Update

Well, WW is going okay. I didn't count points on the weekend, but a combination of drinking enough water, eating less calories, and impending TOM caused me to drop 5 lbs in 4 days. Of course, less than perfect hydration tactics on my long ride on Saturday made me gain 3 of them back by this morning, but we take the good with the bad. I'm confident that they'll be gone again by Friday, and that's all that really matters.

Thursday, as I mentioned, was a 33 point day, and Friday was 31. Since I biked to work, though, my activity points offset the food enough to only use one flexpoint. Saturday, I don't know how it came out...I know I had around 14 activity points (APs), but also that I probably used them all at breakfast. Considering that I only ate one other meal that day (even if it WAS a cheeseburger...but with a salad!), I think I came out okay for the day overall. Sunday, well...I grazed. The second cheese sandwich was a bad idea, and so was slamming a liter of water at 2 pm when I was totally dying of thirst, instead of drinking steadily all day long. Still, I'm betting that I stayed pretty well on track for the weekend too, all things considered.

Today, on the other hand...started off well. The 5:30 spin class earned me 8 APs before breakfast, which was 6 points including the mid-morning latte*. Then I went and shot it all to hell with fajitas for lunch. I think I'm going to be fine, though...I still have 6 APs to swap before I start digging into my weekly flex. It's early yet, but I'm beginning to think that it might be possible to end this week with flexpoints left over. That would rule.

I don't know why, but I'm surprised that it's been this easy to get back to counting points. It was a constant struggle to eat less when I was trying to count calories, but something about the points thing keeps me under control. Maybe it's just that I had reached that critical point where I was ready to really DO something instead of just pretending and half-assing. Or maybe it is worth the $17/month for me. I haven't had much luck doing it any other way, that's for sure. You still won't see me in a meeting anytime soon, though.

Anyway, moving on to other subjects, I did try to do a longer ride on Saturday. Well, I guess I didn't TRY to...I ended up going just under 44 miles. However, it was ALL I COULD DO to go those last two. I don't know what's wrong with me. Granted, it was hot, and I was still recovering from a really bad sunburn (a souvenir from last weekend's road trip to Schlitterbahn), but it's beginning to irritate me that I can't go long distances worth a damn anymore. I'm signed up for the 60-mile Tour de Pink again this year, and I'd really like to finish with a better time than last year. At the rate I'm going, they're going to have to SAG me in from mile 45. I know that I have trouble with drinking enough fluids, but I went through 4 24-oz bottles on Saturday in 3 1/2 hours. I would have thought that would be enough to keep the chills and lightheadedness at bay for 44 damn miles--apparently not. Sigh. I guess I can blame my yankee blood. :) Can't take that TX heat. The good news is, the weather should be (better be) cooler by mid-September.

*1 c. hot oat bran cereal w/brown sugar and a little milk: 2.5
1 c. strawberries: 0.5
grande nonfat latte: 3