Maintenance week is what I decided to do during week #9. I dropped .8 pounds, what I gained last week plus a smidge more, and even lost .5 inches. I honestly wasn't expecting that. So to date, I've shed 11.4 pounds and 9.5 inches overall. I've officially dropped one dress size and one bra size. Pretty darn good!
I've been losing on average 1.3 pounds a week since starting this weight loss effort which is a significant healthy weight loss. I'm stressing the word "healthy" as I'm shooting for long term maintenance of my new slimmer self. This week though I decided to experiment with maintenance mode to see 1. If I had made some real habit changes, and 2. To give my body a break from "dieting." My conclusions after the jump.
To my glee, I believe that I am almost virtually done with Diet Coke. I say almost because I don't believe in saying never..lol..I did have a couple cans of Diet Coke this week, and each time, I couldn't drink the whole can because it made me feel illin' and I can now taste the "artificial" ingredients. It's amazing how your taste buds adjust when you start getting "clean." I also noticed that the Diet Coke affected my mood. I knew this because before having the DC I was in a good mood, and then soon after I started to get agitated and depressed for no external reason.
I have also noticed that since knocking out the Diet Coke, my sweet cravings have dropped significantly. I know this because I have passed on dessert eating out more than I have in the past. I pass on the dessert because I just don't feel like it as opposed to deprivation or guilt that I'll gain weight. That's a big difference there in mind set.
I only exercised once this week. I genuinely put myself mentally in maintenance mood this week, and told myself, "Okay you're done." I pretended that I reached my weight loss goal already, so I was to behave as if that was true. So, here's where I have not made a significant healthy lifestyle change. I only went to the gym once this week. Oh my! I asked myself, "Do you just not like exercise?" And, I don't really know the answer. I mean, I like it once I'm doing it, but it's tough to get me to the "doing" part. I'll be totally honest about that. I wonder how I can develop a better relationship with exercise. Im not beating up on myself, but me thinks I have to explore and think about this more because a healthy lifestyle includes exercise.
Emotionally, I am still in this weird funk related to the corporate career and jobs. I've been interviewing for jobs again and I've noticed two things: 1. Being as honest in my blog is not such a good idea in job interviewing and 2. I've been focusing on web 2.0 type companies and most of them are staffed with kids like 10-18 years younger than me. This is the first time in my career where I have job hunted and felt like a grandma. Seriously. In Silicon Valley, it is not uncommon to see founders and CEOs of companies who are 20-30 years old.
Many start-ups in Silicon Valley do the bull pen, open type of work set-up with the IKEA office furniture because it's cheaper and it creates more of a "team" environment. As an interviewee, the nice part of the bull pen set-up is that you can get a glimpse of what the team looks like. At one company, the team reminded me of a little league baseball team, and suddenly I felt like the team "Mom."
I am not old by all means, but the new younger surroundings was making me feel that way. I was born at the end of the 60's but still feel young, plugged in, and very creative. The only difference is that I am loaded with life experience. In some of these interviews, I have felt like, "Sorry you can't be on American Idol because the cut off age is 28. We appreciate that you love singing but we are only going to bet on younger people who have a shot at stardom because they are not weighed down yet by the responsibility of marriage, kids, mortgages, and emotional baggage. We can also pay them less and demand more because they do not know better yet." Ye gads!
