International Travel Recs

So…I just got back from a hastily planned whirlwind trip to Italy from the United States. I haven’t traveled overseas in 9 years, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect or bring. I’m putting this down in writing so I don’t forget for future travels.

Before the trip:

1. Be sure you’re travel docs are up to date and easily accessible during your travel. If your airline asks, upload everything into their system. This made gate check in super quick and easy.
2. Check the weather for your location ahead of time, for the entire time you’ll be there if possible.
3. Get compression bags for your packing. You can pack twice as much in the same space – just be careful on the weight.

During the trip:

1. A portable charger and country specific adapter are must haves. Finding a small portable charger that has its own cord will be extremely useful, particularly on travel days when your day extends longer than the normal twenty four hours. Newer adapters have not only plugs but various USB ports.
2. Invest in a small crossbody bag that you can keep the essentials in. You won’t want to have a big bag that is easily grabbed. Pickpockets are looking for easy pickings, and a crossbody will make it that much harder.
3. GO FOR COMFORT, particularly with your shoes. Nobody cares what shoes you’re wearing when you’re walking miles on cobblestones, but you’ll feel it afterwards if you opted for cute over comfort.
4. Layer, layer, layer. Be sure to pack layering options, depending on the forecast. You might be able to get away with a light sweater and cute scarf rather than packing a bulky jacket.
5. Travel umbrella! Find a tiny one that fits anywhere so you’ll want to take it.
6. Don’t use a currency exchange window – they’ll entice you in with a high exchange rate, but then they’ll charge you a service fee of 20% or more. ATMs will give you the best rate of the day according to your bank, and the three bucks they’ll charge is far less.
7. Rewear and reuse – choose versatile options that you can layer, mix and match and dress up or down. You really only need two pairs of shoes – one for dressier occasions, and your walkers. That’s really it.
8. Don’t bother with a “travel blanket” – most airlines will supply you with one and they take up a lot of space.
9. Do invest in a good travel pillow – the ones the airline supplies you with don’t work unless you are sitting in a window seat and have a wall to lean on.
10. Bring an empty water bottle and refill it at the airport.

After the trip:

1. Try to stay up in the time zone you’re in until close to a normal bedtime. This is tough, but will help you acclimate faster – particularly on returning to the US.
2. Try to sleep on the plane coming home. This feels weird because you are in the daytime, but it will help when you arrive home at 3pm but your body feels like it is 9pm. A few hours in the sleep bank will help overcome that.

Women’s Philadelphia Tri Recap

Why yes, I forgot about my blog about health and wellness. LOL.

I competed in another triathlon this weekend, the Philadelphia Women’s Triathlon. It’s been two years since I did a tri. A friend of mine and I have become regular event junkies, and we both like the same ones: running/walking races, biking and of course, triathlons. I introduced her to the sport four years ago before COVID and it just clicked for her. For me, I was glad to have someone to partner with on races as most of my friends that I would do events with have stopped.

We heard about this tri through my friend, who thought it sounded fun. Our local women’s tri has since gone out of business. My friend heard good things about this one, so after some back and forth, we decided to sign up for our first destination event.

We arrived on Saturday to check in. The weather was steamy and the forecast was for thunderstorms for that day and the next. First great thing about this tri: you can check your bike in the day before. We got there at 1030 and immediately checked in (before the official check in time, nice) and got all of our materials. We had preordered merch and that was available too. Within forty minutes we were checked in and our bikes were racked and we were set. We were told the Philadelphia Police Department watched the bikes overnight, so we felt comfortable leaving them there.

Speaking of, this was the first tri I have done where your bike was assigned a spot. Every other tri I have done (and this was my seventh), you had to basically jockey for position on the bike rack. When you came back from the bike portion sometimes your spot was occupied. To have an assigned spot seemed so civilized, and so logical.

We spent Saturday having a lovely lunch in Philly and dodging raindrops before heading back to our hotel for a quiet night. Before we knew it, our 430am alarm went off and up we were to head back to Fairmount Park.

