Lifestyle Change Day 9

Here I am, 9 days into the changes, and ... it's going well. 

I've not lost any weight, but I'm feeling better than I did before. 
I'm trying to stay positive about the changes, and hope that other things will follow when my body and hormones adjust to the new eating style.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself. For now.

Sunday, with the Superbowl, I exceeded my Diet Coke limit, and treated myself to a small plate of home made nachos.  Which nearly started a fire in my microwave! 

I had this paper plate left over from Christmas, red with a gold trim.  I wasn't thinking the trim had any metal in it, but I should have guessed.  I couldn't figure out what the smell was as I was melting cheese on my nachos!  But back to nachos, it was just 1 serving of tortilla chips, a little melted cheese, then chopped avocado and tomatoes on top.  Which tasted delish!

My step counts were down that day as well, because of the rain.  But they're back up over 10K again this week.  My food counts are recorded and each day it's been over 85 in the nutrient content, and that makes me happy.

I see my doctor tomorrow for an annual checkup.  I know she'll say something about my weight.  And maybe a lecture if my cholesterol is up, or my blood pressure.

Be Active

Here it is, Monday again.  and my self weigh-in was discouraging this morning.  I know that I didn't amp up the activities over the weekend, but at my age, toting laundry to and fro, digging up dead cacti in the garden and painting the trim on the back of the house was active!

What I find hardest in all of this "road to better health" (because calling it a *diet* sounds temporary!) is finding my balance between eating, work and exercising vs the things I enjoy doing, like photography, trivia games and genealogy research.

Being balanced is necessary, otherwise I will get bored with the "better health" part.  And letting loose with fav foods and no exercise would not be a good thing!   So I struggle from day to day finding ways to do the little things I enjoy, along with the other things I need to do.   I've found that breaking up my exercise routine, dashing next door to 24-Hour fitness on my lunch hour to get in a 30-minute cardio session breaks up my day.  I force myself to stop back in after work because I leave my gym back in the locker.  hahaha  But once I get there and changed, it's not so bad.  I can work on extra cardio, or split it up with some cardio and strength training.


I had higher hopes of the weight just melting off as I increased my activity, but I think I'm building some muscle, and that weighs more than fat.  *sigh*  I know its only a couple of pounds, but it's still making me a little crazy.





However, I broke another record today!

According to FitBit, I earned an

Urban Foot Badge = 15,000 steps+

Sweeeeeet!   Personal Best!






Thank goodness it's Monday = Antiques Roadshow .....
Is it bedtime yet?????  I'm ready!!!  lol )

It's not the scale

When a person starts an exercise program, or a diet even, the focus is so often The Scale.  And while that may be the ultimate goal to achieve, there are other things that are just important:  progress. 

When I committed to working out on a regular basis back in March, there were so many things that I couldn't do.  It was a challenge to my trainer finding what I needed to work on first.  At first I could only "plank" for 15 seconds on a good day.  Now, we're working toward a whole minute.  "Bridges" have moved from two feet, to single leg, to balanced on a ball.   The  worst was my balance.  My left side is much stronger than my right.  I could only stand on my right foot alone for 30 seconds if I was lucky.  Now, I balance on each foot for a minute and I don't lose my balance (well, usually I don't. hehehe)  All three of these exercises are done every time we meet, in succession three times, for a superset.  And that consistency has brought improvements, progress!

The point is when you keep working at something,

it's the small victories that we need to hold on to. 

it's not checking the scale for the only measure of success.

Keep focused, and keep on trying!