WLJ: First quarter!

I'm officially one-fourth of the way to my goal. Ten pounds down, thirty to go. It's like the first quarter of a football game is over and I have three more to go. (Yes, baseball is my first love, but I feel like the football metaphor works better here.)

I'm really happy about this. And also really encouraged. This is exactly where I wanted to be by this point on the calendar. Setting mini-goals really does help the process seem easier.

Sure, it took me three months to lose ten pounds, but if I'm being honest, I've only REALLY been disciplined for about half of that. Less than a month ago, I really kicked things into overdrive -- watching my carbs, increasing my workouts and being diligent about all the healthy checks. That's when the pounds started coming off at a better rate.

What did I learn from this? The same thing I should have known from other areas of my life --- half-ass efforts give you half-ass progress.

I'm getting ready to go on a little vacation this weekend. A baseball-cation, if you will. I'm going to try very hard to stay on track. This is not to say I won't enjoy myself, but I don't want to undo all the hard work I've done. I'm staying with a friend, and I know she has to work on Friday, so I'm going to get a workout in while she's gone. I'll continue to monitor my carb intake and I'll track my points (which I haven't always done on a vacation). Hopefully, I can at least hold steady during this fun time. Anyone have any advice?

Weight-loss goal: 40 lbs.

This week's progress: -1.6 lb.

Progress to date: -10.4 lbs.

Non-scale victory: I had some emotional days during the last week, but I didn't let them win. In the past, I would probably go indulge in a lot of bad foods when I was feeling down. But I just kept reminding myself that it would not help anything, and I didn't cave.