Friday Quote Day (an occasional reprise)

See, don't ever give up! Maybe sometimes you feel like 
a rotting old pile of firewood too, but you are actually 
full of incredible potential underneath. All you need is a 
heavy-duty sanding and some paint, and possibly some 
new handles on your drawers!

~ Lindsey, author of the Better After blog

© 2013 Debora J. McNeer

Lindsey features furniture (and sometimes room) makeovers over at Better After, and I LOVE the way she writes. When she wrote the lines I'm using for today's quote, she wrote them for me. And you, if you're also working toward a tough goal.

The number on the scale this morning was much more realistic than last Friday's. I might even get some work done around here today. (Last Friday I collapsed in a heap and didn't move all day.)

To recap: I stepped on the scale Christmas morning and saw a most horrifying number. My New Year's resolution to get fit, once and for all and I really mean it this time, began the next day. I'm using the LoseIt! app, and following the calorie guidelines there to lose a pound a week. I hope to lose 50 pounds this year.

I wanted my progress to be measured simply by staying within LoseIt's target calories each day and achieving my exercise goals, which are to:

• walk or use the elliptical six days a week
• do a short yoga session twice a week
• do a light weight-lifting session twice a week

I planned to take Mondays off - no counting calories, have a little treat if I want and rest from exercise.

But I also want to know if the plan works for weight loss, so I decided to weigh myself on the 25th of every month. Just once a month, a quick check-in, because I was confident I would be at least one pound down for every week on plan.

Last week's two-pounds-in-a-month result was pretty devastating. I had eaten well below the calorie target each day and had only missed a couple workouts. Both of you suggested eating more. LoseIt! has done the research and knows what it takes, and I was, possibly, sabotaging and/or short-changing myself by creating a deficit each day. I vowed to stay on target and check the scales in a week.

Well, the week is up. I did great from Friday through Monday, staying either slightly below or barely above my daily calories. Tuesday was a tough, tough day and I barely ate anything; I came up short on calories Wednesday and yesterday, as well. I didn't know what to expect this morning.

I've been looking for, working for and hoping for a pound a week. And I got it. Five weeks, five pounds. I don't FOR A MINUTE think I lost three pounds this week. Last week was, as you both pointed out (gently, thank you) a fluke. So this week? Yay for me! Wait, I'm sorry:

YAY FOR ME!

Last Friday I really did feel like a rotting pile of firewood. Or maybe even what lies beneath a rotting pile of firewood. Today I feel (again) like a woman on a mission. Not a life-or-death one (although it may very well be one, I'd rather not know), but simply a let's-get-this-done one. Let's get back to a body that likes to move and doesn't hurt when it has to. Let's get back to enjoying shopping for clothes. Let's get back to being able to do XYZ, rather than making excuses not to.

Thanks for your advice last week, and for your sympathy and empathy and kindness. Thanks for your help. Thanks for coming along for the journey, one pound at a time.

Thanks.