We got to the park around 530 (having stayed out near the airport since we didn’t book hotels quickly enough) and were relieved we’d done so much the day before. After putting our gel seats back on our bikes (we removed them due to the rain forecast since they’d be sitting outside overnight), we set up the rest of our transition areas next to the bikes and worried about the weather.

Let me take a moment to talk about how this photo is a wake up call for me. While I knew I could do this tri, my clothes that I have for triathlons are two years old. When I bought this gear I was twenty pounds lighter. I have been kind of OK just accepting my post menopause weight gain, but this photo is killing me. Obviously I’m the person on the left. I haven’t gotten my event photos yet but I know I will probably hate them all. I’m desperately trying to crop all of my photos but this one doesn’t lie. Since I started this blog I’m 35 pounds heavier, and there’s no hiding it. I’ll get back to that later.

Finally it was time to head over to the Kelly pool for the swim portion. Nearly 1000 people queued up meant a long wait to get in the water. Originally my friend and I seeded ourselves where we thought we would be for completion of the 300m swim: 9 and 10 minutes respectively. But after about twenty minutes of frustratedly waiting, we noticed no one in the water seemed to be in their proper timeframe. The official group in the water was supposed to be finishing their swim in less than 7 minutes and there were people not even getting their faces wet. Walking some of the swim. Stopping at the end of the lanes. Finally my friend and I agreed: we were totally fine with cutting the line and getting in the water as soon as possible (don’t judge us). So that’s what we did. I ended up hopping in Kelly Pool at about 7:33am.

300m Swim: 9:44

This was better than I had anticipated, having estimated my swim at around 10:10 or 10:20. 300m is the shortest tri swim I ever have done, and it felt fine. My first 50m felt almost easy but then I was trying to push. By the fourth lap (6 laps of 50m each) I found my groove and it went quickly. A few passed me, I passed a few and it was clear I was not out of my ability range. I have been swimming about once a week since January, sometimes twice, so I have been keeping up on it.

Transition: 5:06

I didn’t run the very long stretch from the pool to my bike, and my time shows this. I was out of breath and I mostly walked it. But beyond that, having used a tri top helped tighten my time here. I had trouble with my new helmet, having to try three times before I got it buckled, but overall I felt OK with my speed here other than my walking to the bike.

8.1 M Bike: 36:18

The bike portion of this race is lovely. It runs all along the Schuykill River and is a closed course, so no cars. It never felt crowded although I did get annoyed a few times with people just riding in tandem. Really? It’s a race, people! My bike is my best portion so I wanted to pick up some time here. And I did that, until the very last bit where there is a very unpleasant hill. This was where my lack of prep killed me because I was afraid to change gears to the lowest gear. I hadn’t practiced it much and the few times I did I popped the chain. Since I had to work hard to get up that hill, I was really huffing when I finally made it back.

T2: 2:37

I normally don’t drink while out on the bike during a race, and this time was no exception. So I had to get some water in me since the heat was really ramping up. Thunderstorms were in the forecast, the sky was gloomy and the humidity was oppressive. So I knew I had to hydrate. I racked the bike, grabbed my handheld water bottle, dropped the helmet and off I went.

5K Run (well, mostly walk): 49:56

I was spent here and it shows in the time. This is also where the extra weight killed me. I could have probably run more if I wasn’t carrying so much extra weight but I just didn’t have it in me. I would try for a bit and feel so hot and heavy and crampy that I walked most of it. I was OK with it, I knew that’s likely how it would go since I hadn’t trained, but it was hard watching so many pass me, some of whom I’d passed on the bike. But I also was grateful that I could put one foot in front of the other and do this. I knew I’d finish and that was really the bottom line.

Finish Time: 1:43:39

I crossed the finish line about 7 minutes faster than I predicted, but I also thought the bike was going to be about a mile longer, so it’s really about a wash. They handed us ice cold towels and huge bottles of cold water as they presented our medals to us. A nice touch: they called out your name as you crossed, said where you were from, and read your “why you tri” statement. For me, I wrote that I was honoring a Sandy Hook victim with every tri I did, and I welled up with tears to hear it read aloud at the finish line.

