Crappy August ...

I'm winding down this month at the exact same spot that I started it ... I'm at 34.4 pounds gone. The past three weeks have been a roller coaster of stress eating, inconsistent exercising and just plain blah-ness. I won't go into the gory details. Suffice it to say that I didn't have my head in the game this month.

This week, I'm back to the basics again. I will be drinking all my water, eating all my veggies/fruits/grains/etc, and walking at least 3 times a week. I lost 2 pounds this week, which I consider a gift since I haven't done a single thing to deserve that loss. The next loss I get, though, I'll know I earned.

Two steps forward, one step back ...

I'm a little frustrated with myself this week. I blew my knee out running the week before last, so I cut way back on my walking this past week so that it could heal. So even though I really paid attention to everything I ate, the scale showed a 1.8 pound gain anyway. Grrrr.

I know I shouldn't be disappointed. It's not like I gained the whole 36 pounds I lost so far, but I felt like I was really hitting my stride and I wanted to keep up the momentum. Plus, it's sooo motivating to see myself losing consistently again when I felt like I was gaining/losing the same 5-6 pounds for a while, ya know?

But I guess that's life. And I've really got to look at the big picture. My total weight loss over the course of 7 months averages at a little over a pound a week. I know that's the healthy way to lose weight, and I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a race. If it was, I would have signed up for gastic bypass and been done with it all.

Anyway, my knee is doing much better, so I'm back to walking (not running). Hopefully, combined with my under-control eating, this will make a difference on the scale Thursday.

** keeping my fingers crossed **

Ummm. Wow!?

I didn't post last week because, well, I didn't lose anything and I didn't gain anything. I was still doing everything that I need to do to stay on program (track my food, walking regularly, eating more whole foods, etc.) but I felt I didn't have anything to really report.

Today is a different story. I lost FOUR POINT FOUR pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have any explanation for this, other than I think my body finally caught up with all the walking I am doing, and maybe adjusted itself accordingly??? I don't know. But to put things in perspective ... I now have LESS than 100 pounds to lose to make it to goal. And my total loss to date equals my 3 year old son's entire weight: 36.2 pounds. Wow. Just wow.

Okay, so I've got to keep this up. I'm so close to the 40 pound loss that I can taste it. So my big goal is to increase walking to 4 times next week. But I'm also going to continue to drink all my water, to write down everything I put in my mouth and to cut back on processed foods in favor of whole foods (like fruits and veggies and proteins).

I can do this. Heck. Look at me! I *am* doing it!!!