September! Wake me up when it ends, etc.

 I HAVE BIG GOALS THIS MONTH.

1. I want to catch up on my 25 for 25 and figure out where I am with that. Am I still with that? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GOALS?

2. After a weekend of wine and cocktails, I am doing a dry September.

(I am SO HAPPY, though, that my hormones work, and I can enjoy a drink or two when I want to and still sleep! It is a treat, really).

3. I am going to dial back in to healthy habits and focus on being in a calorie deficit and moving more aggressively toward my weight loss goal. 

Trigger warning: talking about weight loss even though I am straight sized woman:

I listened to a great podcast episode about why those last 10-ish pounds are so hard to lose, and the main takeaway is that we get sick of being in a deficit and start to relax habits without changing the diet mindset. For some people, that looks like letting small things slide (taking a bite here and there of kid food; adding coffee creamer without counting it toward daily macros; not paying attention to portion sizes-- these tiny things add up quickly in the course of a week); for others, it might be relaxing on the weekends in such an extreme way that our overall calorie deficit is eliminated. Either way, we can just get sick of the scarcity mindset that can be associated with eating less and never really feel like we've stopped dieting even though, calorie wise, we are actually eating at maintenance. To avoid this kind of burn out, we should be intentional about deficit phases AND maintenance instead of just chronically dieting.

This made SO much sense to me because I was doing BOTH THINGS but not really enjoying either one and also feeling like I wasn't meeting any fitness goals. So! For the last week, I have been very consciously not worrying about a calorie deficit and enjoying the heck out of it. (Two cocktails in one day at two different meals! EXCELLENT pizza and ice cream in Eau Claire, s'mores by the backyard fire, etc). 

But! I have also been prioritizing eating 30 grams of fiber and around 100 grams of protein every day, paying attention to sodium intake, and watching added sugar outside cocktails and intentional desserts. With the above Tito's and lemonade, for example, I had a walnut and lentil burger with no bun and a mixed green salad  (plus cheese curds because WISCONSIN).

4. Clean up Harry's room 

5. Figure out what we are doing with our bedroom situation. Losing the bunk beds in Harry's room? Letting Cooper move in there when Harry is not home?

6. JOG. I was just telling Elisabeth how annoying it is that Ben woke up after decades of not setting aside intentional time to exercise, exercising, laced up his running shoes, and started doing a 5K every day. But then I thought... why not join him? Not every day, certainly, but I am going to do it at least once a week in September with the goal of a Thanksgiving 5K and a New Year's Day one.

7. Level up in terms of my weighted vest and dumbbells.

8. Join a gym with Ben because WINTER IS COMING

9. Adjust to our fall rhythm before the end of the month. I have 2 huge lecture classes next semester that I need to prepare for, and I don't want to suddenly wake up in October with nothing done and current midterms to deal with-- you know???