In that test phase, I knew I would not lose the few pounds that had crept back on, but I was fine with maintaining them for the time being.  While increasing the number of calories, I was also supposed to increase my levels of exercise to speed up my metabolism — hopefully with the end result also being warmer body temperatures.

Well, I got accustomed to eating more but not to the exercising more part.  I’ve proven, AGAIN, that I suck at exercise and if I had to rely on it to lose weight that I just would not have been able to do it.  Thank goodness for will power (on most days) when it comes to portion sizes.

Anyway, the purpose for my post tonight is to become accountable AGAIN for the poor eating choices I’ve made the last few days.  The last four days have all had caloric intake of over 2000 calories, with today and yesterday both being around 2800.  (Speaking of warmth — you would not believe how warm I am today!)  Tomorrow I get to start depriving myself again, and also pull out the wool socks.  Ha!

I will try hard to put some encouragement on here once in a while — some self-praise or positive thoughts or a healthy recipe — something other than using my blog for confessing my eating indiscretions or seeking accountability.  It’s not fair to you to hear all the bad and ugly and none of the good.  There’s plenty good, more good than bad actually.

Stick with me!

Today we went to a little sports bar on Okauchee Lake called Rookies Allstars. I tried to find something on the menu that wouldn’t “kill” my diet but didn’t have much luck. I chose a beef tenderloin sandwich with fresh garlic and a side of chips and pickle. My other options included sandwiches with cheese or sauce and fries. I thought the chips would be a better choice, but perhaps not. Anyway, I get home and plug the closest approximations I could find in the Livestrong app to gauge calories consumed and sighed when I discovered that my lunch came to about 11o0 calories. I hope this is not a signal of how my weekend is going to go! In hindsight, I should have only eaten a small portion of the chips that came with my sandwich.

Maybe I should just treat today’s lunch as one of those spikes on the graph that helps trigger a faster metabolism when I resume to normal caloric intake!

For what it’s worth, the sandwhich was delicious and the lunchtime conversation heavenly. Oh, it was also a plus that my toddler didn’t fall off her barstool. We didn’t plan our destination very carefully to consider kid-friendliness. We had never been there before and they *did* seem a little taken aback when I asked if they had any milk on the menu!

It was kind of odd (and exhilarating) but the scale went from 191 to 187 one pound at a time for four days in a row. I knew that it was just circumstance and that I was not actually burning that many excessive calories each of those days. But, I do think my deep breating techniques (as coached in the yoga portion of the Wii Fit) and also my attempts at increasing running times (again in Wii Fit) in combination helped me get there.

I am trying new things, and it has been shown that varying your exercise will help increase metabolism and therefore spur weight loss. I know the weight isn’t going to come off three pounds per week all the time, but it sure was nice seeing it this week, especially after last month’s roller coaster. If I can ease back into my one to two pounds per week for the rest of the month, I’ll be very happy.

1. How much sleep are you getting at night?
2. How much water do you drink during the day?

I have been counting calories and journaling food for about a week and a half. Although it is tedious, it is interesting! And, I have had a successful week and a half of weight loss without subsequent gain. While I think counting calories has played a significant part, I think the bigger part for me is the amount of sleep I’ve managed to get in that same time period. On livestrong.com, where I do my food journaling and calorie counting, I found an article about the link between lack of sleep and increased risk of obesity. Very interesting read! I especially cued in on the impact sleep has to metabolism.

I love sleep, actually, so this past week and a half has been great for me. Needless to say, I haven’t been as productive at night, which is usually when I get to catch up on things after a certain two year old falls asleep!

I’ve always read that one good way to increase metabolism is by adding time or strength to your workouts. It will be nice to see if my weight loss speeds up with the increased output during exercise!

I ate sensibly during the main meal at our dinnertime birthday celebration, but I did allow myself a nice hefty piece of cherry cheesecake. I figure that was about 400 calories or so that I wouldn’t normally put in my body and hoped that would provide enough of a “boost”.

Well, this morning when I woke up and stepped on the scale, I was delighted to see that I hadn’t gained any from the day before. So, while eating the cheesecake didn’t help me lose anything, at least I didn’t gain.

And, I don’t know if it was just psychological, how I had geared myself up for that cheesecake, but I thought it was the best my mom had ever done in preparing it. Yum!

It all seems so counter-intuitive. I mean, how do I justify a big meal when I have achieved results through smaller portions? The question is rhetorical. I understand the argument and I “get it”. Here’s the kicker… I have been “good” for several days in a row, but tomorrow we are celebrating a family birthday. Each time there is a family birthday, the birthday person gets to choose the meal and an elaborate dessert is made. Tomorrow, it’s Hungarian Goulash, garlic bread, salad and for dessert, cherry cheesecake! I think I’m going to go ahead and make tomorrow be the day I have a larger meal.

Now, if I wake up on Sunday weighing two pounds more, I’m going to throw that “boosting” argument right out the window!