Motivational Monday - Direction

... this coming week will be a bit of a challenge, lots going on, busy busy!. Maybe more maintenance. The scale went up slightly over the weekend. Nothing huge, not really surprising, but up nonetheless. My MFP tracker DOES shift and show the change... no longer showing my 15 pound loss. I hate when it goes backward, but it's a good reminder that it is a constant battle. You can not stop.

Today is my anniversary (which I'm thinking will include going out to dinner), getting together with some friends in from out of town (which will affect exercise/eating) and a holiday (here in Utah anyway), where I'll likely get NO exercise in. It's a bit ironic how good days with family and friends very often mean bad eating/exercise days. But even with all this, I'm not discouraged or down. I feel I have made a change. I've changed direction. Just being aware of what I'm eating. Taking the time to log it. Watching the numbers, even if they aren't exactly where I want them to be. It's slow going, and I'm not going to get to my goal weight quickly, but at least I'm on my way. I really love this quote ... it's my motivation this Monday. 

Fifteen Pounds

In the world of weight-loss, when someone says "that's really a new low for you" it is actually a positive thing! Thanks for the compliment Fitbit (it's a new badge for my profile there *Ü*) ... and it's the same number my MFP tracker is showing. 15 pounds down. Yea!  Pretty much from the moment I started tracking (and controlling) my incoming calories a couple of months ago, I've had a consistent, by the numbers, loss. I'm so grateful. I know it doesn't always happen. Seeing success gives me the extra motivation to keep it going. I'm really hoping I can get to 150 (which would move me out of the "overweight" category) before I hit any snags or plateaus. 

Here's a quick capture of the last week + ... thanks to my smart scale all my numbers are automatically sent to my computer, to my Fitbit dashboard, and to MFP.  You can see it's pretty slow and steady, with small ups and downs. While I do weigh-in everyday, I have Friday as my "official" weigh-in day and I watch those numbers for week-to-week trends. 

I checked my history ... I'm now back to where I was last year (June2012).
I wish I would have STARTED then ...

Dress For Success

I have a confession ... that is what I look like most of time.

I wear my workout clothes (knit shorts and a t-shirt)  pretty much all day long.  They are comfortable, cute and you could say I'm "dressing for success" ... at least as far as exercise goes. It's one of the benefits of being a SAHM, I often do not have places to go and people to see. I'll pop down to my home gym several times a day. After all, I'm still dressed for it, so I might as well get another session in, right? No excuses.

When I DO leave the house ... carpool, grocery shopping, taking a child to an appointment ... well, I've gotten to where I still just stay in my workout wear. I'm a little sweaty and disheveled, but I don't look that bad. I guess in reality it's gotten to the point where even when I would change and dress in "regular" clothes and try to look nice ... it feels like a moot point. I don't look good regardless, so I might as well stay comfy and ready for another workout.

The other day I picked up a couple cute new tops as a reward for my recent weight loss. I was actually wanting to wear them. And now that I've lost the pounds I gained over the winter/spring, at least I can fit into the capris from last summer (which I couldn't do a couple of months ago). I was just running to the grocery store to pick up some milk, but I decided to change my clothes and try to improve my appearance from the usual sweats and t-shirt. It felt good. I'm not saying I looked great, but it was a bit of a boost to at least make an effort. Ok, my hair was still in a ponytail, but I actually put on some earrings and lipstick *Ü*

And what do you know ... I ran into someone I knew while I was out.  It was nice to not be a sweaty mess, to actually feel ok saying hello rather than ducking into another aisle and hoping I hadn't been seen. 

I changed back into my sweats and t-shirt when I got home ... I wanted to get in one more session on the elliptical. While staying dressed in my workout wear really does motivate me to get my exercise in, I think I'm going to make more of an effort to "dress for success" when I leave the house too.  Changing clothes may be part of the change ...