Overall, this was a great race. I didn’t love the hill on the bike course at the end, but honestly it is about the only complaint (other than the cost, which is high for a short sprint tri). The park is beautiful and both the bike and the run are completely closed to traffic. Everything was well marked and there was even plenty of food by the time I got to the food tent, which is often gone by the time slow people like me head over there. Checkin was smooth and I honestly loved the pool swim.

I think my friend and I will be signing up again, and my goal is for next year to be very different. To really use this as a motivation to get my health back and lose some weight to feel better. My mom died at 53 and I’m two months away from that. I don’t want to cut my life short because I can’t get my eating and drinking under control. Time to get back to using this blog as an outlet to help me navigate my way back to a healthier place.

Thanks Philly Women’s Tri. You made me look within and helped me move (mostly) forward.

COVID Positive

Well, it finally got me. Nearly three years into this pandemic, millions of people lost to it, vaccines, restrictions, livelihoods in turmoil…and I finally turned up positive this week.

Life, as I said in my last entry eight months ago, was mostly normal. We all had come to the understanding that we needed to live with COVID, the same as we do with seasonal flu. For some that means being more careful: vaccinations, masks when in public spaces, or when exposed to those who are elderly or unwell. But overall things are back to prepandemic routines.

I switched schools over the summer, back to a public school. It felt odd to set up for this year without any of the things I’d worried about the last two years: no worries about distance between desks, or placement, or masks. No virtual learning. No need to submit seating charts for quarantining…we don’t do that any more. In fact, the only way we know a student comes down with COVID these days is if they share it with us themselves.

But rest assured, they definitely are coming down with it. About three weeks into the year we had a bit of a spike at my school. Multiple teachers out, a few students in every class. Then it calmed down. But a few weeks ago the flu started to ramp up. Stories of kids with insanely high fevers, out for a week or two.

I traveled twice this fall, being careful to wear my mask on the airplane (no longer required, and I was one of very few who did). I had several friends who traveled and came down with it upon their return. My oldest son, who is not vaccinated at all, came through town last week with his kids. He warned us the two girls were not well and offered not to stop for the overnight respite. Of course we did not take him up on it. However, by the next morning he too was sick, and by the next day they all were. It was either the flu or COVID, not sure which.

On Saturday night my husband and I went out to dinner. I felt fine throughout the meal but when we came home I felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue. I attributed it to the wine at dinner. But by the morning I knew something wasn’t quite right. I still got up and went out to run the 5K I’d signed up for that day, and felt much better afterwards. Any physical activity always makes me feel better. By 3 in the afternoon I was having chills and by 5 I was down for a nap on the sofa. When I woke, my temperature was 101.

I’ve been sick a few times this year, but haven’t always bothered to take a COVID test. I guess I kind of just knew that the illnesses were run of the mill colds. This felt different, so I took a test. Sure enough, it was positive. I couldn’t believe it. Three years have gone by, three years I’ve dodged this bullet. Three years of being careful and cautious. Of vaccinations and masks.

Whether I got it from my son or a student (I have two that emailed me saying they were positive over the weekend) I guess doesn’t really matter. I’m sick.

The first day, I mostly slept. I ran a fever of 100-101 and had a mild cough.

The second day, I felt much more alert. My fever dropped to 99-100 but the cough increased as did the congestion.

Today is third day. I am at about 99 which isn’t really a fever, but is definitely elevated (I usually run 97 or sometimes even below that). I am far more congested and coughing and have muscle aches.

I had hoped to go back to work tomorrow. I had a friend who had COVID earlier this fall and she was fine in three days. I’m starting to think that won’t happen. 😦 It’s a terrible time of year to be sick. I have to isolate in my room and work from my bed, which isn’t helping the muscle aches. I’m trying to wrap up Christmas shopping online. I’m sad to be all alone.

