DAY 27 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 11.8 LBS

So my weight was WAY up today. Normally this would be enough to send me into a self- destructive tail spin, however, that would be counter- productive to a healthy lifestyle. So, I just got back on track today. So simple. I have made it such an emotionally complicated ordeal in the past.

What's different this time? God. Grace. Forgiveness for not being PERFECT. PERFECT? How humorous, that I actually believed if I could just eat and exercise perfectly for a period of time and get my weight off, I would be able to manage my weight long term.

The problem is that I am not perfect and never will be perfect. Tremendous freedom is found in understanding I just need to do my best, show myself grace when I am off plan for whatever reason, and get back to being as healthy as I can be each day. I eagerly accept God's grace, I try to show it towards others, but have had exactly ZERO grace for myself.

God's grace through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus provides spiritual freedom. Modeling that grace toward others as well as myself, provides emotional freedom. It's a great feeling to be free.

DAY 26 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 12.8 LBS

Based on my calorie intake and a RED on exercise, you might think I did poorly today. However, I believe I had a successful day because I made several healthier choices today than I would have in the past.

1. We had an early volleyball game this morning and I didn't have time to cook my normal filling breakfast. BUT I did choose to eat a boiled egg (already cooked and in the fridge)

2. We ran errands after the game and stopped at the convenience store to get drinks. I was very hungry but I chose an unsweetened tea and waited to eat lunch when we got home.

3. I chose a healthy, filling lunch.

4. I knew we were going out to a birthday party at a Mexican food restaurant. I did eat chips and guacamole before dinner and although I didn't count out my chips, I did break them into 3-4 pieces each which helped me limit he amount I ate.

5. I chose a chicken fajita salad.

6. I did not eat the queso which was on every table.

7. I only drank water even though the margaritas looked yummy. I had to get my 100 oz in!

8. I did not eat a specialty cupcake that was served for dessert (even though people were raving about them).

9. Most importantly, I logged EVERYTHING I ate today. In all the years of trying to lose weight and keeping a food journal, I HAVE NEVER tracked my food on days like today when I don't eat according to plan. I just don't write it down because in my mind, it is so bad, I don't want to face reality. Interestingly enough, although I couldn't eat like I did today every day, occasionally eating out and going over on cslories is not going to ruin my healthy lifestyle!

DAY 25 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 13.6 LBS

Getting close to the 170 lb mark. In the past few years, this has been a difficult number to get below. I'm just going to stay focused on my goals and let the number on the scale reflect being "GREEN". If I reach my 5 goals every day, there is no reason to get worked up mentally about 1 particular number on the scale.

DAY 24 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 12.4 LBS

I was surprised my weight was down a little bit because we ate dinner late last night and my calories were above my goal. Of course my body has natural fluctuations that are going to be more obvious since I am weighing daily.

I am amazed that I haven't had the desire to go off the deep end and binge on high-sugar and high-fat foods. I've always thought my struggle was more food oriented, but 24 days into this journey, food choices haven't been a challenge yet.

In the past, I have believed in order to lose weight,I needed to eat "perfectly healthy" with no room (in my calorie allowance, or in my mind) for any "bad food". So, if I ate something that wasn't the healthiest choice, I would feel like I had blown my diet (failed) and I would then make 180 degree turn and binge. I would eat large quantities of unhealthy foods for a day, days or weeks at a time. Whatever weight loss progress I had made was thrown down the tube. I would then feel defeated, depressed and overwhelmed with my ever increasing weight.

Eventually, I would gear up with a new plan or diet book, and a big dose of determination that would be great until I deviated from the new plan and the entire self- destructive cycle would start again.

This system is different because no food is off limits. I have made healthy food choices because I FEEL BETTER, not because I am "not allowed" to eat something. Plus, the biggest benefit of the system is to get my focus OFF of trying to be "PERFECT" and get my focus ON GOD. Spending time in God's word every day and diligently praying daily has been more life changing than any amount of lost weight.

DAY 23 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 12.2 LBS

I felt great today, however, I think I went over on calories tonight. Didn't eat anything unhealthy, but I didn't measure how much I ate. I may have overestimated how much I actually consumed but I would rather estimate too many calories than too few.

I can't go to bootcamp the next two days because of scheduling issues so my challenge tomorrow will be to exercise on my own. I will still get up at normal time to work out.

DAY 22 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 11.6 LBS

I was hungry today but made healthy food choices. My hands feel swollen tonight because I had roasted veggies for dinner with kosher salt on them. I'm going to drink some more water before I go to bed.

All in all, I feel great. I feel like I'm getting a handle on all 5 areas and truly TRANSFORMING these DAILY CHOICES into HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS.

DAY 21- TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 10.8 LBS

100% GREEN and 6.5 hours of sleep! I approached bedtime differently last night. Instead of deciding WHAT TASKS needed to be completed BEFORE I WENT TO BED, I decided WHAT TIME I needed to be IN BED to get at least
6 hours of sleep. Big surprise, this approach worked much better for getting my sleep. My sleep became the priority over the never ending list of tasks to be completed.

I felt great today and worked on accomplishing my goals as early in the day as possible.

Also, I had GRILLED CHICKEN NUGGETS from Chickfila for lunch and they were excellent. 4 fried nuggets are 120 calories and 8 grilled nuggets are only 160 calories. Nice healthy alternative when you need to pick up something fast