December Weight Goal Met and Unexpected NSVs

I’ve been away from the blog for a couple of days and a couple of NSVs have happened since the last time I wrote:

• I hit my December weight goal well before the 31st–I hit it yesterday morning.  While it would be awesome to drop another 10 pounds before January 2 (my 6-month followup appointment), I don’t think it’s going to happen.  But I’d like to get pretty damned close.
• Then this morning, I noticed this:

My belly is about 5″ away from the steering wheel here, and my seat is moved up about halfway. At this time last year, my belly was about an inch away, and my seat was pushed all the way back. If it were more comfortable for my legs, I’d move my seat up a bit more.

So those things were awesome and worth celebrating.

It’s the end of the semester and I have been grading student work like a fiend.  My aversion to grading has caught up to me so now I’m frantically trying to get it all done.  So tomorrow morning after I head to the gym to work out for an hour or so, I’ll be sitting on my ass all day working my way through a very giant pile of grading so that I can get a little rest on Sunday, write my final exam, and cook some meals to get ready for the upcoming week.

The end of the semester brings with it many challenges, all of which revolve around cooking and making good eating choices.  It also brings lots of late nights at school getting things wrapped up for the fall, and preparations for the spring semester.  By the time I get home most nights, the last thing I want to do is cook something.  And some nights, even if there is something at home to eat, I’m usually not in the mood to eat it.  I’m struggling with fighting the urge to go out to dinner–something that pre-op, my husband and I did at the end of every semester.  Mind you, we limit the places we go to a small handful of restaurants because we know the menu, or we know the owner/managers and they can accommodate our dietary needs.  But I know this isn’t behavior that will contribute to my success in the long run.  I feel like the window of opportunity for the most rapid portion of my weight loss is slowly closing and that this behavior isn’t going to help me get to goal.  I’ve got to figure out a way to stay motivated through this next week so that I don’t self-sabotage, which I am wont to do.

The other thing that the end of the semester brings is gifts from students.  Usually these gifts involve food of some sort, and today I received a couple of them–one with a cute Christmas ornament and a packet of shortbread cookies, and another with a stuffed toy and a bag of homemade cookies.  I have plans for each of those cookies, neither of which involve me eating them.  As much as I want to, I’ve decided courage over comfort definitely applies to them.

Perhaps that’s the approach I need to take with the lack of motivation to cook after a long day at school:  courage over comfort.  It’s comfortable to have someone else cook and do the dishes for you.  It’s also comfortable to have leftovers already boxed up and ready for the next day.  It is NOT comfortable to have to go home after a long day at work when you’re tired and fix supper, even if it just means putting the damn thing in the microwave.  It is NOT comfortable to force yourself to eat something you really aren’t in the mood for because you NEED it and don’t WANT it.  At this point, NEED has to overcome WANT.  And that is a tough tug-of-war to win.

The past three days have been okay eating-wise.  Lots of meals away from home, but I think I will allow myself to reset tomorrow.  I don’t think I’ve failed my plan, but I’m going to come awfully close if I continue doing what I’ve done the past few days.  I’ve cut back my carb intake a bit the past few days, which was sorely needed as it was creeping up higher than I like.  Getting it under control is going okay as I am trying to replace the starches with veggies.  It’s worked most of the time.  I’m still learning to be assertive with my new mantra with myself, and this is hard to do.  But I’m going to press on and slog through the next week and all the challenges that the last week of the semester brings by making sure I plan my meals as much as possible, continue drinking my 112+ ounces of water a day, get in at least 3 trips to the gym to work out, and continue logging every bite of food that goes into my mouth.  These are behaviors I know I will have to continue for the rest of my life to stay successful.  I’m trying so hard not to be tired of them–I really am–but behavioral fatigue is setting in.  I’ve got to fight it so that I don’t get complacent and wreck my progress.

Here’s my food for the past 3 days.

Got in 80 grams of protein on the nose, 39 grams of carbs and 48 grams of fat today. Gotta work on cutting back on the fat.   Ate lots of leftovers today.
Today’s food choices, from upper right: leftover Rudy’s egg, ham, bean and cheese breakfast bowl; vanilla roast almonds; leftover salmon Oscar and broccoli with steamed carrots; leftover beef veggie soup; grilled shrimp, sauteed mixed vegetables; mixed green salad with croutons; Trader Joe’s beef tenderloin bite sample; Isopure protein drink; multivitamin and calcium supplements x2, iron supplement.

Thursday saw me getting in 81 grams of protein and 34 grams of carbs, and a bit more fat than I like (51 grams). Food choices, from upper right: Rudy’s egg, ham, cheese and bean breakfast bowl; Tillamook cheese snack; Trader Joe’s beef jerky; barbecue rubbed chicken drumsticks; multivitamin and calcium supplements x2, iron supplement; salad greens with shredded cheese and garlic croutons; a couple of teaspoons of vegetable beef soup; salmon Oscar (grilled salmon with lump crab in lemon butter sauce over fried asparagus spears).

Wednesday’s food choices were kind of boring, but I got in 87 grams of protein and 16 grams of carbs on this day. From upper right: house made seasoned roast beef from Central Market and Tillamook cheese snack; barbecue rubbed chicken drumsticks with bacon and sauteed snap peas (not shown); multivitamin and iron supplement (I forgot about the calcium today); Tillamook cheese snack; Trader Joe’s beef jerky.