Forward, ever so slowly

Well, after months of frustration, after not making any forward progress at all, after watching the scale slowly creep upwards no matter what I did, I seem to have finally hit on the right path. Way back in 2015 I purchased a book called AltShift. I can't call it a diet because it is a way of eating that you can stick to forever. It is carb cycling. 5 days of low carb/high fat followed by 3 days of high carb/low fat. So for 5 days, I eat basically Paleo then or 3 days I eat like a bodybuilder. It's not that restrictive but that the general idea. It's only been 12 days but I already feel amazing. Yesterday I wore some pants that were super tight on me last week and they fit great yesterday. I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down 6 pounds. I have also lost about 1/2" on my waist and hips. Cannot tell you how amazing I feel. Part of it is to walk as much as possible too. That I'm struggling with a little and I'm not really sure why. Well, yesterday was an abnormal day. I've taken to walking to school, but on Thursdays, I have traffic duty so I ride with Hubby. Normally I would walk home on Thursday, but yesterday we had an event at school and I needed to be back at 6pm so I had Hubby pick me up. Otherwise, I hit my 10,00 steps easily on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Now that the weekend is here, I'm going to have to be super vigilant and work on getting my 10,000 stapes in. I don't see me going in the pool much (it's down to the 70's already) so I can wear my workout clothes and jump on and off the treadmill. I have some reading I want to do and that would be a good place to do it.

There is also meditation and sleep components to the program. We are supposed to get 8 hours of sleep a night. The sleep is not really a problem. I know myself and I know that 7 1/2 hours is really good for me. Really. Good. So I've been making myself go to bed by 8 pm. I usually fall asleep by 8:30 or 9 and get up at 3:45 to go to the gym. That puts me around 7ish hours. And that works for me. I usually wake up before my alarm and I don't get too tired during the day. I do get tired when I'm teaching, but I think that would happen no matter how many hours I slept. The mediation is another story. Not only am I not very good at it, my mind wanders constantly, but I keep forgetting about it. Seriously. Most nights I sit down to log my things before I go to bed only to realize that I completely forgot to mediate. Duh!!!! I mean it never even crosses my mind. How the hell does that happen? But I get them done anyway, even if I have to sit here before I shut everything down. The idea is that the more sleep you get the less stress your body will be under. Same with mediation. If you can learn to calm your mind your body will handle stress better. And face it, I know that stress adds weight.

So this is working out really, really well. And the most important thing is how amazing I feel. I'm much more cheerful and happy, and just have a much better outlook on life. I love it. I have reached the point in life where my overall health is so much more important than food. I feel now that if I can be healthier eating a certain way, there is no question I will eat that way. Just because I want a cupcake or some cookies don't mean I have to eat them. They have no redeeming benefits and in fact are harmful to my body. So different mindset, a different way of eating, and with that a different outcome. Overall it's been a good couple of weeks and I want to keep the momentum going.