Sulking

This was a really busy weekend, and I didn’t get a chance to post my update. I also didn’t “make” time.

As of Saturday, I’ve gained 2 lbs. I’m 142.

Insert major sulk here. (mature, I know) And anger and a smidgen of self disgust. All things that strike fear into my heart. I don’t want to go down this path.

Last week, was not a bad week. I walked pretty much every day and I’ve found a new workout I’ve been doing. I wish I could say that I think the weight gain is from muscle and I would believe that if I had gained weight, but felt like my clothes were looser.

They are NOT looser.

In fact, I went to put some jeans on the other day, and ALL my jeans were tight. Now, I haven’t worn jeans/pants in over a month, probably more like 6 weeks, so it could be that they were just as tight a few weeks ago. I don’t know. It was depressing as all get out, let me tell ya.

So, what is going on? Good question. Obviously, I’m not doing something right. In fact, I think I’m trying TOO hard to make sure I’m getting enough “servings” of things that I’m probably eating more than I need. So, I’m going to work on downsizing my portions. I also need to slow down when I’m eating. I think I’m eating too fast because usually I’m in a hurry. And while I’m not eating a lot of junk food, snacking in the evening is sneaking in and maybe right now, I seriously need to limit any sweets to say weekends only and then take the time to have a nice dessert then.

After some research, I’ve also determined that I need to cut down on my salt. I don’t eat a lot of it, but it does sneak in. So I’m going to work on being more conscious of that.

I’m going to keep walking, keep working out and work on the salt/sweets/snacks this week and see what happens.

So, doom and gloom aside, here’s what IS working for me. The cold water is definitely working. I have a container that is exactly the amount I “should” be drinking and I fill that up the night before and I’m set with cold water for the next day. I’m definitely drinking a lot more than I was a few weeks ago. It’s been hot here so I’ve been drinking more than I calculated, but that’s ok. If I’m thirsty, I drink. Even on the days when I don’t feel “thirsty”, I try to drink at least the one container.

I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I thought it bore mentioning. Once or twice a week, after I do groceries, I make a huge bowl of salad and keep it in the fridge. I mix in baby greens, spinach, romain lettuce and green onions. This way I always have fresh salad ready to grab as a side or even as a whole meal. I’ll often add other fruits/veggies or nuts later on (they don’t keep in the bowl well). If I add some leftover meat/beans I’ve got a whole meal that only took me 3 minutes to prepare and I don’t have any excuse not to eat some salad. (Not that that is a problem. I love salad). And I think this is cheaper than buying just prepared salad. Several servings for multiple people for a whole week (if not a bit more) costs under $6. (My local Aldi rocks for produce prices).

A tip that Carmen over at The Elff Diet (she’s my hero) shared a while ago is to have small bowl of dressing on the side of your salad and to dip your fork in the dressing before loading up with veggies. You’ll use a lot less dressing, but still get the flavor.

I found some flavoured applesauce by Motts at the grocery store a few weeks ago. I initially bought them for the girls snacks, but I found that I really like them. They have no added sugar or artificial sweetners and the extra fruit mixed in doesn’t have that weird “doesn’t really mix well” taste. The peach one is really good, and I normally don’t like peach flavoured stuff. They have been working well when I feel like I want something sweet but don’t want to overdo it. And it counts as a serving of fruit as well!

Ok, so that’s where I stand/slump, whatever. I’m not giving up. I will figure this out.

So for tomorrow, I’ve been working on some book reviews and hope to get those finished up and posted. It’s good stuff, trust me.

Marginally derailed. Already.

Argh.
Well, firstly, a meal plan really only works if you actually DEFROST the meat you’re supposed to cook with. However, my improvised back up turned out pretty well. So it was a pretty good save.
Yesterday, we had a day of really bad storms yesterday but I did manage to beat them and get my walk in. The girls and I spent the whole day inside, which kind of worked out well as we were hosting a big meeting here so I needed to get things ready. It’s crazy how much time that takes.

Anyway, I did well all day, but have found 2 shortcomings that keep coming up for me. First, I had a hard time last night restraining myself from snacking at the meeting, even though I’d already had a good dinner. I’m not sure what to do about that, so that I can process it mentally in a way that doesn’t leave me beating myself up.

And the second issue is when I’m tired, and today I’m so exhausted I’ve been yawning alllll day. I didn’t walk this morning because I went to bed late and then slept badly. I decided to sleep an extra hour instead, which hasn’t helped much that I can tell. So today, I dragged through the day, fighting myself from snacking through it, looking for the energy boost, no matter how little, food/sugar would give me. I felt even more tired from the stopping myself from eating.

So, tonight, I will not be walking. I’m going to sit on my butt for a bit, and then I’m going to go to bed early and hope that tomorrow is a better day.