Pre-Thanksgiving update

So the scale was not moving for the past few weeks. I am still right where I was when I got back from Europe this summer! I decided to lower my calories on MFP and change up what I was eating and doing for workouts. As of today, the scale looks like it is moving. We shall see on Friday... YES, Friday - the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. Maybe for the first time ever I am planning to go to the meeting, even though it's allthewayupnorthnearmyoffice - I want to go. So I will.

I also got some external motivation to keep on keepin' on. DH and I are going to Uruguay in Feb, which means I will be on a South American beach in the middle of their summer. This was JUST the little kick start I needed! I'm back on BFL for training, planning foods are no problem, I am just doing the work.

So that is the update. These have been a hard couple weeks, post-election. I hope people will truly start coming together. Maybe focusing on my own efforts is what helped to pull me through. I can't change the world but I CAN focus on changing ME and making my world better. Now that the holidays are here, I really hope people will just come together and do what they need to do to make the world a better place.

Love.Liz

elections and weight loss

I thought it was hilarious that our local news anchors had been wearing purple on election night, as that represented the mix of voters in Colorado - we're 50-50, but Denver is blue and the most populated, therefore our state swings blue (lately - the state was traditionally red for a long time). In any case, that night the anchors cracked me up with their representation of our population's political views.

I was pretty sure I'd wake up on Tuesday to Hillary Clinton being the president-elect. I was so shocked that the winner - by a landslide (electorally) was DONALD TRUMP! I can't say I was much less worried about the future of the country with him at the head, so I figured Wednesday morning would be rough (for me) either way.

What I was not prepared for was the HATRED I saw - from many dear friends, and on both sides of the fence. The hate. The anger. The gloating. The racist acts and remarks that are happening. The despair that women are still second-class citizens, and minorities are not citizens at all. The vilifying entire swaths of our population based on the way they executed their right to choose in a voting booth. I am hoping the country is just under an election hangover. Truly, and that we can go back to being our nice, different thinking selves after this week. But I was so, so worried all this week that we were such a mean society, and a heartless country without empathy. In some ways, this is true... and yet.

DH and I were folding laundry as I was lamenting our societal woes, and he said "WE are not mean!" He's right. We're not. But then I said "Well, I got really mad at that girl on the trail and yelled in her face (not on purpose, but that is how it happened because I was on a bike) and I feel really badly about that - I AM mean!" And he says... "Well, we're not perfect, either."  I love that man.

This is important. I can take a bad thing I do and FIXATE on it for days. DAYS! This happened four days ago and I was still beating myself up for it. An old trainer of mine told me that I was really hard on myself and that it seemed I liked to find reasons to mentally whip myself. The Texas Night Massacre happened this summer. I'm still not in a place where I can just LOVE ME. But I'm working on it, and I WILL GET THERE.

But enough heavy stuff, how about some fun? So this is my first full week with MyFitnessPal tracking and I lost... 0.6 pounds. I will take it. I did have one night where I went over. The good news is, I took off my grey work dress pants without undoing the buttons or zipper - look at me changing my own life over here!!!

And I'm also going to share what I posted on WWConnect this week... it's kind of the summarized version of all this above. Things are happening, for better or for worse. The only person who can change that or truly affect that, the only person who can make us happy and be in charge of our life and our outcome is us... so let's GO GET IT.

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My post yesterday on Connect:

Isn't this quote the truth!! HELLO, connecty friends! I have been super busy with work and working out and tracking on MyFitnessPal. Oh and elections... WOW my Facebook feed was full of hate (from both sides of the aisle) and I got really disappointed with how mean our society has become. I understand people are frustrated or happy but really... I was very saddened overall by We The People. But maybe people just needed a few days to regroup. I wish everyone behaved like they did here on Connect!! So in very positive news, I just took off my work dress pants without undoing the buttons or zippers. SUPER NSV!!!! Meeting is tomorrow morning, scale should be down but did I mention I REMOVED MY DRESS PANTS WITHOUT UNDOING THE BUTTONS OR ZIPPERS?!?!? 👖🎉 Look at me just changing my own life over here! Truly, all, I am so sorry our country had such a difficult day on Wednesday. Now let's all go out and be the change we want to see. We can change our lives and have a real positive impact on the lives of the people around us... so LET'S DO!

points judgement and compliments

As of the 1st I switched from counting Points to counting calories on MyFitnessPal.  I have stalled out on weight loss. I don't know if I'm not tracking well, if I'm overusing fruit, or what but I'm not losing any weight... so... let's try counting calories for a month and see how that goes. This will give me a sort of level eating method, similar to the BlueDots in WW but with the ability to consume more calories on the days I burn more calories. 

Also, right now I don't need the judgement that comes with Points. While I understand that Weight Watchers is trying to push healthier choices, and that healthier choices are a good thing - I don't like that if I have a 1/2 cup of gelato at 250 calories, WW thinks I need to fork over almost half of my daily points target to do so. I call these "punishment Points" and I know there will be a lot of that with the holidays coming. I want to enjoy cookies responsibly and without WW judgement. I can fit them into my life a lot better - and keep losing weight - if I count calories.

I'm really irritated my weight didn't go down in October. I did stick to the Points, and the plan, even though it wasn't working for the entire month.  Oh well, maybe calorie tracking is what I need. Tracking is tracking, and I will keep tracking.

Just now a coworker said it looks like I've lost inches. Yay! And my grandma noted it looked like I had lost weight. Double yay! Over this past weekend I went to a baby birthday party with a million cute kids and a bunch of trophy-wife moms... and felt... sad for me, for a minute. No kids, no trophy-wife body, either. And then I remembered that DH thinks I am his trophy wife. And we just went on an amazing trip, and it's likely that we'll go on a second amazing trip in February... so move on. 

I also had A Moment where I was very jealous of one trophy wife's abs... and then I realized "No, I'm not there, but I'm working toward it, so be happy that you are in the middle of doing something about it! Stop beating yourself up!" And I stopped.

The judgement is leaving the building. I keep having to push it away, but at least I am helping it along. And that's another reason that counting Points has got to go, right now - I just don't need that judgement in my life.