Changes

Wowzah.
It's been a while, but I feel even closer to my goal than ever before! I'm a mere 18lbs away from my 2012 goal- under 200lbs! I couldn't be more motivated.
Since I broke off the training with Lydia, I've developed some healthy habits of my own, of which I think are really helping me kick it in gear.

Breakdown:

• As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not eating bread. I'll have the occasional small taste of something, but I'm specifically cutting out as much of gluten as possible. In the month of October, I made it through the end with only eating bread twice. Piece of cake. (Ha, figuratively!) Of course at times I wanted it, but it was really much easier than I thought it would be. 
• I've been working out about 4-5 times per week- and included in that, I'm lifting about 1-2 times, but I'm mainly focusing on low-impact cardio machines to help me burn calories. I really enjoy the rowing machine and this elliptical-like machine. I can do some high intensity at night and wake up the next morning without my heels or knees hurting. That's huge! 
• I found that the high intensity:low intensity intervals on the cardio machines produce the best results in weight loss. It's like doing sprint/jog intervals--without the impact on my joints! For example, tonight I did the elliptical as follows: 1 minute of the machines highest settings and then 1 minute of a mid-range setting, repeating for 30 minutes. I burned 500 calories, and my heart rate averaged around 155 the whole time. 
• I'm really noticing the difference in my appearance. I actually didn't even recognize myself in the mirror at Macy's one night. I mean, I was looking right at myself, but I still have a different mental picture of what I look like. Exciting stuff!
• I'm trying to eat my heavy foods before 6 or 7pm. And by heavy I mean meats and other healthy fats. 
• I won't go into much detail, but I've noticed a difference in my digestive tract.
• At night, I'm trying to focus more on how I feel. Do I feel tight? bloated? light? energized? exhausted? And then I ask myself why? Did I exercise? eat bad? eat good? After recognizing this, I let myself get on the scale and normally have a pretty good idea of the numbers that will appear. 
• It seems normal, but my body weight throughout the day does not fluctuate as much as it did earlier. In May, my weight would fluctuate about 4 lbs from morning to night, gaining as the time goes by. Today, my weight has fluctuated about 1.5lbs from this morning to 8pm. Interesting. 

This is what works for me. Everyone's different, and we all have different motivators. I'm so blessed to have the opportunities available to work towards a life goal of mine, and I couldn't be more excited.