Walls.

Loyal readers, you may have noticed something amiss. Something askew. Basically, I’ve been slacking about as hard as I’m capable.  Really, I’ve wasted the entire last month and it’s time to stop.

It started around Christmas. I didn’t have a great Christmas, diet and exercise-wise, which by itself is not a particularly big deal.  I lost the weight I had gained fairly quickly, and in the week after the new year I was back on track.  Then last weekend happened.  I went down to Anaheim for a work conference and I just went off the rails.  Pizza and chips and beer and liquor and all manner of other unhealthy things, along with workouts that could be described generously as cursory, led to a large gain that I haven’t even figured yet. 

Once I got home, the problems continued.  I got stuck in a deep funk, and those who know me know that I’m prone to bouts with depression.  I wasn’t in a dangerous place, just one where I wanted to hide away from the world and everyone in it.  This usually is in conjunction with unhealthy eating and a lack of any motivation.  To be fair, I did a decent job of keeping things in range, but I haven’t undone the damage yet.

Finally, my body spent the last two days holding the line before giving in this morning and letting loose a nasty chest cold/flu that has just sapped every bit of energy, except for the part of me that wants to eat.  For some reason, when I’m sick, my body either has no interest in eating or I want to eat everything in sight.  This one is unfortunately the latter.  Luckily, I have lots of good foods around that will keep me full.  A couple of recommendations: La Tortilla Factory’s high-fiber tortillas (I know, I’ve talked about these before) have only 80 calories with 12 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein each.  And All-Bran Buds, in 1/3 of a cup, have 13 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein.  These are the foods you want to eat to get full and stay full.

Finally, I’ve decided that I’m officially stopping the daily weigh-ins.  I’ve been weighing in every day for eight months now and I’ve gotten to the point that I know what I need to do to lose weight. I may not do those things all the time, but I know what they are.  Also, I’m getting to the weight where weight loss is going to be a slower process, and I still get frustrated when I see a gain.  Those are going to happen more now, and weekly weigh-ins will keep me more sane. 

I’ve come a long way, but now comes the hard part.  I’ve hit my first wall, and if Warrior Dash taught me anything, it’s that I need help getting over walls.