July 28, 2021

Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 9


Before I get into the weigh-in post, I just have to explain the story behind the hoodie I'm wearing in the above photo...

When we got home from vacation, there was a UPS package here, addressed to Jerry. Jerry got all giddy and told me to open it. I had no idea what was going on--but sometimes he'll order something from my Amazon Wish List as a surprise for me, so I figured that's what it was. I was wrong, though. I'll get to what was in the package after the backstory:

As I've mentioned before, probably too often, I LOVE the game Best Fiends (note: it's "fiends" and not "friends"). I first heard of it while listening to my various true crime podcasts--it's a game that several podcasts advertised. I was getting bored with Lumosity and one day I downloaded Best Fiends.

I got hooked on it right away! I started playing it on my phone and now I use my iPad. It actually helps me with my anxiety; it takes my mind off of my anxiety and it's just mindless fun to play. (It's super addicting, though--just beware.) I even got Jerry hooked on it.

Anyway, Jerry knows how much I like the game and we talk about it sometimes ("Hey, I upgraded such-and-such Fiend today!" "I got 10 minutes of boost time!" and stupid stuff like that.) We banter about it--we realize it's a dumb thing to get excited about, but we're both nerdy about it.

I didn't know this, but Jerry wanted to buy me a Best Fiends coffee mug (I didn't even know that the game had merch). When he tried ordering it, the online store wasn't working. So he emailed them and told them that he wasn't able to order a mug for his wife because the website wasn't working.

They messaged him back and said that the store is no longer running--they aren't selling the merch anymore. But they said that they'd be happy to send him a couple of things anyway, and asked for his address. He didn't know what they were going to send, but he thought it was cool of them to do that.

So, back to the UPS package. As you can guess, it was from the Best Fiends people (Seriously Digital Entertainment is their brand). I still didn't know anything about Jerry writing them and them sending stuff to Jerry, and when I started pulling things out of the box, I was getting mad that Jerry would spend so much money on that stuff! (I knew it had to cost a fortune.) Then he explained the story to me and said they they sent him the stuff for FREE. (Yes, it is free advertising for them--but it's a win-win because I love it!)

I got a t-shirt, a raglan shirt, a hoodie, two mugs, a leather journal, three pairs of socks, and a canvas tote bag! I couldn't believe it. And I was really surprised by the quality of the merchandise--the shirts were the super soft, comfy kind of cotton that I love; the hoodie wasn't the standard fleece (it was more of a thick tightly-knit fabric); the socks, the bag, the journal, and even the mugs were excellent quality. I was stunned that they sent all of this.



I immediately put on the raglan shirt, which is my favorite.


I would post a link to their store and give them a big "thank you" shout-out, but they don't have the store anymore. It was a super fun surprise to get in the mail, and Jerry was just as excited to give it to me as I was to get it!

So, on to Wednesday Weigh-In...

My last official weigh-in was Week 7 because I was up north last Wednesday. I was at 176.2 pounds two weeks ago, and I don't know what it was last week. For today's weigh-in:


I was at 173.4, so I'm down 2.8 pounds. Not too bad, especially considering I was on vacation all last week! From my starting weight (nine weeks ago) of 197.0, I've lost 23.6 pounds. (Several people have asked me about how many calories I eat per day... I'm mostly doing the same thing I did before, which I wrote a detailed post about--you can find it here. I will write an updated post about it soon.)

I figured I'd just write a few notes about staying on track while on vacation:

I didn't plan out "special meals" or foods that I had to pack or anything like that. I wanted to just go with the flow, eat what everyone else was eating, and enjoy the trip. Something I've been doing since I started counting calories again is choosing what matters most to me--in this case, I knew that I was really going to want to enjoy my dinner (our main meal) and I didn't want to have to restrict what I was eating, so I saved most of my calories for that meal.

I did bring grapes with me--not because I felt like I "should" eat them, but because I love grapes and I've been eating them for breakfast every day. So, I ate grapes for breakfast and I usually skipped lunch. Then I'd eat whatever everyone was having for dinner. Each of my siblings, my parents, and I were in charge of bringing the food for and preparing one meal.

My mom took care of all the breakfasts. She made some great breakfast food, but like I said, I've been really into eating grapes in the mornings. For dinners: Jeanie and Shawn made amazing grilled pork chops with herbed butter, green bean casserole, and macaroni and cheese; Brian and Becky made the most delicious pulled pork with coleslaw and cheesy potatoes; Nathan and his girlfriend, Alex, made grilled hamburgers with sautéed potatoes and corn on the cob; and Jerry and I made lasagna with garlic bread and caesar salad.

All of the meals were delicious! I knew what we'd be eating for dinner each day, so I just estimated the calories ahead of time. I didn't measure or weigh portions--I just made my best guess. My dinners were high in calories, but I didn't feel the slightest bit deprived and I ate like a "normal" person would eat while on vacation.

I quit drinking alcohol in February, so I didn't drink any calories up north. I brought some La Croix, but I mostly just drank from my water bottle.

The only dessert we had was s'mores at the campfire each night, but I was too lazy to roast marshmallows, haha. So I didn't have any s'mores. (The last night we were there, however, I made some brownies with chocolate frosting--I wanted to do something a little special for Noah's birthday since we hadn't celebrated with the family. I had one of those and it was so amazing!)

I wasn't super active while I was there--I am most definitely not an outdoorsy person, so while most everyone did some things like tubing down the river, I stayed back and read my book in my hammock. I did help Shawn work in the pole barn a little each day--measuring and cutting boards and helping him to frame in some areas. The only real "exercise" I did was when I went for a three-mile run one morning.

I think the most important takeaway from the whole thing is that I didn't overthink anything having to do with my weight loss. I wasn't worried about it at all and I actually didn't even think of it much; I knew that as long as I wasn't pigging out I'd be fine. I did the activities I enjoyed and I skipped the ones I wasn't into. I ate the foods I liked and I skipped the stuff that didn't make much difference to me (like lunches). I didn't worry about exact measurements for portion sizes or stress about sticking to a perfect running schedule. I feel like it was a very healthy, balanced approach to staying on track while enjoying vacation.

It's probably too early to say this just nine weeks in, but I feel like the effort to lose weight has been pretty easy this time around. I think the biggest key to that is that I don't overthink things. Keeping it simple has made a world of difference!

6 comments:

  1. A number of months Ago you were doing intermittent fasting. Are you still doing that? I

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do occasionally, but not on purpose. I got used to skipping breakfast and lunch, so it's not unusual for me to do that now (if I know I'm going to have a high-calorie dinner, then I will likely not eat until 2:00-ish. But intermittent fasting is not intentional at this point. I'd like to try it again someday, but right now I want to focus on getting this weight off!

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  2. Wish I could feel satisfied on grapes for breakfast. Love seeing your progress!

    ReplyDelete
  3. this is great and a good weight loss. Very inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are so inspiring. Do you only count calories or do you try to hit macros within your calorie count?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I only count calories--keeping it as simple as possible makes it easier for me to stick with :)

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