My Buddha-ful Life

yesterday was Fat Tuesday and the first day this year I've intentionally gobbled a serving of meat.  I made fried chicken and decided my 10% animal protein consumption - if it was going to happen at all - should be on Fat Tuesday.  It was a night of misfires:  chicken, mashed potatoes, cheddar biscuits.  Brown food on a black plate. However, back on track today and I weighed myself (reluctantly) this AM to discover I'm actually down a bit more.  204.9, from 212.8 right before the new year.  That's 8 lbs in six weeks.  Still on target for a 195-ish birthday in late April. Exercise and meditation have fallen off this week, however, though I meditated at the Center on Sunday and Monday, and hiked w/ Wendy today.  Still not in what I would call a 'groove'.

So, after a month of eating (mostly) along the PBWF guidelines, I've lost about 7 lbs, but I'm reminded how much better I could be doing if I hadn't fallen in love with avocado toast (on Ezekiel bread...with three or four pistachios) so early on this journey, and how saying "Well, natural peanut butter is a whole food" is not necessarily doing me any favors. It's a whole lot better than a bag of Tostitos or M&Ms, but I'm sorta ready to graduate to the next level of discipline with my choices.

I'm still here.  Still reporting. Slowly moving toward my goal, or at least still staring it down. I haven't weighed myself in a few days, but at last check, I'd gone from 213 in late December to 206 last week.   My adherence to being meat-free is going well, save 'taste testing' a bite of bacon I made for Grady earlier this week.  Mostly, it's the cheating w/ a processed granola bar, some Cheez-Its, or going for the higher fat Whole Foods, such as nuts, peanut butter, and avocados. Exercise has been sporadic.  Two gym visits, a short yoga session, and a walk this week.  Work and refusal to work around my work schedule conspired against me.  I have a free weekend, in terms of hard commitments.  I need to exercise both days. I am determined to stay with this.   I want to hit my goal weight, but I also just want to feel like I'm making good choices.  I think a lot of my depression and anxiety stems from feeling bad about the choices I m...