Invest in Myself: Week 24

Welcome to the recap of Invest in Myself, Week 24.

Compared to my last few weeks, this week was relatively calm. Work was more stressful than I anticipated, but nothing like it has been recently.

Let's review my week...

Motivation & Accountability

I lost another half pound this week, bringing me to a total loss of 11% of my initial body weight from when I started 24 weeks ago.

For week 24 of the Real Appeal program we focused on slashing calories through food swaps. Before I started the program, I was often having ice cream in the evening. Now, if I feel like I need something sweet after dinner, I often have a cup of almond milk mixed with Lifetime Fitness double chocolate life greens. It's at least 200 calories less than a serving of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, yet satisfies my chocolate craving and has more calcium.

This was our last week with Coach Hannah, who has been my Real Appeal coach since we started. Now that we are 24 weeks in, our class size is smaller (people drop out along the way), and we are merging with another class led by Coach Saharra. Hannah has been such a great source of motivation, education, and support. I'm really going to miss her! The good news is that Saharra has been my go-to "make-up" coach when I can't make it to my regular class session, and I know she'll be an awesome coach, too.

Nutrition

It was nice to not have to travel for work and to be back to my regular healthy eating routine. I planned ahead, packed my food, and made good choices. Today is the 175th consecutive day that I've tracked my food on MyFitnessPal!

We ate out at Cooper's Hawk Winery this weekend for a treat. They have an extensive menu and all of their nutrition information is available online. I had the "Life Balance" grilled atlantic salmon and a single chocolate truffle for dessert. I love that they have small dessert options like a single truffle, a chocolate-covered strawberry, or a cheesecake lollipop.

Chocolate-covered Tuxedo strawberry at
Cooper's Hawk Winery

Exercise

I ran once and walked once. I would have liked to squeeze in a bit of yoga or strength training, too, but work ended up overtaking more of my personal time that I expected it to this week.

Self-Care

Last week I shared that our Happiness Project focus for June is play. I ordered some hand lettering books and materials to play with this month. I figured it fit into the category of "challenging fun" and is something I'd like to do. I've read a bit of one of the books, and plan to break out the pens and paper tomorrow.

I also watched Always Be My Maybe and Crazy Rich Asians this week. I don't watch a lot of TV any longer, so it felt indulgent to watch not one, but two, movies during the week (partly during my commute). I enjoyed them both very much.

Looking Ahead

Next week will be very busy at work again, but I won't be traveling, so I should be able to stick to my healthy eating routine and find some time for exercise. I'll be in the DC office on Thursday, so I'm hoping to go to the lunchtime yoga class offered by ZO. Wellness.

See you next week!