October Check-in!

“I've got to step back and reevaluate what I'm trying to accomplish. I need to start now. So, beginning today, I'm going to move forward through the remainder of the year trying my best to stick with my goals to Be Happy, Be Healthy, and Be Active. Regardless of whether or not any of what I move forward doing is part of my current plan/diet/routine.” - This was how I ended my first September post. I decided to quit logging food religiously throughout the day and to quit putting so much pressure on myself about purposeful exercise.

So far I think this has been really excellent for my mental health. I feel like I may have actually recently lost more body fat, but I can’t be entirely sure. I’m feeling much more comfortable in my clothing. I’m feeling much more comfortable in my body. I have gained a little less than 3 pounds since my last weigh-in (a month ago), but to be fair I have eaten a LOT of sodium the days leading up to weighing myself and this could all be water weight. This is how I’m currently feeling about my weight gain:

The first couple weeks of September I did pretty well with keeping up with my runs, but the last 2-3 weeks I’ve really tapered off on almost all purposeful exercise, with the exception of a couple Mondays ago when I did The Beginner Circuit Workout From Hell that made me sore for nearly FIVE DAYS. I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this. According to my FitBit reports, though, my light activity (general walking around, housecleaning, etc.) has increased quite a bit – and I am taking 20-30 minutes walks nearly every day during the work week. Something tells me this is just as good, if not better, than 30-40 minute runs 2-3 times a week.

I don’t have a very solid idea about how much I’m eating really, but there have been a few days here and there where I’ve logged everything just to see, and from that I appear to regularly be eating around maintenance. I’ve also been able to focus a little more on how stress/sleep/life-in-general affects the type of foods I’m choosing to eat. Not much sleep? It’s going to be a majorly carb-heavy kind of day. Stressed out? Not gonna eat much of anything, but will probably drink a lot of my calories in the evening. On normal days I feel like I’m keeping a pretty good balance… though I have let my fast food intake get a little out of control. I even bought some really delicious fresh bread at the grocery last weekend to encourage myself to go home and make amazing sandwiches with it – unfortunately things at work got a little out of control, and I ended up not having the chance to go home and prepare lunch for myself at all last week. I've been thinking about just taking my lunch to work with me in the mornings and not giving life a chance to screw up my opportunity to eat something fresh/homemade vs fast food... but that means preparation and motivation and I'm a little low on both of those right now! 

I will say I'm feeling a little guilty and depressed over falling out of my normal workout routine (yes. still.), and as I was gearing myself up to start fresh this week -- well, the germs got me. I've been battling a head/chest cold for 5 days and it ain't lookin' like it's going to clear up enough for any kind of exercise anytime soon. Yay congestion! I spent the weekend getting lots of sleep and just trying to recover. It's looking like most of my week will be spent doing the same. On the plus side, I usually only get for-real sick like once or twice a year, so hopefully this is it for me for the fall/winter! And if I can flow out of this sickness back into a normal workout routine, all the better for my immune system.

I have lots more I want to talk about, but I'm having a hard time focusing right now. Hoping to have another post up in a couple days!