Soooo...one week later, and I am finally settled back into my diet and exercise routine...sort of. I didn't have too much trouble getting back on my proper eating plan. Mostly it was the exercising that I was struggling with. I tell ya, no matter how long you have been working out, it is hard as hell to get back into the swing of things after a break. It was weird b/c my body felt so icky when I wasn't exercising. I felt like the pounds were piling back on, and I didn't care for that. However, I still lacked the motivation to hop onto the elliptical machine. Luckily, Saturday felt like a good day for a fresh start. I walked 3 miles at a local track near my house. Then on Sunday I did a 30 min cardio workout video, and yesterday I took a 1 hour yoga class. I am so sore that I can barely walk right now. It hurts so good!

Now, I qualified my original statement with "kinda" b/c I am also trying to study for a big test that I am taking this Saturday. I really wanted to go hard this week and study each night for 3 - 4 hours. However, doing that definitely cuts out exercising. Yesterday I ran 3 errands before yoga, and then picked up dinner after yoga. By the time that I came home, showered and ate it was 10:30, and I was exhausted. No studying went down. Today I am planning to get in a 30 min work out video at home, and then study for the remainder of the evening. That's pretty good. I wanted to get to another yoga class tomorrow, but with the timing...I just don't think its gonna happen. At least it's only for one week, though. No real complaints here.

Let's talk about body image, losing weight, and how much is too much. I recently told my conscience that I was gonna participate in an online picture weight loss challenge. You post pics of yourself each week for 12 weeks wearing the same clothes to document your weight loss. My goal was gonna be 20lbs, bringing me down to 150lbs. When I said this, he looked genuinely confused as to where I was going to find another 20 lbs of fat to lose. I mean...of course we don't want to sacrifice too much more of the booty...so where else is there? Honestly, I'm not sure what my goal weight/size is anymore. On the one hand, I can definitely see my weight loss in my face, arms, torso, and some parts of my legs. On the other hand, I'm not definitely a pants size smaller. Most of my current pairs of pants are too big, but when I go to the store it isn't a guarantee that I can get into a size 12 (one size smaller than my previous size). It's weird...like clearly I have lost weight, but sometimes I still feel big.

I think that I have two abstract goals. #1 I'd like to thin out and tone up my thighs and my stomach. All other areas..I'm good w/just focusing on toning. #2 I don't ever want to be at 190lbs+ ever again. This means that should I ever have kids (God willing) and gain the requisite 20 - 30lbs, then I want to top out at around 180lbs. This would keep me near to a healthy weight for my height and at a do-able weight for getting back into shape. Of course for that to happen, I'd have to be starting out around 150 - 160lbs. *le sigh* I don't know. I definitely don't want to be focused on weight loss forever. I'd much rather get to a place where I can just work on maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle. I guess I am just going to stick with my plan to work out a min of 4 times per week and eat right. If that means that I lose more weight, then so be it. If not, then I am fine with that as well. If I opt to step my game up a bit in order to better accomplish my 1st goal, then I'll do that as well.