When Weight Loss Progress is Discouraging

Remember my blog from yesterday? It was the one about the large number of calories burned and not so large number consumed? I was sure the scale would tilt in my favor this morning but I was wrong. I know I should be happy I did not gain but holding exactly the same was not what I expected. I've had many people tell me over time that I should not watch the scale every day. I realize that works for some people but not for me. I need to know which days I am doing what pushes my body to lose and which I am not.

Of course this morning it would have been nice to not have see that same number again. But if I followed the group who only weigh once a week I would not have seen that I loss and regained 3 pounds during the week last week. I would not have been in tune with the fact that the sodium count was what knocked me off the loss path. And because of things like this, I weigh every day.

I know any goal has set backs, I just need to stick with it and do a better job not getting derailed. So that was my focus today, forget the lack of loss and concentrate on more exercise and eating right. Let's hope tomorrow the scale reflects that I did these things.

What I ate today:

1 cup raw cauliflower
1 square homemade crustless quiche
1 spinach salad
1 hamburger patty (lean ground beef)
1 sandwich thin
1 4 oz cup yogurt, Dannon Light and Fit Diabetic Friendly

Exercise:
Total steps just short of 10,000
Once around the building on my way into the office
1/2 mile at lunch to get the salad
2 miles tonight after dinner

And with that I am hitting publish on this post and heading to bed for some much needed rest.

///k///

Zero Gain Week

Today I weight about .2 pounds less than this time last week...not enough to call a loss but not a gain. Unfortunately, everything that I ate Friday and Saturday did me in for the loss factor. At one point this week I was at 193 lbs. This morning I was 196. To many salty foods and not enough water.

Today I have eaten more like I should and exercised. I hope tomorrow morning the scale shows a bit of an adjustment. My goal next week is to increase water intake and cut the sugar from my diet again.

Today I ate:

1/2 carton plain Greek yogurt
4 slices tomato
2 slices oven roasted turkey
large salad for lunch, no dressing
1 cup butternut squash soup
Sandwich using Pepperidge Farm Light Oat bread, turkey, and cheese

For exercise I:

Rode tandem bike for 2 miles
1 mile walk pushing stroller
3 hours yardwork - dragging palm fronds and picking up clipped grass and limbs

A Decent Day

My day started off nicely with a 1.9 lb loss. I did make it out the door with my lunch but still forgot the fitbit. Maybe tomorrow I will get both things since it is the last chance of the workweek.

I walked 1.5 miles tonight. It was tougher than the last few times and even two hours later I am still feeling pretty winded from it. But I did it. I would have pushed on to the 2 mile route but we were walking with the dog and she was having a tougher time than I was.I think her arthritis is giving her fits again.

I ate a bit more than normal today but stayed within healthy limits on what I had.

This was today's food intake:

Thin bagel with 2 tablespoons peanut butter
20 grapes
1 square of quiche (1 egg with spinach, cheese)
1/2 cup steamed veggies
1 grilled drumstick
4 slices tomato
1/2 tossed salad with 1/4 tuna salad
1/2 cup steamed broccoli

Lack of Organization Kills Healthy Lifestyle!

I have always been proud of being organized and getting things done before they were due. That sure seems to have changed since a hospital stay upset my routine. Monday I forgot the Fitbit...I can do without it but prefer knowing what it tells me. Yesterday, I rolled out of bed thinking about getting it immediately so I would not forget it. Progress right? Nope, I managed to walk out the door without my lunchbox. I could not believe it. I have worked in this office for more than a year and almost every day have taken my lunch. My son bought me a nice thermos polka-dot printed lunch box for Christmas. It goes with me every morning. Well, every morning EXCEPT yesterday I guess! So today I made a special point of getting the lunch box and forgot the Fitbit again. Tomorrow I am determined to get out the door with both.

My problem with forgetting things lately is most likely caused by change in routine. When I got out of the hospital, school had already started. My mother-in-law was transporting the kids so I fell into her routine and got used to it. Then I went back to work and needed to do everything an hour earlier.

