Weight has been up and down the past couple of weeks. Never down all the way to my goal weight. However, it’s the holidays. I think I’m doing really well, paying attention yet not going crazy about it. This next week, I won’t lose weight. Might even gain a couple pounds. Then it’s my birthday – more celebration.

It’s been a learning experience. I have a really good idea why I gain weight every holiday season. I also think that since I’m paying so much more attention to what I’m eating, the weight won’t last this year.

I changed my schedule around, so I’m now going to the gym in the evenings rather than first thing in the morning. Blaze has been a great help making sure I go. We’ve missed some nights, so I’m probably going less often than I would be if I was going first thing in the morning. However, I’m still getting there more nights than not.

I hurt my hip sometime last week. Still not exactly sure what I did. Twisted or strained it or something. When I go to the gym, I’ve just been doing the elliptical, and not walking on the treadmill. So my number of steps for the last week have gone down. That’s okay – better to heal.

The novel went well for a while last week, then it didn’t. It’s just been going very slowly.

So on Saturday, I pivoted, and wrote a short story in the world that Blaze and I are developing together. Then I wrote a second short story on Sunday. Today, my schedule just freed up, so I may write a third short story in as many days. Yay.

I’ve been having many good days in a row. Not weeks of good days (as there is always a bad day tucked in there somewhere.) But ten or twelve, followed by a single bad day, then ten or twelve good days again. It’s been rather remarkable. I’m not 100% certain which changes have led to this. But chances are, it’s a combination of these things:

–Getting my six cups of veggies every day. This is crucial.
–Eating more kale. This also appears to be crucial.
–More thyroid medication. We increased my dosage and it really seems to have made a huge difference.

The last recent change that I’ve made is the one I’m least certain of. I’m taking a new fish oil that has CoQ10 added to it. I started it just before I started having good days. So maybe that’s helping, maybe not.

It is surprising how nice it is to have long stretches of good days in a row. I start thinking about maybe I can start taking a yoga class or something. Am holding off – this is not the time of year to be adding something more to my plate.

What are you doing to retain some level of sanity through the holidays?