I know. What a ridiculous rant. There are so many who died from this disease, who have been hospitalized, whose lives are forever altered by it. I need to remind myself of that. This is inconvenient but it will pass. That makes me lucky. I just need to remember that.

Niantic Bay Triathlon Recap

Well it has been a long summer for me. I will go into how I completely fell off the Noom wagon in another post, but I did train for and complete another triathlon this summer, and I would be remiss if I didn’t write about it while it was still fresh in my head.

A friend and I signed up for this tri, new to both of us, in May. We were excited about the ocean swim and the reviews of the event were good. But as summer progressed and both of us didn’t have as much time as we’d hoped to train, I started to get anxious. My swims seemed slow. My bike rides felt strong, but I knew I’d have to mostly walk the 5K. We couldn’t find a decent hotel nearby the event (over an hour away) to spend the night before.

But race day came anyway despite all of the challenges. We left my house at 430 to arrive right before 6. We hadn’t been able to pick up our race materials ahead of time because of the distance (it seemed silly to do the day before and fight beach traffic) so we wanted to get there right when transition opened.

This race doesn’t have on site parking, so we had to park about half a mile or so away. Strike one: I couldn’t manage all of the gear I’d brought with me on my back to ride over on the bike. But I’d anticipated this and put all of the race necessary items in a separate drawstring bag that I could manage on the bike. Somehow my friend managed to carry a grocery bag with two pop up stools on her bike.

We got to the race site just after 6am. We had no trouble picking up our packets and getting body marked. A local bike shop set up a bike check and I got my tires inflated before we set up in transition.

My friend had a good idea: since we both were likely to be slow on the swim, why didn’t we set up in the back area of transition? It was considered less desirable by fast people and then it was less likely our stuff would be jumbled when we both came back from the bike. We both had experienced finding not very much room for the bike after coming back from the back of the pack. I liked the idea, so I set up right near the wall of my row.

The sky was gloomy and it had rained before we’d arrived so I brought plastic garbage bags to use under our gear. I set up most of my things inside a second bag in case it started to rain again.

We had a few drinks of Nuun ahead of time and used the bathrooms before it was time to walk over to the swim start. We were in the fourth wave of swimmers, which I didn’t love, but I told myself it would likely make for a calmer swim.

The bay was clear and calm when we arrived. The water actually looked beautiful and quite a few were warming up in the water. We were relieved to hear no jellyfish had been spotted as they set up the course that morning; we had been warned days earlier that there had been some in the bay. I probably should have followed suit but didn’t want to be wet while I waited for the swim start. My friend and I were in the same wave together, but I knew she’d be faster than me on the swim, so when the horn blew for us to begin, I said goodbye.

Right away I felt anxious. I tried to find my rhythm but it was so hard. I could see myself headed for the back of the pack, but tried to not let it get to me. There was long seagrass everywhere but at least it was calm; hardly any current or waves. The water didn’t seem too salty compared to my practice swims. Eventually I was able to gulp air down every two strokes to catch my breath. Then I could manage a few four strokes, then back to two. Finally my confidence returned, and I plowed on. Blue caps from the next wave started coming up fast around me but I didn’t let it mess with me. One bonked me in the head when he took a stroke but otherwise I was able to get through.

All of my worry was for nothing. In the end I was over a minute faster than I thought I would be on the swim.

1/2 mile swim: 25:23

I went into transition and peeled off my tank top (didn’t want to just swim in my sports bra and I didn’t want to wear my one piece suit) and put on my dry shirt and race belt. I took a swig of water before sitting down on my friends folding stool to get my socks and shoes on my wet feet. No easy task. Even though I thought I went quickly through everything, I was a little slower than I wanted to be in transition. Next year, I will definitely buy a tri shirt, which saved my friend nearly 30 seconds off of her transition time compared to mine.

