The nitty gritty

Looking back over the past few months, it seems we're hitting the same stage in our physical and financial weight loss journeys--the nitty gritty day by day, pound by pound, dollar by dollar fight for progress.  The easy weight is gone and now it's time to buckle down and break on through to the other side.  After blowing our food budget while simultaneously gaining weight last month, I've also realized the two are rather tightly coupled. There was a birthday in there and a couple extra opportunities for dates thanks to family members that were brave enough to babysit for our dynamic duo (something that sane parents of toddlers would never pass up on) but the fact of the matter is we set goals in both areas and didn't meet them.

That said, it's easy to get discouraged as household budgets, like weight loss journeys, have ups and downs and we must keep our eyes on the prize while maintaining a long-term vision of retirement and clothing sizes we haven't seen since high school.  Sure, my size 34 jeans may temporarily feel like sausage casings but that's just a healthy reminder to stop stuffing my face and get on my bike and shred some calories.  As with all things it's all about balance and the important thing is to get back on the horse and keep on truckin' while reminding ourselves that we're somewhere just south of 100lbs lighter combined since this time last year and we're spending an average of $2000/mo less (there is NOT an extra "0" in there!) compared to a few yrs ago when we started the journey I discussed here.  We've come a long way but there's still much work to do!