes -- don't know quite what it was but it passed!). Tonight I feel good, tired but good. The week's been busy at work and I'm pre-TOM right now so I'm kind of dragging my bum tonight.

This morning though, I got up and worked out. I love my morning workouts. I like getting up before the birds, getting into my exercise gear, watching the previous day's Dr Phil and just going. Work has been kind of stressful just recently and I know that I'm coping a lot better than I would have because of the exercise.

So, other than eating and exercising being on plan today (my what a good girl am I!), there's not much to report. Oh, wait, I reorganized the shelves in my kitchen above the washer and dryer tonight -- that's something I've been avoiding doing for ages and ages so I guess that could be considered 'newsworthy.' Demented and sad, but newsworthy!!

Into the Groove...Day 3

Boy, what listening to Christmas music all day won't do for a girl!! That's right, I'll admit it, I've been listening to some of my all-time favourite Christmas tunes through my headset this week: "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues (with Kirsty MacColl), "I want an alien for Christmas" by the Fountains of Wayne, "Santa Claus Is Smoking Reefer" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.... It's made me chuckle and smile while I've been plugging away at my desk all week.

I think that it's helped to improve my mood slightly, or my continuing Holiday Challenge has anyway. I just feel gosh-darned good this week. Today was the third day of the challenge and I'm feeling great. I had a fabulous workout again this morning. Now that my body has adjusted to my new medication and I'm actually sleeping well again, I'm putting a lot more into my exercise sessions. I'm getting a lot more out of it too, I'm feeling very strong this week.

My food intake was right on track today as well. The one big thing that I could improve upon is my water consumption. I've been working at increasing it and today was a bit better than yesterday but still not where it should be, particularly with the PMS thing and all. I know that TOM is just around the corner and I'll be super happy if, on Saturday, I just don't see a water gain. If I can avoid a TOM induced gain this week, I'll know that the challenge is working.

By the way, Denise, thanks for the nice comment about the challenge. I'm so glad to hear that you'll be joining me in it!! If we can lose weight during the holidays, there isn't anything that we can't do!!

...Day 2

Fortunately, blogger is behaving tonight. I'm not sure if they were having server issues or if it was just my isp but things were definitely wonky last night.

Today was another great day. I got up at a decent time and had a terrific workout. I rode over 7 miles on my recumbent bike. The particular program that I ride on it is pretty gruelling, most of it is at 6 or 7 resistance. I try to maintain a constant speed through the whole ride and it's been really challenging, particularly on this longer program. Overall, I'm really pleased with my progress.

Today my eating was good. At work this morning, we had a birthday thing for one of the girls in our office. We had a meeting scheduled and they had booked a coffee service for it. Unfortunately, a couple of the participants weren't able to make it so we postponed it. The food had already arrived and, as luck would have it, there was a birthday in the office. The service had coffee, tea, bottled water and juice and the most delicious smelling pastries: muffins, danish, croissants. Even though I'd had breakfast, my nose was trying to tell my stomach to have something, because the aroma was heavenly. I was strong though and I'm happy to report that I stuck to my black coffee (that I'd brought with me) and stayed away from the pastries. Most of the time, I find it really easy to be "strong" at work in situations like this. Perhaps because PMS is just around the corner, it was more of a struggle today. I'm just happy that I survived it.

After work tonight, we hit No Frills. We were out of almost everything. I was really happy to see that Source yogurt was on for $3.97 for the 16 pack. I just love that stuff and you absolutely cannot beat that price. We're all stocked up on healthy stuff again, lots of fruit and veg. Tomorrow we take our little old for his shopping and I'll get a few more things then. He likes to shop at Loblaws but I just will not pay their meat and produce prices. I do have to get a few staples there though, things that I just can't get at No Frills. On the way home, we stopped off for an unplanned dinner out. We ended up at Denny's and I'm happy to say that I did okay as far as my dinner goes. I avoided stuff with cheese or too much fat and my calories worked out just fine again today.

With two solid, good days under my belt, I'm feeling really good about this Christmas Challenge thing. I just feel so good right now, there is no way that I can't succeed!!

I'm not sure why but I couldn't get on Blogger last night....so, here is Monday evening's post:

Holiday Challenge: Day 1

I’ve officially started my self-imposed challenge: to lose 10 pounds by Christmas Day. Given that it’s a month from Christmas, I don’t think that this is unreasonable. I’m confident that I can do it. I may even surpass my goal, I’m not getting a head of myself, just saying, ya know?

So, today I kept perfectly on plan all day with my eating. No stray cookies after dinner for this chickie! I carefully tracked each calorie, just like when I first started out back in January. It wasn’t difficult; in fact, it was easier than the way I’ve been tracking things lately. I feel pretty good about it right now. I’ve left myself enough calories for a snack after I’ve typed this up. I generally try not to snack in the evenings but this is a healthy snack and we had dinner pretty early tonight.

Also, I exercised this morning. I didn’t do it for a long time or, particularly well, truth be told. What happened was that I slept in a bit and was rushing a bit. I was actually up really early but fell back asleep. I should never do that because it’s always so much harder to get going once you’ve fallen back. If it happens again tomorrow, I’ll just get up at 4:30 and get moving then. Getting up at 5:45 is just too late!

I know it’s just one day but it’s been a good one and I feel happy that it’s behind me now!

Now, here is today’s Progress Prompt:

People say that losing weight too quickly can be damaging for your health and your long-term success, why? There are many merits to a slow and steady weight-loss, what are the biggest ones for you?

I think that there is a lot of truth to this. I think that losing weight too quickly can cause a shock to your system which is never good. Personally, I know that the slower I lose weight, the better shot I have at keeping it off. In the past, I’d lose a chunk of weight quickly and then gain it back twice as fast. I never gave myself the time to develop good habits; I’d just use short cuts (read slim fast, cabbage soup, etc.) instead of exercising and eating better.

This is the first time in my life that I’ve been able to keep a significant amount of weight off. I’ve lost over 70 pounds since January and have kept it off. Sure, I would have liked to have lost a lot more than that by now but I know that I’m doing this in a healthy fashion. I see my doctor once a month so I have someone else keeping an eye on me and monitoring my health as I continue to lose weight. I’ve been stalled for a few weeks now but the big thing for me was that I didn’t gain everything back. I just stalled. I feel good about that, not great but good. Now, I’m ready to get back on my slow and steady ride. I want to move my body, everyday, and fuel it with healthy stuff. I’ve said this enough times that I know you’re all sick of reading it but this is not a “diet” that I’ll stop doing eventually, this is something that I’ll have to do for the rest of my life. I know that for me, the pace at which I’ve been losing weight is perfectly reasonable and safe and, most importantly, healthy.

So, I ended up taking the whole weekend off from properly exercising. I feel great though. Lately, the weekend's have been a complete blow-out for me. I've been maintaining but just barely. This weekend, I had a few "treats" but didn't go nuts. I managed to keep pretty busy around the house. I mean, no doubt, we were vegging out but I puttered while I vegged. I sorted out piles of videos and CD's from around the stereo, packed up piles of knick-knacks that I've been wanting to chuck out, that sort of thing.

I'm treating tomorrow as if it were January 6 again. My goal is to remain perfectly on program from now until Christmas. I'd LOVE to lose 10 pounds before the end of the year and I don't think that it's an unreasonable goal. I'm feeling stronger and more energetic than I have felt in a good long while and I'm going to use that feeling to get my butt moving again!