Take It Off Mondays

This week I was avoiding the scale.

Normally I weigh in on Thursdays, but I had a feeling I wouldn't like what I saw, so I put it off till this morning. I was hoping to have at least maintained my previous weight, because surely there was no way I lost this week.

But I did. I lost 1.5 pounds. Is that great? No. But it's a loss. And I think I reached a breakthrough this week.

I did excellent with my eating this week. I ate nutritious meals and snacks and really got hold of my nighttime snacking. I treated myself with cake balls on Friday and Saturday; (I'll explain in an upcoming post) but considering they probably equalled two half-sized portions of cake, I'm totally fine with that. Because again, I am not on a diet. I am making lifestyle changes. So treats must fit in now, because they will always be around...

So you're wondering why I was avoiding the scale like the Bubonic Plague? I was a lazy bum this week. I walked twice (goal was 5x) and did cardio once (goal was 3x). This led me to doubt that I'd make any progress, especially coupled with the fact that I had cake balls this weekend.

After I weighed myself in I remembered something my friend Ashley (who works in the health & fitness industry) told me: 'If you give your body what it needs, it will do what it's supposed to do'. (I definitely paraphrased there, because seriously that conversation was months ago - do you really expect me to remember what she said verbatim? You get the point.)

I had given my body what it needed. And even though I hadn't worked out, I felt good. I didn't have that nasty stomach bloat you get when you eat junk. Which leads me to the other part of my breakthrough this week:

I don't need sweets as much as I thought. I have stocked up on greek yogurt as a snack, but now it's become a dessert of sorts. I had some strawberry Fage the other night, and I actually savored it. You know, like in the commercials, where the woman takes 2 minutes to eat each bite with a sensual, dreamy look on her face? That's how I ate my yogurt the other night. And after I ate it, you know what I didn't feel? Guilt.

I'm seriously drooling over this picture right now. YUM.

Normally, I would have eaten some kind of junk, and probably 2-3 servings of said junk; and then to accompany the post-binge stomach yuckiness and sugar high, I'd swallow a large chunk of guilt over what I just did to my body. But now, on my new journey, I honestly don't crave that stuff like I used to. And that is just AWESOME.

So here's the past week at a glance:

Starting Weight: 167.5

Weight loss this week: 1.5 lbs

Weight loss to date: 5.5 lbs

Weight left to lose: 7 lbs

First Goal: 7.5 pounds (hopefully this will be reached by next week!!!)

• Reward: $15 worth of craft supplies OR a box to contain the unorganized craft pile I currently possess ;)
  

Second Goal: 12.5 pounds

• Reward: A new bathing suit.
  

Final Goal: to fit in size 10 pants!

• Reward: A new outfit for my new bod ;)
  

Success: I finally realized I don't need sweets like I thought - the cravings have subsided!!!

Set-Backs: Not enough physical activity!

Exercise: Since I haven't been reaching my previous goal, I'm going to tweak it slightly. I'm aiming for 3 walking sessions, 3 cardio workouts and 2 weightlifting or ab routines. I'm so close to my first goal, so I want to kick it up this week!

Hope you'll join me in my healthy living journey!