Week 1 2009 in Review

It's Sunday PM and for the first time in a very long time, I have had a truly great week. There are several reasons for this.

First, I'll start with a recap of my goals for this week and a report on how I did:
1. Weigh myself and record it so I can start charting my progress- Check. My plan with this is not to share my weight, but rather to share my weight loss once a month to keep me motivated. So yes, all set here.

2. Work out at least three times- Check. I'm happy to report that I worked our four times this week. Susannah and I went for a walk/run (just a little bit of running) on Monday and a late night walk on Tuesday. Thursday evening I went for another long walk with a friend. And yesterday I went hiking with Katie and Clancy (caught a quick glimpse of Ray Romano as he passed by us heading up the mountain on our way down). I'm sore from the hike, but it feels really great. And it felt great all week to be working out again. It helped me focus less on working and more on me.

3. Attempt to start running again- Check. It wasn't a fun attempt and it was an important reminder for myself to not do things just because I feel like I have to. It's okay to start running when I have lost more weight and actually want to. Basically, I'm not forcing the running thing. If the mood strikes me, I'll run, but it's not a goal of mine currently.

4. No going out to eat during week 1- not for a single meal- Check. This is the biggie for me. I really thought I'd struggle with this, but I'm happy to say I haven't had a meal out all week. Steve and I made every single meal at home and it was great. I really do enjoy cooking. I think it's a great way to relieve stress after a long day of work. And it helps me get off my computer and do something better for myself. and for the most part, Steve and I have a fun time cooking together (although he takes much longer to cook and leaves the kitchen looking like a total disaster). But yes, I did it and it obviously helped me have so much better control over what I put in my mouth.

5. Write down all the food I eat in the same day I eat it- Not so much. This is the one area I definitely need to improve upon. While I didn't totally slack on this, there's room for improvement.

So all in all, it's been a great week. I had a hard week emotionally and felt so much better equipped to deal with it because I wasn't relying on food or a drink to get me through. I slept better, my energy level was up and I had a good handle on things. I knew when to step away from work, I knew when to step outside. I know when to spend time by myself. I knew when I needed some support.

I think one of the other big things that made a huge difference in my week is that I had no social commitments. It made it so much easier to take care of myself when I didn't have to be running off to a million different places with a million different people. Which is an interesting one for me. I'm a very social person and I love to entertain and be with my friends. But this week helped me understand that I can't do things the same way if I want to see different results.

I have to make some drastic changes, which does include significantly reducing my social calendar (since that often goes hand in hand with eating and drinking, which can lead to more eating). But today, I did have plans to meet a friend for lunch in Santa Barbara. Original plans included meeting at a restaurant and I changed them and brought a picnic lunch instead.

So all in all, it was a good week. I know the first week is typically much easier because it's new and you're excited and all that stuff. So I'm not delusional. I know that it will get harder and it won't always go this smoothly. But I had a great first week and I can go into week two knowing that I've started some great habits that I look forward to continuing.

Tomorrow I look forward to posting about my goals for week two. But for now, it's bed because I've got a date with Susannah to do yoga at the park overlooking the ocean before I start working for the week.