In Training: 60 days later

I'm officially 2 months into my year-long quest to lose 50 pounds, so I figured it was time for another update. The past 30 days brought a whole new set of challenges, as well as some pretty significant rewards.

Work finally started to pick up again after a very slow summer, so my carefully controlled routine of meals and workouts pretty much went out the window in September. For the first time, I really had to focus on planning day-to-day to adhere to as much of my regular routine as possible. I have a whole new appreciation for the rigorous routines of athletes. After a month of regular exercise, well-timed meals and good sleep, I started to feel the impact of disruptions in my normal plan in my energy level, and I didn't like it. For the first time, I hit a plateau in my weight loss, and even started to see the scale move the wrong direction on a couple of occasions.

For starters, September was s busy travel month. Between business and personal adventures, I was away from home roughly half the month. On one trip to a meeting in Cleveland, that meant having a normal breakfast, followed by a delayed flight and a sprint through the Dallas airport to my connection, missing lunch completely. Throw in a time change, and I ended up not eating dinner until 11 PM, which meant even hotel room service was done and the only food I could find was pizza delivery. Not exactly a healthy choice, and a workout that evening wasn't in the cards either. I quickly realized all I could do was control as much as possible, and give myself some leeway when things went a little haywire. The bright spot in my schedule craziness was the start of hockey season, which gave me built in exercise time on home game days. I kept the promise I made to myself when I moved downtown to walk the 10 blocks each way to and from Staples Center, and it's a ritual I've come to enjoy almost as much as the game.

The other complication, albeit a happy one, is my wardrobe situation. I got to the point where my pants won't stay up, proportions on things are wrong, and shirts that used to be tight are now so loose I can't bend over without flashing someone. While this is a great problem to have in the sense that I means I'm still losing weight, it also means I spend more time packing. Before, I knew what fit together and I could practically pack with my eyes closed. Now packing for a trip means trying everything on, seeing what still fits and is OK to wear for work.

As I discovered my old stand-by clothes no longer worked, I figured it was time to clean out the closet. I spent an entire evening trying everything on, weeding out 2 bags of clothes that didn't fit, and making a shopping list of wardrobe holes to fill. As happy as I am to need smaller clothes, getting rid of some things was hard because of the memories attached to them. The black dress pants I bought on my first trip to NYC after Michelle moved there. The dress I wore on New Year's Eve in Ireland. The Michael Kors safari jacket that kept me covered in Paris, Venice, Croatia and Turkey. The one thing I couldn't bear to part with was the dress I wore to Tanya's wedding, although it's now two sizes too big. It moved to a spot in the very back of the closet until I decide what to do with it. The jeans that haven't fit in 3 years moved to the front!

So what's the verdict on my total weight loss so far? I'm almost half way to my goal, having officially lost 24 pounds to date! And while the pace slowed a bit with everything going on this past month, I'm still headed in the right direction. I guess it's time for a small celebration...time for some new clothes!