So this has been an interesting week in my journey. I have done lots of workouts and achieved my calorie goals every day. In fact, some of the days my calories were way too low. I have gotten, almost consistently, below the 255 mark, so I am at my 70-pounds lost milestone. Given that, I think I am on track for 75 pounds by Christmas. Hopefully that means I am comfortably on track for my 100 pounds mark within the next 6 months.

This week was my check-in with my doctor to see how the blood pressure medicine is working. Our goal was really to take me off the medication if I was ready. But, I am still just a little too high in the range and stayed on the medication. Much of it is likely stress related, but we are going to give it 3 more months and then I should be fine as long as my progress continues. But, overall, my doctor was very pleased with my journey so far and the approach I have taken.

I continue to experience significant daily weight fluctuations, more than I expect. On days where I expect to be up slightly due to drinking on the prior day, my weight falls. Then, on days that I expect a fall, I see it tick up a bit. I really don’t understand it, but the important part is that it is holistically moving in the right direction even if there are day to day setbacks.

I am also working to proactively manage stress a bit more through daily sources of inspiration and affirmations. A lot of stress is in my control based on my perceptions and expectations and I can manage that. Plus, I am working to share with others to help inspire them as well.

Another interesting thing happened this week, I was at the gym and looked at myself in profile view and really saw a difference. It is difficult to see your own weight changes because you see yourself every day and the changes are too gradual for you to see them. I haven’t done a good job of taking pictures along the way, so it is hard to see any real change in myself. But, I looked in the mirror at the gym and somehow I saw a clear difference in myself. This was helped when I ran into a bartender that I haven’t seen for a couple of months and her first reaction was “wow, you are looking slim!”

Finally, a runner friend of mine gave me some advice about my running. She has looked at some of my posts that include my pace time and she told me that I may be running too fast. She suggested moving down to a 12-minute mile pace (5 mph) and that it may help my endurance. She was right! By doing it, I was able to do my longest contiguous running time yet – 6 straight minutes. Normally, 2-3 minutes or an all-time high of 4 minutes was my max. So, that is a big change.

On a related note, I spent some dedicated time this week getting OperationMelt.com setup and ready.  I am all caught up with blog posts and have tracked my entire journey.  I have setup the site, added my logo, added my non-blog content and all my blog content.  So, I am ready to launch the site.  My “official” launch date is going to be 12/15, exactly 6 months after the start of my journey.

Last week’s stats:
Distance walked/run: 36.7 miles
Total calories burnt: 27,276
Total calories consumed: 13,355
Weight change: 1.9 pounds lost