Day 26 of P5: Struggling with the Sleep, Salt Cravings Again, Scale Stasis, New Gadget Thanks to Allan, and Need to Bag Up Clothes from Winter....and get new stuff soon for SPRING! Oh, and stretch those hip flexors for better sex....seriously....

No movement on Tanita-San, which is mildly frustrating. Only mildly, cause I really just want to fix my sleep schedule, and that's my priority. Once I fix that, the scale will move.

I know. This has happened in cycles before.

I was not at all surprised by those recent circulated study findings correlating sleep and weight. I've always noticed that when I can't sleep well (as evidenced by these bags and circles under my eyes and the general loss of energy), I can't lose well. Or lose, period. I go into a holding pattern.

I don't know the science/physiology behind it, but I know in my life, it's true. To fight fat, I need good rest, good sleep.

I'm totally messed up now. Been hitting the sack anywhere from 4:30 am to 6:30 am and getting up anywhere from 9:30 am  on. I only got one good "night's" rest this week. One day was less than 4 hours, the others in the 5 hour range. That is a far cry from my natural need, which is about 81/2 to 9 hours when I'm well, 10+ when I'm not.

I can't make up for it Saturday, as the cable guy is coming....so we need to be up. No late sleep.

Catch up sleep doesnt' work too well in middle-age, I've noticed. It takes anywhere from 2 days of good rest to up to a week for me to feel normal again in terms of energy, appetite, and weight loss.

Well, we'll get it done!

I'm also fighting those salt cravings again. I just want to dive into a bowl of salted nuts or salted roasted veggies or salted crusty bread or blackened salty chicken breast or salted lettuce or...salted salt. Demon! Demon sodium chloride, begone!

On the positive front: I got a cool little doohickey called a VIA Heart by New Balance. It's like a jacked up pedometer you clip on to your clothes/belt that measures not just time and steps, but distance, calories burned and pulse rate. That's pretty cool. I just put on a watch to walk, so it will be fun to have other measures handy...once I figure out how to work it, as I'm a stupid-butt when it comes to technology --and thank God for being married to a computer dude or I wouldn't know what to do when my laptop goes funky! Thanks, A!

I couldn't find a pic of the exact one I have--a gray and orange red Via Heart--but this one is kinda close to how it looks:

I have some new piles of clothes that I need to separate and bag. I lost another inch off my hips/belly area and my new bras are already on hooks set number 2 (out of the three, the middle one). I'll have to hit Lane Bryant or the mall soon for a couple new ones (sports and regular) so that I don't get caught with ungainly bras like I did last time. I'm gonna be prepared to keep the puppies happy and uplifted.

I figure another couple bags of clothes will be ready for donation by weekend's end. More space for me. I even have some bras I never got to wear and won't now since my size is radically different--on top of which I found out I was DD and not just D, and had been wearing the wrong cup size for AGES....a good fit makes a huge difference in appearance and comfort. Glad I got sized. Need to be resized before buying new ones, too.

I can tell I've lost more off my belly. The skin saggage is worse. Bleh. Not a pretty sight, the deflating tumtum. I even apologized to hubby for deforming my body and having it such a state now as a consequence, so that he has to see the saggage as I walk around nekkid (a habit, and I sleep commando, so it's not like I'm hiding the damage.)

He said, "What are you apologizing for!? You're gorgeous. And you're amazing."  And I promptly jumped his bones and showed just how amazing.

Um...Pavlovian response to glowing and sparkly husbandly adoration of my whack body.

Sex Note: Those hip flexor stretches on the Cadillac in Pilates. OMG. Yes. You want to stretch those babies. Amazing positions are possible even if you're still fat!

 Well, getting rid of the "interference" makes it better, too. Less stuff in the way, more closeness, more nimbleness.

Do some stretching today after your walk or cardio or strength-training. Don't forget those hips. Wink, wink.

Be well today, and here's to all of us sleeping well tonight...