Holiday Weight Gain?

So many people find the holidays a hard time to lose or maintain weight.  I think part of the reason people often gain over the holidays is they feel obligated to have what's offered to them.  So my game plan was to have a little of whatever I wanted, but only if I really wanted it.
I am quite happy to be able to say I didn't gain weight over the holidays, in fact I lost a *teeny* bit more.  And I indulged myself, sometimes a bit too much lol.  I made sure that I also kept myself busy and moving when possible.  Sometimes that's part of the challenge... traveling to visit often involves lots of sedentary time and then when you are out there is often lots of sitting involved as well (playing cards & games, watching movies with the fam, etc)

I went for a massage on Monday, I usually go monthly for maintenance, and when we were doing the usual Q & A about any health changes or pain I told MK that I've now lost 40 lbs :) 
She looked at my sheet and said, "Wow that's another 10 lbs since your last appointment 6 weeks ago!"
(My December appointment had to be missed, and yep I could feel it!)

Now I can happily say I've hit one of my milestone goals, 40 lbs down, but it's not the big one I've been looking forward to.  That one is *soooclose* I can taste it (haha taste it, food, weight loss... yeah sorry weird/dorky sense of humour here) I'm really hoping my next blog post will be about that!

One thing I've really noticed, as my weight goes down my chronic pain is more manageable (for the most part.  I won't lie, I've had a couple bad flare ups) 
OH!  One more exciting bit of news... I sold my Pozzi saddle and started shopping for a "new" saddle.  I found a Lynn McKenzie and tried it out, my mare likes it and I liked how I rode in it AND it's a 14.5 seat!  I've always ridden in a 15 or bigger, I never thought I'd see the day I was in something smaller than a 15! :)

So how have y'all fared over the holiday season?

The Awesome Thing

In my last post I had mentioned that the most awesome thing had happened, and then I left you hanging... for a bit longer than I intended oops!

My "winter sport" with the horses is Team Penning.  One night at penning I was sitting on a bench in the lounge chatting with friends when Laureen S came up to me and said "I just have to say you look amazing!  I didn't even recognize you!  Not that you didn't look good before!" 

She proceeded to tell me that she had turned to Nell (my bestie) before the break to ask why I hadn't come with her.  Nell asked her what the heck she meant, then pointed over to where Voodoo & I were chilling and said that I was actually on Nell's team with her.  Laureen told me that I had lost so much weight she hadn't recognized me at all, that she could especially see the difference in my face.

That was a pretty amazing feeling!  It's one thing to know you're gradually losing but sometimes you don't realize how different you look until someone points it out.  Then I realized I had lost (and kept off) at least 30 lbs, if not more, since I had seen her last winter.  So yeah, that was pretty awesome :D

-20

You read that right, -20.  Yep in July.  Because that's -20LBs baby!!

I'm feeling pretty confident that it will stick too, or rather that I'll keep making progress because 20 is about 1/3 of my rather loosely created goal.  I know I'm due for a plateau, and I know it will suck, but I'm still hopeful.

Really a lot of it is due to my little Fitbit.  Four months later and I still faithfully log in anything I eat/drink.  I wear it (almost) all the time.  One thing that was a bit discouraging... I switched my settings from "normal" to "sensitive" for the sleep tracking.  Watching my average drop like a stone and looking at that little blue sleep bar which now had big chunks of red.  Oh heck yeah, now I know why I feel tired so often! 

I still eat "junk" at times, but I'm developing more will power than I've ever had before (even with my darn sweet tooth!)

According to the settings I've put on my Fitbit I should be hitting my next big milestone before the end of the year! 

It's been all too quiet over here lately... what's up with y'all?