Good morning!

I was in trial late last week. I had hoped to check in, but did not make it. I have had y'all in my thoughts, though!

Diane - It's such a relief to hear that your plantar fasciitis is in the past. I had understood it to be a chronic condition, and was nervous my foot would feel this way (or worse) every day for the rest of my life. Those runs where every step is a slog can be the worst. But, I also feel like when I get through them, I am earning the right to have some easier runs. Hope you enjoy those easier runs soon, and hope the scale this morning shows a '2' as the second number. I am sure if you haven't crossed over yet, you're knocking on the door.

Amanda! - So glad to have you back here with us! I am so sorry to hear about your mom. And I want to say something else, but have no idea what might be helpful. I wish you love and support as you try to get through this very difficult time. I am excited to have a fellow Pokemon Go! enthusiast, though. I work by a Pokestop haven. I tend to avoid a certain section of town right by my office building because there are a lot of stairs, but that's where I walk every day because there are so many Pokestops. Stairs? Ugh. But I need those Pokeballs, man! Hope you're enjoying your new job.

Mandy - I know what you mean about the motivation. "Heath" is so nebulous and long-term. I have a friend who just did a 28-day challenge. She lost 10 pounds and went down a size, blah blah blah. I am genuinely happy for her. I know those last 10 or 15 pounds tend to be very stubborn and frustrating. But I have lost 30 pounds since early May, and literally no one has noticed. My clothes are looser, and I'm able to wear clothes that I had to give up before because they were uncomfortably tight, but there's been no real impact on my day-to-day life. But I know that if I lose 10 more, then 10 more, then 10 more, eventually I will get to where I need to be. So I love your StepBet goal. It will take a long time to get to your weight goal, especially with the breastfeeding, but hitting your step goal is totally doable, and comes with an immediate reward.

It's Monday, and it's going to be a great week!

Diane - You Ninja'd me! 230.0. So crushingly close! But --- you only have to lose 0.2 pounds this week to finally, finally see that beautiful 22x!!!

Hey ladies!

StepBet day 1 saw me walking laps around the outside of the church after dark... Heh. I was short by a couple thousand steps and living in the middle of nowhere, walking the sidewalk around the outside of the church was the safest place (meaning well lit so I didn't trip and fall). Oh well. It was dark, and that means it was cooler. I had the neighbor's cat as a companion, like a little Easter egg, she was in a different spot every time I walked around the church. And when I got into the house the baby was still asleep. So YAY! Though, I wouldn't have been surprised if the cops were called because some random person dressed in all black (black t-shirt, black sweat pants, black walking shoes) was walking around the church. That would have been fun. "Hi, officer. Yes, I live right there. My husband is the pastor. I have no nefarious plans, just walking where it's well lit!"...

I'm gonna try to do the stretch goal tomorrow (~3000 more steps than the regular goal, and I need to get hit that number twice a week). Weeks go Monday thru Sunday. I have to hit 9400 steps 4 times a week, 12200 twice a week, and I get one free day where I don't have to meet a goal. I thought it was going to be fairly easy, but I didn't realize how much being pinned to a chair with a baby on my boob was keeping me stationary! Luckily my hubby is being super supportive and doesn't fuss when I'm like "here, take the baby, I gotta go walk a bit, back soon!"

In other news, super duper exhausted and living on coffee because my 9-month-old kiddo currently has four teeth coming in at the same time and has a hard time sleeping lately. Poor little guy. Every night he gets tylenol at 9pm, and 4 hours later, at 1am, he's awake and super fussy because the medicine wore off, and he works himself up to the point he doesn't go back to sleep for at least an hour, some times two, and occasionally even 3. I feel like I'm drugging my kid too much, but he only gets it at night and none through the day... and we just got these new teething tablets that are supposed to help, so I'm hoping I can use less tylenol, but the pediatrician said what I was doing was okay, and that's why she makes the big bucks.

Time to go sleep while I can. Good night! :)

Laurie: Well, hopefully I'm right about it going away. I haven't had any trouble with it again after that one time. Are you having to wait to get back to running or walking much?

Mandy: Ha! Yep, sometimes you have to get out after dark to get all the steps in. I was in a work challenge a while back, and there were times I was out circling our driveway (It is in a U-shape and goes around the yard light). Glad to see that you get that time, even if it is late. Teething is no fun! I hope he gets through it soon!

For me, although I didn't get it yesterday, I did see 229.8 today. I am hoping to get down far enough that I don't bounce back up in the 230's. Mini-goal is 228 by Monday. I went running last night, but I didn't have a stellar food day. Should be better today. My son is out fishing with my parents this week, so I don't have my hiking partner. I think I'll go for a little hike tonight, though. It isn't as fun without him, but I do like going out anyway.

Step bet day 2: repeat of day 1.

