FEELING GOOD...

Thanks, Susan, for the kick in the pants to blog over here again! I have been meaning to, but time has gotten away from me. I weighed this morning, and was so excited to discover that I lost two pounds last week! Yippee!!!

I started out last week, counting points and calories and measuring food. But, as the week went on, that fell by the way side. I know that doing all of that really helps me keep tabs on how much food I am eating, but it also takes all the joy out of food. It makes eating feel like an accounting job. I really love the joy of eating and cooking and always somewhat resent the intrusion of that from having to count everything. So, I am very flaky about it...sometimes I count, sometimes I don't. This week I didn't, yet still lost two pounds. Thinking back over the week, there are two things that come to mind that were very helpful for me.

1. Eating my big meal in the middle of the day. Last week, lunch was my biggest meal of the day on most days, and I often didn't eat it until two or three in the afternoon. This was good for a number of reasons. One, I ate lunch when I would normally have a snack, so that was skipped altogether (the snack). I had the rest of the day to burn off my big meal, and then ate very lightly in the evening. Some nights I just had a bowl of bing cherries, or fresh peaches. I felt a lot better when I went to bed too...not full. It was nice.

2. Staying busy with my hands. This week, I picked up embroidery again (thanks to this post from Aimee). I ironed. I folded LOTS of laundry. I worked in my garden. I made a ton of pasta sauce and canned it. Keeping my hands busy kept me from sitting and munching mindlessly. Having handiwork to do when I was watching a movie with Matt kept me from snacking. And, I was very mentally engaged with other thoughts and ideas that I am working through, studying, and praying about. So I wasn't THINKING about food as much. I think this was really key.

I still haven't done any exercise since the last time I posted. It is just soooo hot! Even early in the morning, it is sweltering. But, we just got our Wii back from being fixed, so I will probably do the Wii Fit a few times this week. I still want to pick back up with running also, one of these days.

So, do any of you that have lost weight have any tips to share? Anything that worked really well for you? I would love to hear any thoughts you have. I am going to try to repeat last week by staying busy and not eating much at night. I'll keep you posted!