T1: 3:46

Bike was up next. This was where I felt most confident but the course immediately started on a hill, which is an energy sap. The course had been billed as flat, but I learned quickly that it was a complete lie. There were hills everywhere. Small ones, big ones. I was glad I’d trained in my neighborhood, which can be hilly. I passed quite a few people but at one point on a hill I didn’t have the energy to pass someone and she faltered. I had to get off my bike and walk up the hill to stay upright. At some point during the third or fourth mile I passed my friend. We knew this would happen; the bike is hear weak point. The course was well staffed with people at every turn. Despite the hills, I knew I was doing well on the bike and feeling good about all of those I passed. Dismounted and walked/jogged down the hill with my bike into transition. I was surprised to see a fair amount of bikes still out on the course.

Bike: 52:24

Back into transition, I took a swig of water. I was out of breath from pushing hard on the hills. I dropped my helmet, racked the bike and paused for a second swig. Time to get out on my feet.

T2: 1:43

A little disappointed with my second transition time. I was so tired that I know I didn’t move as fast as I had wanted. But onto the run. I tried to jog as much as I could but could feel my knee feeling stiff. I made a conscious choice not to “kill myself” on the run. People started passing me here and there, but I just couldn’t go any faster. Someone handed me a bottle of water, but I shouldn’t have taken it. I started feeling nauseous with it and dumped it. I was sweating but fortunately the cloud cover kept everything pretty cool. Sure enough around mile 2 my friend passed me again while I was walking. But the course was flat and there was great crowd support.

As we neared mile 3 the arrows pointed to the beach. We were finishing the run in the sand, and I was wiped.

It was tough going but I could see the finish line. I walked some but ran through the line to finish, very grateful to be done.

Run: 45:11

The clock said 2:17 and change but I knew my wave started 9 minutes later. Good. The time was right in line with where I wanted to be: between 2:05 and 2:10. I didn’t beat my previous tri time of 2:06:51, but considering the bike was so hilly and it was an ocean swim, I was OK with it.

Finish time: 2:08:27

I finished in 305th place (out of 315). And yes, I’m OK with that too. I never go out in these events to set a course record. I will never win trophy or place in an age group. I go out to compete with myself, not anyone else. I do these events to prove to myself that I can do something that isn’t easy for me. And this wasn’t easy. But I did it. I’m glad I did it. And I would do it again next year.

Noom Week 21 & 22

Total Weight Gained: 1 lb
Total Weight Lost: 15.8 lbs

I’m just trying to not gain over these last few weeks of school if I’m being honest. I didn’t post last week because I’d gained even more than this, pushing back up over the 160 mark for a few days. It’s been a struggle for me with it looking like I won’t be staying in my current job next year and no prospects in the school district that I have come to really like.

I’ve been stress eating and drinking, avoiding the Noom articles, not always logging my food and it shows. I even got an SOS text message from my coach after a few days of not using the app. It was a bit of a wake up call. So I started back up again last Monday, trying, and the bloat from the wine and the weekend slowly came off, only for it to pop back up again after a Friday and Saturday of again not following the program.

So I’m trying to make peace with the fact that until I get through these last two weeks of school, I’m OK with just not gaining. I want to stay below 160, but beyond that, everything is gravy. It’s a struggle to trudge into the building slowly dismantling my classroom, attending meetings about next school year and seeing the all the preparations for something I won’t get to be a part of.

Once school is out I will get back on track. I’m still exercising when I can, trying to make better choices and logging as much as I can into Noom. I don’t want to slip back and I’d like to see if I can drop 10 lbs over the summer. I signed up for a triathlon on August so there is that to focus on, plus my town’s 5K that I plan. Oh, and finding a new job.

I’m trying. I’m posting, to keep myself honest and remind myself that I need to stay moving forward. Mostly forward.

Noom Week 20

Weight Lost This Week: 0.6 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 16.8 lbs

This has been a strange week for me. I’m near the end of the “lessons” in Noom and they’re all getting very weird and don’t necessarily seem applicable to me. They’re all about experimentation and the idea that you’re not supposed to be on Noom forever, that you have to teach yourself how to do all of this so you’re just doing it and not relying on the crutch of Noom. Which I guess makes sense but I’m not quite there in my head.

