Week 7 Update

It's been a good week for weight loss.  Last Wednesday I was 216.2 and this week I weighed in at 210.9.  That's a loss this week of 5.3, and a total loss of 36.1 lbs!  I have been increasing my exercise this week, entered some challenges with Fitbit, and tried to make sure I am over 10,000 steps.  Some days I was closer to 20,000 steps.  I have tried implementing some walking mixed with jogging as well.  I am also on week 2 of the couch25K again.  It seems a bit easier than before at the beginning of this journal, where I couldn't make it through week 3.  I guess we will see how it goes.

We've been having ALOT of snow this winter.  More than I have ever lived through since moving to Idaho back in 2002.  Because of this, I have experienced shoveling snow as my new adventure.  It's almost like playing in snow, but a bit more exhausting.  I am pretty stoked, however, that I have had the stamina to shovel the snow because it's a pretty big job.  I don't think I would have ever had the strength or stamina prior to surgery.  In fact, I know I would have been huffing and puffing, increased heart rate (in the scary zone) and those feelings of nausea.  As it stands, the worst part I experienced would be my arms being tired.  And that makes sense because my arms are not all that strong to begin with.

Being back at work has raised my stress level again.  While out on leave, I had plenty of rest and took good care of myself.  Now, I am back to getting up too early, not having enough sleep because of limited time in the evenings, etc.  But, it's only been 2 weeks, so I am sure I will adjust again.

I need some more creative ideas for lunches here at work, though.  Jim and I went through the Wendy's Drive-Thru and I bought a bunch of small chili's to portion out and freeze.  I have been having them all week for lunch, but a woman cannot live by Chili alone.  I think I need to make double portions of whatever is for dinner and then have left overs for lunch. It sounds simple enough, and yet, I sure haven't been able to accomplish it.  I think that's because I haven't put a whole lot of effort into dinners.  I need to remember to make me the priority!