Shaking things up

First things first: Thanks for the many, many comments you left Friday. What fun it is to read, especially on a not-so-great weigh-in day.

I weigh myself every day, but only record my official progress on Mondays, and today – as I expected – I stayed the same.

Analyzing the data, my daily calorie consumption has been creeping up lately and, frankly, I'm getting kind of bored with the low glycemic index plan I've been working with for the past eight months. eDiets allows you to switch plans and change preferences at will, so I'm going to try their Atkins Nutritional Approach for a couple of months.

This week's average daily stats, for anyone else who's keeping score:

• Calories consumed: 1379
• Minutes of activity: 70
• Calories burned: 519

I should have – and could have – made better choices while I was gone. Certainly the options were available to me. Road trips are difficult for me. My mind and good sense go on vacation when I do, and I end up eating things – mostly in the car – that I would never choose if I were home. I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not blaming my hosts for my lack of progress this week!

I worked out before I left Friday morning, walked 80 minutes Saturday morning and ran almost an hour yesterday. Damage control? I'd like to think I was able to prevent a gain by moving my ass on a daily basis.

I failed to try on the dress I took with me before I packed – a simple linen/cotton sleeveless shift, size medium. I bought it when I was on my way back up the scale the last time. It was, um, roomy, and I was glad I'd taken a short-sleeved cardigan to put over it so it didn't look quite so baggy.

It was cool enough here when I left Friday that I wore jeans, and the ones I originally put on also are too big. So I stopped at an outlet mall on the way home and picked up a couple pair of khakis, both size 12s. I refuse to pay anything even close to full price for transitional clothes; I got two pairs of pants for less than ten bucks!

Next weekend will be another one of travel, and this time every meal will be eaten in restaurants. [Warning: Blog Break, The Sequel, coming up!] I'm going to spend this week mentally preparing myself for the trip.

At any rate, I'm glad to be back home again for a few days, anyway. According to eDiets I can still accomplish my goal before the end of the year. The only way that will happen is if I quit slacking! Their prediction will only come to fruition if I do my part.