APR 29 - Pass day
T ✅ | C ❎ | E ❎
Pass = 20/3 | No sugar ❎ | Sleep ❎

I am well and truly off the wagon today--no tracking, no exercise. I haven't checked in for the past couple of days, but I have been staying in budget.

Yesterday was the last day of classes at my uni--now it's just grading and year-end meetings/workshops for the next couple of weeks. I'm hopeful I can find a new rhythm in May as things slow down a bit.

Congratulations to all of you who made it to the winner's circle this month!

Congratulations to everyone in the Winners Circle! You are all rock stars!

I on the other hand....lol. I've spent the last couple days analyzing April - how it unraveled for me as the month went on. I was on a roll before vacation - did fine during vacation - but coming back I just couldn't quite get back on track and slowly disintegrated to full-on binge eating. Unbelievably, I just checked my weight April 2 - and I'm still about 2.5 pounds lighter! So it just proves to look at the long term instead of week to week or day to day. Still, this is an issue I need to address and solve. The problems:

1. I have some kind of mental block that once I went over the 3 pass days, I completely threw in the towel and lost the ambition to hold it to 4 pass days, or 5 pass days.
2. Eating at maintenance is one thing - bingeing is another - and the two are not compatible.
3. Been "lazy" in the morning. Waking up early so I have time to walk or run and then deciding to sit and stare out the window drinking coffee instead. This is not a recipe for success.

I've been listening to advice, did some reading, and here's my game plan:

1. I'm going to "pretend" that Friday is May 1. Because otherwise I'll use it as an excuse to binge "one more day." So - yep - Friday is May 1 and I'm starting a new pass count.
2. Some advice I heard is that until the bingeing is under control, weight loss will never be permanent, and that bingeing is the issue that has to be resolved before a calorie deficit should begin. I honestly don't have my brain quite wrapped around this yet - although I do completely agree that for me, binge eating is what will always trip me up. I feel like keeping the pass days at 3 or under really helps control binges, however, as evidenced by what happened this month, once I go over the 3 days, I can't throw caution to the wind and start bingeing just because I'm past 3 days anyway. I'm going to change my weight loss to .5 lbs/week instead of 1 lbs/week and focus on what's causing the bingeing and how to stop the vicious cycle.
3. I did listen to a talk about strength training and it was FASCINATING. They talked about how strength correlates to being healthy. He was saying that women in particular have bought into a "tone" philosophy when they should be thinking "strong". I'm not summarizing it very well - but I'm pretty fired up about it! I have weights in the basement and realize that I have been kidding myself the last 6 years when I'm "working out". I don't even break a sweat for goodness sake and have not increased the weight of the dumbbells in all that time! No wonder I can feel my strength (especially upper body) getting worse and worse. So I bought a book, I'm making a plan, and going to commit to a 9 month strength plan.

Sorry for the long post - but I have been tossing these things over and over in my brain the past several days. These are issues that I know I have to accept, address, and win over. So - this is just the next step in that process.

✅ exercised - 30 minutes Peloton and... 10,200 steps
✅ calories under
✅ tracked everything ate and drank
✅ 8 cups of water

No pass days left I’m pretty sure I went over by four days this month. This was hands down my worst month (went over in calories, still tracked everything everyday and exercised all but two days). I’m glad I stuck with it though.

Wishing you a continued safe drive.

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? yes, 22 mins dance workout
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? yes
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? yes

Passes used: 4/3

I got my Apple Dance Award. I should have gone on the treadmill afterwards but didn't. Strangely it doesn't seem to show as many calories burned (per minute) as my usual treadmill walking even though I felt like my heart rate was higher.

@biketheworld I sympathize with you. I need to get on the treadmill as soon as I get up in the morning. I know that if I don't the chances of me doing it later diminish by the hour. The problem is I've learned I need to eat before doing the weights or I don't do as well and sometimes I get bogged down doing other things after eating and never return to the room where the treadmill and weights reside. I've gotten better about it the last couple of months.

Maybe don't turn your coffee machine on until you're done with your morning workout routine would help. I don't know if that's an option. Sometimes we have to change things up a little to force a change in habit.

I agree that women should lift as much as they can and gain as much strength and muscle as their body type allows. It's especially important for those of us who are older. I rather like the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I've had it for a long time. As I recall one of the methods of training in that book is to do only one set of say 10 reps at weight A. Then do one set of 8 reps at weight B (which is heavier than A), followed by one set of 6 reps at weight C, 4 reps at weight D. But also by the time you get to your final weight you should be doing it to exhaustion. That is how I do my work outs currently though I don't remember precisely how many sets are suggested in the book since I haven't read it recently. I usually do 4 sets of graduated increases where I can. With some muscle groups I may only do three sets because I can't go any higher yet so I end up with a partial rep. Plus if I feel a twinge of pain in a joint I stop.