I’m not feeling confident. I’ve had some struggles this week and I’m seeing myself slipping into some bad habits. Or at least not being as careful as I should be for someone who wants to lose another twenty pounds. I’m definitely using food and drink as a crutch and I need to start actually putting some of these lessons into place to move beyond that.

In my group on Noom some of the people are saying they are going to back to some of the previous lessons from when they first started. It seems like this is a common phenomenon: that people achieve a bit of success and then they start to fall back into old patterns. And I definitely don’t want to do that. I’m grateful for the weight I’ve lost and how much better I feel physically. I definitely don’t want to go back.

But I’m sad. My job situation is not what I’d hoped for after having taken a leap of faith into a new teaching position this year. I guess the “good” part of it is that it isn’t through any fault of my own; everyone agrees I’m effective and a good teacher, etc. It’s that the one year position I took wasn’t renewed and there aren’t any other openings. So I”m looking for a new job and I’m just sad this week taking all of those hopes and expectations and the blood, sweat and tears I put into doing a good job there and trying to forge a new path.

I should be grateful, I know. We are safe financially and the job was great experience which puts me in a better place to find another one. In my head I know this. In my heart I’m frustrated. I need to focus on the forward motion but I just can’t get past the unfairness of it all.

I need to find focus this week. Focus on healthy food and the improving weather. Focus on my family who are all doing so very well, healthy and secure. Focus on the good in my life, of which there is much. Focus, focus, focus and the rest will follow.

Noom Week 18 & 19

Weight Lost These Two Weeks: 0.6 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 16.2 lbs

Crazy busy two weeks. My eldest son’s wife went into labor a week before we expected her to last Friday. I spent four days down there helping with their other three kids and getting her settled back home. It was a cap to a hard week at work where it is becoming increasingly clear that my one year COVID job will not translate into another teaching position for me in the district. When I was hired, I made clear that was the one hesitancy I had: I was giving up a stable, relatively easy job for an uncertain future. I was assured over and over this year that I would have a place. But now, with budgetary issues and union technicalities, that seems to not be the case.

I spent that last few days prior to the birth feeling very sorry for myself. There was definitely drinking. I didn’t eat a bunch of junk, but I definitely was less careful with my choices. But then leaving town and being without a scale or even so much reliable “on program” food gave me a bit of a test with how well I am doing on the program.

I’m at the part of Noom where they are talking about becoming more independent of the program and learning how to “fly on your own” so to speak without the regular nudges. And I will say that for the most part, I can see that I’m able to see myself continuing on “this way” indefinitely. Yes, the losses are slow. But I can have the occasional down days or celebratory moments and still continue on an overall downward trend. The scale is reliably under 160 these days, where just a few weeks ago that seemed like a barrier I couldn’t cross.

I’m also at the stage where I’ve given up in the past. I think this weight where I am at is one of my set points. The last time I lost, on Fast Metabolism Diet, I was at the exact weight I am now when I “loosened up”. And eventually gave up. I am mindful of that, wanting to be sure that I continue on rather than just saying “this is enough”. Because it’s not. While I am certainly glad to be down as far as I am, I’m not satisfied.

Noom set my first goal for 10% of my body weight. I’m just there. I reset the goal this week for another ten pounds from here. That would put me at under 150, a place I haven’t been in ten years. I’d like to get there by the end of the summer. It’s doable if I just keep myself on track.

Noom Week 17

Weight Lost This Week: 0.8 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 15.6 lbs

The scale finally started to move downward this week. I was reliably under 160 most of the week. I even got within half a pound of my 10% goal but then of course the scale bounced back up. Slow, slow, slow. But at least I did see movement this week.

This week I really worked on trying to reduce portion sizes. I am noticing that I actually am feeling fuller on less food. I purposely have been trying to stop eating before I really feel full. Before I would have thought “that’s never going to fill me” or “that’s not enough”. But I have been noticing that sometimes if I just give it a minute, I actually do feel satisfied a few minutes later as my body processes what I took in. It’s been eye opening. And I think that is what has the scale moving this week, because I’m more mindful of it.

