Weight Update for Apr 19, 24, + 26

 Since my last weight update, unfortunately the downward trend has not continued.  I first weighed myself on the 19th after my period to see how things were going:

weight: 214.0 lbs
fat percentage: 47.4%
hydration: 36.1%
muscle: 25.8%
bone: 11.0%
cal: 2344

This was also right after Easter, so between the two, I thought I'd give things a few days and see how things were going again on the Sunday after (the 24th):

weight: 214.0 lbs
fat percentage: 47.1%
hydration: 36.3%

muscle: 26.0%
bone: 11.0%
cal: 2344

Not seeing a whole lot of movement (and knowing that I had another big, meat and bread heavy meal that day), I did another Tuesday checkin on the 26th:

weight: 214.6 lbs
fat percentage: 49.0%
hydration: 35.0%
muscle: 265.0%
bone: 11.0%
cal: 2348

Definitely not the direction I want to be seeing things going in. :(

Unfortunately, this is a really busy time of year for me between Easter and some other occasions, so at this point I'm just trying to get through as best as I can, then back to the healthier way I've been eating these last few months.   I'll be checking my weight again on Sunday, so hopefully things are at the very least stabilizing a bit by then (and not continuing in the upward direction like the 26th indicated!)

Sleep Diary Checkin 1

 Last weekend I decided I was going to keep a sleep diary for two weeks, just as a health checkin to see what my habits are like, and where I can improve. 

Keeping a sleep diary, even just for one week, turns out to be kind of hard to do.  The sleep diary that I chose to use asks what time you get into bed, what time you tried to go to sleep, and how long it actually took you to fall asleep.  I had to completely guess at the how long it took me to get to sleep, because I'm not looking at a clock and checking, or watching the minutes change until I'm suddenly asleep.  Likewise, if you happen to wake up during the night, it asks you how many of minutes you were up for.  I also have absolutely no idea, and completely guessed at all of this.  

But it was eye-opening how much I was waking up, at least over the course of this one week.  Last weekend I was waking up 2-3 times a night; thankfully during the work week I was only waking up about once a night.  Most nights my cat was actually responsible for at least one time that I woke up (he sometimes wakes me up because he wants attention).

My nighttime routine was also garbage last week.  I started playing a whole bunch of different Wordle games, which combined took about a half hour + to finish.  I was doing them every night at midnight, so that pushed my regular nighttime routine back by about a half hour.  I made the decision two nights ago to stop doing all the Wordles, so hopefully things will improve.

Last week was also, somewhat unexpectedly, the lead up to my period starting.  I was expecting it to start around tomorrow, but it started on Friday instead.  That has also majorly messed with everything: I was (and continue to be) extra tired, and have had to get up in the middle of the night for that as well. So for that reason, I decided not to continue with the sleep log this weekend.  I'll give is a break this week, hopefully get my regular routine back on track (and be feeling less tired), and maybe give it another try starting next weekend.

Bad Life Choices - Cupcakes

So earlier this week for some co-workers birthdays, we had cupcakes at work.  Now I know, I am normally trying to avoid having random food in the coffee room at work, but because this was a special occasion, I planned to have a few cupcakes for snack as part of the celebration.  Well, that was an absolutely horrible choice.  About a half hour or so later, my stomach felt absolutely terrible!  I think I've been eating fairly healthy over the last while, so my stomach was very grumpy to suddenly be bombarded by sweets like that!

I hope I can remember this lesson, and not eat this stuff next time.  I honestly don't really enjoy sweets like cakes and donuts even in the moment, but I give in because they're there, or everyone else is eating them (and keep offering me some too).  But if I don't really enjoy them, and my body says no to them, why keep eating them?  I need to be more firm for myself and say no.

Weight Update for April 10

 Here it is, my lowest weight update in months!

weight: 212.2 lbs
fat percentage: 46.5%
hydration: 36.7%
muscle: 26.2%
bone: 11.0%
cal: 2334

I changed the battery on my scale earlier this week and jumped on it for fun at that time.  I don't remember the exact number it showed that day, but it was around the 213lb mark.  So for me to be a pound less than that a few days later is extra exciting - the last time I weighed about this little was at the end of last summer.

Assuming that today's number isn't a one-off fluke, I have lost roughly 5lbs since January!  That's fantastic - it's 0.25% of my weight loss goal for the year!!!  Hopefully I can keep this up. :)

The best part is that I've done this without using food logs.  I was going to use them at the beginning (and may have for a day or two), but ended up losing interest and not bothering.  But I've been eating a lot more vegetables, especially for dinners, cut back on peanut butter (I still eat it, but try to limit my amounts, where in the past I ate a whole lot, especially when treating a low in the middle of the night because peanut butter went down easier and I could sleep again fairly quickly after eating some), and greatly increased my tofu amounts.  I seem to have acquired a taste for tofu, so that's pretty great - I've been adding it into stir-fries as a protein source, rather than meats (which is also important for trying to bring my cholesterol down!  I'll be seeing how that's going later this week)  I've also tried to have healthy homemade snacks on hand for work days, like muffins made from Rick Gallop's The G.I. Diet book.  All of these steps have been coming together. :)

Sleep Diary

I've been using the PC Health App for a few months now. At the time they offered some PC Optimum Points to give it a try.  The app gives you access to different programs that give you health tips of all kinds.  I've found it's been a pretty fun and easy way to check in with myself so I've continued to use it.  Plus completing activities gives you a few PC Optimum Points, which do add up over time. :)

Recently I started a program on healthy sleep.  The program recommended keeping a sleep diary or log for a week or two as a check-in with your habits.  Then you'd have a better idea of how things are going, and what you might want to change for a better night's sleep. After thinking about it for a few days, I decided to give it a try!  I'm going keep a sleep log for two weeks, starting tomorrow.  At the end of the two weeks, I'll take a look at how things went, what needs to improve, etc, and report back!

Here's the link to the sleep diaries and logs that the PC Health app linked to:

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-diary

I decided I'm going to use the Sleep Diary, rather than the Sleep Log.  I liked the lay-out of the Sleep Log a bit better (how the morning and evening were on top of each other, rather than side by side), but preferred the actual questions of the Sleep Diary.

Weight Update for April 3

Nothing too special here:

weight: 214.8 lbs
fat percentage: 48.1%
hydration: 35.6%
muscle: 25.5%
bone: 11.0%
cal: 2349

Everything was almost exactly the same as last weekend.