Adjustments

I weighed myself this morning.  192 lbs, or -3.5 lbs from last Sunday.

I should be happy with this, but... I'm not, quite.  When I woke up this morning, my body did not feel light like it has at other times when I eat really well and hydrate enough and get plenty of exercise.  That's what bothers me, and has led to some contemplation and decisions.

I track almost every single thing I eat.  There are exactly two things I haven't- the two lemon slices I use every day (one for my water jug and 1/2 squirted for taste at lunch and dinner), and salt.  The sea salt I use is calorie-free- the only thing it contains is sodium, and I've just been shaking it out "to taste".

This morning I looked up lemons and added a custom listing for the salt on FitDay, and I poured the salt out into a little container so I can measure/dole it out with a 1/4 teaspoon.  On a side note, 1/4 teaspoon is a ton of salt so I may not even use that much, but at least now I'll know.

My food plan is extremely "back to basics".  It's not intentionally low-carb or low-fat or anything really, it's just "healthy foods", basically.  I eat 1,200 calories per day, a number I picked up from one of Allan's challenges, and those consist of: whole grains (oatmeal, brown rice), up to 3 fruits per day, vegetables, chicken breast, olive oil, sea salt, and pepper.  And I drink water, lots of it.  That's it.

I started eating that way on July 7th, until I went off of it for four days in late July.  My cravings were all emotional/mental, not physical.  I've been eating this way again since August 5th, and it's not hard.  I don't feel deprived.  I have come to like the taste of both plain steel-cut oatmeal and brown rice, and that was a surprise that really pleased me because it made me feel that my tastebuds have changed and adjusted.

But every plan has danger spots.  There are some fruits I won't eat- melon, strawberries, and the like.  Citrus, excepting lemons, was also supposed to be off the list, but then I read an article about how grapefruit can help one lose weight.  I feel so dumb writing that right now because it's so... argh.  Don't mess with what's working, right?  Still not as dumb as I feel for admitting that for the first week or two, I didn't really realize that grapefruit is citrus.

Yeah.

Anyway... I've been just a little off this week, as I said yesterday.  Slightly less "let's do it!" about work-outs, a little lazier about food, etc.  I'm not blaming it all on the poor grapefruit, I think some of it is complacency too- thinking my calories are good for the day, my exercise is done, everything's great.

But when I woke up this morning, I didn't feel great.  I felt kind of "heavy".  So- adjustments, little tweaks to help me refocus and get back in the game.  Tracking everything I eat, even the lemon slices.  Measuring everything, even the salt.  And cutting out the grapefruit for this next week (did you know it's citrus?).

Does this all sound... pretty hardcore?  Maybe, but I feel calmer and more in control.  This isn't about struggling to reach some arbitrary standard for 'perfection'.  It's about... well, I read a lot of blogs, as I said.  I save little quotes or pictures that I find inspiring.  One of them that has really stuck with me is, "Doing something 100% is easy.  Doing something 99% is hard."

That may not be true for everyone, because everyone's inspiration (not to mention, body) is different.  But it's true for me.  Doing this 100%- measuring everything, not even eating some "healthy" stuff like yogurt, is somehow easier for me, triggers less cravings, makes me feel stronger, etc.

If I weigh myself next Sunday and I have lost the exact same amount, it will be okay and I think I will be proud of myself.  You know why?  Because I will know I have left everything on the field, and that is what truly matters.

I have a weight I would like to reach eventually.  I am mindful of dates, of events, that I would like to be smaller by.  But I don't have a "goal weight" or a "goal date", not really.  I am doing this to do it, I am doing it as best as I can, and if I can say that I have not given up, I have pushed myself every day, then whatever I weigh by whenever I weigh it is my body's pace, and the best we can do together.

Don't give up.  Never give up.  Keep trying.

Exercise: P90 Sculpt 3/4 (resistance training, 40 minutes)
Eating: 1,172 calories, 5 quarts of water