day 43: unexpected...

Today's Food:
Breakfast: Boca Italian Sausage
Lunch: 1/2 bowl of chili
Dinner: 1/2 bowl of chili

Exercise: 45 minutes on the treadmill

So I haven't been sleeping so well the past few nights and when I woke up this morning at 8am I figured why bother trying to go back to sleep. After I don't know how long I had to go to the bathroom so I did so and figured it would be a good time to weigh in for the week.

I stepped onto the scale with optimistic interest to see how much I'd lost in the past week only to be greeted with the same number that I saw last Sunday. At first I was honestly in complete disbelief. I really could not believe that there was absolutely no change at all. I weighed myself again and again. The same thing.

So I went back to bed and laid there trying to figure out what I did wrong last week. And feeling completely crappy in what I interpreted as a major setback in my progress. I still didn't want to believe it and after a while went back in the bathroom to weigh myself again. It really is too bad that wishful thinking isn't enough to get the scale to move. The number was the same stupid number that it said last week. For a moment I even thought that the scale might be broken or something... but that was just denial.

I spent the rest of the morning with a little bit of an "I blew it" attitude (thanks PortlandBound/BadYoga for the term), hence the Boca Sausage for breakfast. I just didn't care at that moment and figured well last week was a bust; but at least I have a whole week to work this off. I made the mistake of not losing anything turn into feeling like I'd lost the battle overall. I really felt like junk all morning.

But at noon I got off the couch and began cooking for the day and I worked out. By the time I was done with my workout I already felt better. I think that my non-loss was due 4 things:
1. not getting enough calories last week
2. skipping meals (sort of goes with #1)
3. not putting in enough time working out
4. too much nibbling on non-ETL food/ too much sodium

So I went about the rest of the day; made chili (more on this tomorrow I promise) cleaned up the house and did laundry and did some reading for class on Tuesday night. The class is reading Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and I've gotta say; a lot of it hit home for me. The one thing that I am going to apply in particular to this situation is when you make a mistake, acknowledge it and correct it so it doesn't happen again.

I already acknowledged my mistakes above and here is what I am going to do to correct it:
1. Make time to eat 3 meals a day
2. Minimum treadmill time is now 45 minutes; and adding 15 minutes of weight training
3. Straying from the plan once a week for only part of a meal. No nibbles here and there.
4. Being as vigilant as I can about cutting sodium completely out of my diet.

I know that I am capable of living by these guidelines and that it is for the best. I feel much better now that I am approaching this week's results from a proactive rather than a reactive standpoint. I know that next weeks results will be a product of these positive changes.