The 50/50 Plan: Update

Can you believe it is already October? Where has this year gone?

Honestly fall and winter are the toughest food months from me. Delicious pumpkin flavored breads, pastries, muffins, bagels. Apple muffins, scones, pie etc. Holy yumminess. Peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookies, ginger snaps, pumpkin pie...

The thing is, you can still indulge in the goodness of fall and winter foods. Just sparingly. I've also started to make them myself instead of buying premade foods. 1) no preservatives 2) I know exactly is going into the recipes 3) I can cut back on sugars and fattening oils etc.

Just today I made jumbo banana nut muffins. I just tweaked it some so there's less sugar, egg whites only and unsweetened applesauce instead of oil. I haven't tried one yet but if they taste half as good as they smelled while baking, I am going to have one happy tummy!

I also just found an apple spice scone recipe on www.skinnytaste.com. Only 163 calories per scone! I cannot wait to try out this recipe!! Brew a cup of good coffee, add some warm cinnamon sugar cookie coffee creamer and we've got one amazing breakfast!

I've been in a kind of funk lately. I haven't given up or lost steam. I just have a "whatever" kind of attitude where this is all concerned. I feel great though. I know it will pass. A few of my friends have been in a similar funk lately so at least I know it's not just me.

I've been at this for 9 months already. It feels normal now, the counting calories and watching what I eat. It doesn't feel as labor intensive as it did at the beginning. I just strated training for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon coming up on January 20. I am really looking forward to the race. I am also looking forward to my 10K (6.2 miles) race on Thanksgiving Day and the Bumble Bee 5K (3.1 miles) on my birthday! Having races to do helps me stay consistent with running and working out. I have so much fun at the races. I am competitive but mostly with myself. So here are the most recent stats:

Weight as of 9/14/12: 165.7
                    9/21/12: 163.7
                    Difference: -2.0
Weight as of 9/29/12: 165.7
                    Difference: +2
Weight as of: 10/7/12: 163.4
                    Difference: -2.3 lbs
Total loss to date: 32.6 lbs

Yep, I gained 2 pounds one week. I don't sweat that though. If it starts happening multiple weeks in a row, I will take a look at what I am doing then tweak it. But one gain, no big deal. You have to accept that you will have weeks where you gain and you will have weeks where you lose 1/10th of a pound or lose 3 pounds. You have to keep pressing on. Look at the number, accept it, and move on. If  you gained, check how much water you drank that week. Maybe you didn't drink enough. Or maybe you had too much sugar or not enough fruits and vegetables. Change stuff around and be more careful the next week. You can't take back or change that gain. What's done is done so move forward. It is a life long journey so there will be peaks and valleys. Stay motivated, friends.