Week 3 - Days 2 and 3 BACK ON TRACK!!

Woo!! God DAMN I feel good! I just finished 2 hours of choreographed dancing and even threw some crunches in there at the end - aside from the amazing cardio, I worked the shit out of my arms... I'm gonna be super sore tomorrow and it's gonna feel GREAT! I can't wait!

Okay, so yesterday I didn't really do much of anything except watch football and not eat.. oddly enough. I went to the grocery store and as I was getting ready to leave I realized I was STARVING so I picked up this "Taste of Asia" stir fry stuff.. and it was AMAZING. Plus it came with brown rice so along with that, the veggies and white-meat chicken = supa healthy meal! Even though I ate the entire thing... which is meant for 2 dinners.. lol but you'll see that it affected my daily calorie count very little... on to the stats!

Day 2:

• total calories/points: 1415 / 33 - OH! I almost forgot to tell you guys - now that I've lost 4 pounds into this Challenge, my daily points went down to 33. Still 49 flex points for each week, though. Even though I already used most of those... lol
• no workout, lots of recovering from the 3 hour Wii dance extravaganza.. 
• 2 cigarettes
• 11pm bedtime
• $0 spent - groceries don't count

Day 3:

• total calories/points: 1489 / 24 (so far, although I don't think I'll be eating anything else tonight since it's almost bedtime) So, I know I said at the beginning of this that I wasn't going to count fruit/veggie calories, but I have been anyway because I like to include the fiber/protein content to see if I'm reaching my daily goals on those.. that's why sometimes I'll have a high calorie number, but a low points number, and vice versa. 
• 2 hours of dancing plus about 60 reps of 3 different ab exercises - according to Discovery Health (which factors in weight) I burned 1195 calories. According to my heart rate monitor I burned like 2200... soooo, I think that makes it pretty clear that my HR monitor SUCKS at counting calories accurately. BUT it regularly give me almost exactly twice what I would actually be burning, so maybe I can go with that then.
• 0 cigarettes - getting there... slowly.. but getting there. 
• shooting for 11pm bedtime
• $3 spent on lunch - I think I've got about $60 left in "fun" money until the 31st. Not bad at all.

I've been seriously considering no longer counting calories burned - mainly because I want to exercise because it makes me feel good and keeps me healthy, not just because I'm striving for some magical "burned" amount. Also I think sometimes it has a tendency to make me want to eat more even if I'm not hungry just because I can, 'cause I have "room" or whatever. I need to think on that a little more. 

My goal this "work" week is to get to the gym AT LEAST once to lift weights.

Week 3 - Day 1, Progress and "splurge" days!

End of Week 2 body stats:

• Weight: 194lbs - that's 2 more pounds!!!
• Waist at belly button: 36.5" - no change, but that's okay.

 Day 1:

• total calories/points: 2478 / 60 points - this leaves me with 20 flex points for the week. These party snacks/dinners are screwing me over lol - plus it probably didn't help that part of those meals was Domino's pizza. I feel like I've really done an excellent job with keeping my alcohol intake in control - only drinking 3 or 4 beers on a Friday or Saturday night and maybe 1 or 2 during the random weeknight outing. This kind of additional calorie intake I can totally handle and plan for.
• played various Wii dance games for about 3 hours with few breaks - I think overall I probably burned about 500 calories, if not more - I was sweating my ass off! My toe survived quite well and I see no reason why I can't get back to my gym routine this week. I underestimate on my activity tracker with WW just because I was too busy having fun to pay attention to the exact amount of time I was dancing - adding 20 activity points to my weekly flex points bank. 
• only smoked 5 cigarettes which is pretty flippin' amazing for being in a party-like atmosphere with other smokers.
• 2am bedtime
• $8 spent to chip-in for pizza

I'm really proud of this 2 pound per week progress I'm making - I'm already starting to see subtle differences in my body, especially looking at pictures of myself. Last week there were several moments of feeling like I just wanted to eat whatever the hell I wanted all day every day - but I didn't, and I gave myself Saturday to be a "splurge" day. I think knowing I can have that one or two days a week where I don't count calories until the very end of the day (instead of as-I-go) really helps me keep myself under control during those "fuck it" moments. I'm really excited to get back into the gym this week, and even if I don't have the time to make it to the gym, having the knowledge that I can successfully do some cardio at home with my toe makes me feel really good and motivated.

Once I get back into a regular workout routine I'll have to adjust my calorie-intake some. I'll try bumping up to 1800, and if I'm still struggling with strong hunger, 1900. 1700 was the number I shot for in order to maintain weight-loss without regular exercise and so far it is working brilliantly and I'm really proud of myself for that.

Overall I'm feeling really good about these last 2 weeks and good about myself. The steady progress I've been making certainly is motivating!

Week 2 - Day 2 & 3... getting behind on posts again

I'm sorry I'm getting so behind on posts - this should catch me up since this is for yesterday AND today.

I'm not really in the mood for talking to I'm just going to straight to the stats...

Day 3:

• total calories/points: 1657 / 36 points - used 2 more of my weekly points leaving me with 5. -.-
• played some dance on the Wii
• 2 cigarettes
• 11:30pm bedtime
• $0 spent

Day 4:

• total calories/points: 1567 / 34 points - used all my points to a T.. and I'm STARVING. But I'm not gonna eat anything at 10pm. Not happening. Big breakfast in the morning. 
• had to work late and the sky is spitting ice.. so.. no gym for me tonight. 
• 0 cigarettes... so far... might have one here in a second..
• planning to go to bed at 11pm
• $4 spent on lunch