Fitbit Fluctuations

I don't deal well with change ... I'd still probably be using shiftF8 for computer functions if technological improvements weren't forced upon me.  I've acclimated to email and even texting, although I remember a time I was sure I didn't need either one. I wasn't thrilled when Facebook switched to the timeline, but I'm used to it now. I resisted digital photography and ereaders ... now I sing their praises.  Anyway, when Fitbit rolled out its new dashboard, I really wasn't interested. 

The old dashboard view is pictured above.

The new dashboard view is pictured below.  

You can see it actually has the same information for the most part (some of the information like food and sleep WAS also shown on the original dashboard, just further down than I grabbed on my screen capture). One of the nice things about this new dashboard is that all these tiles are adjustable. You can move them around to suit you, deleting any you don't want, moving what is important to you front and center. Given the choice, I wasn't going to make the switch, but new users (my son and my dad) were automatically signed up for the new dashboard.  As I'd try to compare my day to theirs (what can I say, we are a competitive family) it was a little hard, with the different visual formats.

So I switched. Being an "old" user, I still have the option to switch back, but I don't know how long that will be the case. I'm adjusting to the new look. While the actual numbers (steps, calories burned, floors climbed) are the same on either dashboard, the daily graph (set to steps or calories burned) does have a different look. The activity spikes while similar, aren't quite the same.  If you go to the (also updated) activity page, I can get a look more similar to the original ...

But it still isn't quite the same.

For some reason, I really miss my spikes being pink!

The other thing I really miss (the old dashboard had it, but the new one does not seem to show this anywhere) is the pie chart of my time ... this was the only chart to incorporate the sedentary time (visually) with the lightly, fairly/moderately and very active times.  

I remember having a couple competitions with Fitbit friends. The challenge was to keep the sedentary to half a pie or less.  The new look shows the info over time ... but there's no pie.

I know I could crunch the numbers and calculate my sedentary time ... but I don't like math, and that would mean MORE sedentary time while I figured it all out. It was much easier for me just to look at my daily pie; it was much easier for me to "see" presented that way.

For now, I guess I have the luxury of switching in-between the old and new.

I can have the new dashboard ... and my pie too!

Smart Scale (Fitbit Aria)

Through high school and the first fourteen years of marriage ... I never really stepped on the scale. I just felt that some weight gain through the years (and having five babies) was inevitable. During my pregnancies, I didn't pay much attention to weight gain either ... I really couldn't tell you what I gained or weighed at any point. 

Then ... May 2006. I lost 20 pounds quick and easy and without even trying (yes, there was some stress at that time). But that 20 pound loss ... it changed everything! I felt like losing WAS possible, and I could already see a change at that point. It gave me the motivation to keep going. I lost 30 more pounds over the next couple of months and I reached my goal weight. During THIS time ... I stepped on the scale everyday, sometimes multiple times a day. I've stepped on a scale pretty much every day since.

You can see (in the picture above), I had an old analog scale. Through the years, I upgraded to a newer, digital scale. But when Fitbit recently added a scale to their line of products, I felt like I needed to upgrade once again. Like the Fitbit, the Aria connects wirelessly to the Fitbit Dashboard. Now I can't tell you how many times I would step on the scale first thing in the morning, and by the time I dressed and went to my desk to write down the numbers~ they had slipped from my mind. And while I did enter the numbers (that I remembered *Ü*) into my excel spreadsheet with all my stats, I would seldom actually update the Fitbit website with my changing weight. The Aria does it all ... and includes a body fat reading as well as body weight.

Now the Aria IS pricey ... $130.  But, it's been worth it to me. My Fitbit Dashboard is now completely up to date. The weight is updated daily, and this also transfers to MFP, which updates my weight loss there. Since I have been tracking food on MFP, and making sure I'm staying below my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) the scale HAS been moving in the right direction too. I've never tracked my body fat before, and while it's still too high, it too is getting lower. 

I've also connected my Aria to Trendweight.com ... so my daily weigh-in is also transferred to that site and the many cool graphs and data it provides.

