Week In Review February 25-March 4



Me at an ocean-front restaurant in Santo Domingo, D.R.

 This week has been spent trying to get my body back to normal after my Dominican Experience the week before.  While I was away I was VERY mindful of how much I ate as the diet was pretty much based on carbs and protein (rice, white bread, plantains).  I really paid attention to my body's hunger signals! 

My weight is doing very well!  I weighed myself the morning I left for the DR and I was back down the 3lbs I put on the week before.  Upon my return last Friday I was down another 0.5 lbs SUCCESS!!!  This week, my weight stayed the same.  Last year's trip I put on 5 lbs then another 3 lbs the following week.

Since I returned I've been dealing with severe sugar cravings and lack of self control that I had last week.  I used to have a strong will over my cravings and food urges when I was actively loosing my weight, now I find that its just not there.

I was very disciplined when I got home last week that Saturday morning, despite flying from 4PM to 12AM and going to bed after 3AM I got up for my 9:45am Weight Watchers meeting.  I've got every intention to go to my meeting again tomorrow morning and weigh in for the month.

Before I went away I stopped in at my Doctor's office.  For months I've not been feeling well, not feeling like myself, tired, no energy, no desire to go out, do anything, etc.  I had also been experiencing really bad night sweats for a few weeks prior.  Also my migraine medication just wasn't cutting it anymore (I have been able to manage with Excedrin for Migraine for a few years now), so I wanted to be put on something else to help manage them.  Yesterday I went in for my follow-up.  My blood work came back fine, my liver function, hemoglobin, thyroid, and B-12 levels are fine.  Now my Iron is on the low end of normal but nothing that couldn't be helped through diet.  So I came away with a few information sheets on how to get more Iron in my diet.  Also something I've done on my own is to double my vitamin D dose, instead of taking 1000 units/day I'm now taking 2000 units.  There is no harm in taking higher amounts of vitamin D and there are studies starting to show that 1000 units/day may actually not be enough.  So if you're feeling down, low on energy and live in a Northern climate think about increasing your vitamin D dose if you don't already take it.

Here's my week at a glance, I ate very well, except I had a bit of a junk food splurge on Wednesday (the dangers of your gym being above a grocery store).

The good :

• I lost weight while in the Dominican Republic
• I have maintained that weight loss
• I have gotten my eating back on track with a tonne of fruits and veggies (how I missed you!)
• I have been able to get back to my exercise schedule of Taekwon-Do classes and visits to the gym
• I tracked honestly this week
• Today I managed my cravings
• In one week I'll be on vacation, heading to sunny Yuma Arizona with an overnight trip to Phoenix (more sunshine!)
• I am feeling 100% myself again!

The bad :

• Cravings for candy and chocolate
• Giving into those cravings
• Hitting the candy dishes at work pretty hard Monday-Thursday.

The ugly :

• Between Wednesday and Thursday I consumed a whole bag of the new mini Reese's PB cups (oh how I love you)
• I also ate 1/2 a bag of pretzel sticks those two days
• I had to spend $700 on my car this week.  I needed a new front right bearing, windshield washer fluid pump, two lights, a rear wiper blade, oil change and when putting the wheel all back together a bolt and its bracket were stripped so that required replacing the calliper because it is attached to said bracket.  That probably didn't help the eating either.