Getting it together

Stats first..

11/11:

• total calories: 1909 - that's probably the most I've eaten in a couple weeks at least. I was SO HUNGRY all day. It was bizarre. Might have had something to do with the fact that I actually exercised for the first time in a while.
• calories burned: 500 - 3 mile walk with mom which basically should have been a run we were going so fast! 3 miles in 30 mins is pretty hardcore.. for me anyway.
• 0 cigarettes - day 2!
• 11pm bedtime
• no money spent

11/12:

• total calories: 1666 - that's including lunch at Wendys (jr hamburger with a side salad) AND going out for pizza.. but I got veggie-covered pizza, no meats and it was SO DELICIOUS.
• calories burned: 500 - another 3 mile power walk with mom. Hoping to go today too!
• 0 cigarettes - day 3!!!
• not sure what my bedtime was.. I passed out on the couch while watching Dracula and then Mike woke me up when he went to bed at 2:30am.. but I'd been asleep WELL before that.
• $15 spent to go out for dinner ($7 left)

I've really enjoyed these walks the last couple days - I'm just a little sad and disappointed that it's going to be too frigid to keep it up soon. Probably by the time we get back from Little Rock the temps will be low enough that walking in the evenings will just be too uncomfortable. :(

I'm planning ahead to my trip - I'm definitely bringing "workout" clothes so I can either join my Uncle Marvin at his gym or at least get a walk/run in just around their neighborhood or the lake. I'm definitely excited to have access to so many walking/running paths and neighborhood streets that don't have regular traffic coming through. It'll definitely help for my motivation. Plus I have a tendency to actually get to bed at a decent time when I'm down there (with maybe the exception of actual Thanksgiving evening).

I'm really proud of the food choices I've made this week. Even at Wendy's where there was a huge temptation to just get the fries to go with my burger - or even worse, break down and go the crispy chicken sandwich mayo and all! - I got the salad, only used about 1/4 of the dressing and didn't even open the croutons. I've also gotten back to eating my giant salads at home during the week and making my fruit smoothies so I'm getting a good amount of fiber. Plus I've gotten so much better at planning for dinners - making sure I get chicken/beef/fish thawed in time to be able to cook a healthy meal, keeping my fridge stocked with veggies to steam and making sure I have brown rice in the pantry to make little rice bowls if need be. I've also started buying sweet potatoes which are not only super good for you, but also super delicious and really filling. Some nights I just have that for dinner with maybe a small salad and it's really satisfying.

I know there's going to be a lot of eating out going in Little Rock, which is a big reason why I'm trying to keep myself in line with exercise while I'm down there. If I can make sure I'm burning calories everyday then I shouldn't have to be too cautious about what I'm eating for dinner every night. The killer for me will be alcohol consumption while I'm down there - but I'm going to try to stick to wine since that won't bust me as bad caloric-wise.

One other thing I'm really proud of: I'm finally able to comfortable wear some of my size 16's now. Hopefully by the beginning of December they'll start actually feeling "roomy". I would love to be back down to a 14 by my birthday in April. I feel like that's an incredibly realistic goal. April being 5 months away and all. I've lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of September. So, about 6 weeks. It may even be more than that since I think maybe I was probably lying to myself quite a bit about my "start weight" back in end of August/beginning of September. From what I can find on my other regular blog I was saying I was 207lbs.. I'm pretty sure I was probably closer to 210 or 212.. also I think my scale was probably totally off and now I have a scale that actually WORKS so maybe it's been more like a 12 pound weight loss. Honestly, if I can just get UNDER 200lbs I will be ECSTATIC.

...how sad it that? lol

So my truthiest truthiness on my weight - I seriously for real am right at 200lbs right now. Now I can finally gauge accurately my progress over the next couple months. Back to the size-14-by-April thing... if I can lose 15 more pounds in the next 5 months (which is less than a pound a week) then I figure I'll be able to fit my 14's again. That's a truly exciting prospect. But for now I'm just gonna be ridiculously happy about fitting into my 16's again. :)