Slow and Steady

I weighed myself this morning. I am down 1.6 pounds this week. I will take that. I was pretty certain that giant crazy losses are beyond me at this point in my life. For a couple reasons in particular, I weigh in the 150’s, which means that weight loss isn’t going to be miraculous. I am already pretty fit as a general whole, i.e., I have a lot more muscle on me that wants to keep my weight higher and finally, I am eating a whole hell of a lot more. If I were going to truly be crazy lose it girl I would go full force into weight watchers but honestly it’s not enough food for me at this point.  Recording my food into My Fitness Pal has shown me that eating between 1200-1400 calories a day pretty consistently would be MANY more weight watchers points. On average, I just went back a couple days and the foods I’m eating would be closer to 32-35 points a day. I am supposed to eat 26.  Clearly, if I ate this many points a day I would/could still lose weight as I am, but obviously not 2-3 pounds a week. I am comfortable with my 1.6 pounds. The previous week I lost 1.7, so clearly this is the pace my body is moving at with the foods I am feeding it. If next week I am in that 1.5 pound weight loss range I will know that this is in fact the right combo to keep this pace.

This makes it seem like I am somehow discouraged by 1.6 pounds. I am not. I think it’s great. I am eating foods that I want, not “point” counting, and most importantly having fun again recording foods and using my heart rate monitor. I know it will fade again, but for now I’m excited and that’s awesome. That means in 2 weeks I’ve lost 3.3 pounds. That’s progress. And I’m not starving, and I’m feeding my muscles. I should reiterate that when I lost all the weight 2 years ago, I did not starve myself. I really ate very well and loved myself. It was just totally different because I did not have the same body composition that I do now. I didn’t know any differently so eating 26 points a day worked because I wasn’t feeding muscle. My food intake is centered so much more on protein at this point in my life and honestly 2 years ago I could care less about protein. It’s the extra protein that makes my current point count higher. BUT my current body needs the protein.

I am actually REALLY comfortable with my pace right now because that would put me solidly in the mid 140’s when I go to San Jose the beginning of October and celebrate my 2 year weight loss anniversary. Our priorities and expectations are constantly shifting in life and that’s perfectly okay. Little by little we can widdle away at this, while still being strong and healthy. The weight on the scale really is so much less important than the feeling of confidence I get by eating healthy and being strong and in control, and ultimately that is what it’s all about.  Weight is highly irrelevant.

I had a good workout last night, personal training and then Iron Power class. Nice and strong and powerful. Good times. Tonight I am heading into the gym for some stuff on my own. I am going to do what I had intended to do on Tuesday night before I got puppy distracted and hit at least 15 minutes on the treadmill, I might go ahead and try and do 20 minutes, 2 miles, and then 15 minutes on the stair climber and THEN do my weights. I need to start adding just a tid bit more cardio into my routine. I honestly don’t do enough during the week. I think it should be good. I’m excited to try out this combo and see how it goes for me. Mix things up. Of course I’m excited at 11 AM in the morning, not sure how I am going to feel come 5 PM but that’s fine,  I am not at all doubting my ability to go ahead and do it, because that’s just what I do. I am a creature of routine and my routine is just to go to the gym most nights.

Chris has today and tomorrow off of work, so he gets to hang out with Baby Bella, which is really good. He has to run into his work area so he is taking Bella to introduce her to the guys there and then over to his dad’s so that he can meet her too. It is good to get them acquainted because he needs to be my babysitter when I go on my weekend adventures that I will not give up because we now have a puppy. In all fairness Grandpa is VERY good with dogs so there is no reason to assume he will not love her cute adorable little face as much as we do.

Speaking of cute adorable little faces, here are a few new photos from last night of my Bella Bugg. She is doing really well by the way. She is a puppy for sure, but she’s doing awesome. Molly on the other hand, is going to take a lot more convincing that Bella is worth keeping around. Baby steps.