The Week 24 Weigh In

I was again pleasantly surprised to see 206.5 on the scale again. You'd think I'd be frustrated, disappointed, afraid I've reached a plateau I'll never escape from. But I'm really not.

I was sure I be up 1.5, even 2.5 pounds from PMS bloat. So to see the same weight again was great. I know this past month has been... not bad, per se, but challenging with the illnesses (cold and strep throat). My immunity had hit a low, and I needed time to recover and regroup. It's not shocking at all that my body, after dropping a few pounds, is now resting comfortably for a while until I get back into my usual exercise routine.

While this week wasn't fantastic when it comes to physical activity, I was satisfied with what I did and felt it was a nice slow return to exercise, and next week I will gradually increase it. My big goal is to get myself back into gear about waking up at 5 and getting my behind over to my satellite gym and kick out the cobwebs for at least 30 minutes every morning. I really need to do this because next week almost every afternoon is booked with one kind of appointment or another -- hair cut, insurance estimates, Mabel's orthodontist, parent-teacher meeting. Then my friend (and Mabel's godfather) is coming in for a visit and he's staying here in our guest room at least one night, so I need to make sure everything's ship-shape and clean.

Still not positive about the Pittsburgh trip today. Hubby, Mom and I will have to have a tete-a-tete and decide what we want to do. But we'll probably wind up going.

Tomorrow I'm filling in at church and doing the children's sermon. Yesterday the lady who was supposed to do it bailed out -- I mean, had a last minute thing come up -- and since it was such late notice I figured I'd suck it up and do it. Besides, I've been very slack in attending church this winter, and I know I won't be able to go the next two weeks because Hubby will be doing his colonial cooking demonstrations at the maple festival and I'll be his go-fer. Fortunately, there's a web site that provides free children's sermons ideas that are in sync with our church's lessons/gospel reading, so it's an easy job.

A lot of people I know are terrified of these kind of things: getting up at church to read the lessons, give a speech, etc. I guess that fear was beaten out of me by my time in the newspaper field. You quickly had to muster the courage to go up to strangers, a lot of them politicians, even some celebrities, and start asking them questions. The job required you to get up in front of a room full of people and bring attention to yourself as you took photographs. And it was trial by fire when I was the editor of the small town weekly and often took the brunt of people's complaints and frustrations out on you. It makes doing a children's sermon seem like a walk in the park.

So, just like the newspaper business made public speaking easier for me, my three years as a professional weight loser makes this three-week plateau a lot easier to handle. I've been at this long enough to know that it's a temporary thing. Once I get back to my higher level of exercise, and now that spring is just around the corner, things will improve. I'm just thrilled that I managed to lose weight and now maintain it, rather than gaining 10 pounds and getting stuck there. So you've got no complaints here!

Other than the fact that I miss my blog buddies! It seems a lot of them took trips this week and have been MIA online. Oh well, at least they should have lots of good stories to tell when they return. Happy Weekend -- and St. Patrick's Day -- to you all!