Relief and Other Things

Well, I'll start off with the best news. As the mortgage industry is wont to do, business has dried up a little bit with the rise in interest rates, which inevitable means lay-off. Thankfully, my area survived this round intact today. There are more potential lay-offs coming, possibly through the first quarter next year, so while we're not safe, we're ok for now. It's been a tense day. And I haven't used food to cope or celebrate, either! 

In other happy news, I've been making more of a concentrated effort to get this train a-moving on down the track. I'm working on doing different things and pushing myself harder on the familiar ones at the gym in the mornings, as making sure I track ALL day again. I'd gotten really bad about being on point during the day, and letting myself get derailed on the nights/weekends. Gotta buckle back down so I can hit my 40 pounds lost mini-goal! 

I stayed in calories last night, which was exciting. Monday night was a challenge, becuase the meal I had planned out couldn't happen. I got the salmon out of the fridge, and it had gone bad. So had the pork chops. We don't usually let food go to waste like that, so it was upsetting on that level, too. I ended up fixing us some Butoni cheese tortillini's and alfredo sauce. Which wouldn't be bad under different circumstances, but I was on a tight calorie budget by the time dinner rolled around. I've made adjustments to my lunches so I have more wiggle room in my calories. I really needed to cut back on lunch portions anyway, this was just the catalyst I needed. 

When I set my new weight loss goal up here it readjusted my calories, and it's taken me some time to get used to the new numbers. Personally, I thought it was set waaaaay too high anyway, not that it ever stopped me from taking advantage of that!  

I always seem to slide a little when I get close to a big goal. It's like stage fright or something. Definitely something I'm working on, one day at a time. 

On Wednesday mornings we have an off-the-schedule class. It's not "official" because if the lady that runs it is off that day, it doesn't happen. We do different stuff every week, from a weight circuit, walking outside in the parking lot, rotating stations, all kinds of stuff. This morning we did what she called "Trekking" which is speed and "incline" intervals on the elliptical. At one point she had us holding hands with our neighbors, as a way to work on core strength by not using the elliptical handles. And she took pictures. 

This is most of us: 
 

This is a closer one with me in it. I'm in the middle, in the blue shirt: 
 

We worked up a great sweat! I bought some little 8oz boxes of Horizon organic chocolate milk. I've been hearing lots of interesting things about how chocolate milk is actually a great post-workout snack. I tried freezing one last night, and then letting it thaw out in my gym bag, but it was still basically a milkshake! So I think tonight, I'm going to pull one down from the freezer and stick it in my lunch bag in the fridge, and see if it doesn't thaw out and warm up too much. It's shelf stable, so I would imagine that even if it does warm up, its not going to go bad, it just won't be as refreshing. 

My goal for tomorrow is to get some jogging intervals in. If all goes well, I will be picking C25k back up on Monday. My first trial run was successful, so here's to hoping round two will be as well! 

Have a great day!!