False Start

  We got back from our vacation and I decided to NOT officially weigh in!  Ok, I actually decided this fact before we even left for vacation!  I just knew that I wanted to give my body some time to recover and recoup!  OK, and maybe...just maybe I knew that I was going to be probably indulging on our vacation!

I did indulge!  I went in with a belief that I was going to stay the straight and narrow with my eating.  But no, I indulged!  (and in fairness, I knew it!)  Come on now...I had wedding cake...from my own wedding/elopement! 

I planned to get right back on track when I got home!  I was determined!   On Monday morning....it was back to work and I stepped on the scales!   Yup...it was just what I expected!  I gained 5 pounds...on the dot!   But I was back on track, right?

Nope.  I struggled all week.  We had brought home the leftover fudge.  So I ate that.  We had brought home the leftover yogurt covered pretzels, so of course I finished them up!   I also had leftover makings for S'mores.   I discovered that you can make a mean s'more in the air fryer!   So yeah, they went down the hatch also!   I tracked NOTHNG.   I DID focus on eating veggies at lunch and tried to up my fiber (maybe if just to negate the sugar I was eating).  

I also did not get right back on the exercise bike when I returned.  I have 500 miles to add to my mileage by the end of the year since I upped my mileage requirements to 2500.  I rode the bike not ONCE since coming home.  I was having some issues with my foot and I was trying to rest it a bit...but that sure sounds like an excuse doesn't it??   I also am once again reminded about how much good the bike and all those miles did for me.  My legs never once on vacation felt heavy and horrible.  My legs felt like superwoman legs!  Strong and capable!  (my foot...well that is just an old issue that I struggle with...).

Luckily, my body regulated a BIT.  By my official weigh in day, I was showing that I was down by 2 pounds.  I'll take it....especially since I probably didn't deserve it!

So no more.  This is the line in the sand.....Serious healthy pursuits from here on out! 

Post Vacation Weigh in! YIKES!

 Vacation is over....even though my mind is clearly on vacation!  (Thus the late time for posting this entry!)  We had a great time.  Stay tuned for a post with some amazing pictures and a recap of our time!!!!   But here is the question that is probably lurking in your mind.  How did she do with her weight loss efforts over vacation?   

Ok, maybe you weren't wondering how I managed my food and eating over vacation.  Maybe you don't care what I weigh.  But guess what?  I'm gonna tell you anyway!  (Yup, I get a bit feisty after vacation apparently!).

Eating on Vacation

I tracked nothing!  Not a single bite of food was tracked!  Nope.  Didn't do it!  I didn't even attempt!  Ok, honestly, I had no plans to track.  I wanted to sit back and just live and enjoy!   So there was not tracking.  There WAS a serving of some sort of dessert each night!  (ohhh can I say amazing peanut butter pie??!))   

  I would usually eat leftovers for breakfast and by mid morning we were out the door and in nature.  So we would throw trail mix and granola bars in our backpacks which we would nibble on while we were out and about.  Then for dinner we ordered from restaurants (and dessert too).  So I basically ate 2 full meals and one snack.  

We walked.  Boy did we ever walk!  One of the hikes included a staircase that contained 821 steps (that is the equivalent of about a 42 floor skyrise!), we climbed up and down mountains.  We also did the 200 steps to the one overlook (chump change after the 821 steps!).  We moved each day!  Even the 'light day' where I was in freakish misery from the aches and pains in my legs from those steps we were out hiking...just easier trails.  By the way, the stairway to hell climb?  That was actually my  favorite hike!  We actually talked about doing it again at the end of the week!

I was just hoping and praying that my hiking and movement would negate those desserts!

Fear about Stepping on the scales after vacation

I was so nervous to step on the scales after vacation!  I knew that I was probably a bit dehydrated.  I also knew that I was still having some muscle soreness (muscles retain water while they heal!)  And I know that I did enjoy each bite of those desserts!  But I had to face the music.  So the first morning after our return I stepped on the scales!

I gained!  OK, I expected it!  But honestly, I am soooooo tickled that it was ONLY 3 pounds!   That very well could be water retention!   Even better, I am determined to turn this ship around!  It's a new day....a new week....a new chance to live healthy!

