My birthday is July 2nd, and what better gift could I give to myself that to reach this goal that’s nearing two years in the making? So from now until then, I’ll be giving Sunday updates/weekend wrap-ups on my progress called Birthday Gift Goal Updates.
Week 4 was a struggle for me, I’m not going to lie. I had a ton of responsibilities this past week for work, which really took my time away from exercising. I know that I probably could have found the time, but all I felt was (self-imposed) pressure, and when I feel like that, I can’t see past just getting the job at hand done. Not to mention a complication with my car which sent me to the dealership, but what’s a few more hours wasted, right? Poor Sofi was lucky that we went on any walks at all. 
My food was pretty decent all week – I stayed within my 1400 calorie range all week, but I wasn’t really inspired by what I was eating. Lots of leftovers, fewer fresh veggies. It was the week before I get paid (I only get paid once a month), which is usually the week that I open the freezer and pantry and have whatever I can find that looks healthy. I don’t have any junk food in the house, but this week wasn’t my best ever, to say the least.
Which all adds up to the fact that I only lost 1 lb this week. My total loss is 6 lbs overall from my starting point, which means:
And I know that a loss is a loss, and I didn’t do anything to warrant a higher number, but it’s still disappointing that I let an opportunity to lose more weight slip by. I did a good job of maintaining, which is an improvement from my recent pattern of overeating due to stress. So progress is happening. Part of the stress I felt this week could have been avoided if I had done the grading in small increments each day. But I let myself have too many off days, and then got stuck in a situation where I HAD to get the papers back to the students by the date I’d promised they’d have them.
The good news was that with all that work I did over the week, I had the weekend to myself. So yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning the house top to bottom. Everything from mopping every floor of the house to changing the sheets on the bed, dusting the entire house, and cleaning both bathrooms. Plus laundry. I was tired when I was through, but that great kind of tired that comes from a job well done. Plus, I had a sparkling clean house to wake up to this morning.
Today I did more laundry (I swear, for one person I sure do have a lot of loads!) and then got ready to meet a friend for a nice walk and chat along a great trail near my house. I even brought Sofi along.
It was a beautiful day here today, but it was hotter out than I had anticipated, and after we’d been walking for about 45 minutes, poor Sofi just plopped down in any shady spot she could find, was breathing so hard, and looked so uncomfortable. I decided to walk her down to the pond area so she could wet her feet, and well, here’s what happened next!
Forget my feet, I'm going to plunk my whole body down in this nice cold, algae-filled pond.
Awww, relief. Hey, maybe I can go a little deeper....
One of my friends who saw this on on FB said that Sofi looks like a merdog in this one. It was definitely the money shot.
Good thing it was bath night tonight! I made sure to give her a fairly cool bath when we got home, and she didn’t seem to mind the bath as much. Poor little thing. But she (and I) had fun out there with my friend. We’ll just have to make sure to go a bit earlier in the day next time.
And I’ve spent the rest of the evening cooking a great dinner, preparing my lunches, and basically getting ready for tomorrow.
I also struggled with fitting everything in because of stress this week. All we can do is forgive ourselves and try harder this week!
Exactly! I hope we both have a better week!!
ooh, bday coming up, exciting!! as with anything, doing ur best is all u can do…great job on the progress u’ve made thus far and i always say that even if u don’t feel like the week/race/etc wasn’t all u’ve hoped it to be, learn from it and look for ways to improve in the future…u’re doing that! so don’t look in the rearview mirror.
great work!
Girlllll! Someone needs to slap you silly. In the past, this would have been an excuse to take the week off. You didn’t. You didn’t even really change your plan. You just loosened it up a bit but not so much that you’d gain or maintain. So this is a success and should be honored as such. Congrats!
Awww, thanks. I think I try to be too perfect sometimes (which gets me in trouble), and it’s hard for me to see the victories. Thank you for pointing this out.
I’m with Tina — surprised you weren’t more proud of yourself for a loss considering what sounds like a tough week! Good job! I actually spent time prepping food this weekend and thought of you and what a good habit that Sunday prep day is. I didn’t get it all done, but a few things are ready, and that’s better than nothing.
Thanks for the reminder. I think one of the reasons that I felt under-prepared last week was that I didn’t do the normal food prep. I had all the ingredients, but I made my lunches as I went instead of prepping more ahead of time. I’m glad you liked it when you tried it. Yesterday I made sure to prep a bunch so that I felt organized this week.
I have a big husky and one day when we were running she just sat down and wouldn’t budge! It was the funniest thing ever, but it made me realize that she is covered in fur and gets hot faster than I do!
I’ve had a rough few weeks myself, but you should be proud of the loss anyway Bella! We’ve all had weeks where we were stressed out and GAINED so the loss is a great thing-give yourself credit
Sofi
is so cute!
Thanks for pointing that out, you’re absolutely right. I’ve had weeks like that too, many times.
And Sofi is as sweet as she is cute. Thanks.
100% agree with Tina! You took a tough week and plowed through it. You didnt let the hard week rule you, you ruled it. Bravo my friend
Even though I havent been commenting much on MFP, I have checked out your food journal everyday and you really are sticking to your plan, good job!
Sofi is such a freakin’ cutie out in the water like that. Smart girl she is.