Day 46
September 15

I got weighed today and lost .9, almost a pound! At least I am still going down. I am somewhere around 132.8 or something. I’m just glad I didn’t go up after last weekend’s Mexican standoff as I refer to the battle between my colon and the spicy salsa I ate on Friday night. As much as I try to stay strictly on the diet, I fall off the wagon every two weeks whenever I have to leave town for the weekend or when some special event occurs. But I failed to mention this to my JC consultant. I didn’t want to incur her wrath. It’s funny, right before my appointment I arrived to find my consultant finishing up with another JC member. Since I had a minute or two, I ran into the weight room, stripped off my clothes and weighed myself before I had to do it with her in the room. I don’t think I could take the disappointment in myself or the punitive remarks from my Jenny Craig “coach” if I had gained weight. Thank God I lost something.

I am noticing a change in my attitude though. As much as I whine and complain and lose my willpower around chocolate cake and quesadillas, overall, I am looking more at the big picture. I am no longer expecting the quick fix or to lose some weight and then go back to my old habits. I can’t believe I am actually saying this but I look forward to working out. I have made some modifications though. It would be impossible, regardless of the gains I make, for me to maintain 2-hour workouts every day of the week. And believe me, if the parking meters let me park for more than two hours, I would spend half my day there.

But of course this is ridiculous. Besides running into weird naked gym people, overhearing interesting gossip and finally getting to use the sauna, working out this much wouldn’t benefit me in the long run. I couldn’t keep up this pace. Factoring in time for my son, social outings (the few that I have), and returning to full time work in a few months, I amended my exercise regiment to include 25 minutes of weight training every day and 1 hour of cardio. I also cut my workouts to five times a week. This still seems like a lot but I know I can find time to do it. I know my weight routine and can cycle through it quickly. The treadmill I look forward to because it does help my system function better to speed walk uphill for an hour. I am currently at incline of 2.0 and a speed level of 4.0. There is a lot of room for improvement here so I will focus on this for the next month. Except for two bursts of running during the hour, I can’t maintain a consistent brisk jog for more than five-eight minutes at a time. My goal is to jog for most of the hour. My goal for my current workout schedule is to burn 500 calories each day/each workout regardless of how I do it. So far, I have met that goal. But I would feel proud of myself if I could run for even half the time and burn off the same amount of calories. Time management, don’t you know! Let’s see where I am next month at this time. I hope to have made great strides (no pun intended).