6 Weeks to Vacation

I feel like I'm in the home stretch to Christmas and I really want to start making some real headway! I only lost .2 pounds this week, but I shook things up food wise and exercised a lot, so I know I'm doing the right thing and it's becoming habitual witch is great! I think I finally realized that Atkins was not doing it for me. With that plan I always felt like I could eat as much legal food as I wanted. This presented a few problems: 1) a lot of Atkins food is very calorie dense, 2) it perpetuated emotional eating and not listening to hunger and 3) it gave me a profound fear of carbs, especially refined ones.

In an effort to stop living a fear driven life, I've added whole grains and a few fruits back into my plan. I'm also practicing daily affirmations telling myself that I am in control. I'm basically using SparkPeople to plan and track my meals/calories. I'm trying not to get totally obsessive about the calorie tracking. I can tend to say, "Oh, no! They don't list my exact brand of bread...I need to create a custom list for it. And, nooooo! My nutrition label only states what 100g contains. What's in a slice?! I better weigh it out and do a bunch of math." If I eat a normal looking slice of bread, I'll just pick the closest looking thing off the list and call it "good enough".

Thanks to you all for the input on my son. I've been trying to explain to him that I'm trying to grow stronger. He says, "Ohhhh, so you can jump to the ceiling?" ~smiles~ Uh, huh....sure, yes! It cemented with him a bit more on Saturday when we were out hiking in the forest with some friends. His friend Emmet and his mother ran down the hill, and my son wanted to do the same. I told him (no, it's not the perfect response, but I think it worked), "Emmet's mummy is skinny, I'm trying to get healthy so I can run with you too! But, for now, I need to walk down this hill so I don't hurt my knees." He really accepted that, and was happy to walk safely with me down the hill.

My goals for last week were:

continue with low carb eating, allowing occasional whole grain serving~I shook this up and have pretty much changed my plan
continue with 3 liters of water and green tea daily (has anyone discovered Matcha?? It's so good!)~did pretty well, a little light on water over the weekend, though
2 strength and 2 HIITs~actually did 3 strength and 2 HIITs, plus yard work and a forest hike
process and upload 2 more months of photos~yeah! made it through August and September
practice being kind to myself~this is an ongoing goal, I don't know why it's so difficult!
schedule a spa appointment for next Tuesday morning~my schedule changed Tuesday, so I'll have to find another day...
practice being in the moment~like being kind to ones self, this takes practice and is not easy!

So, for this week, my plan will be:

1. Follow my meal plan, and eat 1600-1800 cals a day
2. 3 strength, 2 HIIT workouts
3. Continue with 3 liters water, and green tea
4. Process and upload October photos
5. Daily affirmations
6. Practice being in the moment