the cost of weight loss

Last year I was doing incredibly well managing my money, but now debt is accruing. I'll need every penny of the bonus pay I'll get this semester to get out of it.

The culprit? Weight loss.

I don't mean the $20/month I give to Weight Watchers for my online-only membership. That's minor and totally worth it. No, I mean the amount of money I'm spending on clothes and shoes. Yes, I also need smaller shoes. My credit card statements for this month show I spent $644 on clothes, and last month I spent $424! That's almost more than I spent on food, which was $732 this month and $640 last month.

Healthy food is expensive. So are new clothes.

Plan: reduce money spent at Starbucks ($75 last month!!). Waste less food. Only buy clothes that are absolutely necessary to get me through the rest of the semester. Which should be nothing. I think I'm prepared now until I drop another size.

Loving the program!

How great is it that I can eat 7-cheese ravioli from Boston Pizza and still lose weight! I left 1/4 on the plate, and I have very few weeklies left, but I'm working it! 

Travel this time has been more of a challenge than in January or May or July. I think the difference is that I'm traveling alone and it makes me less self-aware. J was with me the other times. For example, today I stopped at a convenience store to use the washroom. I always buy something when I do that; I chose a Diet Dr Pepper, then looked for food. It seemed so natural to have a candy bar! I fought the temptation and bought cashews instead. And I counted them. Because I want to be in control of my health. 

Tonight in the hotel room was hard too. In the past, J and I would have cookies or some cake. I had a Fibre 1 cookie brownie. It wasn't what I wanted but I told myself that's what I could have. A bit later I had microwave popcorn. 

Good choices I made this trip: 

🍎 Bought lots of fruit at the grocery as well as veg to roast and the Fibre 1 brownies. 

🥕 Roasted the vegetables and made quinoa to share with my hosts. 

📋 Tracked everything. 

🚶🏻‍♀️Walked 2 miles on 2 different days. 

🍝 Left yummy ravioli on the plate. 

🛌 Got plenty of sleep. 

🌲 Enjoyed nature. 

Struggles: 

🙊 I didn't do my physical therapy at all. 

🍕 I ate half a slice more of homemade pizza than I meant to. I was tempted and succumbed. 

🍪 I had a muffin at the coffee shop. This wasn't a terrible choice, since it was made in-house and wasn't giant. 

💦 I had trouble getting my water. I was drinking far too much soda. I bought a pack of water bottles (sorry earth 🌏) and that helped a lot. 

Tomorrow I fly home and I dread hanging out in the airport in my weaker-willed condition. I'll look up some restaurants at the airport so I'll have a plan. 

Thanks for reading.