day 1, week 5- another success

I passed my 5% loss goal. I'm now at 13 lbs lost. What is the challenge this week? I honestly can't remember. Oh yeah, the challenge is to forgive yourself. Not give yourself permission to go off the reservation and into the Dairy Queen, but when lapses happen in tracking, eating, exercising, give yourself a pass 10 times. I think the way they worded this was dangerous for me. I will be ignoring the challenge. Guess that's why I forgot what it was, I already discounted it's value to me.

I'm a pretty realistic person when it comes to goal setting and I'm also over the whole beating myself up thing. We all make mistakes, but I'm not going to set out with "pre-forgiveness" which undermines my determination. I know I like ice cream and would love to have it almost daily, but I also know that I can't do that and still meet the goals that I have set for myself. If I slip and eat the ice cream, I'll be honest about it, track it, and try to figure out why I made that choice so I don't make it the next time. Or, I'll figure out the way I can budget the ice cream into my plan. I won't call myself a bad person, or judge myself harshly for the mistake. My goodness, I'd be in bad shape if I judged myself by every mistake I've made in my life.

I've been sick for the whole last week, so my entire exercise plan went out the window. I think I was blessed to lose 2 pounds considering I didn't exercise AT ALL. I feel like I'm on the mend, but I'm still not 100% yet. I think I'm about 80%...sinus pressure, post nasal drip, hoarseness, general yuckiness. I stayed on track and I didn't miss any work or school, but I didn't do anything extra. This weekend will change all of that. We're heading north to visit the snow in Flagstaff and play. We borrowed some sleds, rented a hotel room, got out the winter gear, bought boots that fit the kids and long underwear. I think there will be some real calorie burning going on.

I'll keep on keeping on. Next week will bring its own challenges, I'm sure. I've been talking to God, tracking my meals, staying positive, planning and cooking up a storm, and generally having a good time. My family is happy (well, they're doing a good job of faking it if they're not), and I am too.

Less later,
Laurie