A Banner Week

Weight: 326.8
Total Weight loss: 9.8 pounds

I could hardly believe my eyes when I stepped on the scale this morning. I had actually not had too high hopes because I had some variables yesterday that I wasn't exactly sure about... mostly lunch, really.

So before I tell you about that, I want to say that this week was so successful not only because I lost almost ten pounds (!) but because I handled two potentially damaging situations really well. The first was resorting to Italian take-out the other night, and the second was going out to lunch to celebrate a beloved co-worker's birthday. In both situations it's really easy for me to throw pre-planning out the window and say, "Oh, what the heck! A little indulgence for a special occasion never hurt anyone." Ahem. But, this time, I didn't. I didn't panic in either case and simply tried to make the best choices I could and made sure I ate reasonable portions that fit into my daily allotment. I must say I am proud of how things turned out!

You already know about the spaghetti dinner the other night. Yesterday, I had a yummy but mostly pretty healthy Mediterranean meal, including chicken kabob, roasted vegetables, hummus, and pita, as well as some Lebanese-style potato salad. I also ended up drinking 4 glasses of ice water! The portion with the meal was what was key here. Just five or six one-inch pieces of grilled chicken, and small amounts of the other items. It was still very satisfying, since the quality of the food was so good. Very tasty indeed. Note that down: Quality trumps quantity!

This morning I started up the Couch to 5K program again. I did it successfully last year, and even finished a 5K race and continued running for a few months afterward. Then, winter hit and it was all over, sadly. This time around once winter comes, I will belong to a gym and will be able to continue running indoors, problem solved. Today's outing went well; I was able to do the whole sequence without too much of a problem, and my shins cooperated after a day off. Awesome!

I am just getting more and more excited about everything I am doing. I have to figure out how to keep this great momentum going beyond the first few weeks (and months). It's the only way I'm going to fully succeed and keep the weight off once and for all.