Round

Mindless Eating - I have the audiobook, and the ideas are really churning away in my head…  Definitely helpful in the ‘no stress approach to weight loss’

…and I have just walked out the door.  Every day for 5 days now.  Even in rain twice.  It’s been really nice to have this return to exercise be so natural.  I spent YEARS pushing myself into a gym (and here in France the gym is really ugly, loud colors & not air-conditioned, and pretty smelly, crowded & cramped).  Once in the gym I would push myself hard on the various machines, with my fave being the elliptical.  I may still go back to the gym someday (especially in winter) but for now I am really liking the walking.

It feels like a reward at the end of the day, just me and my iPod walking in different directions around this great city, or sometimes heading to a big park to get some green.  I know walking doesnt burn as many calories as lots of other stuff you can do, but since it was forced on me due to the rules for recovering from surgery, I have really found it to be a great thing.  Years ago I walked & lost some weight, and then found the gym & did that instead.  Now I’m hoping I’ll keep walking as a part-time activity even after I go back to the low-impact things I can do at a gym.

Tomorrow I am hoping for a long walk, especially as Sunday is supposed to be rainy, so I’m sure it will be a short one.

I am easing back into my normal life, although I am still very tired (probably a mix of jet lag & the overall run down condition of my body after the months of sciatica & surgery).

I am doing well with going back to fruits & vegetables, having a generally healthy diet, and going for walks.  I am not yet keeping a food diary again, and I expect my protein intake is too low.  I am probably not drinking enough water either.  I am back on my usual healthy cereal breakfast.  I think I am probably doing enough to gradually lose the few extra pounds from vacation over the next couple of weeks, but I may need to do something more after that.

Vacation was great in almost all respects, the weak link being my eating. I got quite a lot of walking in, some days a bit too much, but we ate all kinds of garbage all the time. I made good choices maybe 20% of the time. My great gameplan for rules for vacation was out the door by the end of the first day.

But what matters is where I am today. I gained 5 pounds in 3 weeks, but I was sick of eating garbage & am very happy to be back to veggies & fruits & grains & vitamins & just generally keeping things healthy & balanced. I eased my way back into good eating habits since our return, with yesterday being back to a good pattern, complete w a daily walk.

My goal this week is just to get back to the good habits - water, fruits & vegetables, avoiding sweets & other indulgences, and getting back to a workout routine. Hopefully that will be enough to get a small movement on the scale. The next 2 weeks I have big out-of-town meetings for work (in hotels, no control over food choices) so I plan to get more serious about a plan once that is over, and just do the best low-stress healthy plan I can for the next 3 weeks.