I didn't discover this website until a few weeks ago, but because of the wireless connection, TrendWeight was able to get ALL the data from the scale, from when I first got it in January. I'm also signed up for a couple rewards sites, and one of those gives points for daily weight and body fat weigh-ins, so the Aria gives me extra points there each day as well. 

I DO still have my old analog scale sitting in the bathroom downstairs ... I hope to be able to recreate the "goal weight" picture at the top of this blog post. 

Step History ...

... I've tracked my daily steps for YEARS. I started in 2006, and in December of 2008, I joined a site called Walker Tracker, a social site for tracking steps and connecting with other pedometer people. There are competitions, and that was a big motivation for me then (I've gotten less competitive through the years).  In 2009 and 2010 I'd hit 30K days with regularity. Twice I topped 40K. Walker Tracker has a lot of nice graphs too. The graph above is a pretty good visual representation of my past year. In 2011 and 2012, I had been staying pretty close to my revised goal of 20K a day. I got a little discouraged around Oct/Nov ... my activity went down. My weight went up. It was mid-May when I joined MFP and started tracking food. I also upped my activity again. You can see my June and July jump ... I plan on keeping it up there!

Just a few more numbers from past years ...
2012 average of 16,305
2011 average of 19,902
2010 average of 25,503
2009 average of 25,161 

Motivational Monday - Magic Pill

... I know most people hate Mondays. I am not one of them. I LOVE Mondays. The weekends are my challenge. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are a break from my weekday routine. It's harder to eat good, harder to fit in the exercise.  For the past several years, I've called them "wicked weekends" and I dread stepping on the scale Monday morning. But ... it does provide me with some motivation to get back at it. After a weekend I am actually excited to get back at it! Five days until official "weigh-in" day (on Friday, BEFORE another weekend). 

Since joining MFP and tracking calories, I've had "better" weekends ... but I still slip. Going out to the movies, a dinner date with hubby, or family parties ... it's really hard to keep things in check. I'm SO grateful I've seen success so far. I know how easy it is to lose motivation when you don't see results. But I know I can do this. I did it once before. I know I can do it again. 

I'd only been giving 10% before ... I have been keeping up with the exercise. Trying to "out cardio my calories".  The problem is, if you aren't logging your food, do you really know how many calories you are eating? Believe me, start tracking and you will be so surprised at how quickly they add up.  Admittedly, I'm taking baby steps. Right now, I'm simply counting calories, keeping track ... I have not moved into the "healthy eating" per say (I've got some eating issues that I'll address at some point). Baby steps *Ü*

Tracking Sleep

I pretty much wear my Fitbit 24/7 (I do take it off for showers and use that time to recharge the battery). When it's time for bed, I keep my Fitbit on me.  I sleep with it on, not only to catch any odd steps during the night, but because it has a sleep function as well as a step function. I don't know how accurate it is, but it is interesting. 

As the graph indicates, the blue is sleeping (or at least very still and unmoving), and the pink is awake (or restless). An actual spike means I got up and walked for a minute (potty run). Now the BIG pink area around 3:30 in the morning is NOT normal for me! That only happens when stupid teenagers decide to doorbell ditch us. And I got a few steps in as I had to go outside and put out the fire that they started on the front porch (and as it would happen our front door was stuck and so I had to go out the back and walk around the house to do it!) Could not get back to sleep for a while ...

This is a little more "normal" ... hubby is off early, so I usually wake up, but don't quite make it out of bed for a bit. I know, I should just get up and get going on my day!  There are two settings for sleep (normal or sensitive ... try which seems to work best for you). There is a sleeve included to wear your Fitbit on your wrist. I just clip it to my jammie top.  My son sleeps with his clipped to his boxers.

