I am feeling very good today. I finished a big work project last night and what was even better was that I didn't do a lot of stress eating this week. I took a lot of little exercise breaks instead of lots of big eating breaks. Working at home can be tough, but I found that it really helps to have fruit and other healthy snacks. My plan to get back to band eating rules has also really helped. I don't crave carbs as much, and then I don't have the sugar rushes and crashes if I eat too many carbs as snacks.

It's really interesting keeping track of all of this. I do not like to food journal at all, but I love keeping track of my exercise minutes and since I'm doing that it's been pretty easy to put a y or n down for every meal for keeping on track with my goals. It really helps seeing it in black and white every week as feedback on whether my strategies are working or not. So my second celebration this week is that I am back on track with eating protein at every meal. And really it just took some simple fixes, but it took me awhile to figure it out. What I need to do is make sure I make it very convenient for myself. I usually don't feel like cooking at lunch, so I need to make sure I have sliced turkey or chicken in the fridge, cans of salmon (got tired of tuna) and leftovers ready to heat and eat (or mix cold in a salad). Just that simple strategy of buying the right stuff at the store has made a huge difference.

Oh, and I'm also celebrating that I am getting fitter and healthier - and smaller. I try to not make a big deal out of the number on the scale, but it is so so nice to see some movement in the right direction. I was at 157.8 this morning, which is down over a pound from last week. I think I'm just going to stick with a pound a week and not stress about the scale. What was really nice today was that I tried on some size medium pants I bought a few weeks ago. I knew they would be too tight, but they were on sale and most of my other clothes are so baggy. Today they are just a little tight, I'm thinking I'll be able to wear them in another week or two. And my butt is looking perkier - all this hill climbing is paying off.

Which brings me to my last celebration. There are now less hours on the ticker for the remaining number -I am over half way to my goal. I've also noticed in the last week that I can up the intensity of my hikes. I am now going farther in the same amount of time. When I started my goal of 10 hours per week I honestly didn't think I'd be able to do it every week. I thought I'd be starting out slow and then doing extra time at the end to catch up. But after a month it is actually starting to feel routine (total surprise to me). Sometimes I still can't believe I'm actually doing this every week. So these next 4 weeks I am going to start doing some interval training on my longer hikes and try out some other ideas for high intensity stuff. Can't wait to get into those size mediums. It's got to be over 10 years since I've been able to do that. ... and the fact that I'm doing this in a healthy way - now that's something to really celebrate.

Goals for week 4 - protein beg. of every meal, 2 snacks (1 healthy)

Thurs-

Exercise: 1.75 hrs (yes!) + 30 +15 =2.5

Eating goals:

breakfast: yes

lunch: yes

dinner: yes

snacks: good

Fri-

Exercise: 20 + 20 + 10 = 50

Eating goals:

breakfast: y

lunch: y

dinner: y

snacks: good - until late night

Sat-

Exercise: 20 + 20 +15 = 55

Eating goals:

breakfast: y

lunch: y

dinner: y

snacks: y (no night snacking:))

Sun-

Exercise: 30 +30 + 20 = 1 hr 20 min

Eating goals:

breakfast: y

lunch: y

dinner: y

snacks: so-so

Mon-

Exercise: 1.5 (makes goal!) + 10= 1 hr 40 min

Eating goals:

breakfast: y

lunch: y

dinner: y

snacks: n (work stress)

Tues-

Exercise: 30 + 20 = 50

Eating goals:

breakfast: y

lunch: y

dinner: y

snacks: n

Wed-

Exercise: 25 + 20 + 10 = 55

Eating goals:

breakfast: y

lunch: y

dinner: y

snacks: good, except for late night eating