This is the 19th Review of a new lifestyle of healthy eating and lots of exercise.
Notice how I said this is the 19th Review and not the 19th week. I went missing in action during the 19th week and continued to be missing in action for 12 weeks.
A lot has happened in that time so let’s begin with November.
The previous review had me helping my father move into new digs.
It took several weeks to get him settled and there was a lot going on during that time. I stayed with a healthy diet but did not get to the gym or running.
The weeks that followed in November were really quite good.
To preseve time I’m going to speed up looking at November’s calendar.
Now remember monkey stickers are for working out and monster stickers are for cheat meals. Here we go:
The first week I had 5 monkey stickers for working out and 2 monster stickers.
The 2nd week 4 monkeys and 2 monsters.
Then Thanksgiving week I got in 2 monkey stickers before going to Los Angeles for the holiday where I had 4 glorious monster sticker cheat meals.
Returning home from Thanksgiving I managed to get in 3 really good workouts as you can see here by 3 monkey stickers and then the typical 2 monster stickers for 2 cheat meals.
At this point I didn’t weigh myself and I stopped doing weekly reviews.
I worked out when I could; watched what I ate and put stickers on the calendar.
I was like Times Square busy. Holding on by a thread with everything that was going on.
December
Oh my gosh. The holidays. This is the dieters greatest challenge. This is when girlie magazines take out their Dieting Holiday Survival Guide articles.
And even though there was a lot going on in my life I refused to go into a total relapse. December started with 2 monkey stickers and then there were none. I stopped tracking and working out vigorously.
However, I stuck to healthy eating and walked or biked everyday. I refused to gain a lot of weight because of the holidays.
In fact on January 1st I weighed myself and it was 172.4 so I hadn’t gained any weight.
I was feeling so good about that. I looked forward to the next year with a renewed commitment to health and fitness.
January
So there I was all pumped up and ready to go and then my father died. Whaat! His health was failing but none of us ever expected him to pass so quickly. It was a shock.
Needless to say dieting, fitness, stickers. They all became completely irrelevant.
I went right into emotional eating and drinking. Swinging wildly from getting things done then hitting a wall of exhaustion and zombieness.
I experienced a bigtime dieting relapse.
What’s interesting about this particular replapse is that I was conscious through it.
It’s like I watched myself relapse like I was at the movies and with that distance I was able to see the programs and emotions behind my eating habits and low energy levels.
I now weigh 175.4 and so I gained 3 pounds during January’s relapse.
It’s been about a month since he died. Although I’m still sad and tender emotionally I also want to live. I have been given a great gift. I have been given the gift of good health and life.
My biological father was one of the two people who were responsible for giving me life. You see he gave me this dark curly hair and all kinds of other great qualities. I want to thank him so very much for giving me to me.
I want to be the best me and that means managing my body with love and concern.
It’s my birthday in a few days and I want to have many more birthdays in the future.
And I want to be able to dance during each and every one of them.