Katie: Week 37 ...take two!

Yesterday was busy.  It kind of knocked me off my rocker.  And despite my good intentions to get my post done in the morning, by the time we were headed to bed I realized I still hadn't posted.  Gah.  So I did a quick post yesterday with my weight, but I wanted to come back today and just make a few notes about what I've been up to lately as far as weight loss and eating go.  Maybe these things will only be interesting to me.  And maybe in a week they will bore even me.  But whatevs.  Here we go.

First off, do we all remember how I basically gained five pounds while Bryan's family were in town?  Ah, yes.  All the joys of super fun family and super good food.  While I'm sad that it took me a week or so to reestablish my footing and get back to where I was, it was definitely worth not having to worry about everything I did and every bite I put into my mouth.  And, besides, we were pretty active that whole time anyway.  And I won a new claim to fame in the family "P.I.G." competition.  (You know, that basketball game?  I know.  Me.  Basketball.  We don't really mix.  But apparently we do.  At least long enough for a smashing round of P.I.G.)  And we went on a hike that I'm ashamed to say I whined my way through (sorry, Bryan).  And we spent and entire day walking around the local theme park.  So we may have been eating some scrumptious food, but we were working it off pretty well too.

Second of all, I'm already back to where I was when I "left off."  Yay!  I'm happy about that.  Even though I'm having a harder time getting back into the swing of things with MyFitnessPal this time around.  Meh.  I'm working on it.

Third, now that I am continuing to lose weight, a ton more clothes fit me.  A ton.  Over the long weekend Bryan and I worked on a somewhat major project cleaning out a nice dresser that we've been borrowing (and are now giving back to the nice people who lent it to us) and rearranging where we store our clothes.  In the midst of this project I pulled out the boxes marked "clothes."  These boxes have a conglomeration of clothes that are too small (like from when I was teenage size) and I know will never fit again, but the clothes have sentimental value, so I'm saving them for a quilt or something, along with maternity clothes or "fat clothes" that I know I'll want again after I have another child someday, and along with all these clothes were a stash of my "regular" clothes--stuff I used to fit into when I was a "regular" size.  But those clothes have been too tight for quite some time (at least since I got pregnant almost 2 years ago--9 months of pregnancy plus 12 months of Olivia here in the outside world), so they've been up in the boxes.  That is, until Monday when I sorted through all these clothes again.  I added a few more things to the maternity/ish stuff (just random pieces that had gotten passed over before) and then I pulled out all of the "regular" clothes.

Then came the dreaded task--trying each piece on to see if how it fit.  I figured some things would fit, some I'd just want to get rid of, some would be too short (pants are too short on me all the time), and some would go back into the "save this until it fits" pile.  Boy was I wrong.  About three things went into the "this is ugly, why was I saving it in the first place?" pile and basically everything else went into the "Wahoo!  This is super cute!  I own this?!  And it fits me?!  With room to spare?!  Sweet!" pile.  Which--don't get me wrong--is AWESOME, but... I kind of have a lot of clothes now!  So far they do seem to all fit into our new clothing storage (whew!), but we'll see how it goes.  My pile of pants is towering over all the other clothes and Bryan told me that I have to wear a different pair of pants every day.  I think if I did this I would only wear each pair once or twice a month.  Yes, the pile really is that big.  No hyperbole there.  And you know what else is exciting about that lovely pile of pants?  They're size 8!  Whoop-whoop!  Size 8 is my normal.  However, I had more room in these pants when I tried them all on on Monday then when I used to wear them before I was pregnant.  So... I guess we'll see how long they fit.  It's exciting to think about size 8's being too big.  But not exciting to think about having to say bye-bye to all these fun "new" clothes.

Next up on my list of weight loss thoughts--eating regular food.  I've been giving it a whirl.  I mean, I know I claim to eat "regular" food and, really, I do, but there of course is the occasional Lean Cuisine and the lovely, wonderful Weight Watchers Ice Cream Bars (I don't think I'll give those up even when I reach my goal weight--they are so yummy!).  And, you know, just "diet" kinds of foods.  Stuff that I secretly plan to chuck once my body balance is under control again.  Anyway, since I haven't been super into eating strictly healthy stuff lately, I've been testing my limits a little with regular food.  Stuff like quesadillas and the (very) occasional cup of regular ice cream.  And you know what?  Things seem to be okay.  I've been learning moderation during this whole weight loss journey and I think the principle is finally making its way into my pretty little head.  Like, if I eat a quesadilla for lunch which isn't quite as healthy for me and has a lot of calories, then I make sure to eat something healthier for dinner.  Or I make sure to go on an extra walk later.  So far so good.

Also, while we're in the food department of my thoughts, I've been toying with eating food right before bed.  I have friends who swear by weight loss rules like "No food after 8pm," but, the truth is, I get hungry at night.  And I know it's probably not a good idea to eat a bowl of peanut butter right before I fall asleep, but, for my body, I've been noticing that it runs better--both at night and the next day--when I eat a little something before I head to bed.  Now, first off, let me just say that I only do this when I'm actually hungry.  I don't eat just for the sake of eating.  But when I'm feeling hungry and not looking forward to tossing and turning in bed due to the bottomless pit in my stomach, I have a little bowl of light cereal.  My go-to right now is Rice Chex.  Love that stuff.  Can't get enough of it.  I really have no idea why.  Anyway, one bowl of Rice Chex and I'm totally good to go.  The first time I did this I went to bed totally regretting it, knowing for sure that I had given up on any chances of seeing a lower number on the scale the next morning.  But you know what?  When I got up the next morning that number on the scale was lower!  I figured it was a fluke, but the same thing has happened every other time I've had a little bowl of cereal before bed.  Now I don't think it's because of any magical properties in Rice Chex, but I think it may be because it's better for keeping my metabolism up.  This may not be true for anybody else, but, at least right now, it feels right for me.  So I'm going to tinkering around with eating a light bite before bed and see how it goes.  I'll let you know if it starts backfiring on me.

Well, this post is long and pretty boring, so I think I'll just end it now.  Hope you're all having a great day!