Weekly Construction Update

Week Ending Monday, June 27

My weigh-in this week did not go as well as I had hoped.  I gained 1.2 pounds, leading me to an overall loss of 9.4 pounds.  Though I was a bit disappointed by this, I do think I may have weighed in a little higher than I should have.  First, when I weighed myself at home in the morning, I had lost 0.6 pounds.  Second, I had a later lunch than usual before my 7pm weigh-in.  Third, my outfit was heavier than what I typically wear to a weigh-in.

I know that sounds like a big bunch of excuses, and while I do think my weigh-in was slightly high, there was good reason for me to not have lost weight this week.  I went home to Boston for the weekend, where I didn't have much control over my food, not to mention the BBQ we had for my sister's birthday.  I think I did a good job of indulging slightly without going totally crazy, but it was a hard weekend for me to stay within my points.

This week I have been making more of an effort to earn activity points, as I knew that going into the 4th of July, there would be plenty of drinking and eating.  I've done some bike riding, gardening, and yoga.  Today I went on a lovely ride down the West Side Highway, only to discover when I got home that I had somehow broken my bike seat.  This means I will be heading over to ModSquad Cycles for my 3rd bike fix in the last month!  They are making a lot of money of my new found biking habit.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised given my bike was purchased in 1994.

Busted Bike Seat! And I was just at the bike shop on Saturday!

Despite the holiday I am expecting to see some sort of loss at my weigh-in tomorrow, which will put me one step closer to my reward of a new bike, which it seems I desperately need.

Monthly(!) Construction Update

I must apologize to my many readers (all one of you) for not writing for so long.  I got caught up with studying for the finance certification test I took the first week in June and then I was caught up in celebrating my new-found post-test freedom.  You may have been worried that the radio silence was indicative of me tumbling off the wagon into a box of cookies, but fear not - though I did gain a bit following the post-test celebrations, I have since taken off that weight and I am down 10.6 pounds overall.

There are a few things that helped me be successful over the past month despite the test madness:

• When I gained the 2 pounds after the test, I did not freak out.  This was a huge accomplishment because typically I would melt down and decide that it was entirely impossible for me to lose weight and give up.  Instead, this time I just about what I had been doing differently from what I was doing when I was losing steadily, and it was pretty easy: I was eating a lot of take-out instead of cooking.  So, I took the simple step of restarting my pursuit of the title of Weight Watchers Casserole Queen by cooking a casserole once a week on the weekends.  That way I always have something healthy at home to eat.
• I also got back into the swing of working out, including doing lots of fun summer activities.  I've attended a several outdoor yoga events with my friends and I've also been riding my bike a good bit, in addition to my regular yoga and running.  Here's a photo of yoga in Times Square on the Summer Solstice:

At times, we were heckled, but what would New York outdoor yoga be without some heckling?

When I refocused on my weight loss this winter/spring, I set a goal for myself to lose 15 pounds by the time of my first wedding dress fitting.  My first fitting should be in about 4 weeks, so over the next 4 weeks I need to lose on average 1.1 pounds a week to reach my goal.  Since I began going to meetings I've lost about 0.6 pounds a week on average so this would require me to up my pace of loss slightly.  That worries me a little bit but I am cautiously optimistic that I will make it as I'm now able to spend more time working out/cooking than I could over the past few months.  I'm also preparing myself for the possibility that I might come close to my goal but not reach it exactly.  If I lose 13 or 14 pounds, I will still be very happy with that.

Finally, I have decided that once I do lose 15 pounds, I am going to buy myself a new bike!  My current bike is the 15-speed mountain bike I got when I turned 12 years old.  It gets the job done but it's not that fun.  I'd love to have a city bike that is a little more relaxed to ride and looks stylish.  These are my current loves:

The Linus Dutchie 3

The Biria Citibike

So here's hoping that tomorrow's weigh-in goes well bringing me one step closer to my near-term weight goal and my new wheels!