Flo-Rida

As I mentioned in my last post, I was out of town all last week...so I actually have a legitimate reason for not posting!

I attended a work conference at the beginning of last week...and it was in Orlando.  I can't tell you how much good the sunshine and warm weather did for me...not to mention the great time spent with coworkers and meeting colleagues from other universities. Aside from being super tired from the traveling, I'm feeling so refreshed and ready to tackle the world again...which is good because April is one of or toughest months.

Food-wise, I did pretty well for traveling.  I had taken a couple extra days off to go to Universal Studios, but I didn't let myself get sucked in to the park food trap too much.  Actually, I think the only "snack" I had there was a pretzel one day.  Somehow I managed to avoid stopping at the several Cinnabons that were in the park...and that was certainly not easy when they smelled SO GOOD. 

I think the days of the conference were actually the hardest...the hotel breakfast was complimentary, but not super healthy.  I ate as well as possible, making sure to grab the light yogurt and fruit to go along with my bagel.  The socials had good food, just again not very diet-friendly, but at some point beggars can't be choosers.  And it certainly didn't help that the biggest part of the day was spent sitting in sessions listening to people talk.  But, the good part was that the conference center was HUGE and getting from session to session usually involved a bit of walking.  And the hotel had a great pool so I was able to get in a couple swims which felt great (especially since I couldn't find the gym)!

I even did pretty well for my first "week o water" - now, I did allow myself a couple non-water drinks, but you can't go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and NOT have Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice!  I mean, that's like going to England and not having a cup of tea, or going to Italy and not having pasta...it's almost sacrilegious! Okay, maybe not THAT extreme, but you can't blame me for having them.

Plus, after the conference ended, we moved to a new (read "cheaper") hotel, which was also closer to the park.  It was only about a mile from the park so instead of taking the hotel shuttle, we walked to and from the park! So not only did we get in tons of walking IN the park, we got extra!  I would love to be able to tell you how much, but that's my sad story of the week.  We spent our first day at the park riding roller coasters, walking everywhere, going on water rides, etc. and had major success.  At the end of the night my Active link was at at least 150%! However, the next day (first day of the conference) somewhere between my hotel and the conference center...it fell off.  I went a whole day walking around and being flipped upside down on rides, but the day I spend mostly sitting, I manage to lose it. *sigh* Such is life, I guess.

In any case, I got back to my meeting tonight and bought a new one.  The good news is that the new one still linked to my account and uploaded all my old info (pre-trip) to the new one, so at least I don't have to completely start over.  But, after I get my sleep caught up, I'll be back on my regular work-out routine with some renewed energy.

Initial weight: 257.2
Week 61-62: -1.0
Total weight loss: -57.2
Current weight: 200.0 (so close to being back under!)

Riding the Struggle Bus

I have clearly been riding the struggle bus for quite some time now and I don't quite know how to tell the driver that I need to get off the bus.  Who can help me?!

I haven't been blogging, I've been slacking on working out as much, and each week I keep seeing little gains.  The good thing is that they're LITTLE gains, but they're still gains and those little ones sure add up quickly.  Part of my problem, though, is that I've not just been struggling with my weight loss, but with lots of things in my life...actually, with almost everything.  I haven't been super motivated at work (sorry boss-type people)...I'm going to Florida at the end of this week and I haven't even been super motivated to plan the weeks events! (It's a mostly work trip with a little personal time in there...)

I know that a lot of people recently have been talking about having a major lack of motivation, and I've talked before about struggling with motivation, but this just seems really excessive for me.  I've dealt with minor Seasonal Affective Disorder before (Happy Valley is very dull and grey in the winter time...), and I don't think it's that...but maybe that's a small piece of it.  I haven't felt depressed, per se, just unmotivated to do pretty much ANYTHING.

There are a few bright spots to my struggle, though. 
1. Monday I discovered that Blogger has a mobile app!  No more being constrained to being near a computer to blog...I actually started this one from my phone while I was waiting for my meeting to start.
2. The weather has been really nice recently which has helped a little with the activity motivation - I can't wait to have the time to actually go running outside!
3. I've now had three people remind me that they've noticed my lack of blogging...one even wrote me a song about it!  (Thanks, Rho! It made my day!)
4. Spring Break!!  Last week was Spring Break and I got to spend the whole week at home with the family.  That was definitely some much needed personal rejuvenation! Seeing my family, snuggling with the pups, and getting the chance to get back to Zumba really gave me a boost!
5. Speaking of Zumba...Sis and I did a Zumbathon while I was home! We Zumba'd for two hours to help benefit a very worthy cause!
6. My friend Zeke has been challenging himself to drink only water and he's gone over 40 days!  I've never been a big milk or juice drinker, but I do love some iced tea and pop! However, he has inspired me to try my own hand at a water-only lifestyle...

This post has been several days in the making...it's been way crazy around here! But I've had a great few days and I'm really hopeful that this is a good start to turning things back around! Now, I'll be in Florida for a week so I'm not sure that I'll be able to get to a meeting down there, but I'm packing workout clothes to make myself stay on track! Plus, the conference I'm attending is even offering Zumba every morning!

Initial weight: 257.2
Week 58: 0 (exactly the same)
Week 59: +0.6
Week 60: +0.2
Total weight loss: -56.2
Current weight:  201.0