I'm looking forward to warmer weather. I miss running outside. I miss getting an accurate read on distance. I do not miss spiders across the trail, or the occasional surprise snake. 

Also Jake broke the safety rake. How on Earth will I be safe from the spooky spiders now??

I'm definitely used to the treadmill at this point. Still, running for any length of time longer than about 20 minutes is really soul-sucking. So, in the name of increasing the difficulty of my workouts, I've been running faster instead of longer. I've bumped up a couple notches in the past week, and completed my run today on my fastest setting yet. 

Tomorrow is another weigh day. We'll see if this fruit avoidance has been worth it. 

I'm not eating fruit this week.

Don't get me wrong, I love fruit. But I've read a few things recently about how those with serious metabolic issues (i.e. me) can lose weight faster by only eating meats and veggies.

So this week, that's what I'm doing. I'll weigh myself on Friday. If I see any significantly improved loss, I'll probably try to keep this up until Jamaica. If not, it's back to clementines I go.

I really miss my morning fruit and spinach smoothie. Spinach with one egg and one slice of bacon is just not the same.

In positive news, I bought some pretty dresses from Macy's and they all look really nice. Our resort has two "fine dining" restaurants at which dresses are required. I can't wait to fancy myself up whilst showing entirely too much cleavage.

244.6

Which means I've lost 5lbs so far this month, which isn't terrible. It DOES pretty much mean I won't be hitting my 231 goal by Jamaica, but I've got to be okay with that.

I still think the Metformin is probably speeding loss up just a tiny bit. Instead of losing 1lb a week, I now seem to be averaging 1.5 to 2 per week. Every little bit helps.

3 more pounds and I get to take a new progress picture. Exciting!

I'm always this focused whilst squatting. 

Awkward classroom story:

When my students are sleepy, nothing wakes them up like a five-minute workout. Yesterday morning, after two minutes of jogging in place (which some kids could not do*), we started a set of ten squats. After squat number six, someone farted. LOUDLY.

The culprit looked terrified, but since all the kids were facing me, I quickly said "Toots happen. Back at it!"

And back at it they were. Even though it smelled reaaaaalllyyyy bad.

I have some sort of pulled muscle or something in my lower back. It's above the butt, below the waist. I REALLY do not want an injury right now.

Or ever, I guess.

Working out is just now starting to feel more like a habit, less like a chore. I want to keep it that way.

I worked out today:
And every other day (except yesterday) for the past week and a half.
I'm not going to track workouts like this anymore.

*Seriously, kids. This is sad. I've always been a chub, but I still knew how to be mildly athletic as a child. GO OUTSIDE AND MOVE.

I have worked out every day for the past five days. I'm incredibly motivated by vacation right now. I want so badly to see 231 before I step on that plane.

I'm scared about my weigh-in this Friday. I've worked really hard recently, and I'd like to see some great results. I just need to remember that five days in a row of exercise is not just an effort to get thinner. I'm also getting healthier, which is happening despite what the scale says.

I read through the archives of this blog this past weekend. I'm proud of my accomplishments thus far. I'm proud that I've actually done something to change my situation. I spent a good portion of my twenties sitting around, wishing I was thinner and eating sixty million double cheeseburgers. No more, I say!

39 days.

6 weeks left. 42 days. That's not a lot of time.

I had a bad week, food-wise. Work was stressful and I was losing a bajillion ounces of blood each day, so on Wednesday night I had Mexican takeout (not paleo) and on Thursday night I had a steak hoagie and fries (REALLY not paleo).

I am filled with regret and delicious calories.

So I've worked out every day for the last three days to try and make up for all this splurging. And I will be continuing my "don't drink on Sunday" rule, even though it's a three-day weekend and today definitely doesn't *feel* like Sunday.

Blerf. I want to lose all the pounds.

No weigh-ins until this coming Friday. I'm hoping for 246 or less. Fingers crossed.

I worked damn hard this week. I worked out on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and today. I made sure to stay well under my calorie goals (I'm currently 1,200 calories under for the week). If you'll recall, I even gave up alcohol on Sunday to speed the weight loss prior to vacay.

So yesterday morning, when I stepped on the scale and saw the same number as the week prior, I was very very sad. I expected at least 247, but it was still stuck on 249. I pouted the whole morning.

And THEN I realized that perhaps the Metformin was actually doing its intended job, and I was scheduled to start my period soon. I had cried when reading poetry to my class the day before... that doesn't usually happen.

So I used the Seventeen Magazine Period Calculator, because apparently in my 28 years on earth I never figured out how to tell when my period would happen next. Also I got some cute fashion tips from the guys of One Direction.

After a brief bit of research, I learned that women actively trying to lose weight shouldn't weigh themselves 5-10 days before the start of their next period. Water retention is a bitch, apparently, and can inflate the scale by up to 7lbs.

So, since my scale stayed the same, I'm still doing well. Crisis averted. End of pity party.

With 52 days until Jamaica, it is time to start seriously thinking about how many dozens of sundresses I'll need to purchase for the beach. One sundress a day might seem like enough, but when you factor in impromptu trips into the ocean and the occasional spilled Pina Colada, you realize it's really more prudent to plan for four or five wardrobe changes per day.

I'm at a tricky point for clothes-buying. Ideally, I'll continue to lose weight up until the day I leave. Therefore, something fitted that looks good now may look less good in eight weeks. I'll probably hold off purchasing anything major until a week or two before the trip.

That being said, I bought this bathing suit. The bathing suit I wore last time is too big. Blam!

Polka-dots are slimming, right? Right?

I worked out today. I'm upping my run time to 25+ minutes per session, but damn if it doesn't take it out of me. I don't know exactly what makes treadmill running harder than trail running, but it's definitely more of a workout.

My new guilty-pleasure workout music is Skrillex. Gross, right? I'm such a teen.

The initial metformin-induced spike in weight loss has slowed, as expected. It's okay. As long as the scale still continues to drop, I'll be happy. 

I've now lost 31.6lbs since starting this blog in June. If you start counting when I began eating paleo, I've lost just over 40lbs. This progress has been slow, but it's still progress. 

I really, really, really want to get down to 231 before Jamaica. I'll need to lose a bit more than 2lbs per week, so I'm not sure if it's possible. I still want it. 8 more weeks to try. 

My workout schedule has been a pretty consistant rotation between running on the treadmill and doing calisthenics. I'm looking forward to spring; I miss running outdoors. Anyway, I'm obviously not going to be blogging with every single workout anymore. I'm too busy, and exercising doesn't need to feel any more like a chore than it already does. 

Starting weight: 281

Current weight: 249.4

Short-term goal: 231