Weekly Construction Update

Week Ending Monday, May 2
Despite struggling to stay within my points over the past few weeks (except for this past week) at my weight-in I was down 0.8 pounds, a decrease of 9.2 pounds overall, which puts me just over my 5% weight loss goal!  I think what helped me this week was that I only had one big night out, which helped keeping me within my points.  Also, I got sick towards the end of the week, so that put a damper on any extra eating which helped, though it also caused me to cut back my activity. One note: I weighed in earlier than usual on Tuesday (around lunch time rather than dinner time) so my weigh in next week might be higher in comparison.

Moments of awesomeness this week:

• I worked out one day and earned 6 activity points.  While that's pretty low (even for being sick) I'm still proud of that since before I got sick I was super busy at work, so it's good I managed to get any APs in at all last week.
• Even though I was sick, I did not use that as an excuse to pig out on unhealthy foods.  While it's true that I wasn't cooking or watching my food as closely as usual, I did not give myself a to eat whatever I want to "feel better", as I often do.  I had extra reason to cave this time too because I still had to drag myself to work for the early shift (5am!) for much of the week.  Instead of giving myself a food break, I gave myself a study break and vegged out on the couch rather than trying to study when I felt so bad.  It wasn't exactly the best thing for  my test preparation, but at least I didn't derail my weight loss.
• I wore a skirt to work that previously was one of my "tight" skirts, that now fits just fine and might even be considered a bit on the loose side for a pencil skirt.  Yet another reason to keep up my new shop-more-frequently habit.

That's it for the week.  I'm still working on getting over my illness (I'm a sniveling coughing disgusting mess), but I'm trying to not to get distracted from my weight loss as I've had a string of really good weeks recently.  Here's hoping next week is another good week.

Weekly Construction Update

Week Ending Monday April 25
Despite having a high-stress, high-work, high-drinking week I somehow managed to lose 2 pounds at my weigh-in, leading to an overall loss of 8.4 pounds since I started going to meetings and 9.8 pounds overall. Part of the weight loss can probably be attributed to my every-other-week weight loss pattern, so I am a bit afraid that last week's bad behavior will show up on the scale this week, but I'm going to do my best to stay within my points and hopefully maintain at my weigh in this week.

Moments of awesomeness this week:

• I went shopping this week and bought a lot of really good-looking clothes, in smaller sizes than I would have a few months ago.  I am one of those rare females who actually needs to go shopping more often.  I never go shopping and when I finally do, I end up buying everything that looks halfway decent because I have no clothes.  Then when I get home I end up hating half of what I bought, and the cycle continues.  Plus, I tend to have a really hard time finding clothes that fit, partially because of my weight, partially because of my body type (big boobs & big butt).  However, I have resolved to change this, and I have been inspired by Ms. Bitchcakes.  She always tries to look her best because, as she says, "When you look good, you feel good."  Also, I think taking pride in my appearance and celebrating my new trimmer look with some new clothes will help motivate me to stay on track.  So this week I worked on practicing Sheryl's shopping techniques by shopping a little bit all the time so that I buy clothes I love instead of just buying anything when I'm in desperate need for something in particular.  Last week I hit Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and Ann Taylor Loft and I am now the proud owner of 3 new skirts, 2 new camisoles, 2 new sweaters, 1 new button down short-sleeve black shirt, and a wrap dress!  There was one other skirt (this is it) that looked fabulous but it was just a little too small so I'm planning to go back in a few weeks when I am down a few more pounds and try it again.
• I worked out 3 days and earned 21 activity points.  I went running twice and played Dance Dance Revolution one day.  I actually had such a good time playing DDR (even though I look slightly spastic as I jump around) that I thought it might be fun to get a few more Wii exercise games.  I ordered Punch Out (which is the Wii version of the classic Nintendo game) and EA Sports Active 2.  I'll review these (and my other Wii exercise games) at some point.
• I also signed up for a race the weekend after I take my test.  (In case you don't remember, I'm taking a finance test the first weekend in June which is currently sucking all of my free time and my will to live.)  It's the New York Road Runners New York Mini 10K, which is a women-only race.  It will be my first NYRR race in over 2 years, so I'm very excited.  So far I seem to be injury free, so I am hoping by maintaining my current exercise regime of yoga and shorter running distances (6 miles or less) my IT band injury will stay at bay.

Here's hoping this week will be as good as last week.