On Sunday, I swam laps in the pool. 1600m. Then today I decided to do it again. 2000m and then an additional 20 minutes treading water. I forgot how much I love to swim laps. It's very soothing to me, much like riding my bike or kayaking. I'm very sad that lap-swimming season is almost over. Blerg.

I'm feeling very trapped in my home situation these days, and it's only going to get worse once the fall begins. Trying to figure out how to reset and re-channel my anxiety and stress levels. My Garmin keeps sending me little reminders, "Hey Traci, I'm noticing that your stress levels are much higher than normal. Try to take a few minutes for some deep breathing exercises." Then I yell at my Garmin, "I KNOW, Garmin, ok. Don't you think I WOULD if I COULD?" growley growley growl

08.20.21 weigh-in: 200.6

I'll admit that this was a hard pill to swallow, so to speak.

I have not ONCE gone over calories, and I carefully weigh and track every single thing that I eat and drink like it's my darn religion. I've been working out -- swimming about 1.25 miles every day this week, plus strength training and even some yoga/stretching (thanks to the GoT challenge!).

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My brain is fully functional and I know that it's ToM and that means water retention. I also know that exercises like lap swimming and lifting weights build muscle, and that weighs more than fat. I also know that sometimes, the body just needs to take a breath and recalibrate before it starts moving again, and this isn't even a true plateau because it's just a couple of weeks. But last week, I was down to 198.4, and now I've popped back up to 200.6.

Stress is a factor too. My kids go back to school and I head into my student teaching experience next week. I have to miss their first day of school (two 3rd graders and a kindergartner *sob*). I'm trying to finish my second Masters so that my husband and I can finally separate and move into the next chapter, and this student teaching assignment seems to be making things extra tense because it's making our pending separation very real -- and it's very sad.

Still, while my brain knows these things, my soul feels a bit wrecked that I've been at the same weight for a couple of weeks now, even though I've stayed on track with CICO and I have been exercising diligently.

I will persevere and next week will be a loss, I'm sure, but in the meantime, just allowing myself to feel the disappointment before I head to the pool again this afternoon, where I will hopefully swim some more laps. And I'll go ahead and strength train and stretch this morning because I know it's the right thing to do, no matter what the scale says.

Time to tighten my ponytail and double-down.

KHill875
Friday weight
PW: 142.6
CW: 142.5

I spent the last three weeks trying to eat extremely healthy to lose weight. This week was my birthday and my oldest started kindergarten (in Texas). Needless to say I did not eat very healthy and stress ate due to the Delta variant raging through Texas and my daughter starting school. And it didn't make a difference whether I ate healthy or ate like crap.

@CycleMomOf3 Ugh, that is so disheartening. I hope it turns around and you have a big loss next week to bolster your spirits!