October Recap

Rarely do I look forward to the start of November, but this year I am happy to see it arrive, because it marks the end of my October challenge. And I did indeed get challenged, buy that's the point, right? If I always just kept doing things that make me comfortable, I would never have progress! I weighed in yesterday before ending my challenge with a special Halloween dinner, and the scale said 157. I was 162 at the beginning of October and dropped down to 155.0 at one point during the month, and since have hovered between 155-157. So I still consider that a nice win for the month at 5 pounds lost. I got 10 strength training sessions done in my Peleton app and consistently did yoga twice a week. I kept my diet squeaky clean all month and did my best with cutting way back on sugar-free drinks and gum, though that is the area that ended up tripping me up a bit as my cycle approached, and mentally, it was the thing that felt most restrictive. I did end up letting some of it back in this week. So maybe I could have maintained that 155 weight if I had continued to avoid the sweeteners (and not given into the temptation of having heavy cream in my coffee) but between the progress on the scale and the measuring tape, I am very pleased! Here are so progress photos. The first two are from 10/27/22 and the last two are from today. What a difference a year can make!

I am off work this week and have some stress in wrong appointment times and extra things scheduled that I didn't plan on, and *UGH* snow! But one of the best non-scale victories happened this week too. I went to the dentist after a 2 year "vacation" from it. I don't do all the things you should and only got back into the habit of flossing this month. The dentist was floored by how great my teeth and gums were after not having any professional attention for 2 years. She said that there was so little tartar on my teeth that I only need cleaning once a year, and my teeth and roots are in such good shape that I only need x-rays every 2 years. She said it's rare for her to recommend this. Here's the deal, before I went keto, I hated cleanings because I felt like they were in there scraping forever and it was uncomfortable, whether it was with the tool or water and I bled a lot. They never told me I had really healthy teeth and gums and I always had to go back every 6 months. Today was a breeze! It may be total coincidence, but with keto reducing inflammation in the body, I think this is just one more awesome benefit of this way of life! To me, this NSV makes me just as happy as a lower number in the scale. I am taking care of me and it's starting to show in ways I never imagined.