3 Mother F'ing Pounds

When I woke up this morning I weighed myself and I was up 3 lbs.  3 LBS! How in the hell am I up 3 lbs from yesterday?  I've been sticking to plan so well this week and getting all my workouts in.  But 3 lbs?  Really? I know that I shouldn't weigh everyday and I shouldn't put so much stock into a number on a scale, but that seems like a big gain.  I've avoided soda and all drinks except tea, one cup of coffee and water alone.  I'm going to stay the course, but this is a very discouraging day.  I know it's a long term journey and I really need to get to where I only weigh once a week and that I'm ok with just making progress.  What other ways can I measure progress?  I know big things like changing sizes in clothing and being able to run further, but what about on a smaller scale?

What do you do to measure fitness progress?

Back in the saddle again

I was on track really well with my weight loss this summer.  I had the whole family doing the 21 Day Fix, I was getting all of my workouts in, my nutrition was on point and I was feeling awesome.

Then I had a bombshell dropped on me.  The 2 week break the restaurant I was working at was taking, was extended to 7 weeks (eventually they decided to close the restaurant all together).  This really threw a wrench into our finances, as in I now had no income for 2 months.  I took a job at another local restaurant just to help us financially, but it was much longer hours for much less pay.  They are very different types of restaurants, so tips weren't nearly as much at the second restaurant.  Add to all of this that the Monday after we got this pretty devastating news, we moved into a new house, a house that Steve hates, we're making it work now, but it was hard at first.

With all of these stressors, I completely fell off the wagon.  We had no internet for 3 days, which is a great excuse for not working out when your workouts are streamed.  I realized that my planned trip to Cali in November had to be cancelled as we wouldn't have the funds for it anymore, so there went my motivation.  I tried to start a few times, but I' was really struggling with depression and I couldn't pull myself out of it.  Depression is something I have struggled with most of my life.  I'm not big into pharmaceuticals, so the best way I've found for me to deal with it is diet and exercise

.  When I get out of the habit of eating well and exercising I enter a cycle that feeds into itself and I find myself feeding my mind with very negative thoughts.

I finally realized that I don't want to go into my 32nd year at the size I am now.  I also signed up to run a half marathon with my friend Tiffany on January 1.  So I started last Tuesday in earnest.  These last 2 weeks I have prepped my food for the week at the beginning.  Not just my meals, but my snacks and everything, except my Shakeology.  Last week I missed a couple workouts, but this week I've gotten them all in and started my running training back up.

I'm feeling much better, I can feel the fog of depression lifting and I'm getting back to feeling like me again.  I'm excited to see where I can push myself to in my fitness.  I've set up a system of rewards, all non food related, and I'm pumped to continue on my journey, I'll update as I move along this path.