This is a mixed bag blog. I'm going through a lot of mixed emotions right now.

First let's start with vacation. OMG Cancun was gorgeous. I totally needed it. Here was my view from where I was laying out catching some rays poolside:

So on Sunday 1/15 we went to St Louis to stay at the Drury near the airport. My weight that morning was 178.6. A bit on the high end of my maintenance range. We had dinner at the Drury. They have hot eats every night and you really don't need to go out for dinner. I can't even remember what I had. A salad and chicken tenders I think. I had my first soda that night in a LONG time. Wow. I figured I'm going to be drinking alcohol what's the difference? But soda is a slippery slope for me. It's almost like an alcoholic. I have just one and I'm done for. But I maintained control and upon returning home I'm perfectly fine. :) We left Monday for Cancun to return Friday. I did NOT pack my scale. I ate and drank in Cancun. Way more carbs than I normally have. I was addicted to Dirty Monkey drinks and they have bananas in them. I cringe when I think of how many bananas I consumed. lol. Saturday morning when I woke up at home I got on the scale. I was 181.8. That's not too bad! 3.2 lbs. Considering all that I consumed and the carbs I was happy. I should mention here that I worked out at the gym the three mornings I was there. Tues - Thurs. Friday we had to leave for the airport too early to work out and eat breakfast as both places opened at 7 and our shuttle picked us up at 7:55. I was proud of myself. I only did 2 miles on the treadmill but it was something. And it was HOT HOT HOT in that gym. I hated it. Saturday we had plans to go to my parents for my hubby's bday which was the Sat before. I did 3 miles on the treadmill Sat (5K - more on that in a minute) and ate fairly well. But the next day I was up to 182.0. Shoot. I had my yogurt all ready in the fridge before we left for Cancun prepared to do a yogurt day. So Sunday was the day. Monday morning the scale said 179.2. Whew! Much better. 180 is my panic button. Huge panic. I had a riding lesson that day and I went to the gym and did 2 miles. Next day 179.0. Yay. This is Tuesday now. I had a session with my trainer. First since before my trip. We did 4 exercises for each - leg, back, chest and core. I was super sore that night. I rarely get sore the night of anymore. So I was surprised. Wednesday morning I felt like I was ran over my a big truck. I got on the scale . . . .180.4 AH!! Up 1.4 lbs. Deep breath. It's gotta be water being used by my muscles for repair. Drink lots of water. So I did. I also did 3 miles on the treadmill after riding my horse last night. Today . . . 180.6. I'm still really sore but I have a hard time believing it's the muscles now. I have another session with my trainer tonight. Geesh. I'm trying not to panic.

Here's the thing - I'm having a chocolate/candy problem. I did well till about noon yesterday. So today I'm going to try to do better. But even with that my calories yesterday should have been within range. I'm going to try to start tracking again today. I was doing so well at tracking and now I totally don't have the dedication. I start well with breakfast and then it goes to hell. So I'm going to try harder.

So now the 5K. I think I posted about my new found ability to run 3 miles on the treadmill? It's been hard since I returned from Cancun. I'm not sure why since I did hit the treadmill there. I did it Saturday and not again till yesterday. For some reason I crack at the 2 mile mark. But. . . I signed up for a 5K yesterday!!! Yay! It's in April. I can't wait. I want to run (*jog*) the whole thing. But I need to be at like 5 miles on the treadmill first. Cause running outside. . . well I suck. Big time! But no matter what I will do it even if I walk. There are people that just walk them, so as long as I don't finish last I don't care. I don't even know what to expect. This is the first time I've done anything like this. But let the training begin!!!! And let's hope the freaking scale goes DOWN!!!

Half Their Size

First I wanted to say that I had a yogurt day yesterday. For the diet I was on that is one of the alternate correction days. That means I eat 32 oz of full fat yogurt and 8 oz of berries through the day. I don't like full fat yogurt, so I buy 2% Fage yogurt and add heavy whipping cream to get the fat. You'd think this isn't much to eat during the day (oh I start eating at noon) but it is. I only ate 24 oz. But I had some nuts and one piece of chocolate when I got home. I was NOT hungry when I went to bed. I weighed in this morning and lost FOUR lbs. 176.2! Back in my happy maintenance range. Let's see if I can hold it through tomorrow morning. The hubby and I ate at McAlister's tonight. It's my favorite place! I had half of a chicken salad croissant and a small bowl of chicken tortilla soup. Water to drink. (I only drink water) I did work out at the gym this morning, so that was good and hopefully helpful.

So. . . my favorite issue of People magazine is on the shelves right now!

I LOVE seeing the before and after pics in this magazine. One lady caught my eye. She is 5'9" and I'm 5'10". It seems that it's always short people that show up in weight loss photos. I don't know why. So I was intrigued by her photo. I asked my husband who he thought weighed more, her or I?

For reference here is a pic of me. I wish I had a better one taken since weight loss, but I don't really. . .

Looking at the photos I'm not sure who I would say weighs more. I felt like when I was looking at her photo that I appeared thinner than her. But the photos. . . I don't know. . . I wish I had a dress like that. LOL!

Anyways, the hubby answers and says "She looks to weight about 160". I said "Well I didn't ask you how much she weighed, but how much do you think I weigh?". He then said "about 165". I said "so I weigh more?". He kind of choked around answering that. lol. I didn't ask for numbers! I then told him I weighed in at 180 that morning. (BTW - the lady weights 175 - so as of today we are pretty close!) He seemed shocked. I always wonder how I appear to people. Today we were shopping and I kept looking in the mirrors at myself and in the windows at my reflection. Generally I'm fairly happy with how I look. I'm kind of between sizes though so I need to lose some inches and rectify that!

So I'm going to go look at that magazine again. I really just get so motivated seeing all those success stories!