more calories

11/19- 1277
11/20- 1405
11/21- 1260 (weighed in at 10 lbs below starting weight!)
11/22- ?? turkey dinner at church (splurge day)
11/23- 1445- i made a mudslide and miscalculated the icecream that i added;I thought I was going to end up with 1270 being my total and the next morning I realized I had made the error; bartender's remorse! (up 2 pounds after splurge)
11/24- 1285 (down a pound)
I guess this week Thanksgiving will be my splurge instead of having it on the weekend. Well, we'll see. If I can hold out and eat reasonably I may still do the weekend.

oh yeah

... and I've been getting a little lax with my 1300 cal limit. I'm sort of saying in my mind that in the 1300s is ok. Actually I catch myself thinking that as long as I'm 1360 or less that it still counts. :) I'd like to improve that because it may make a difference in how much I'm losing at a time.

plateau?

11/14- 1328
11/15- didn't do total count- splurge
11/16-1385 (went back up a pound somewhere around here)
11/17- 1220?
11/18- 1220- thought I maybe down 9 total pounds after I ran but when I woke up the next day it looked more like 8 lbs

It seems like my body loses then levels out and determines to slow metabolism more to counter the lack of food; then after a few days or a week when it realizes I'm not going to give it more food it starts using up some fat reserves. Does this make sense Josh? You said that most people you talk to lose in spurts and it seems like I do too.

diet update

11/6- 1267
11/7- 1725 splurge
11/8- 1357
11/9-1280 (up a pound)
11/10- 1220 (i feel like it must have been more; my period may be explaining the pound)
11/11- 1292
11/12- 1357 (back down the pound plus one more- for total loss of 8 lbs)
11/13- 1361

I feel like I had another day over 1400 in the last week, so either I'm a pessimist or I forgot to write some things. (I just looked at the last post and realized I was thinking about 11/5.) But overall Im doing well. I didn't lose any last week, but then did some hormonal wavering and then I did go down this week.

Progress is so slow, but I have to remember that it is progress. No, I will not drop the next 10 lbs next week. But if I hang in there I will drop those 10 lbs sometime after Christmas and in the mean time will be looking pretty good this Christmas compared to last!!

podcasting baby!

Our church is now podcasting! I'm really excited about this. We've already had 28 downloads in the last 2 days! Check it out at podpoint.net and go to recent podcasts or look us up in the directory. You can go right to our page by going to www.podpoint.net/Trading_Post_317. (Ok, this website is formatting over top my typing so you can't see that there should be underline marks as follows: Trading_Post_317.) Hope other people are blessed by this and can stay connected with our church when they can't be there, etc.

dropped again I think!

I think I'm down anther pound this week for a total loss in the past five weeks of 7 lbs.

11/3- 1155
11/4- 1306
11/5- 1448-oops, Pizza Hut got to me :(

but overall I'm doing well. I got out some old jeans I haven't worn in a while and that always feels good

Myers Briggs Bible study

I just had a great time last night. I taught about Myers Briggs at a women's Bible study. The women took the assessment (I should explain that they did not take the actual MB indicator which I would not have been allowed to score) a few weeks ago and then I scored it and planned a presentation. It was so much fun. I just love talking about MB and Ilike the idea of encouraging people about what they are good at and helping people see when others are different why they may have difficulties with it. The women seemed to really enjoy it. The group was very small and so it was difficult to do one of the activities, so it would be cool to do it with a larger sampling. But the smallness of the group also lent itself to a good discussion.

My jeans are looser!

Ahhh... a smidgen of success at last. I started realizing that I was losing weight on the scale but then I started feeling it: when i sit in the car I'm not as squished. :) Usually I pu the jeans on and they feel good until I have to lean over and scrunch up. And usually by the end of the day with natural bloating and eating they're tighter and they're not feeling this way the last few days.

calorie update:
10/29-1332
10/30- 1321 almost seem to be down a second pound for the week
10/31- anywhere from 1800 to 2000 for halloween :( but I counted it for my "splurge"
11/1- 1335
11/2- 1292
11/3- this morning down another pound- that makes a total of 4 lbs lower than my "hang out" weight (I think that when I started sticking to the 1300 pounds about 4 weeks ago I may have been at least two pounds higher than the hang out weight- so that's acutally a total of 6 lbs dropped; this may be why I didnt think it was working at first; i was determined not to let myself think i had lost weight until i got past the hang out range and seem to have accordingly brain-washed myself; still I swear that I'm losing the weight faster now than two weeks ago and I think most extraneous factors are the same- any thoughts Josh? does my body hold out on me at first; or is it slowing down on purpose at first to counter balance the sudden lack of food and then finally has to give in because i've persisted in limiting it?

Anyway, I can't tell you how good it feels to have some success and to have the knowledge that the sacrifices I'm making count for somehting. It makes me all the more motivated to stick to theplan. Now let's see if I can make it through the holiday season! :)

Other observation: I experienced this last time I was successful at dieting. Once I'm in the swing of self-denial, I'm not as hungry all the time. My body seems to be reprogrammed to not look for food all day long. But there are still some days when I am ravenous.