Only got to the lower goal, not the stretch goal like I wanted for the day, but I did get to the goal after a really slow start. Kiddo slept fairly well last night, but I was so worried about him sleeping that I didn't sleep! But I did get to take a walk outside that wasn't laps around the outside of the church, and had a mini-fantasy of one day jogging that little stretch of the back country road. It's hilly, I doubt I'd survive heh. It was just far enough that I was ready to be done when I got back to my driveway. I'm hoping to push it a little farther every few days just because it's such a good measure of progress, since, with the nursing, weight loss isn't my goal. But I wouldn't complain if it was a side effect. :)

Kiddo went down at about 9:45 tonight, like last night, and hopefully he'll sleep until 9am like he did today, only without the 2am wake up! It was the shortest, easiest fussy time over night in the last week. I didn't even have to go into the nursery. He eventually calmed himself down and went back to sleep. He was so happy and well rested today that I was jealous.

Good night!

Mandy: Oh the joys of sleepless nights with babies! It will get better. Sometimes it is just tough, being so tired, so I feel for you! Good job on the steps, it sounds really good.

For me, I went hiking last night. It went well, but my son isn't home for the next few days, so it was a little boring by myself! I made it to spin this morning and I'm hoping to go running after work. Food plan wasn't great yesterday, but I stayed the same weight this morning. Just keep plugging along!!

Good morning! Just checking in. I have not been well, and don't feel particularly well today. Trying to recuperate before getting back into the groove. Strangely enough, walking makes me feel better, though, so I have been meeting your StepBet goals, Mandy! Glad you're finding a way to make it work. I have a 10K goal per day on my FitBit, and I confess to walking in a circle around my room to try to make it. It feels ridiculous, but it's really great to meet goals. Diane - good to see that you're still keeping up the hiking routine, even when your son can't make it. And with all the spinning you do, I imagine you have some pretty impressive leg muscles!

I'm at work, since I missed a few days this week. Hope this weekend and the upcoming week is great for everyone!

Good morning! Quick check-in.

Still not feeling 100%, so still just walking. Going to try to get in my 10K steps today. Someone brought in some sort of dessert. Helpfully, I am not interested in it at all. There are definitely good things about feeling under the weather. =)

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Laurie: Sorry you're not feeling 100%. That's not fun! Hope you get to feeling better today!

For me, my weigh in wasn't what I wanted it to be. The weekends just aren't my friend sometimes. Oh well! Onward....

Diane - You are SO CLOSE to dropping below that 230 mark. Hopefully, this week will do it for you.

Still getting in my steps. I won't be cleared to do anything more strenuous for another week or so, but I am actually really enjoying just walking. I admit to being a little sick of Pokemon, but it is nice to have progress markers.

I am doing well enough that I am going to get rid of some of my largest clothes -- the ones that are literally falling off of me when I wear them. That means I get to go "shopping" in the bags of stuff that I was wearing when I was about this weight before. Curious as to just how much weight I will need to lose before anyone notices...

Reminder to myself - When someone brings in something extra delicious-looking and I have walked by it many times, but finally decided that a taste of it would help satisfy the craving without being too damaging -- DON'T FALL FOR IT. If I get a taste of it, it makes my craving significantly worse. And then I want to eat everything in the entire world. Just take a deep breath, and keep walking by it. Maybe curse the person who brought it in. But don't fall for the lie that a taste will be helpful.

That is all.

Laurie: Boy, isn't that a trap? I agree that the best way to handle temptations is to not have any. I usually have to play the game of thinking that someone has touched all of whatever it is, or maybe someone sneezed on it all. Not a good thought, but sometimes that helps keep me away from the goodies.

For me, the scale went down some anyway. I actually had two people tell me today that they think I'm losing more weight, so I think the hiking and all is helping, even if the scale doesn't get it. Had a really good, on focus type of day yesterday. I went running and kept my food in check and on plan. I need to have more days like that and maybe the scale will give in. Such a process.... :)

Diane - That's a brilliant strategy! And there's a good chance that it's true, even. =) You said the scale went down some. Does that mean you have finally escapes the persistent 230s? And yay! on compliments from friends. Glad you had a great day. Hope yesterday was great, and today will be great as well.

I had a super weird dream last night. There was food in it, but I wasn't actually the one eating it. Progress, maybe? And there was a weird part about a Star Wars costume, and my thought in the dream was, "This isn't the kind of thing fat people do, so I won't be doing it for a few months." Pretty unrealistically optimistic dream self, certainly, but I am going to embrace the shift from constantly-eating dream self who feels like I've blown everything all the time to weirdly-optimistic dream self.

I have decided I like the convenience of protein shakes during the day and small meals in the evening, so I am going to adopt that as a semi-permanent strategy.

Hope everyone has a delightful day.

Laurie: Definitely progress on the dreams! I think that the shakes and small meals are a good path to follow. Carry on with that!

For me, no... not under 230. I'm at 230.0. :) I went on a pretty strenuous hike last night and was kind of expecting to drop down into the 220's, but nope, not yet. It will come at some point.