Shot #4

 259.4

I would like to say I'm safely below 260, never to see the land alive that again, but I've gained back about a pound the past two days from 258.5 three days ago. 

My husband reminded me that my hydration level can play a part in those weigh-ins so I shouldn't worry too much, but the fact that I can't celebrate a 10-lb loss in my first three weeks is a bit disappointing. 

I'm not sure what to attribute Friday's half pound increase to, but I think I can see what got me yesterday. 

First, I went to lunch with a friend, and while I felt like I ordered reasonably (a lunch special of a half sandwich and small cup of soup), I felt weird about not finishing my meal when I probably could've stopped eating before that, and also, she ordered an appetizer for us to share, and I felt guilty about not eating it. I don't know that I ate half of it, but I ate more than I needed to.

Then, I snacked in the afternoon. I had gotten a small grocery order, and one of the items was a rotisserie chicken that I was going to break down, either for dinner that night or later on the weekend. I absolutely love freshly cooked chicken, so I did sneak several bites while I worked. 

Dinner, I think, was probably my best effort. We went to Olive Garden, which is definitely a place where I can overeat easily. I love pasta and bread, two things you can get in large quantities there. My family can go through several baskets of bread sticks at Olive Garden, and they did, but I ate just one bread stick myself. When the vat of salad came, I selected several pieces of lettuce and a few slices to tomato from the bowl, and that's all I had. I felt a bit guilty about that because that bowl of salad is so big, and most of it went uneaten. When I ordered, I chose the item from their "lighter plates" section with the fewest calories, a plate of six raviolis with marinara, and I even left one on my plate. 

Anyway, the fact that I had a half pound increase when I weighed in this morning was somewhat disheartening. But I can see those places that need work. I'm still a social eater when I feel the pressure to participate in a social situation, and I'm a snacker in the kitchen. I took my final dosage at the lowest strength of my medication last night, so I'll be curious to see if I notice a difference in the "food noise" aspect wheni stay taking a stronger dose. 

I also did not do any official exercise this week, despite what I had initially planned. Teachers officially reported for our week of in-service on Wednesday, so I've been at school the past there days working on my classroom and sitting in meetings. I've been a little more active maybe, but I've gone to school many days the past few weeks in order to clean up and redecorate, so it's probably not a big increase in activity level. I have two more days of in-service this coming week, and then we start school Wednesday. I'm not sure if I'll try to hit the gym this week or not. We'll see. 

Anyway, it's nice to see the 5 in the middle of the scale instead of the 6, but I don't know that the 5 is safe just yet. I probably won't feel safe about it until I'm in the lower half of that range.