But back to the Fitbit as a sleep tracker. I didn't think I would use this feature, but I've really enjoyed having the feedback. I always thought I went to sleep earlier than I actually do. It's interesting to see the trends (going to bed/getting up) and getting an idea of how much actual sleep time I get. When we splurged on a Fitbit for my 14-year old, I was going to suggest the less expensive Zip. It does not track sleep. The boys had already rushed off to the store and purchased the One before I mentioned the Zip option, but my son has enjoyed the sleep feedback more than I would have thought (and as a parent it's fun for me to point out just how much he is sleeping in this summer!). As my parents bought Fitbits as well, one of the things they were looking forward to MOST from the device was the sleep feedback.

With the new dashboard, there are new, weekly reports of the sleep graph.

They look like this (above).

You still get the look pictured at the top if you go to the Log/Sleep area.

... so if you were considering a Fitbit and wanted an idea of what some of the feedback looked like, there you go. There are a couple other graphs too, showing some of the same info over time (hours asleep over the past 30 days, etc.). My Fitbit is mainly for steps and counting calories burned throughout the day, but I appreciate the night feedback as well!

Blister on a Baby Toe

Toes are NOT the most attractive body part, so I apologize in advance for this lovely picture  *Ü* My poor little baby toe ... I don't know if maybe I shift my foot wrong in my shoe or what, but I always seem to rub myself into a blister here. This first appeared June 8, as I jogged the track during #3's basketball game (well, it wasn't the first time, as this is a trouble spot for me, but I hadn't really had a problem in recent months, probably because I hadn't spent a lot of time in shoes ... I wear slippers on my elliptical). The blister fades a bit after my workout, but when I put on my running shoes (and I have a few different pair I try to alternate between in case it is the shoe) for a longer length of time (say an hour) then it reappears ...

Day to Day (July2013)

July 1 (Monday) Good day. Weight 169.2. Fitbit steps 30660. Total burn 3431. Calories in 2300. Calories out 1600 Exercise was 90minElliptical, 38minBike, 30DS1.1 and jogged the track during the boy's basketball practice. I forgot my HRM, dang it! About 9000 steps, so a little over 4 miles in the hour. Unfortunately there is a class going on right then, made the track very crowded. If it wasn't 100° outside I would have just jogged the park instead. Eating was a hearty breakfast of French Toast and milk. Quite a few snacks throughout the day. Skipped dinner. 

July 2 (Tuesday) Good Day. Weight 167.5 Fitbit steps 31912. Total burn 3653. Calories in 2000. Calories out 1850. Exercise consisted of 100minElliptical, 37minBike, 30DS1.2, some ping pong and jogging the track during the boy's basketball game (4 miles, 483 calories, I did remember the HRM today). Eating consisted of cold cereal, fiber one bar, tortilla chips and spaghetti dinner. Some snacks too. 

July 3 (Wednesday) OK day. Weight 166.5. Fitbit steps 24300. Total burn 3237. Calories in 2875. Calories out 1447. Exercise credit from 100minElliptical, 37min/10milesBike, 30DS1.3, and I mowed the lawn. Eating added up with French Toast for breakfast, Fried Chicken and Yellow Rice for dinner ... and lots of snacks. I was HUNGRY today. Maybe feeling a little justified after the past two days. 

July 4 (Thursday) Bad day (eating/exercise wise) Weight 167.8 Fitbit steps 5497 Total burn 2093. Calories in 2600 (and I got sloppy, might have been higher). Calories out ... 300 (no dedicated exercise, this was the Fitbit adjustment on MFP). Up early and off to the lake for wave running.  Stopped at Maga's on the way home. So mostly sitting and snacking all day. Supervising sparklers in the evening. 

July 5 (Friday) OK Day. Weight 168.4  Fitbit steps 18824   Total burn 2856. Calories in 2200. Calorie burn 1050. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 30DS1.4 + 35minPingPong. Eating: Small breakfast, then nothing until over eating at the movies (popcorn/candy) ... did not feel great that evening.

