40 miles: 165.6

Rode my real bike 40 miles today. The weather was GREAT and it felt so good to be outside! The hubby and I rode the bike trail and stopped at a Denny's along the way where I had 650 calories of breakfast deliciousness in the form of their Santa Fe Skillet, 4 pieces of bacon, and a cup of coffee. It's 4 hours later and I am still not hungry, though I'm sure I will be soon. I just love the way that quality food that is high in protein fills me up and gives me energy that is sustained, instead of spiking my blood sugar like junk food.

I was worried about getting on the scale this morning because, while I've been eating in the right calorie range, I haven't been eating very good food. I had Panda Express quite a bit because what I like to eat there is only about 600 calories for a large meal. I also had Lee's Sandwiches and McDonald's a couple times. I know that all sounds terrible and you're thinking "How do you expect to lose weight like that!?!" Well, let me tell you (if you don't care, skip the next paragraph).

I get to work at 7:30 and leave at 2:00 or 3:00. In that entire time, I drink 24 oz. of coffee with non-dairy creamer and sugar. Naturally, I am ravenous when I get home and usually get something in the form of the fast food I listed above. It can range anywhere from 600-1,500 calories. Depending on how much I ate, that might be my only meal the day. There's a lot of good research about fasting, and this is the version I chose to use. It keeps me full until bed and makes me really appreciate the food I eat. I also vary my calories. Some days I'll eat 600 and some days I'll eat 2,000. MyFitnessPal gives me a daily calorie goal of 1,550, so it averages out pretty well.

Based on how I was eating and the fact that I hadn't done much working out in the past week, I was worried that I'd either have gained weight or stayed the same. So imagine my joy when I got on the scale and it read 165.6! The lowest I've been since my wedding is 162, so I'm really excited to see these slow and steady results. MyFitnessPal predicted I'd be at 166 in 5 weeks, but I got there in 31 days. That feels good! Now, it says I'll be 158.8 in 5 weeks, which would be seriously crazy.

I look at my previous weigh-ins and think that 170 used to be a victory, and now it's a thing of the past. I am looking forward to more and more progress and I plan to post some torso photos tomorrow.