Up-Down Challenge Weigh-in #19 and dinner tonight

Golden delicious polenta

We didn't publish an issue of the magazine last night, so I went to work today.  Because of that, the Beau took on dinner-making duties tonight and made an amazing dinner of polenta topped with a spicy chicken and mushroom tomato sauce - so good!  Polenta is one of our favourite carb substitutes; we buy it by the tube, slice it into thick disks and roast it in the oven so it's crisp on the outside but soft on the inside.  Polenta is made of cornmeal so it's not white-flour heavy like pasta or bread, but it's still delicious and really filling.  We've also started buying dried mushrooms because we both love mushrooms but can never cook the fresh ones quickly enough.  The dried mushrooms work really well in a sauce and added a nice touch to tonight's dinner.

But on to the weigh-in.  I didn't make it to the gym today, not because I didn't want to go but because it was so busy at work today that I didn't even get a break.  I probably could have stayed a bit later than I did, but not getting a lunch break meant after-work errands and I wanted to get home in good time.  Though I think a break from the gym was good for me; my muscles are a bit sore from weights yesterday and my shins were a bit achy (I've been stretching a lot because I really want to keep my running up!).

Tonight, the scale looked up at me and said 193.6 lb.  That's 0.8 lb down from last week (yay!) but still not the 190.2 lb that will get me a book (boo).  It's also not where I wanted to be but at least the number is going the right way. 

I know I can do this and I have to really work at not getting frustrated.  I also have to really work at making better choices and - this is most important - watching my portion sizes.  I've mentioned this before and I'm still not doing what I need to do.  But I am getting more vegetables and I've actually discovered I enjoy some fruit! 

So I'll keep trying. 

(Hm...can I blame the not-much weight loss on weight gain due to muscle gain?  Somehow I think that's wishful thinking!)