July 6 (Saturday) Good Day. Weight 167.9 Fitbit steps 22416. Total burn 2850. Calories in 1800. Calorie burn 1050. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 30DS1.5, 40min/2.5milesTreadmill (10min10%incline, Intervals for the rest). Eating: late/small breakfast, Tepanyaki for dinner. Just a couple snacks.  Hubby took the kids to a movie, I begged off, so as not to eat popcorn/candy again and got in a workout during that time instead. Hubby and I did go out to dinner at Tepanyaki, but I had calories set aside and rice/steak/salmon isn't too bad.

July 7 (Sunday) OK Day. Weight 166.7. Fitbit steps 12826. Total burn 2464. Calories in 2000. Calorie burn 670. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 10minWiiFit, 15minPingPong. Eating: Sunday Circles for breakfast (didn't eat a whole waffle though). Crock pot roast beef. Homemade oreos ... ** Rude awakening at 3:00 with stupid teens doorbell ditching the house. Couldn't get back to sleep.

July 8 (Monday) Good Day. Weight 166.8. Fitbit steps 32086. Total burn 3361. Calories in 2150. Calorie burn 1550. Exercise: 100minElliptical, 30DS1.6, 50min/3.5milesTrack. Decent food day for the morning/afternoon. Overdid it on orange rolls for dinner...but they were yummy!

July 9 (Tuesday) Good Day. Weight 166.3. Fitbit steps 27641. Total burn 3309. Calories in 2400. Calorie burn 1500. Exercise: 80minElliptical, 38minBike, 30DS1.7, 60min/4miles Track. Jogged during the boy's basketball game. Seemed a bit behind all day, after sleeping in and starting late. Not a great eating day. The orange rolls were still around. The kids wanted toasted cheese (and I had one too), and hubby made his yummy popcorn. But hopefully the activity offset the eating.

July 10 (Wednesday) Pretty Good Day. Weight 166.3. Fitbit steps 25464. Total burn 3113. Calories in 2200. Calorie burn 1300. Exercise: 120minElliptical, 30DS1.8 + bowling with the boys. Did good on eating until the evening when I grabbed breads from Little Caesars and made brownies.

July 11 (Thursday) Pretty Good Day. Weight 166.3. Fitbit steps 22357. Total burn 3029. Calories in 2100. Calorie burn 1200. Exercise: 100minElliptical, 30DS1.9, 38minBike(10miles). Too many calories in the snack section (but I did have to have some of the lemon jello cake I made). **tom

July 12 (Friday) Ok Day. Weight 166.8. Fitbit steps 19547. Total burn 2799. Calories in 2220. Calories burned 1000. Exercise: 100minElliptical, 30DS1.10 Eating: Cold cereal, French Toast for dinner. Quite a few snacks.  **tom

July 13 (Saturday) OK day. Weight 166.3. Fitbit steps 22639. Total burn 2845. Calories in 2800. Calories burned 1050. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 45min/3.5milesTrack ... would have done more but had to come down when #3 took a hard hit during the basketball game. Not a good eating day ... stopped at Dunford for donuts, and went to a movie in the evening.  **tom

July 14 (Sunday) Bad day. Weight 166.8. Fitbit steps 2325. Total burn 1773. Calories in 1800. Calories burned 0. Woke up not feeling well and stayed in bed almost the whole day. Did feel a bit better by evening, enough to partake of hubby's BBQ dinner.

July 15 (Monday) Good Day. Weight 166.9. Fitbit steps 25152. Total burn 3187. Calories in 1700. Calories burned 1400. Exercise: 120minElliptical, 37minBike, 30DS2.1, 15minWiiFit. Change up to Level 2 on 30DS ... whew! This level has some different, awkward moves. Hoped to jog the track today as the boys had basketball practice, but #3 wanted to come home right after. Eating: Made waffles (usually make them on Sunday but hadn't felt up to it yesterday) ... I thought I'd come in high starting with a big breakfast,  but didn't eat too much the rest of the day. It felt good to keep calories lower. Did feel fine today after yesterday's sickness.

