Weight Update

Today marks exactly one month that I have been living healthier, eating fewer calories, and even doing a little exercise. I lost four pounds this past week, which probably has a little to do with my bout with sickness and another bout with anxiety, but the scale is moving downward, so I'm happy.

Despite those almost two entire weeks where the scale wouldn't budge, I still lost a total of 12 pounds this month!

I have mentioned before that I suffer from anxiety. I was on medication (SSRI) for almost two years, but in January I got sick of having side effects and having trouble losing weight, so I decided to stop taking them. I enjoyed nearly six months meds-free, and had very little anxiety during that time, but this week it came back with. a. vengeance. I know that it is due in large part to some big life changes that I'm going through right now, and some big decisions that I have to make, but unfortunately my brain doesn't listen to logic when my anxiety is triggered in a big way. I have some medicine left, so I think I'm going to start taking it again, because I really can't handle what anxiety does to me, mentally and physically. I'll go see a doctor ASAP as well.

My only concern with taking meds is that I don't want to become complacent about losing weight. The medicine I take (unlike a few others I've tried) doesn't increase my appetite, so that's a plus, but I don't want to get calm and suddenly be OK with weighing 247 pounds! We'll see how it goes this time around, when I'm conscious of the possibilities of side effects and weight gain. If I keep doing what I've been doing, I should be fine.

Now I'm off to my sister's for the day. She wants me to go to IKEA with her and my two nephews. IKEA. On a Saturday. With two small children. There is not enough Prozac in the WORLD...

Progress!

It has been 10 days since I plunged into my new, healthier lifestyle, and already I’ve seen some very encouraging progress. I’m pretty sure this calls for bullet points!

·         I have lost 5 lbs so far (woo!), and am 20 lbs below my highest weight on 1/1/2013.

·         I’m no longer 100 lbs from my goal—"just" 95 to go.

·         I haven’t felt hungry or deprived at all—I feel good about what I’m eating.

·         The ever-present swelling in my feet has gone waaay down (it’s totally gone on the right ankle, and is only slightly swollen on the left).

·         My face is less puffy, and I feel prettier.

·         I can fit into a pair of jeans that I haven’t worn since last September-ish!

·         I actually made it an entire week-and-a-half without giving up and bingeing, which hasn’t happened in a LONG time.

·         I’m down 10 lbs from the last time I saw my manfriend, with 10 weeks left to lose even more.

It’s very easy to get impatient with the pounds when you have a lot to lose, but I feel like I’m doing pretty well taking one day at a time. In the past, if I dieted for more than a week and still didn’t look like Giselle Bundchen, I’d want to give up. Right now, though, I’m enjoying the progress—little things, like the lines below my cheekbones being slightly deeper—and not getting discouraged with the number of pounds left to lose.

I can do this. I am doing this, and I’m enjoying the small victories along the way.

Weight Update

I hopped (OK, gingerly stepped while holding the towel rack for dear life to delay the inevitable as long as possible) onto the scale this morning, and was delighted to see a 1.5 lb weight loss! Since I've only been committed to a healthier lifestyle for 3 days, 1.5 lbs is something to cheer about, especially since losing weight has been very, very difficult for me over the last couple of years.

I feel really good, mentally and physically. It's interesting that it feels so good to be in control of my health, and to be making healthy choices, yet all my life I have been drawn to do the complete opposite. I'll explore that in depth at a later time. For now, I need to decide how to navigate Girls Night tonight--pizza and cocktails--without breaking my SparkPeople app...