And just a preview of our vacation....here is a picture!

Super stressed

Last week was a rough one for me!  It was terribly stressful.  I tried to fight the stress eating.  I tried my hardest to hang on and lose the rest of my vacation pounds that I had gained! But oh it was so hard!

The week was rough...at the beginning of my weight journey week my trusty Honda Civic broke down.  The stress started!   The stress just kept mounting as the news about the car turned uglier and uglier!   By Tuesday I was car shopping.  My back was against the wall.  I had a car that they told me was dead...after spending $500 to try to fix it!   I was in a car rental throwing more money down a black hole.  I was trying to fight the urge to eat everything in sight!  It wasn’t easy and I wasn’t overly successful!  There was carrot cake...a few nights.  

By Thursday I was ready to buy a car...I had no choice.   Thursday morning my weight was looking like a decent loss....but the stress eating that day got me...and it got me bad!   But I bought my new car.   A 2019 Honda Civic.  My fourth car I will/have owned and my fourth Honda Civic.

But I was still stressed because if some more bills and expenses that were coming my way in relation to this car fiasco. but by Friday I was starting to be able to contain the stress eating!  The next big thing would be getting a bike rack so we could carry our bikes to the trail head....until then...no biking except for the roads around us!

I weight in on Friday and while I didn’t lose a LOT...I was able to lose 0.6 pounds...so I can officially say that I recouped my vacation weight gain!  I officially weight exactly what I weighed the day before vacation!   So October was a week of vacation where I gained 4 pounds...and three weeks of losing those four pounds.  Honestly...worth it!  That is life....and I want to live life!

On Friday I also went to the dentist where they numbed two quadrants of my mouth to fix some cavities.

That is me trying to smile!   The only good thing?  My appointment was early and I wasn’t thinking so didn’t eat breakfast before hand...and I was too numb to eat lunch afterward....I was numb until about 3pm...numb as in biting my tongue and not feeling it numb...so lunch was out.   I did manage to eat a Wendy’s frosty at around 2 though....no biting required!

On Saturday we went to pick up the old car.   The old car was drivable....as long as you didn’t stop ...driving was smooth as all get out...but the car was idling so bad that it would die if we stopped and let it idle.  We mapped out a route that would have the least amount of stops and went to pick up the car....I was nervous and fully expected to be calling a tow truck half way home.  But we wanted to get it home so that we could have a friend look at it...so we could clean it out...and so that we could sell it at our own pace.  (Plus I had already made enough huge decisions for the week...I needed a break from big decisions!)

Jason started the car...it sounded horrible.  He Reece’s the engine..  and we set off....he said he drove it in low gear...high rpms for the first mile.  (I was in the new car....lucky me...he is awesome and took the  stress of driving it from me...but for some reason this part of the week was driving me nuts with worry!). And then something crazy happened.  The  engine light went off.   The car started driving smooth.  He started to stop right behind me at stop signs and I couldn’t hear anything amiss!   At one stop sign I saw him throw up his hands in the classic ‘I don’t know’ motion.    Could it be?

Why yes...the car fixed itself.  The supposed wiring issue was gone.   We drove that car all weekend...and even got in a bike ride (since we could cart our bikes to the trailhead!). The car was riding a smooth as all get out!     Did we get bad gas?  I had been really low when it was idling bad the week before ...and we stopped to get gas hoping that would fix it...and within 1/4 a mile the engine light came on.  We didn’t drive it because we didn’t want to damage it further.  But had we just taken it out in the open road and pushed it...would it have pushed that ‘speck of dirt’ out of the way and cleared up the problem?

Now I’m not upset about the fact that the car started to work after I already bought a new car.  We needed a second car.   The car that broke down was a 2004 civic with 267k miles on it.  We needed a new car...badly!  So it just forced us to take the time and do the deed.  (And I had been saving for the down payment so it wasn’t a complete shock!  Lol).   

But that was my previous week.   I’m praying for a nice simple week of sunshine and happiness and huge weight loss this week!!!!