July 16 (Tuesday) Good Day. Weight 165.8. Fitbit steps 28522. Total burn 3297. Calories in 2000. Calories burned 1500. Exercise: 80minElliptical, 30DS2.2, 37minBike, 55min/4milesTrack. Eating: French Toast for dinner ...

July 17 (Wednesday) Good Day. Weight 165.0. Fitbit steps 27780. Total burn 3410. Calories in 1550. Calories burned 1500. Exercise: 120minElliptical, 30DS2.3, 37minBike. Not sure why(how) I kept the eating so low, grazed throughout the day and that seemed to do the trick.

July 18 (Thursday) Pretty Good Day. Weight 164.5. Fitbit steps 22625. Total burn 3060. Calories consumed 1850. Calorie credit 1200. Exercise: 120minElliptical. Eating: Cold cereal & watermelon for breakfast. Dinner was a bit bigger, leftovers from Sunday's steak. Still too many snacks. Day Notes: It was a disjointed day ... a Dr appointment in the morning (my annual physical, all looks good), chauffeuring kids and we had repairmen around the house much of the day, finishing up the a/c install from a few weeks ago. Didn't get my 30DS in, I'll have to make it up on Saturday to stay on schedule.

July 19 (Friday) Good Day. Weight 164.5. Fitbit steps 24319. Total burn 3057. Calories consumed 2050. Calorie credit 1250. Exercise: 90minElliptical, 30DS2.4, LawnMow (45min, it was HOT and the grass was long, I had to go over much of the yard twice, 258 per HRM, not sure if that is accurate for this activity, just left the Fitbit estimate which was 206). Eating: the boys requested "French Toast Friday" for breakfast, #4 and I had some popcorn chicken and an ice cream cone while shopping. 700CEC. Day Notes: I had been worried about getting my 30DS in, as we had a funeral for a neighbor then waverunning. #4 didn't care to go, so I stayed home with him.

July 20 (Saturday) Pretty Good Day. Weight 165.4. Fitbit steps 27312. Total burn 3152. Calories consumed 2700. Calorie credit 1350. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 30DS2.5, 75min/5miles Track during the boy's basketball game. Didn't eat much in the morning, then hubby and I went out to Johnny Carinos in the evening. Had a couple mozzarella cheese sticks (logs!) and chicken alfredo (did bring half home).  Hubby had stopped earlier in the day and brought home cheese cake (from The Cheesecake Factory).  I'm not a huge fan and won't eat most flavors, but this was plain ... and good. Dinner and dessert ... high calorie count!

July 21(Sunday) Ok Day. Weight 165.8. Fitbit steps 13858. Total burn 2497. Calories consumed 2300. Calorie credit 710. Exercise: 60minElliptical, Walk to/from church. Eating: Sunday circles for breakfast. Day Notes: Made rice krispie treats for hubby to take as a treat, then they weren't needed and the entire pan was home all day to temp me! Also made homemade oreos in the evening.

July 22 (Monday) Ok Day. Weight 166.2. Fitbit steps 14678. Total burn 2563. Calories consumed 2300. Calorie credit 770. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 30DS 2.6. Eating: Skipped breakfast, snacked on popcorn. Market Street (fish and chips) for dinner. Day Notes: Friends in town, so we met up with them at JumpN Bounce for several hours, then a late dinner out with hubby.

July 23 (Tuesday) Good Day. Weight 166.6. Fitbit steps 27003. Total burn 3282. Calories consumed 2000. Calorie credit 1500. Exercise: 70minElliptical, 30DS2.7, 75min/5.5miles Track. Eating: Made snickerdoodles, ate snickerdoodles, but didn't eat a whole lot else, no real meals. Day Notes: Had our friends over (thus the making of cookies) to hang out for a few hours, but did get in some workouts and the boys had basketball in the evening. I would NOT have gotten in that much exercise that late without that! It was the final game though, I'll miss the basketball "push" ...

