Weigh In: Grim to Great!

I almost didn't make my Monday Weigh In. But I'm here! And here we go.

Sept: Ice cream craving month!

The month of September marks the month I fell a part. I stopped calorie counting. My workouts were inconsistent. Zero energy. Sugar binges. It wasn't great. My weight shows it.

Current weight: 200.4 lbs (+1 lb from last week and up 3 lbs from the beginning of the month)

I'm un-doing my hard work! I finally woke up today realizing that I was in a funk and I finally forced enough energy to do something about it. Today was a really good change. I feel better already.

Achievements:

Giant funnel cake last weekend.

I attempted to re-start calorie counting. I only did three days, all of them ended up being over 2,000 calories. Isn't it amazing how easily you can just over eat. Three dates here, one latte there and suddenly you're 700 calories over. Hell.

As for work outs. I have been working out. Mainly short walks, stretches and bike rides. Most of them added up to 150-300 calories per day. Not a lot. It starting to get clear how I gained so much weight huh?

SOUNDS PRETTY GRIM HUH?

BUT WAIT! THERE'S GOOD STUFF TOO!

The main reason I started indulging so much is because this month I had visitors! The first two weeks of September I had one guest and I showed him to all the eateries. This third week of September I visited my family, AND I had a visitor waiting for me when I returned to the mountain. A lot of fun as well as a lot of calories.

I went to the LA county fair when I visited home. I've always loved visiting that fair. It's held in my home town so it's easy. There are so many eateries there and over priced carnival rides that I don't even look twice at. I'm there for the exhibits! My favorite this year is the animation exhibit. Called something like "From pencil to digital: Animation through the years." It was amazing! From the first Disney cartoons to Pixar, to Anime, to Stop motion animation. It was great. I got to hang out with Kung Fu Panda. They also had interactive sections for the new "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" movie.

One thing that I consumed a lot more than I usually do this month is... BEER.

I am NOT a big beer drinker. I never liked it. I live near Mammoth Lakes and their microbrewery has been the only brew I actually like. So I've been consuming it more. When my friend visited this weekend we actually experimented with different beers. And lo and behold I liked ALL of them. Good for my beer taste buds, bad for my calorie count.


 Like I mentioned, today was a good day. Light at the end of the sugar coma induced tunnel so far.

 The first snowfall of the season happened Saturday night! I had my day off today so I zoomed up to Yosemite National Park (remember I live at the entrance to the park this season) and witnessed the left overs of the snow before it melts. It was gorgeous. I didn't take a lot of pictures of it. I wanted to just enjoy it. But I did take this one. This is in Tuolumne meadows this morning. Enough snow still on the ground. It was beautiful. This picture of me isn't. LOL

One last thing I found last night was Alisa Vitti's website floliving.com  and decided to order her book Womancode. The point of Vitti's program is to help women with PCOS and other hormonal/ menstrual problems heal themselves using food and etc. This is very specific toward my problems. I've been dying to get some sort of guide for my disorder since I can't see an endocrinologist right now. This seemed like the next best thing. I don't trust "3 month programs" especially if they lay out a specific pre-made plan to help you lose weight-- you know what kind of diet programs I'm talking about-- because they're expensive and I never follow them. I HATE people telling me exactly what to eat. I rebel instantly. That's why I like taking suggestions and learning the science behind things before trying it out. I'm not just going to eat a glass of orange juice and one hard boiled egg for breakfast because it's in your plan. Sorry.  But I liked the background Vitti detailed when I saw her on TED talks so I thought I'd give her a chance and get her book.

Check it out. It's pretty interesting. If you can appreciate (or tolerate) her "self loving" humor what she says is pretty interesting and it makes sense to me. *shrugs* We'll see.

Goals:
I need to re-lose the 3 pounds I gained! I'm going to attempt to lose the 3 lbs in two weeks. Short notice I know but if I can get back on the wagon and work on it I'm SURE I can lose 1.5 lbs a week. That's not too much to ask.
Re-start calorie counting and stick around 1200-1400 calories
Consistent work outs. Making excuses about my hip hurting is not going to cut it anymore. There are plenty of activities I could be doing that won't affect it; like cycling and strength training and pilates.
Drink more water!
Read Vitti's book and do my best to find more information on my condition. The more I learn about PCOS the more I can do to help myself!

Have a great week! I'm so glad I've regained my drive to continue on my weight loss journey! Good luck!

-w0rld