Week Sixteen: Weigh-in Struggle Bus- with Pics!

Image by shauking from Pixabay 

It's been an interesting week.

I've been riding the struggle bus. The smell of food makes me want to toss out my progress and cave to temptation. My family makes breakfast early in the mornings, and I eat in the afternoon. It smells so good. Sometimes I feel like I'll break- but I won't. I grit my teeth, refuse to go downstairs, and find something better to do. 

It doesn't help that I'm lame.

No, I'm not putting myself down- I really am lame. Lame-ish. The tendon on the outside of my knee started acting up, and I've been off my walking game for almost two weeks now. 

Boredom breeds bad habits. 

When my eating window opened, I found myself filling it with more food than I intended, not to mention most of it was comfort foods. Creamy, thick soups and casseroles with cheese, chips, chocolate, and bread. Homemade, but still not the best for my body- and I know it.

And it showed on the scale.

It wasn't as bad as I'd feared- the measurements showed a decent loss in some places and very little gain in others. Some measurements remained the same, and though the scale wasn't kind, it wasn't harsh either. I'd lost two pounds total this month.

Here are the numbers:

Original numbers:          4 weeks ago:              Now:                Difference:

Weight 363 lbs.                  338                        336                  2 pounds

Biceps- 23"                      21-1/2"                     21"                   -1/2"

Chest- 61-1/2"                    59"                     59-1/2"                +1/2"

Waist- 58"                       56-1/2"                  55-1/4"                 -3/4"

Hips- 69-1/2"                   63-3/4"                     64"                   +1/4"

Thigh- 32"                          31"                      29-1/2"                -1/2"

Neck- 18"                         17-3/4"                   same                  none

I also promised pictures the next time I lost a total of ten pounds. Two things I'd noticed were: the shirt fits me perfectly now, and the shorts are starting to feel a little loose!

Before and after pics for comparison:

 

 

 

The struggle is real, folks! 

I took a hard look at my habits this month. I've been playing games with myself. 

I'd sit down to a small feast once a day and figure that's one meal- I could get away with it.

I didn't need to re-bag my chips, because I had self-control.

I had to finish off the leftovers in the fridge.

Leftovers were faster and less troublesome than actually preparing a meal.

Being gimpy gives me free rein over food intake. 

Bored and gimpy means planting myself on the couch for hours.

All fantastically deceptive lies. 

My body has been letting me know this in so many ways. I was swelling up a little more in my feet. My joints hurt more. I had less energy. I'd stopped listening to my body. I was trying to shove all I could into a 1-2 hour eating window.

Not anymore!

I'm already making changes. I've been craving chicken cobb salad (yes, you heard me- I craved salad), but was too darned lazy to get off my butt and make it. The salad is huge, but not calorie-laden- it's got all kinds of proteins, fiber, and meaty, cheesy goodness for under 500 calories. 

No, I'm not counting calories- I know the count because I made this salad often from previous eating plans that did count calories. This was the only salad that satisfied me!

My chicken cobb salad is comprised of romaine lettuce, baby spinach, grape tomatoes, one boiled egg, a palm-full of bacon bits (the real kind), a sprinkling of cheddar and parmesan cheeses, two 1/4" thick pieces of breast meat rotisserie chicken, julienned, and a small squirt of Italian dressing, shaken together, not stirred.

I ate the heck out of that salad yesterday. It was awesome.

Later, I had some tuna salad in green pepper slices, with a small handful of my favorite chips, and some homemade iced tea. Still two meals a day, but smaller ones loaded with the veggies I'm supposed to be having regularly.

I expect things will get a bit harder because most of the foods I should be having don't always come prepped and ready to eat. Oh, I can pre-prep things to make the going easier, but I'm lazy and these are habits I have to create- which we all know is so easy. 

Not.

There's not much I can do about the knee-tendon. Rest and not overdoing it are kay, and it's going to take weeks for it to heal- so my Body Groove videos are out of the running for a while. 

Boredom can be beaten simply by going upstairs (away from the TV and kitchen)  folding the never-ending laundry in the bedroom, working in my sewing/writing room, and doing some decluttering that doesn't require knee-lifting. 

I can also pre-prep foods when my eating window opens just so I have the freedom of popping a cut carrot in my mouth from time to time.

And since my family gave me a new laptop to play with (the one I'm currently on is about eight-years-old- a technological dinosaur), I'll have plenty to entertain myself as I switch over my programs and passwords, and do some digital decluttering. This might take a while. I save everything.

I thought I broke the old habits, but they came rushing back the moment I was stuck on the couch. I know- the couch-sticking is my own doing, but habits really are hard to break! 

I'm so glad you're with me sharing my journey. You help me stay accountable just by reading this blog. You encourage me with your responses and shares on social media. You. Are. Awesome!

I'm off to do a little menu planning and jot down some ideas for food prepping. Have a wonderful week!