Still going strong ...

I'm down another 1.4 pounds for a total loss of 19.6 ... soooooo close to the 20 pound mark, I could taste it! Haha!

This was a good week -- stressful for sure, but still good. I felt in control of my eating habits and even managed to add in some activity this week by taking long walks with the kids and doing some much-needed spring cleaning. I can't wait for summer to start up so that I can get more exercise in.

For the coming week, I need to focus on getting through Easter without eating both my kids' chocolate bunnies! I'm also going to try to stay away from high sodium ham and fill up on veggies and water.

Not bad ... not bad.

I lost 0.6 lbs, but this was a wacky week for me. I felt really good and under control the first four days of this week, but then I had a colonoscopy on Tuesday. Because of that, I had to fast all day Monday and most of Tuesday -- I wasn't even allowed to drink water! Then I didn't have much of an appetite after the procedure on Tuesday and on Wednesday, so I barely ate all my points those days. At one point, I was down 6 pounds in 24 hours (great, right?) but the minute I started to eat again, my weight came back up.

So I'm not going to complain -- after all, a loss is a loss. And all things considered, I've lost 18.2 pounds total in 10 weeks. Woohoo! It's all still good.

Anyway, I'm back on track today and working to get rehydrated. I'm also writing down everything I'm putting into my mouth and doing my best to make healthy meal choices. Hopefully, I'll see another big drop next week and -- with a little luck and hard work -- I'll break that 20lb mark!

Back on track!

I've lost 3.6 pounds this week for a total of 17.8 pounds gone. Whew! I did everything I said I would in my last post ... I drank lots and lots of water and wrote down everything I ate. I also did not go over on my points allowance, and didn't dip into my flex points too much. I felt in control and confident ... and I did it!

This is a big accomplishment for me because the stress of worrying over my mom has not gone away. I just decided to react to it differently -- instead of eating myself into oblivion, I spaced out my meals so that I was never hungry, and tried to work out my stress in other ways (like going to sleep, playing with my kids, going for a walk, etc).

I'm really proud of myself.

A minor set-back ...

So this week I gained 1.6 pounds. Ugh. I'm so annoyed with myself. I know exactly where I went wrong. There was that child's birthday party I attended with the yummy, greasy mini hot dogs in phyllo dough and then the brownies that I made with my kids that I resisted for a good 24 hours before I caved and ate half the tray. I don't even want to get into the amount of stress that I've felt over the last week ... more bad news from my mom's oncologist and the anticipation of additional surgeries in her battle against breast cancer.

So I'm taking this as a sign -- a sign that I can't ever just have one piece of anything sinful. I just don't have the will power yet to limit myself like that. When I'm under this kind of stress, and have unhealthy food in front of me, I will always give myself permission to eat as much as I can until I'm numb. Hell, that's what got me into this mess in the first place!

While I'm pissed at myself for allowing a gain this past week, I'm looking at it as a learning experience. I have to remember that my journey to lose weight is going to be a long one, and that there are going to set-backs. That's just life. But as long as I stay focused and committed to this journey, the weight will continue to come off.

Moving forward this week, I will get back on track by focusing on the basics. I will drink all my water. I will not go over on my daily points allowance (I won't even tap into my flex points) and I will avoid all unhealthy food choices until I feel strong enough to resist them.

With a little luck and a lot of commitment, I hope to post a loss of more than 1.6 pounds next week.