Healthy Holidays Challenge - Week #4

First month of the challenge is in the books!  My weight is the same as a month ago as of last Monday's weigh-in, but I have made great strides in getting my habits back in place.  

This month has really been a time of reflecting on what I want for my health and what I can learn and change from when I started putting weight back on in the last year and a half.  

The facts of my week:

1. I will exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes, 4-5 days a week.  Done.  After a month of getting good exercise in four mornings a week I'm feeling really good.  
2. I will track my food at least 6 days a week.  Done.  I had a really calorie-heavy day earlier this week, but I sat down and tracked it all.  Tracking is key for me.  
3. I will drink at least 32 ounces of pure water a day.  Done. I've switched to water with most meals and that is helping me get more than 32 ounces in.  :)
4. I will enjoy the holidays, but not forget my new ending in life includes making the best choice for ME -- whether that's having something in moderation or saying no.  Kind of.  I really kind of overate on Monday, which has left me little wiggle room for our meal out this weekend and that has been bothering me.  So far, I'm not in the negative for my plan, but I don't like having to have lighter calorie days on the weekend and I'm having a hard time being okay with this.  

If you have a few minutes I'll expound on goal #4...

The past couple of weeks I've been falling into this kind of thinking:  "I can eat more on weigh-in day and then just stay on track all week til I weigh again."  And, honestly,  I haven't even tracked a Monday's food until this past week for the express purpose of seeing how I do sticking to the plan for 6 days.  

 A week ago I also overate on Monday, stuck to plan the rest of the time and still lost 1.6 lbs.  I kind of justified this new habit of not starting my week until Tuesday by telling myself I don't have to be on track 100% to be a success and I think "cheat days" are necessary to our health sanity.  Because I firmly believe all of that.

However, we always eat out at least once on the weekends, so I need my heavier eating days -- aka "cheat days" --  to be during the weekend.  To stick to my plan this means I need to have a good chunk of my extra points (calories) available for Friday to Sunday, because I don't like having to eat vegetables or a salad for that eating out meal.  

Some people pick their weigh-in day to be Fridays or Saturdays for this very reason, and that's what I did when I was losing weight before.  It's why I balked and hated Monday weigh-ins for the first month.  

However, going to meetings on Mondays really helps me stay on track for the week, and knowing I'm going to weigh in on Monday also helps me be conscious of not throwing my weekends out the window.  Last spring I no problem saving at lest 1/2-2/3 of my extra points for the weekend and it worked great.  

I'm glad I realized I've been doing this and while I'm trying to allow myself to be okay with it it's been bothering me.  But I have not thrown the whole week to heck because of it and I'm proud of that fact.  

I'm learning.  

I am deciding I don't like not having that wiggle room when I know we will be eating out, so I am going to work on it this next week.  

Thanks for checking in and I hope you have a good weekend!  

I'm off to do a little cleaning, get an order shipped from my store and then my daughter and I are going to see The Phantom of the Opera tonight!!!