Hell Week

Thank goodness Hell Week is over for another year.
It was a very busy stressful time, and like every year, am SO thankful when it is done.

That doesn't mean the "hellish" part is completely finished.  There are still 24 days to go in this quest for gift buying, food preparing season, and there will be hellish days.  But none so trying as the whole Brown Thursday Black Friday events.  *whew*

But I wore my tracker faithfully every single day,
and reached a notable 61,544 steps from Monday to Friday!

You'd think with all that walking and such the weight would have melted off, but nooooo, that never happens.  Partly because of the stress, I'm sure.  Cortisol builds up when we're stressed and hangs on to whatever we have, just in case it will be needed in some other mode.  Our bodies are quite wonderful that way, but our lifestyle doesn't fit with the way our bodies work.  Which could explain the obesity rates in our country.  Changes need to be made!

And I am hoping to gear up and begin my own changes this week.  Yeah, yeah, I know, I've said it before, and will say it again, I'm sure!  But every journey has to begin somewhere.  So I will go back to the way I was thinking 18 months ago.... damn has it been that long?  Have I been slacking off for that much time??  And in all honesty, I have to admit that yes, indeed, I have let things go.

I'm going to start simple.  My only goal this week is to eat sensibly, and lose 2 lbs.  I can't give myself the total weird diet strategies such as "only 900 calories today" or "90 minutes of cardio today"  or the worst "only vegetables today".  That just doesn't work for me.  I have to be logical.  When I gave up smoking 28 years ago, I could quit cold turkey and it wasn't so hard because I didn't have cigarettes around.  But it doesn't work that way with food.  We all have to eat.  And eating junk food is much cheaper than eating foods that are good for you.  With the cooler temps here, a bowl of soup tastes delish, and its easy to drop in a few extra vegetables to get your daily quota!

Because of my work hours, today I am cooking a 12lb turkey.  There will be plenty of leftovers for soups, I'm sure!  Turkey Rice soup.  Tortellini Turkey soup.  The combinations are endless.  Now to just get some veggies in the fridge and get started!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone :)