I did pretty good this week, though I didn’t do my weights and core strengthening like I’d hoped. But I ate well. Lots of vegetables. Lots of water. Minimal sugar.

My skin is better already.

How was your week?

Well.

I haven’t gone an entire month without posting Health Group since Health Group began 3 1/2 years ago. I hang my head before you today.

So, as I’m sure you can imagine, I haven’t been doing much in the way of exercising. We went out of town the first weekend in November, then I had a kidney infection, and it seems like I’ve been mildly sick ever since. SO, my goal for this week is to drink a lot of water (I think I’m a bit dehydrated), eat lots of vegetables, and do my core strengthening exercises at least twice.

I don’t feel up to the treadmill yet, and my hip has been bothering me. I don’t want to exacerbate anything.

How has your month/week been?

It was a really, really, really good week. It would have been a perfect week, but I couldn’t exercise yesterday and more critical to the claim of perfection, I had sugar last night.

BUT….

I’ve met my calorie target every day this week and drank a lot of water. I exercised Monday through Thursday. And until last night, I had no sugar. (Except for one tiny bite of cookie on Monday, to save Clark’s face and clothes from a soft and gooey chocolate chip).

I am very pleased. I’m still not weighing myself, just trying to be healthy.

That being said, I have a mild UTI. I haven’t had one in years, but in the past when I would get them, I’d get rid of it by drinking a ton of cranberry juice, which has massive amounts of sugar added. One gallon of Cranberry Cocktail has 1961 calories. So, how am I supposed to get rid of this thing without doubling my calorie intake for the day? Because I still have to eat.

Lame.

How was your week?

I exercised once this week. Didn’t eat well.

My days always START out well. Once late afternoon hits however, all my resolve goes away. I wish I knew why, because in the mornings, it’s truly easy to eat healthy and avoid bad things.

I’m not weighing myself.

I’ve had a hard time getting back to no sugar, which is a shame, because my skin is returning to normal. That’s not a bad thing, but I’m disappointed in myself. I was interested to see what continuing with the cut in sugar would do for me outside of weight loss, or lack thereof.

I’m going to continue to work on exercising, cutting sugar and eating healthy, but I can’t focus on the pounds anymore. I don’t seem to be able to control them, no matter what I do, and it irritates me. I know this is a totally yo-yo attitude for me, but this week, I’m swearing off the scale again. I truly appreciate your tolerance with me. You’ve been excessively kind.

To be honest, if I owned a sledgehammer, my scale would be in little bitty pieces right now. As it is, I spent a considerable amount of time this week thinking of something else I could sufficiently smash it with, to no avail, so instead I just fantasized about obliterating it.

That was almost as good. It made me smile.

I contemplated just going out to the driveway and throwing it repeatedly against the concrete, then stomping on it…. but I live in a neighborhood, and although I don’t make a habit of altering my behavior for the sake of others’ opinions of me, I thought that a public demonstration like that is something I’d come to regret.

Besides, if I removed myself from the situation and pictured it from the bystander’s perspective, seeing a middle aged, overweight woman going postal on a digital scale on her driveway seems pathetic in a way I didn’t want to attach myself to.

For the moment, the scale is safe. Besides, Clark likes to play with it.

All of this being said, I feel good. I’m not depressed. I’ve felt pretty all week, and I’m excited that I’ve (at least this week) given up waiting to shrink to knit another sweater for myself. I’m going to dye and spin up that romney, and make a nice, big, roomy sweater. For me. The way I am now. And it’ll look fantastic .

Bad week.

I’m not talking to or about my body today. I haven’t weighed myself. I feel bloated. I’m beyond ridiculously tired. And last night, I ate a whole lot of cookies.

The comments are yours. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll see you next week.

My life is an exercise in patience.

I only worked out once this week. Clark has been sick, demanding most of my time, and he’s not sleeping well. (Shocker). I’ve been exhausted.

I’ve gained a few pounds since starting the exercise and no sugar thing 25 days ago.

My skin is different, and it’s weird.

I have good skin. I always have, enough that it gets noticed, which can be embarrassing. I take good care of it. But it’s different all of the sudden. It looks better. It’s clearer, but also smoother, firmer, like my small pores are even smaller. All over my body. I don’t know how to better describe it than that. Also, it’s oilier. It seems like the one should negate the possibility of the other, but I have clearer, oilier skin. When I rub my fingers across my forehead, or rub my nose, it feels oily.

IT’S SO DISGUSTING!

I’ve never had oily skin. It’s creeping me out.

So, I don’t really know what to do with that. My body feels the same, even though I’m trying really hard. My skin is changing, which I’m sure is a sign that other things in my body are changing. I just don’t know what they are.

I’m going to keep plugging along. But it’s getting really, really annoying to be working so hard and not seeing any positive changes.

How was your week?

Sugar. It’s strange stuff.

I’m still off of it, though I did a little fudging (not actual fudge, though that would have been nice, just a little more sugar than I should. Like a few graham crackers. That sort of thing) yesterday and today. Then tonight, at a dinner with friends, I did eat an official dessert. So I’m going back on the wagon tomorrow. Yesterday was circumstantially necessary, and today was carryover. But I’m done with all that. I have all of October and most of November to go with the sugar purge.

Anyway, (and I know I’m totally rambling), I’ve learned a few things. I’ve started craving milk. So I’ve been drinking it, and while I did notice it tasted extremely sweet, it took a few days for me to read the label and realize that regular, 1% milkfat dairy milk has more grams of sugars in it than my sweetner added soymilk.

What?

Seriously?

My body obviously knew that “there be sugar there”, because I’ve been craving milk. My brain didn’t know though. That’s so lame. So I’m curbing but not eliminating my milk consumption. I’ll still have it occasionally, as I did previously, but I’m NOT going to artificially up my drinking of milk to make up for the lack of sugar. To feed the addicted beastie. Not going to do it.

We’re trying to KILL the addict. That’s the whole point. I’m glad I’m not an alcoholic. Sheesh. I feel pathetic.

I’ve managed to exercise 4 times a week for three weeks now. That’s 2x on weights and strengthening exercises for a total of 30 minutes on those days, and 2x on the treadmill, alternating between jogging and walking, for a total of 20 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. 50 minutes per treadmill day.

I WANT to be exercising 5-6 times a week, but I’m still happy with what I’ve done. I’ve been working hard. Still haven’t lost a single pound, or shrunk out of any clothes. When I’m sweating my guts out on the treadmill, I feel very empowered, and optimistic, because there’s NO FREAKING WAY that it isn’t affecting my body in a positive way.

But when I’m not immediately involved in the act of exercise, I tend to feel frustrated, and like a big, fat cow.

On the plus side, this makes exercising a pleasant experience, feeling strong and productive as opposed to my frequent gripe of “the same. Always the same…”

So there we are. I will. not. give. up.

Ooh, ooh, and my resting heart rate was 51 beats this morning! I think it would have been in the high 40’s to be honest, which sounds kind of creepy, but it always accelerates when I’m timing it.

How was your week? Are any of our “10 pounds by December’ers” having any success?

It was a good week. I didn’t eat any sugar. I still want some. I’ve had a mild headache for most of the past week and a half since quitting sugar, and I’ve been really, really tired. I’m not tired during the day, but at night, I crash hard. I fell asleep before 10 a couple nights ago. That’s unheard of.

My weight is fluctuating quite a bit, so I’m trying to ignore it. My measurements are mostly the same. I went up a little in the waist, and down a little in the chest, so I’m trying to ignore that, too. It’s only been 11 days since my rededication. I can be patient.

I’m extremely disappointed that I wasn’t able to exercise Thursday and Friday. Clark didn’t give me the opportunity, and I couldn’t work it in. The rest of the week, though, I did great. I’m still doing weights and treadmill, and I’m still pushing myself. It feels so good. I’m hoping to do both today, which will be about an hour and a half of exercise.

How was your week?

Well, I’m extremely pleased with this week. I even did good while out of town, as far as not eating sugar or snacking, though meals themselves were high in fat and calories.

I’ve been exercising. Tuesday and Thursday I did weights and strengthening exercises, and Wednesday and Friday I worked on the treadmill, alternating between jogging and walking in 5 minutes intervals. It feels fantastic, and I’m so excited that I can do it! (It is helped greatly by a new sports bra that is working out very well). Hopefully, I’ll be able to increase my endurance and jog longer, but right now, I am thrilled with 5 minutes. I jogged a total of 20 minutes on Wednesday, less on Friday because I was short on time before going to the airport.

Except for a brief, forgetful moment last night when I spooned some jam on my roll at dinner, I haven’t had anything sugary since last Monday. No desserts, soda, etc. I’m not reading labels to avoid all sugar, but I’m not eating anything sweet outside of fresh fruit.

I’m up to 218 today, but I think my measurements have gone down a little bit. My jeans are certainly looser.

And I’m incredibly motivated. I can’t wait to put Clark down for a nap so I can hit the treadmill and/or weights again today.