Keep On Keepin' On

I suppose if I would like to stay accountable, it's time for an update on my path to a healthier and happier me. So, here I am staying accountable. Or something like that.

I have now been committed and working towards my goal for about 6 weeks. I am so proud of myself just for the fact that I have gone 6 weeks straight of recording every bite I take in my account on myfitnesspal.com. It was amazing to me to see how much I was eating at first. I had no idea how many calories some food had, and I continued to just eat it, unaware of how much I was consuming. I measure everything now, and I realize that when I eat healthier foods that are more filling, I'm not hungry throughout the day and I don't have that 4 o'clock craving for something sweet..... well, most of the time :) I have always loved healthy food, but it does take more time to prepare and I have to think ahead so I'm not scrambling for something when it comes time to eat. I eat 5 small meals a day and I am rarely ever hungry. It has been working great.

I haven't been as good about the gym as I should. It is really so hard for me to keep up with life and all of my responsibilites lately. Some days I feel like I'm drowning with all that I need to accomplish. However, I really love the gym and I love to workout. Getting there is my only problem. Once I'm there, I'm happy to sweat and burn my muscles to the breaking point. It feels terrific. If I can get a better gym routine down, I would feel much better about things. As it is, I'm making it there about 3 times a week. I would love to be able to make it 5-6.

That being said.... I have lost 8.5 pounds in 6 weeks. Discouraging? A little, yes. But at least it's progress, slow as it may be. Sometimes my greatest frustration is that I feel like my health issues and hormone imbalances hold me back. I really try not to use that as an excuse, but my doctor has told me it can hinder weight loss. That alone is a huge discouragement to me because weight loss used to be fairly easy. I worked out, I ate healthy, BOOM. Lose weight. Not so much anymore. There have been weeks where I didn't lose an ounce.

My other problem is sugar. I know I am addicted to sugar. I also know that it has gotten much better over the last few weeks, as I have denied the craving. Now, I think everything is okay in moderation, and some days, I do give in to that craving. Even though I record everything I eat every day, I'm not always under my caloric goal. But that's okay. I just need to remember to moderate, and not binge.

Anyway, things are going slowly, but steady. I think the hardest thing for me to realize is that I need to just keep it up and not beat myself up over mistakes I've made, which I tend to do. I don't want to fall back into old habits, ever. So I keep plugging along and hopefully, I'll be able to fit back into all of my clothes that are waiting for me in my closet, and not just the biggest and loosest pieces :)