January in Summary

Before I get to my final summation of my first month "living healthy" I want to review a little of what's been happening lately. I went to my friend's baby shower this weekend in South Carolina. I roughly stuck to my diet and got plenty of flack for it. It came from a place of love, I know, but it was the first time I felt like I needed to defend my decision. Even though I know I'm doing it for all the right reasons, and I know why I've chosen to alter my diet the way I have, my friend made it seem silly and unnecessary. In the end I stuck to my guns...and my diet...kind of. I kept to my fish day and my vegetarian day on Friday and Sunday respectively. On Saturday, the day of the shower, I pretty much grazed all day. I did not maintain my soda constrictions. I have a friend staying with me this week so I'll likely go over my allowance of meals out as well, being I've already used them all while travelling. I suppose travelling allows for special rules, but I'm home now and that just feels like an excuse. I haven't been to the gym since Thursday. I meant to get a work out in before hitting the road on Friday, but ended up running all day and never got to it. I didn't work out at my friend's place although I'm sure I could have squeezed in a good walk or two. I didn't even have the excuse that it was cold. On the way back Sunday I started feeling less than wonderful and yesterday I felt downright awful. I had intentions to go to the gym yesterday after running a few errands, but started feeling nauseous before I even got close and just finished my errands and went home. Today, though, aside from a nagging headache, I feel worlds better. I fully intend to get in a good workout before I lay down to sleep before work today. I have catching up to do.

Now, a review of January. I entered 2011 at a weight of 315. I weighed this morning and I am entering February at a weight of 300.8 pounds. The 15 pound loss is well within my goals to lose 10 pounds a month. Although I am, of course, happy with my progress, I really don't think I put as much effort into my weight loss as I could have. While I've established a habit of working out more days than not, I don't always put as much effort into it as I know I should. I'm also concerned about this plateau I seem to have hit. I've been hovering around the 300 mark for the past three weeks, so I believe I've been doing more fluctuation than I have honest weight loss. I also have had several "special occasions" this month that have caused me to slip a little in my eating. On the other hand, I have noticed a difference in the hollow of my neck. This morning I caught a glimpse of clavicle, which I have noticed is the first sign of slimming in myself. My mother said she saw a difference in my face. While I would love to see more weekly progress, I have no intention abandoning my plan. In fact, I'm going to be even more vigilant about really sticking to it the way I originally meant to.