The value of journaling

You know how, just a few days ago, I wrote about my Thursday morning weigh-ins being the lowest of the week, but not lasting until the official one on Monday morning?

At least for this week, I was WRONG! Not only was Thursday's number good, today's was one pound lower. I'm down TWO pounds this week. Two pounds in one week hasn't happened in a long, long time. That's three for the month, with two weeks to go.

I've fallen off the food journaling wagon and have no idea if what I've been eating is a factor in these results. LoseIt keeps lowering my daily calorie intake; it's now down to 1048 calories. I'm quite sure I'm eating more than that. I eat from a list of foods which have turned out to be pretty darned perfect for me, and simply haven't felt the need (or just couldn't be bothered) to record it all.

These foods help me feel better physically (no joint pain, relief from an allergy) AND, as a bonus, have resulted in – as of this morning – a total loss of 56 pounds. That's a new low (in the last 16 years).

Nine pounds to go.

I'm still journaling my walks, but haven't been able to get one in for three days. I'm still doing a very simple bodyweight routine – squats, wall push-ups, two or three dumbbell moves – most days, but not journaling them.

The value of journaling would be that I could look back at the last couple weeks' worth of data and see what's worked to produce this morning's result. But really? It's probably more complicated than that.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's a lot simpler. When I put protein, fat, vegetables and fruit in my body, AND when I move my body on a regular basis, AND when I keep grains, sugar, legumes and dairy off my plate I get the results I want.

Maybe not exactly when I want or expect, but today's number was very good for reinforcing the notion that I'm doing what I need to do for me.

Back in the spring, LoseIt predicted I'd be at my goal this month. Now it says the end of January. I don't know about that – I'd need to continue losing a couple pounds a week. Not a realistic expectation, given the past couple months of results.

But this year has been a good one, as this chart shows:

Exercise hasn't changed much all year. Food has.
January through April: Counting calories, eating Standard American Diet.
April through present: Paleo.

And as this morning's result shows, I'm still moving in the right direction. Onward!