Weekly Weigh In: Week 11, September 3, 2019

I have decided that this feature will now run indefinitely, and will replace the My Quarterly Report feature.  It will go live every Monday, and it will be a weigh in that will share how I'm doing health-wise, and it will give me more accountability with my health.

{Sorry this update is a day late.  We had a busy day yesterday!  I'll share more below. :) }

Here is my eleventh weigh in:

1. The Selfie: The selfie is me as of today, September 3, 2019.  

2. Weight: My weight has stayed the same.  I can say that is probably in part due to not making the best choices with meals.  I am still working on that.  I find that busy-ness makes it easier for me to choose the quick fix vs. the best choice for me (think grabbing the potato chips vs. a salad or a higher-in-sugar cereal bar vs. a bowl of lower-in-sugar cereal situation).  I'm thinking I may need to make some individual portions of things up for me and keep them handy so that I can reach for those vs. the bad-for-me options.  Might help.  At this point, I'm just glad I didn't gain, and I will continue to press on!

3. Health News: I only averaged about 5,500 steps per day last week - same as the last 2 weeks.  I was busy with doctor's appointments and back-to-school prep and family party prep, so actually getting in some good walks didn't happen until the very end of the week.  This week, however, I should do much better.  That's the plan, anyway! 

The herbal water pill is now officially out.  I stopped taking it on August 31, 2019 due to some possible health issues that arose from it (the doctor and I believed it may have changed my urine acidity which caused some very unpleasant issues).  Though not 100% certain that the pill is to blame, the timing of the issues coincide with the addition of the pill and are too coincidental to be ignored.  These issues, coupled with the fact that it was not very effective, helped me to decide not to continue taking this particular pill anymore.  I definitely don't want to be taking something that will be giving me more things to deal with!

I am dealing with a little insomnia again, so consequently I am dealing the other issue associated with that.  Today, in fact, I just feel completely run down with a migraine (thankfully the ibuprofen is keeping the pain away, but I have the other issues that go along with migraine like the nausea, fogginess, etc.).  I know that part of my issue is that I got less than 4 hours of sleep the night before last due to the insomnia and it's very stormy today (changes in weather pressure really do my head in), but I think I may also have eaten something bad at lunch time yesterday when we ate out.  Either way, I'm not feeling too awesome today (as you may be able to see in the photo).  Anyway, I'm sure that I should be feeling a bit better tomorrow.  I hope so, anyway!

Also, the doctor did decide to up my thyroid pill due to my issues with more migraines and such.  Other than today, I've felt a million times better since then.  I was having a lot less fatigue, less head fog/pressure, less moody - just overall felt better.  I am hoping this will help me a bit with the weight gain train as long as I can be honest with my eating.  Wish me luck!

4. Diet News:  Menu planning this week was pretty much an epic fail for me, so I'm going to modify it.  I've learned in the last few weeks more what I should eat to feel better, so I'm just going to record as I go vs. plan it out.  I am hoping this will help me be more honest.  Why is it so easy to lie to yourself about food?  Maybe I'm the only one who deals with that, I don't know, but it is one thing that I really don't like about myself.  I may not lie about what I eat, but I struggle to be honest about the portion sizes.  I am going to work on that more.  I know that is going to make a big difference - being honest with portion sizes.

5. Other News: We were going to start homeschooling back up today, but have decided to let it go until tomorrow.  Why you may ask?  Well, the kiddos spent the night with their aunt, uncle and cousins who they don't get to see very often last night and are not home yet (it's nearly 10am now, and I'm assuming they are probably not wanting to come home just yet), and partly because I feel blah today.  Also, we're (at least the boys, hubby and I) are recovering from walking the Mighty Mac yesterday!  Not only did we walk it one way (5 miles), we walked it back to where we started (another 5 miles).  Not only did we do that, we had to walk to our car and we walked around town, so we walked another few miles with that.  Needless to say, we're a bit tired! LOL :)  I'm sure my hubby wishes he could have had today off, but he did not.  I've a feeling he will be crashing tonight when he comes home.

Here's some pictures from yesterday:

This was us at the beginning of the walk.  You may not be able to tell, but it was 7am EST, and there were thousands there.  It was a great time...even if we did get up at 4am (well, I got up at 2am thanks to insomnia, but the rest of them got up at 4am).

This was my shirt I got to commemorate my accomplishment!  It's a long trek, but beautiful and so worth it!  We walked the bridge from about 7:30am when we got on until about 10:30am when we got off.  That's 3 hours of walking without a break, and that doesn't include the rest of the time we spent walking to our car, around town, etc.

Here's the official, end-of-day step count!  Now, the 18 miles is an estimate the step counter does based on average steps-per-mile and is not based on my stride.  My stride is shorter than my hubby's, so he got less miles than me because he got less steps.  Anyway, when I averaged out our miles, we figure we did at least 15 miles of walking.  That's a lot of walking in one go!

And here are some of my favorite photos from the walk.

If you want to know more about the walk, here's some more info:

Mackinac Bridge Walk

How are you doing?  Do you have anything you want to weigh in with?  Any health progress or goals you want to share?  If so, please leave a comment below (with a link to your post, if you have one and wish to leave it), and I'll respond ASAP.

Have a great week!