no theme tonight

I thought I would do at least one post a week on how I have been feeling since I started changing so many things in my lifestyle.

I don't seem to have as many headaches which is a good thing. Not sure if that is due to the diet change or the smoking one, maybe both. But whatever it's from I am happy to not have them every day.

I also find it easier to walk to the store now, my step seems a little lighter and my pace is a smidge faster. Still not speed walking but I do see an improvement, even though small. Still get out of breath fairly easy, but that will take time (and many more lost pounds to get rid of)

We are still meat free here after a month and I am really enjoying experimenting with new recipes and using the meat alternatives. The boys loved the veggie meatballs and the veggie sausage we had tonight, and the pizza flavored veggie burgers were a huge hit! I tried the spicy black bean ones myself and really liked them, so I found a recipe in one of the books and am going to try making my own. That particular recipe has about 20 variations so I just might work my way through them all. I just can't see spending almost $5 for 4 burgers when I could be making them myself. Sure, maybe it won't be as convenient but sure will be cheaper, and I can always keep some of the ready made in the freezer for those nights when I just don't feel like cooking. Or better yet, making extra and freezing my own! Overall though I would rate this new style of eating a great success, especially when my very finicky older son eats the meals with no complaints.

Still doing the 30 mins of light weight workouts during my daily soap opera, but haven't yet tried to do any type of aerobic activity. Don't want to push it, I have been walking around a lot more and the past couple of times did quite a bit of furniture rearranging and moving of boxes so got a different type of workout that way. Have tried to get the bike tires inflated and no luck as of yet. Decided I will have to break down and go to a gas station to do them. When I get them taken care of I will begin taking a short ride every evening or early morning, maybe 30 mins to start.

Also struggling with the sleep issue, I am doing my best to get to bed earlier but time and time again I am still up after midnight. My goal is to be in bed before or at least no later then 11, which will give me 8 hours of sleep. I have found that I am sleeping better though. I don't wake up during the night anymore and wake up every morning before the alarm clock.

My mood has been pretty good, all things considered. Sure I have my grumpy moments but nothing like I used to experience when trying to quit smoking and I am also not having major hunger pains or breaking my diet to pig out on foods I shouldn't be having. Actually surprising myself...lol

I fell short of my step goal today, I need at least 8000 steps a day to meet the goal for the Appalachian Trail virtual hike and I thought I was doing pretty good but when I checked the days steps I had only taken 2855!! In all fairness though I did take it off around 7PM and didn't put it on first thing in the morning, but still I doubt I would have made the 8000. That's ok, I will just try harder tomorrow.

Now for the weight progress report, weight loss has slowed down a bit, only lost 2 pounds this week, which is a bit discouraging when I think of how I have been working at it. But again, the first couple of weeks on a diet you always lose a lot and that is mostly water. This just shows that my body has adjusted to the new food and 2 lbs a week is the suggested weight loss that most Drs will give you. So am not sweating that too much either...now if I start GAINING that will be a different story!

So that is my weekly update on how things are going with me. How about you? Have you been walking? Doing any type of extra activity? Eating better? Sleeping more? Doing anything different to create a healthier you? If so, please leave a comment telling what you have been doing and if you lost any weight share it with us! I for one would love to hear how anyone who is reading these nightly posts are doing. Also. I would like to remind everyone that I am very open to suggestions for subjects you may like me to do some research on for you. I know not everyone has time to look around for things and I would be happy to help if I can.

Wow, I may just make my 11PM bedtime tonight! So will close with your nightly calorie burning activity..let's see...here's a good one..it took me roughly 20 minutes to write this post,(maybe more, I meant to time it and forgot) ,during that time I burned 38 calories, not a huge amount, but I worked off the 3 cups of coffee I had today just by typing!