Teresa's Ponderings

I wasn't sure how the week would go after last week's panic. Life is extremely busy right now and I'm being pulled in what feels like 20 different directions. In truth, it's about 6 different directions, but I'm doing none of them well. I didn't exercise a single day this week. I didn't run, I didn't do Tabata Tuesday, and I haven't been to the gym in a long time. To go from not missing a single day to not doing a single day is a terrible direction. I did walk and hike this week, but that hardly makes up for true exercise. When I looked in the mirror after my shower this morning, I was able to see a visible difference in my belly fat for the first time. That felt empowering. I've noticed my emerging waist, but not my tummy disappearing. I was able to fit into a pair of capris from 2 summers ago, thanks to the "laying on the bed" trick. They're still too tight, but they zipped! I don't know how my 1.8 pound weight loss will carry

 Yesterday was hard. I was wanting ALL the things. Going to the grocery store was like walking through a civil war movie battlefield. Pudding, cookies, cakes, chocolate, Pop Tarts, everything I'm trying to avoid were practically jumping off the shelves begging me to buy them.  I'm down about the loose skin happening on my body. It looks terrible. I'm entering the stage where my muscle is getting more defined, but it's all under a bunch of fat and the fat is starting to just hang. I know I should be happy about the muscle, but it makes me want to eat.  I'm staying away from the scale. Stepping on it last week was a major setback. I became obsessed. I don't feel as if I'm doing well with weight loss this week and therefore I'm wanting to eat away my frustration.  I didn't exercise at all on Friday or Saturday. Life was too busy and I'm sure that has led to my current mindset.  Enough bad. Good things: Bra size is still shrinking. I can wear a pair

 This has been a pretty busy week. It started out with my Mother's Day gift, backpacking Angleworm. We only did a quick overnight trip, but it was wonderful. The weather was perfect. We didn't do a ton of miles, but it felt good to be on dirt again. While backpacking, it's easy to choose carb filled foods. The truth is, eating poorly is often synonymous with hiking. Snacks are often crackers. Popping candy after a tough climb is pretty normal. Lunches are filled tortilla  works of art and dinners look more like a poor college student's pantry choices.  While planning out my SHT hike last year, I researched healthier options. I found a company that makes backpacking meals that are more Paleo/Keto friendly. I finally got to eat one this trip and it was SO good! Breakfast was an egg skillet meal and my snacks were nuts and dried fruit. All wins in my book! My week was filled with good choices. I was incredibly active and I ate well. My weight fluctuated a lot this week. It

  A couple weeks ago my sister-in-law had an Instagram story that said something along the lines of, "We have normalized eating junk food to the point that eating healthy is considered dieting." This was a sobering moment for me. I pondered this thought throughout the entire day and every day since then.  At what point did normal eating: good, nutritious food, become dieting? Normalizing junk food has been a major downfall in my life. Not taking time to slice and dice my food has led to ready-made, quick fix monstrosities. These foods aren't good for my body, they only lead to heartache from weight gain, and I feel terrible continually all day, to the point that I don't want to do anything, but sit in my chair and pop a pizza in the oven and call that dinner.  It's a vicious cycle that can only be stopped by doing the things I don't want to do.  I was thinking about that this morning as I rode my bike (something I did NOT want to do) to my TOPS meeting. How ma

I've had 9 weeks of not gaining weight. That's huge! I'm super pumped about that. This week I lost 1.4 pounds. I worked out, ran, and even got outside some. I made good food choices and I think it shows. ❤️ The best news of the week, though  We have dirt on our trails! Well, most are mud and there's still a bunch of snow cover, but there's a LOT of dirt! Woooooooohooooooooooo! That's all for this week. I'm heading to our old house to finish packing stuff up. Need to get that done. Ugh.

  I have several things that I've been thinking about this entire week and I wanted to get them written down before they become less important than they truly are.  Thought #1 Seeing your weight loss in a tangible manner is important.  I have a tendency to get depressed and down about my progress because I look at it in terms of how much further I have to go. Who can get excited about working one day when your ultimate goal is retirement and it's 4,729 days away? "Yeah, Buddy! I started my job today and I only have 4,729 more days until I can retire!" Yeah.... No.  BUT  I decided to look at my weight loss in terms of some handheld weights we have lying around the house. I picked up the amount of weight I have lost and just carried them around. I lifted them, put them on my lap and stood up with them there, put them in a backpack and walked around with them, and carried them on my shoulders.  You know what?  12 pounds is more weight than a person may realize. I'm s