Aside from the usual anxiety of being a real-life adult...

...I'm feeling pretty excellent.

This week I discovered I can fit into my work slacks again. These are size 16's with no "stretch", just plain old cotton khakis. Not only do they fit - they fit comfortably. More comfortably than they did 16 months ago (pre-pregnancy), actually. I consider that a pretty awesome accomplishment. The calorie counting might not be doing a whole lot where the scale is concerned, but I'm certainly shrinking. I'll take it.

I should probably do my measurements again at some point... oh, and take those progress pictures!

This week is the week for getting back in the gym... but my husband is out of town until late Tuesday night, so that means I can't really go until Wednesday. Hopefully my motivation can stay strong until I get there. I was planning on walking on lunch or with the kids after work today, but the ridiculous amount of rain happening here today is kind of derailing that. Curses!

Saturday we went to this "family fun" thing that the county park association sponsored and I spent about 4 hours walking while pushing Nolan around in the stroller, which DEFINITELY counts as exercise - so at least I got something in for the last couple weeks.

I'm just kind of repeating to myself constantly, "Every little bit counts." If it's a 10 minute walk, fine. It counts. If I spend an afternoon vacuuming my living room/stairs/upstairs, mopping my kitchen floor, carrying laundry up and down two flights of stairs - it counts. It doesn't have to be "exercise", it just has to be "activity". This thought process has helped me so much. I'm feeling so much better about myself, and I'm not constantly berating myself for not making it to the gym.

I'm really proud of myself with my calorie counting as well. I'm really trying to focus on my hunger - if I'm hungry "for real", or if I'm just craving because of boredom or depression, etc. Doing that has made it incredibly easy to keep my daily average around 1,600 calories. I've also given myself Fridays and Saturdays as cheat days, and I don't worry about what I'm eating or drinking those days - giving myself the permission to eat "whatever I want" on these days has worked out really well, as I'm still rarely exceeding the 2,000 calorie mark.

Now, if I can just getting back into the groove of blogging daily!