That being said, I do need to work on using food and drink as comfort. I got some bad news this week and the first thing I wanted to do was say to hell with everything and eat and drink. I certainly indulged in the second. It is the one area that I really need to keep chipping away at. I’m certainly drinking less since I started this journey, there’s no question about it. But I don’t really think twice about having a few drinks, where I would never dream of having a few cupcakes or more than one dessert or anything like that.

I signed up for a Triathlon yesterday, for August. I’m hoping by August to be down at least another 10-15 lbs, which would help increase my speed in every leg. I’m excited to think that I will do one again. This one is a new one for me, an ocean swim on the eastern CT coastline. I liked the date: it’s in August, so I won’t have to worry about school or anything. But the athletic events are really my “big picture” as Noom likes to say, so that’s a new motivation. Losing more weight will help in every aspect of getting ready for it.

For this week I want to keep working on food and drink choices and keep up the activity. Now that the weather is nicer and the days are longer I’m hoping to exercise at least five days. I’ve been able to swim at least one day a week for the last few weeks. The bike is tuned up and ready to start some rides as well. 🙂

Noom Week 16

Weight Lost This Week: 1.6 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 14.8 lbs

So I’ve pulled off the pound I gained and a bit extra. So effing close to the 150s. I actually saw the 150s three days this week on the scale, but then it bounced back up and now it is the weekend so it hasn’t gone back down again. I’m sure it will in a few days.

This week I tried really hard to keep my counts down. I did well I’d say every day but Saturday. Yesterday we had our cousins over for dinner and there was wine and dessert. There was also dessert Saturday night. Even with all of that, I know I’m still doing better when we have these kinds of things than I would have if I wasn’t on Noom.

I’m in the part of the course where they are talking about “finishing”. I’m not there yet. I’ve been playing with the same five pounds for about a month now, and I still want to lose a solid twenty beyond where I am now. I suppose some people would be close to their “BIG PICTURE” goal after four months, but my pace is slow. And it’s because I’m still not feeling super deprived that I”m still on the train I suppose. It does feel more like “this is the way I eat now” versus “when I hit goal I can do this or that again”.

I can see a point probably where I could transition to a My Fitness Pal just to watch my counts as opposed to paying for the Noom. I’m not utilizing as much of it as I should. All of the articles and the recipes, I should be using them more. Maybe as school winds down and I have more time. It’s just so hard to get everything in right now with work and home and exercise. Having a 40 minute commute takes an hour and a half of my day off the table, and that’s a big chunk. I basically come home, if I work out, then I do that, and by that time it is 6pm. Then it is dinner, maybe an hour or two with the fam, and then off to bed because I’m up at 5 every day.

For now, I’ll keep at it. Enjoying what I can, buckling down when I can.

Noom Week 15

Weight Lost This Week: +1.0 lb
Total Weight Lost: 13.2 lbs

Yes, that’s a gain for this week. It was Spring Break here in CT and while I didn’t go crazy, I did definitely slip off the app, didn’t track every day or read my articles. I traveled twice, once with girlfriends for an overnight in Vermont, and another two days in Delaware to visit my son and his family. I stayed active, exercising every day, which is probably why the damage isn’t worse.

So I’ve accepted the result, knew the choices I was making when I made them, and am moving on. It’s time to regroup this week and get the scale back on track. I really haven’t lost much in at least four weeks, and I am not going to accept that as the way things are now. I am going to track, I’m going to focus on eating those green and yellow foods, getting in my exercise and cutting out the extras that have been sneaking back into my diet lately.

The weather is improving so it will be easier to sneak in a walk after dinner if I want or get up early on the weekends for an extra long walk. I’ve bought a beach pass so I’m looking forward to biking and walking and swimming down near the Sound as the weather warms. I want to keep building on the progress I’ve made and move forward from it.