February was a month of putting ME first! FINALLY! I decided to do "Dry February" - I finished the month successfully and that included a GNO night to celebrate one friend's 65th birthday at the beginning of the month and finished the month with a 65th birthday dinner for another dear friend- a glass of wine would have complimented the meal beautifully - but I set out to accomplish a month of no Alcohol and I was not going to blow it on February 28th. It would have been really easy to say, "you've done 27 days, it's OK - have that glass of wine" but that was not what I wanted to do. In fact, I'm loving my results so much that I'm going into March thinking that it may be another Dry month- we will see, with Disneyland in a few weeks, it may end up being "dry-ish".
Activity, I achieved over 10k steps every day of the month and did a walk outside just about every day. We had a few days of snow- so I consider walking back and forth with a shovel "walking" and there was one day that life got in the way but we went dancing that night and I got about 9K steps on the dance floor. But I made sure we were going dancing because if we were going to bail on going out, I was dressed and ready to go for a late afternoon walk instead. Days that I taught Line Dance class, I walked to/from the Clubhouse. If the weather looked like it might be unpleasant for the walk home after my evening class, I walked longer before class to get my mile in so I could then get a ride home after class. I PLANNED!! It's so true, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. Also, Bill has walked with me several weekends and also on Friday mornings to/from Line Dance Class.
Tracking- I have been tracking on my Weight Watchers app for 83 days in a row now but let's be honest, some of those days in December/January were "49er tailgate= 20 points"- very vague and lots of guessing. February, I broke out my food scale, I weighed things that needed weighing. I didn't deprive myself though. If I wanted ice cream, I have my pints of Halo in the freezer and I measure out the serving. If I wanted cookies- I have my Biscoff cookies and I take 2 out of the container and go sit to eat them. None of this bringing the bag or package to the couch - unless it's Pistachios, those are good for you and take some work, I get tired of the work long before I can overeat them! We've gone out to eat but I've been aware of my points available, whatever weekly points I might have to help cover a meal out and I've still ended each week this month with "excess points" and that is what you want for weight loss.
Isagenix- I'm not going full blast back into the program with cleanse days and such, but I am drinking my shakes - probably 3-4 times per week, it's a nice change and it's a good, healthy meal that tastes like a treat. Who knows, I may add back the cleanse days- though those were so hard to work into my crazy schedule before moving to Reno and I think it would be exponentially harder to implement with our new lifestyle here.
Starbucks- iykyk. Well, I tried to mostly stick to having Starbucks if it was in conjunction with a hair or nail appointment. I had my Iced or Hot non-fat Latte a total of 10 times during the month of February- I looked back at my history and I've been averaging 20 times per month, so a 50% cut in my usage and a 50% savings - which is about $60/month savings- crazy how the cost of Starbucks has gone up. When you use the app and the account is magically replenished with a charge to your credit card, you don't really see what you are spending - or you do but it's easy to ignore as the money is not coming out of your wallet!
Weight loss- well, I am down 9.2 pounds in 28 days- I'll take it! I realize the first month you "get back on track", you will tend to lose more than subsequent months but I am mentally prepared for that and 5 pounds a month is a realistic goal, if I happen to drop more than that- fantastic.
Onto the month of March and hoping to continue on this path of weight loss, I have so many cute clothes in the smaller sizes sitting in my closet, begging to be worn. The ultimate goal are two pairs of Christine Alexander jeans with bling that I've had for years. Ok, off to do taxes--that's going to be a fun Sunday afternoon!
