Ouch.

Last week, overall, was fantastic. It was, however, not without its faults. What you need to understand, before I get too far into this, is that I am having some brain issues. I used to work a 40+ hour per week job, where I had a lot of tasks to get done. I had to be extremely organized, and had a fantastic memory. Since I got canned in April, I have been using different muscles. Where my job used to be very literal, I am now using the more  artistic side of my brain. 

The up side is that I absolutely love everything I am doing now. I never would have thought I would enjoy writing - much less be any good at it. The down side is that I feel like I am turning into more of a ditz every day. I cannot remember anything without putting it on my calendar. My brain just does not operate in the same way. 

Take simple math for example. I tried to figure out the amount of weight I have to lose for my mission 101 goal, and needless to say - I was way off. And not in the right direction. Here are my updated goals, and results for week 4. I fear I may be a bit screwed, but I'll get into that more later.

Natalie

• Lost 7 pounds for a total of 7 pounds lost (47 pounds to go to 101)
• 5 days a week of weights & 40 minutes of cardio + 1 day of 60 minutes cardio (YES!)
• Track all calories eaten (Mostly)
• eat within calorie range (Mostly)
• No booze (yes!)
• Cut down on caffeine (YES! usually 1 can or less per day)

It's time to stop thinking that "sort-of" following program works

 So I have now come to terms with one other reality. A person who is attempting to lose weight, and not go completely off the rails, will need to have a scale. I have weighed myself 2-3 times since the end of May. I thought everything was going fine for the most part - I figured I'd probably gained a few pounds back - but everything was still fitting the sameish, so I didn't worry. No. This is not an acceptable way of tracking your progress. No. I had gained back more than I thought I had, with all of my couch sitting and crap eating. 

Part II of the puzzle for me is to also use a calculator when figuring out how much you need to lose (when you do finally get around to buying a scale), because apparently your brain can no longer do simple math.

So last week was pretty good for me. For the most part, I was sticking to the program I need to follow to drop some LBs, and get in better shape. I got my new workout from YC, and felt as though I was doing a fair amount of busting my ass. Then Saturday hit, I hopped on the scale. I was pretty jazzed about the 7 pound loss, and then I realized my error. I have a LOT of weight to lose by the first of the year. Boo. Which also meant I had packed more back on than I thought I had. Boo.

So I am putting my weekend of depressing realizations, as it will be referred to going forward, behind me - I am ready to rock the crap out of this next week.