July 24 (Wednesday) Ok Day. Weight 165. Fitbit steps 11800. Total burn 2373. Calories consumed 2200. Calorie credit 580. Exercise: 40minElltiptical and hike up/down the beach. Eating:  Lots of beach treats (chips, tootsie rolls, Snickerdoodles AGAIN!) Day Notes: State holiday, so family fun at the beach. We'd been a little worried about the weather but it turned out so nice. Got in some exercise to start/finish the day. I actually forgot my Fitbit (and Omron broken) so I didn't have it during the trip. #2 had his, so I wore it (as I wasn't really going in the water) and manually added the steps. Wasn't feeling great in the evening ...

July 25 (Thursday) Good Day. Weight 166.5. Fitbit steps 23848. Total burn 3144. Calories consumed 1600. Calorie credit 1350. Exercise: 100minElliptical. 37min/10milesBike. 30DS2.8.  Eating: Some snacking early in the day. Chinese for dinner ... how many calories are in the sweet and sour chicken withOUT the sauce?

July 26 (Friday) Good Day. Weight 165.2. Fitbit steps 25060. Total burn 3290. Calories consumed 2200. Calorie credit 1500. Exercise: 120minElliptical. 37/10milesBike, 30DS2.9.  Eating: Mainly snacking/grazing throughout the day. Had some bread from LittleCasears for lunch, leftover roast beef for dinner. DayNotes: Went in for my annual mammogram today, it was quick. Stopped at the store and had some chauffeur duty. Ping pong table came out today but my partner #3 was sick so I didn't get any games in.

July 27 (Saturday) Ok Day. Weight 164.2. Fitbit steps 27350. Total burn 3132. Calories consumed 2700. Calorie credit 1350. Exercise: 120minElliptical, 30DS 2.10, Lawn mow and some ping pong.  Eating: Started the day with a Dunford Donut ... or two. That's a ton of calories right there. Hubby suggested a mini dessert date in the evening, but I didn't have any calories to spare! I'm glad I got my one game on Ping Pong in because the boys put the projector screen up again, dang it!

July 28 (Sunday) Ok Day. Weight 164.7. Fitbit steps 19745. Total burn 2792. Calories consumed 2800. Calorie credit 1000. Exercise: 100minElliptical ... the last 20 minutes was done at 10:00 at night after feeling guilty about my day and trying to at least break even. Did walk to church as well (would have walked home, but it was raining). Eating: Belgian waffle breakfast. Some cinnamon rolls for lunch. Made stroganoff, but I just ate plain roast beef. The family expects homemade oreos ...

July 29 (Monday) Good Day. Weight 164.7. Fitbit steps 26116. Total burn 3247. Calories consumed 2050. Calorie credit 1467. Exercise: 120minElliptical, 39minBike, 30DS3.1 Eating: Didn't eat too much during the day. Haystacks for dinner. Lemon Jello Cake for dessert.

July 30 (Tuesday) Ok Day. Weight 164.0. Fitbit steps 17388. Total burn 2712. Calories consumed 2100. Calorie credit 936. Exercise: 60minElliptical, 30DS 3.2. Day Notes: Took the kids to a waterpark, so a lot of sitting during the day ... also some snacking, although I don't think I did too bad. Admittedly I did not actually count how many tootsie rolls or weighed my chips ... made brownies after dinner (Mac&Cheese, high calorie!) but limited myself to just one.

July 31 (Wednesday) Good Day. Weight 164.4. Fitbit steps 27562. Total burn 3274. Calories consumed 2200. Calorie credit 1495. Exercise: 100minElliptical, 30min/2miles Treadmill, 37minBike, 30DS3.3 & 20min Ping Pong. Day Notes: A bit of a chaotic morning, as hubby and #2 got off to scout camp. #3 was going to go too, but had an anxiety attack about it and stayed home. I'd laid out Rhodes cinnamon rolls overnight, I ended up eating three of them throughout the day. The family still says they are not as good as the ones I make, so I will probably end up making some this weekend. Although exercise started slow, I got in quite a bit in the evening.