Diet Update – Week 13

Thirteen weeks and 25 pounds down.

Things have slowed up a bit, and that sawtooth pattern is largely due to weekend eating off the program. I’m trying to decide if I will continue this pattern of being off on weekends, or just plow through and get this over with sooner. I’m really good at breakfast and lunch on the weekends, but tend to overeat still at dinner, and have been allowing myself desserts and occasional wine. At this rate, I’m probably looking at hitting goal in June 09, a bit later than initially planned. But doing the math, I’m losing about 2 pounds a week, which is a healthy way to do it.

Although the losses came more slowly this past month, I feel as if I “consolidated” myself at this lower weight during that time of slower loss. I’m getting used to this new body, and liking it. My clothes fit better, and some in fact are getting too big to wear anymore. I don’t want to shop just yet, so my wardrobe is a bit limited. But I don’t mind.

I definitely have more energy. I sort of bound up the 15 steps to our bedroom and occasionally find myself taking the steps into our apartment building two at a time. I’m more likely to head out myself at night for milk or shampoo instead of asking Mr TBTAM. And at work, I’m practically floating between exam rooms during busy office hours.

I’ve stopped tracking my exercise and obsessing over how often and how long, but it’s about 3-4 times a week at this point. I find myself wanting to work out if I have a free hour, because I know how good I will feel afterwards. We are lucky to have a full gym in our apartment building, so I can really squeeze in a quick workout almost anytime. The elliptical machine is really fun, and I can work up a real honest-to-goodness sweat if I play the right tunes on my IPOD. Earlier darkness is limiting my bike rides to the weekends, and soon the cold weather will stop that as well. Bummer.

One negative is that my migraines are worse than ever. I don’t know if it is because I am in negative calorie balance, spending too much time at the computer, not hydrating enough, or just going through the awful season-change cycle that so many of my fellow migraine sufferers are reporting right now.

As far as food goes, I’m working on protein muffin recipe for weekend breakfasts. I made the third permutation today, and it’s almost there. Look for the recipe next weekend if all goes as planned.