An unpleasant drive home last night in the dark, in heavy rain, reminds me of what we're getting into with winter.

And my rebound in weight begins, now that the stress of teaching has ended. I'm up a fraction, at 150.9. If I take a walk this afternoon in addition to my cardio and lifting this morning, that may help delay it by a few days.

Dh made it home last night despite the rain. Very rainy night and looks to be rainy today as well. Dogs are not a fan-- especially Dewey.

I went to the hot pilates class last night. It was hard but I quite liked it. It definitely worked different muscles-- lots of pushups, situps, planks, etc. so I'm getting sore now. I think I'll add it into my weekly rotation for now.

TGIF!!

Oh, gawd. I just came from the doctor's (had to have pre-op work done). My weight is higher than I thought. Granted, some of it is from my coffee this morning, but still.

Friday wasn't one of those "home free" days when you can feel that everyone is knocking off early. Instead I had stuff to do that demanded immediate attention. Sometimes the analysts in my company who've been traveling or presenting at our events all week use Friday and the plane ride home as a catchup, which means work for me.

Still, though I felt wrung out by late in the day, I got away from the laptop and made myself stand up at a cutting board, chopping vegetables for soup, to which I added turkey sausage, cannellini beans and whole-wheat Israeli couscous. I burned the roof of my mouth eating it, but it was good.

And my weight is at 150.6, a little downward again.

No word from HR at the company that interviewed me earlier in the week. Either that's deferred to next week or I'm not in the running now. I'm not shattered, as it was good practice and it raised my spirits considerably, reminding me that I have options & I am not trapped.

Very cheered to read your observation you have options and are not trapped, saef.

My travelling continues and any weight loss has stalled. I'm awarding myself a rest day today as I'm feeling very tired.

Weight down this morning, which is quite surprising. Well, maybe not, dinner was really light last night.

In any case, I've decided that before my shower today, I am going to hit the treadmill. Hopefully, I will continue with this next week before work. I know it's what I need because I know my diet is satisfactory for weight loss.

DH and I are not going out to lunch today (which really helps). Our college team has a game on at 12:30, so I'll make open-faced tuna sandwiches with carrots and celery. Much better than our usual of going out for Mexican or whatnot.

Up this morning, at 151.9, which I expected, but not so much.

Was it the big bowl of soup for dinner with a lot of whole-wheat couscous in it? Or the soreness in my muscles from Pilates and my ab workout before it?

I don't know, but I had more peace of mind than on previous weekends, because work is progressing and because, again, even if I don't proceed further with the interview, I can see a way out if this job becomes hateful.

Monday morning, and it's Halloween. I'm working from the hotel today so I can meet with the contractor to discuss work on my kitchen.

I'm up further, to 142.4, but this is lower than last Monday, at 143.6.

Tired morning for me. I got up at 4:45 to have time to exercise and Headspace before getting the boy up. The boy who watched a scary video on YouTube yesterday and then wouldn't fall asleep and made himself sick from the anxiety over it so kept the house awake later than comfortable on a night before a 4:45am wakeup. He is still asleep. Gonna be a long day...

As if in response to what I wrote yesterday, my weight went back up to 153.7 this morning.

I do remember sitting in my room in the hotel, thinking that since I was high on the hilltop, removed from the neighborhood of trick-or-treaters, that I wouldn't be prey to the desire for candy. There was no candy in the room. There doesn't have to be. I can gain weight all on my own without going near it, due to lack of portion control.

Today is the Health Fair. I will get a flu shot but I won't be weighed by the nice young man who'll inform me that I am overweight, and that if I just exercised a little, like walking around the office park on lunch hour, and stayed away from candy, those extra pounds would be gone in no time.

This really tickled me.

I stayed away from the candy as planned-- did have 2 small belgian chocolates-- yum!! Dh not so much.... He took the leftovers to work except for the unopened bag which we will be returning (hopefully). The weather held off long enough, then started raining again. We reminisced about Halloween through the years-- from our own childhoods, to teenage and college years, to our time with our own small kids, to now....

Now to deal with the post Halloween kids at school-- tired, sugar crashing, hyper... you name it. It's going to be a long rest of the week!!

This is the disconnect right here, in a nutshell. Thinking that everyone is physiologically the same, and/or the same as yourself.

I "borrowed" a bag of fun-sized candy from the office--just in case we had any trick-or-treaters. We had none so the bag went back to the office with the same number of candies in it as when I brought it. We each had our nightly Trader Joe's pumpkin biscotti instead. Just one each.

I've scheduled myself to do the treadmill today and Thursday while watching Ellen in the afternoon. That, with Saturday morning, should be do-able for my schedule.

No weight change despite going on 2 weeks of breakfasts consisting of carrots and celery. Lunches continue to be around 300 calories and dinners around 500. Hopefully, the exercise will start the downward movement.

Allison, are you truly subsisting on 800 calories a day (assuming no cals. to speak of in carrots or celery)?

Weighed in at 131.8 this morning. The new normal. The last 2 weeks has seen: DH's birthday, middle DS's birthday, my birthday, a 2-day 3-meals a day business meeting, and Halloween. I suppose I should count it a win that I'm not up above "normal" but I loathe being up here. And this week I will travel to NYC for 4 days, celebrating my parents' 60th wedding anniversary and visiting DH the eldest. Lots of good things but oh avoiding excess food is hard.