Monday catch up (not ketchup)

I signed on for this simple 3 day challenge that was put out by lainey and 266 that was designed to just help fellow weight loss bloggers to recommit, rededicate or in some small way breathe new life into our programs for just 3 days March 26-28..  There were no rules, other than to find a way to tweak some aspect of this journey and focus on improving it.  Thank you to both these gals for this mini challenge.  I signed on because 1) there are several areas I've needed to work on and 2) it was easy with no requirements of recounting my birth experiences or anything like that!

What I chose to focus on were 2 things:  exercise and drinking water.  Both of these components have always been the strongest parts of my weight loss regime...until early December when I had my first knee surgery.  My exercise fell off drastically out of necessity.  As soon as I was able, I started to ratchet  back up, only to sustain the 2nd knee injury and subsequent surgery. 

Okay, this was a fairly legitimate reason excuse for the exercise slack.  I earnestly tried to resume activity as quickly as possible after the first knee incident not realizing that 56 year old knees don't bounce back as quickly as their younger cousins.  So this second time around, I smartened up a lot and have taken exercise resumption more slowly and caustiously.  The results have been excellent. 

Over this 3 day challenge, I did exercise more than I had been prior, keeping a careful read on how the knee was feeling.  When it started hurting, I stopped.  Actually I've been doing this for the whole week, and for the last 3 days was able to do a little more, and different movements than up to now.  I took about a 3/4 mile walk Saturday with the dog and his best friend and over a half mile on Friday.  But the big thing was that on Sunday I worked out in the yard with my husband cleaning up tons of winter debris left from our three major snowstorms.  Hubby had cut up the big branches and cleared them away, but there was a ton of smaller stuff left all over the ground.  So for a solid hour, I raked, bent branches to fit into those big paper lawn and leaf bags, stuffed the bags and carted them over to the driveway for pick up today.  Lots of bending, stooping and lifting, and again with a careful attention to how the knee was feeling.  It felt SO good to work up an honest sweat for the first time in 4 months!  I love to sweat, believe it or not (with exercise, not when all duded up to go somewhere nice), and had no level of activity in all that time to elicit the response.  The yard looks great, and best of all the knee help up well.  It was stiff and achy last evening, rendering me a little gimpy, but ice and ibuprofen took care of it.  It feels good today.  Woohoo!

Now the water...I don't have any trouble getting the water in normally.  I just always have a bottle with me and guzzle throughout the day.  But for the last couple of weeks, I was aware I'd really slacked off in the water drinking.  Friday, my first day back at work...I forgot my water bottle and the only option was the disgusting water from the pipes that tastes bad.  We were out of the big bottles of water that get delivered.  Also, I normally drink a 16 ounce glass of warm water every morning first thing.  Weird, huh?  I like my water warmish - room temp.  Ice cold water hurts my teeth and is much harder for me to drink.  Anyway, I really boosted my water drinking back up over these last 3 days, and am continuing today.  I think all the sitting around not working and getting softer and softer just enabled me to let the water go. 

So - thanks for the challenge!  It really helped me take stock and recommit. 

Now I have to talk about something else that is always the bane of my existence this time of year...Easter candy.  I really love it all, esp. Brachs classic jelly beans.  I'm sorry to say I've caved in to them several times this season, but as of today - NO MORE.  Not one bite of candy is going in my mouth this week.  If one bite did it for me, it would be fine.  Obviously that isn't the case.  No more jelly beans, Reese's bunnies, or Cadbury Orange creme eggs.  They just came out with those a couple of years ago.  I hate the originalCCEs, but the orange ones really try to seduce me every time I enter an emporium in which they are sold -
read Target.  So, to aid my commitment to NO MORE EASTER CANDY, I will not even go near the candy aisle in the markets.

This probably seems pretty intuitive to most of you.  It is to me, too.  But that hasn't stopped me from wandering through the aisles, inhaling deeply and catching a whiff - through many layers of foil wrap and plastic bags - a hint of sweet something.  Really dumb.  I know it, and I know it when I do it.

My weight this morning was 202.1, so I've lost all that awful weight I added over the wedding weekend when I ended up at 209.3.  It came off pretty fast, but I've been maintaining at this "region" for too long, and quite frankly not all that torqued up about it.  But now that the knee is so much improved, I'm moving like a normal person again for the most part, and I'm back among the workers of the world, I'm ready to get my groove back on and re-enter onederland for the LAST TIME.  And move below my low of 192.  I've been talking about this for months.  I want to be a winner at losing, not a loser by gaining.

Again, I find so much support and inspiration in the blogging community.  This morning, I got totally revved up reading Zaa's most recent post where she has included progress pictures.  UNBELIEVABLE.  She's amazing, and so thrilled and joyful that she'd doing this.  If you haven't read it, check it out.  She makes me want to be a better loser!  I want to be one of the bloggers who inspires by my results, not a cheap talker who never makes much progress.  Onward and downward.