The Healthy Writer Blog

Ups and Downs

Posted by Trish Milburn Mar 22 2011, 8:34 am in bad habits, calories, eating healthy, exercise, food diary, Trish Milburn, weight loss

Last month, I had a good bit of success with my weight-loss goals by being diligent about tracking my calories and keeping them within a certain range and by two hours of daily exercise. This month has been less successful so far because I haven’t been as diligent. It’s been more of an up-and-down month. My weight has fluctuated within a couple of pounds, though it is at its lowest point for the month so far this morning, down .8 of a pound since the end of February.

Part of the reason was I was traveling and away from home and my normal routine for 10 days. I started off fine, arriving at my hotel the first day and walking around the parking lot for an hour. Wasn’t my normal two hours of exercise, but at least it was better than nothing after a day in the car. The next day I did better, working out for two hours in the gym after I arrived at my hotel in Austin. But the next two days were so jam-packed full of meetings and work for the meetings that I didn’t get in any exercise and didn’t track calories because I had no idea how many were in the foods I was eating. This is the most frustrating thing about eating out at places that don’t provide nutritional information.

There was a choice involved. I could have gotten up really early or worked out really late, but I made the choice that I needed a good night’s sleep more. One, I tend to be grumpy when I’m not well rested, not a good idea for sitting in an all-day meeting. The other was that I tend to get sick if I don’t get enough rest while traveling.

After my meetings, I visited my good friend MJ Fredrick in San Antonio for a few days. I made some good food choices (a healthy turkey sandwich when we were in Fredericksburg) and some not so good ones (a big honking pastry at the German bakery). But I did walk about five miles that day according to my trusty FitBit. The next day, I walked for an hour while MJ was at work. But for the next few days as I traveled home, my exercise was more sporadic and my eating choices seemed to be infected by that.

When I arrived home, I had no more excuses and yet I did the yo-yo thing last week. I could say I was busy playing catch-up and that I didn’t feel well a couple of days, but those would be nothing more than excuses. I just didn’t do what I was supposed to, and I think it’s important that I own up to that and resolve to do better because I know it works. February proved that.

You’ll notice that I used the phrase “so far” a couple of times above. That was by design because, you see, there are still nine days left in March to work toward my goal of reaching 15 pounds down since the beginning of February. I need to lose 7 pounds to make that. If I do, great. If I don’t but still lose, I’ll be that much closer to my goal. All I can do is stick with what I know works — monitoring my calories closely and getting in my two hours of exercise a day. If I do that, I’ll at least know that I did what I could and will just have to depend on my body to do the rest.

So, I’m off to get my apple for breakfast. What healthy choices are you going to make today?

3 Comments

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3 Responses to “Ups and Downs”

Michelle Butler says:

March 22, 2011 at 9:24 am

I’m dragging myself to a Weight watchers meeting tonight even though I don’t expect it to go well – for the 2nd weigh in in a row. I’ve been stressed the past couple of weeks, and that got me “indulging” too often. Even recognizing what is happening, it’s been hard to get back on the straight and narrow so to speak. Hopefully, tonight’s meeting will give me the jumpt start I need to start doing what I know I need to do.

Good luck to you! I so know where you are because I’m there too.

Reply
- Trish Milburn says:
  
  March 22, 2011 at 9:35 am
  
  I hope your WW meeting goes better than you expect. Even if it doesn’t, try not to get too down. Today is a new day, and so is tomorrow. We can’t erase the past, but we can do better going forward.
  
  Also hope your stress level comes down.
  
  Reply
Anna Sugden says:

March 23, 2011 at 6:26 am

Being honest about how you’re doing is so important Trish – kudos to you! We know all-too-well that it’s baby steps to success and sometimes we go backwards before we go forwards.

I have faith in you that you will ultimately achieve your goal!

I’ve been bad this month – not so much in the healthy eating part, but in the exercise part. Using my ailments as an excuse isn’t good for me and I need to do better. I’m bummed that the FitBit isn’t available over here, but my pedometer is a good one, so I’ll need to be more rigorous about wearing it and watching my step count.

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