On the struggle bus

I do not like the struggle bus, yet I find myself on an extended ride.

My weight continues to bounce around the 250s, as it has since March.

Our sweet neighbor brought us brownies AND cake over the long holiday weekend, and I’ve been partaking of both. Too much of both. (She bakes desserts for local restaurants … and they’re GOOD. You can taste the real butter and sugar in those brownies.)

I didn’t hit my monthly step goal for August, instead falling 5,389 steps short. My September goal is off to a rocky start as well, because I had an extremely lazy Labor Day weekend. On Sunday, I didn’t even break 2,000 steps.

That means I’m at an average of 4,400 steps/day, but I need 5,800 steps/day on average to hit September’s modest goal.

Ugh.

On the plus side, I managed 8,042 steps on Monday, courtesy of a trip to the grocery store and a long after-dinner walk… so I can turn that around.

One of my WW leaders, Brent, gave me some advice last week when I shared my struggles: Decide how bad you want it. (One plus of the pandemic is that I can go to Zoom webinars several times a week, and I now have more than one great coach to turn to for advice.)

I think Brent may have pinpointed the problem. In addition to being in the middle of a problematic pandemic, I’ve gotten (more than) a little complacent.

I mean, I’m down more than 50 pounds. I sometimes catch a glimpse of myself in a reflective surface and am pleasantly surprised at what I see.

Some days—okay, MOST days—I want the brownie, or an after-dinner run to Dunkin’ with my boyfriend, more than I want to see success on the scale.

And yet … and yet …

That’s not entirely true. I DO want to see the scale move downward. I still have 75-ish pounds to lose before I hit my goal. And I want to hit my goal and make lifetime so I can stop paying WW money. With my COVID-induced hours cut, money is scarce and getting moreso.

That means it’s time for an attitude adjustment. I already said I’d be honestly tracking in September (and then promptly tracked nothing last Friday-Sunday).

Sigh.

I’m back on the honest tracking wagon as of Monday, and we planned out our dinners for the week.

Breakfasts will be either Overnight Oats or an egg & cheese breakfast sandwich … and I’m planning to make Pound Dropper’s Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole this weekend. Lunches will most likely involve turkey sandwiches. I love the Boar’s Head Aloha Hawaiian Turkey.

Perhaps this plan will help me exit the struggle bus. I may also go back to #mywwgreenplan … I’ve done all three, and recently switched back to blue because I resent counting eggs on green (and I HATE egg substitute). I’ve been toying with the idea of going back to green though, because it might help me break into the 240s.

Fingers crossed!

Still on the Overnight Oats train?

Are you on the Overnight Oats train? I am! I love cold oats more than their warmed-up counterparts.

That shouldn’t surprise me, since I also prefer to drink iced coffee year-round–unless I have a hankering for a hot latte.

Most recently, I’ve been enjoying my version of Apple Pie Overnight Oats.

It starts with rolled oats, of course, along with almond milk and 2 teaspoons of chia seeds.

But the star of my breakfast is homemade cinnamon applesauce.

I had some aging honeycrisp apples in the fruit bowl, and rather than toss them in the trash, I opted to peel, core and roughly chop them.

They went into to crockpot with 2 teaspoons of water and about a cup of water. After they cooked all day — making the apartment smell fantastic– I mashed the apples with my potato masher.

Why not? The masher doesn’t see much action otherwise.

Voila…homemade applesauce. It’s delicious — and the perfect addition to my overnight oats.

Never looks like much, but take my word for it. Yum!

Scale-wise, things are still bouncing around. Lost 3.1 two Saturdays ago, then regained most of it last Saturday.

I weighed myself this morning and have managed to take some of it back off. Hopefully by this Saturday, I’ll be able to enter the 240s.

Fingers crossed!

I’ve decided September is going to be my month of tracking. I want to track my eats–honestly, rather than tracking breakfast and lunch and then not finishing dinner & snacks.

I can do it, as long as I take it one day at a time.

Reversing a gain

So …

For the last three weeks, at my official Saturday morning weigh-in, I’ve recorded a gain.

They haven’t been big gains — up 0.1 one week, 0.6 the next and then another 0.3. When you add that up, it’s 1 full pound in the wrong direction.

Even so, that’s NOT the way I want to go.

Following my Saturday morning WI, I buckled down, started tracking religiously (instead of half-assedly), stayed within my Healthy Eating Zone and began daily check-ins with the scale.

Surprise, surprise (not) — as of this morning, I’ve managed to not just hit the weight from my last good WI on July 25, but drop below it.

Heck, if I can keep up the focused work, I might make it into the 240s this week.

Considering I’ve been bouncing around the 250s since March 13 (pretty much through quarantine), I’m looking forward to falling into a new weight decade.

In other news …

Is anyone else looking forward to fall? I can’t wait for the start of Pumpkin Spice season.

In fact, I have a couple of bottles of sugar-free Pumpkin Torani Syrup left over from last fall. I could start PSL season early! Apparently, Dunkin’ already has — or will tomorrow.

This is not a PS iced coffee — it’s coconut, 2 Splendas & cream for 4 Points. Excuse the blurry Boomerang screen grab from Instagram Stories.