Losing it in Utah now.

I was reading an entry in October's Real Simple about praise. And I realized, I've not praised myself for my work. I've lost FIFTEEN POUNDS. That's AMAZING! That's been hard. That's been a lot of anime on the treadmill, a lot of chocolate I didn't eat, a lot of blisters that have come and gone.

And all I can think of is the next pound? When do I stop for a moment in this trek and look around, take a deep breath and go "Wow. This is an amazing place. I'm doing good"? No, I need a pause, a smile, a pat on my back and realize "Good girl, Kit. Good job".

I didn't get to my WW meeting yesterday because I was at the Renaissance Festival! And let me tell you, when you're walking all day, you really burn up those pounds. I checked my weight that morning and I was something like 177.6, having only lost 0.4 pounds. But all that walking lost me another 1.2. Now, I didn't EAT very well, but I figured I'm having a good time, I'll forego Point Watching that day.

Not that it mattered since I still lost, yay! So, the total weight I've lost since going to the WW meetins is 4 pounds! And the ticker above tells you how much since January.

Blows your mind, doesn't it?

Well, I finally did it, I hit my mental weight marker. I don't know what it is about 178 but that is some sort of mental mile marker. I have been wanting to hit 178 since I started and now I'm here. It's so exciting!

Now that my treadmill is temporarily on the fritz AND it has started cooling off outside, it's time to reconsider how to get my exercise in. This Website should be just the thing. Now, do I go by miles or do I go by time? I'd been averaging 2.25 miles for 45 minutes. I may have to go by distance and just try to make myself go faster. Hmm.

Anyways, I think it's time to celebrate!

I thought that I'd make Friday my Last Chance Before Weigh-In day. I ate well, I did my strength exercises and I decided that to really cinch it, I would take a walk on the treadmill.

So I turned on House M.D. with subtitles and volume off, turned on my iPod and started off at the usual 3.0 mph setting. But about five minutes in I thought, y'know, I really ought to kick it up a notch. And so I boldly increased speed by 0.2. 3.2 mph and I was flying. But then something odd began to happen. First there was a rubbing noise. I thought I just wasn't picking up my feet enough so I worked on that but it didn't help. "Something's caught underneath" I thought to myself and figured I'd look into it when I was done walking.

Then the speed started subtly fluctuating. It was a little like walking on ice, actually. Or wet pavement. Or gravel. "Huh, that's not supposed to happen" but I figured it was just getting old.

And then it happened. With a loud CLUNK!, the tension went out on the band, I might as well had been walking on a cotton blanket laid on a marble hall. "CRAP!" I jumped right off the thing as House continued to consider the implications of a woman with an allergy that was kicking her right in the uterus (you've seen that one, right? With the nun?) and came to my own conclusions.

I broke the stinkin' treadmill. Well, if that ain't just a blow to the ego. Dad thinks he can fix it but we'll see.

In the meantime, I got 35 minutes in at least. Never did get to see House fix the nun but I've seen it before.

After a bad-for-you trip to Utah, I had gained about 1.4 pounds but by my Weight Watchers Meeting, I was back to where I was before I left. The lady behind the counter seems to have some small miscalculation skills, she didn't see that I hadn't actually lost from before and said that I lost a pound. I took a look at my booklet and noticed that this was untrue. But I am not going to argue with someone who believes I've lost a little weight.

It's gotten a little cooler since I've come back. It's between 70 and 80 degrees out here, quite a change from the 100s, it'll be nice to start walking outside now. Mmm.

Here's to another week of losing weight@

Well, I'm back from a very hectic, very uncontrolled-eating type week in Utah. I didn't walk, I didn't write down my intake, and I ate out almost every single night. And I came home dreading that scale. I'm no fan of it anyways, but it's always hard when you get back from a trip and realize that you've been very bad and that you'll have to get right back up on that horse. Nnng, not a happy thought.

But this morning, my inbox had a WW article on recovering from vacations. And one of the bits of advice was to: "Go straight back to weighing in, say our Community Users – even go to a meeting earlier in the week than normal to get right back in the groove." Good advice, I took it.

I gained a little over a pound, I suppose. But that's not bad, honestly. It's not the 185 I was dreading to see looking back at me. Phew! I can be quite the pessimist, I guess. But I should mention that though I visited McDonalds more in one week than I had in probably three years (I hate McD's but at least they have those snack wraps and I would get the grilled honey-mustard and one was enough to satisfy the hunger a bit, and their fruit & walnut salad was fine as another meal), I had an amazing time with my friends and my family and being with them was much more important than fussing constantly over what I was eating.

So hey, I'm back and I'm up on the horse again!