I normally hit the floor at quick pace just to get all the things I need to do done. I try to get up by 5am but this past week I have been tired to the point of exhaustion so the snooze button has gotten a work out. I did see a doc yesterday and am waiting on blood test results to see if I am anemic or have another infection.

My daily routine includes making three lunches while the coffee brews. I normally get dressed before I even come to the kitchen and make my rounds to wake the kids up before I start the food prep. Along with coffee and lunches, I pop a ham and cheese sandwich in the foreman grill for the teen who prefers that type of breakfast. By the time lunches are made and coffee is in the cup, the baby is normally awake. On a good day, he sleeps until I am done so I can grab him from the crib, change and dress him and sit him in the high chair to snack on dry cereal while I consume the coffee in a few swallows before we head out the door. I normally leave the house carrying him, my purse, my lunchbox and whatever else the kids need for school that they didn't get. 

This week my mom is visiting so in addition to the above, I am putting a load of laundry in the washer and getting it started so she can dry and fold it during the day. I also try to figure out what is for dinner so she can start part of it before I get home, and I wait to see what her blood sugar numbers are before I leave. Yesterday it seems we were all on the wrong schedule and running behind so the big kid took the baby and put him in his car seat while I waited for the sugar number. So when I headed out the door I was empty handed, no baby and no extra stuff. I didn't even notice my lunch box on the washer.

The downside of forgetting it is that my food choices without it are lousy. I grabbed an oatmeal from my desk drawer for breakfast but it was way to sweet for my tastes these days. For lunch my only real choice is Burger King as I only get 30 minutes for the meal. I had grilled chicken wraps. I didn't think anything else on the menu sounded even close to healthy.

Today I had dry cheerios for breakfast in hopes of not ruffling an upset stomach any further. I had a spinach salad for lunch and a piece of chicken breast and some cole slaw for dinner.

I walked 2 miles last night and tonight I cut grass and raked. Cutting didn't expend many calories because I was on the riding mower but it was a chore that had to be done since today, by some miracle, it did not rain!

My weight tracking for this week:

Monday: 196.7
Tuesday: 196.6
Wednesday: 195.6

I hope now that I am back to walking a bit I can continue to move down the scale. August messed up my plan but I hope to be back on a regular tracked for the rest of this month.

Day 1: Back to Food Tracking

In spite of still working with an energy shortage, I have decided to start tracking what I eat again and how many calories I am expending. Of course after making this decision, I forgot my Fitbit so I do not have a steps walked or calories expended update. I did manage to get away from my desk pretty much every hour today but lightning storms prevented me from walking outdoors today.  I took my mom to get some prescriptions filled so I did about 30 minutes of walking thru the store.

Today I ate:

Greek yogurt, 8 oz
Roast beef, turkey and cheese sandwich
Mixed steamed vegetables
1/4 cup stewed potatoes
1biscuit

Definitely not a good food day for me. I didn't eat enough of the right stuff and should not have had the biscuit or potatoes. Tomorrow will be better!

Trying to Get Back to Normal

It has been a month since my body decided to let me know it had been invaded by a staph infection. I am trying to get myself back to normal but it has been tough. The infection had canaled through my armpit as it grew while they decided what to do. I healed fairly quickly incision wise but getting my strength back has been a battle. I went back to work last week full days but by mid aftenoon ech day I am struggling.  I still have not managed to get back to a regular evening walk.

 I did walk to the dining hall today so that is progress but not as much as I would like.  I am still at a weight under 200 but have slowly gained almost back to that point. I hope another weekend with extra rest will get me back to a level I can walk some.

I am still battling a yeast rash from the amounts of antibiotics they ran thru me.  I have been released by the surgeon but plan to see my primary doc next week to see if she can pinpoint any cause for the extreme fatigue or confirm that I just need more time to heal.

I hope next week I can start to post updates about getting back on the weight loss path.