That’s me. Waiting to lose.

I thought I would update you on the weight loss efforts. I had about a 10-day period in the middle of July where I didn’t stick to my program. I could list the excuses, but I won’t. I have been doing better this week, but honestly, the program I am on is very strict, and while the weight loss has been good, it often doesn’t feel worth all the sacrifice. So I am taking a different tact now. I am continuing to follow the program strictly for breakfast and lunch, eating very little carbs, lots of greens, and lots of low-fat protein as well as taking flaxseed oil and other supplements prescribed to me by my doctor. Then for dinner, I will allow myself a healthy carb (i.e. brown rice, whole wheat noodles, etc.). For my own sanity, I think my life will be easier and I’ll still lose weight if I can fix casseroles with healthy carbs in them for my family instead of regularly making some meat and salad or vegetables for Mark and me while giving the kids the meat with some filler carb. I think in the long run it will be healthier for the kids, too. The other element that has changed is exercise. For about the last 3 weeks, I have been exercising more. First week, I exercised 4 times, second 3 times, this week 4 already. I am hopeful that if the program is a little easier to stick with and I am exercising more, I’ll see results. They say if you stick with something for 6 weeks, it is likely to become a habit. I am half-way to making exercise a habit for myself again.

So I haven’t weighed in a few weeks, and I don’t think I will for a while. I am trying to watch how my clothes fit as a sign of whether this is working for me. Exercise always takes a while to show results on the scale because of the whole muscle weighing more than fat thing, so I think the scale may not show much at first. I think it will still be slow, but any loss is better than staying the same or gaining.

New Job

I am starting a new job next week. I’ll be working for at a state licensing agency that is run by a church friend. For the month of August, I’ll be working part-time. In September, the plan is to go to full-time. So this will also be a new routine to factor in to the weight loss strategy. This job is an answer to prayer for us. I have been looking for something for a while. I appreciate this job because it means working sooner, and therefore earning sooner; the owner of the agency will be flexible with my schedule which is a big plus; there are some benefits with the job.