Moving Forward

I must admit, I sm falling short of my August goals, as there were many things I set out to accomplish in August. I am not at all off the rails, but I'm not doing a bunch of the other things I was aiming to do. Here's hoe things are going: Eating: nearly 100% on plan except for the weekend of my even. I have opted for salad with grilled chicken on it when we eat out. I have even stopped adding cream to my coffee because I cannot control myself with it. That change has dramatically decreased the amount of coffee I am drinking too. Win-win! I am still not in a place where I can commit to letting go if the sugar-free things sweeteners in my iced tea and water. I honestly forgot about it. For instance, I am in the habit of having a water bottle with me 100% of the time and I always have it sweetened. I originally wanted to only have sweeteners during my eating window and drink unflavored water or a splash of either lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in my water when fasting. But I'm so in the habit of toting my bottle around with sweeteners, I often woke up and took a big swig before realizing I was supposed to switch to non-flavored. I quickly gave up on the idea, especially when I was prepping for my event and got stressed out and just felt like it was one more thing I didn't have mental space for. Exercise: I started doumg some exercise earlier in the month, strength training and some HIIT cardio, and then the week before my event I got a horrible pinched nerve/trapped tendon feeling in my buttock. Sciatica? Snapping hip? Oh did that feel terrible, every step hurt. I still had to walk my dog and get ready for the event so I was carrying 60 pound bags of tube sand that I used to make sand bag weights for my canopy. My husband couldn't make it to help me set up I had to put up my canopy and lug 4 30-pound sandbags and tabled, etc. So while I was busy and getting non-intentional exercise, I did not commit to exercise this month. Hangs head down. Sigh. Standing at work more. I did one full week of standing 4 or more hours at work and thats when my pain started so I quickly let that goal slip away. I have increased the amount of time I stand during the workday, and am using that time to use my balance board, do some squats or stretches. I am still trying to work out the kinks in that snapping hip/butt thing. Similar results for flossing my teeth (shame), and using the handrail less when going down my stairs. I did it for a bit then didn't make it a priority. Still, I saw the scale dip to a new low of 163.4 on Friday and that absolutely kept my mind in the game when it came to eating out last weekend. I am getting excited about the prospect of moving into the 150's. Years ago, when I was in my 20's, I had a full body composition done at a fitness club I joined. The results showed that my ideal wight was 155 pounds due to how much muscle mass I had. This was way before BMI ever existed. I am only 5 ft tall so veimg 155 sounds insane to me because the BMI tables say I should be no heavier than 124 to be considered "normal" I don't know what my weight should really be but I do know that I've lost muscle as I have aged. So I think having multiple things I'm working on in one month didn't go so well. I think one bigger goal I know I want to work on is to make exercise a habit. I want to gain back some of the muscle/strength I have lost. Something like opening up my pop up canopy on my own should not have taken 100% of my arm strength, I almost had to ask a stranger for help. I was sore for days after. when I went to pick up the tube sand from the hardware store, the ladies working wouldn't let me lift it because they are 60 pounds each. I was able to carry them myself but it wasn't like I was flinging them around with ease! Plus, I'm hoping if I build strength I will have less things popping and snapping in my lower body. So that is my big goal for the rest of this year. I still want to try to get my weight down to 155, for my 51 pounds lost by my 51st birthday at the end of December but if I gain strength instead of losing on the scale, I will consider that a victory! I know of I just keep eating low carb and fasting my body will reach it's ideal weight. I have made ketogenic eating a habit and I can do the same for exercise. I recently looked back through some pictures I took this summer and came across this one of me from mid-July. I pulled a dress I never wear out of my closet and was amazed at how good it looks now that I'm 40-some pounds lighter, so I snapped a picture so I could be sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. My brain can't believe I'm not still the way I was. Whenever I have a bad day I look at this picture as testament to staying the course, and it helps me move forward.