Fire Up for Fall Week 2 Update

I think I called last week week 2 when it was really week 1.

Here's today's positive picture.  It's me, just now, wearing a $4 Salvation Army score sweater that I got on Friday.  It's an older LL Bean.  The color's different from the 27 other green sweaters I have (green matches my eyes), and I almost didn't buy it because it's a little tight.  But then I realized that the sweater makes me look good.  I'm excited because my neck has more definition and my pants are loose today.  And I'm wearing a sweater that doesn't cover everything over!

1. What have you done this week to help get to your goals? 
I continued the good behaviors, exercising 6/7 days and eating under my calorie goal 6/7 days.  For my good results, MFP offered to recalculate my calorie limits and now I only get 1300 per day instead of 1370!

2. What have you done to make yourself feel fabulous?
I worked on relaxing and rediscovering my identity.  Thought about what I'd do differently if I were to do things because they make me feel good instead of working towards impossible goals.  Contemplated a life where I'm not struggling so hard all the time.  Practiced asking myself often how I feel and what my wants and needs are.  Meditation class starts tomorrow!

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What are your goals? Ambitions?
I want to be married or living with my other half, maybe even with kids.  I want to have a strong network of friends and be a part of a "tribe."  I want to be settled in my community.  I've already traveled the world and had a few neat careers.  What I never had was a strong family, and as soon as I'd start to settle into a place I'd get antsy and move.  When I fix the patterns that have kept me solo and on the move (and fat), hopefully I'll be calm enough to settle down.

I want to be healthier at 50 than I was at 40.

4. Give us a tip or a fact. About anything, what is something great you've heard that everyone should know?
Here are links to some health blogs that I like.  I spent a lot of time in the last year following folks who are figuring out how we get fat.  Disagreements over the science, whether it's carbohydrates, insulin, food reward, palatability, etc, kept me safely away from taking action for a long, long time.  I recently have begun seeing my mortality, and realized that I need to own my body NOW, rather than wait for medical understanding to figure out obesity.  Here are some of the science/medicine/obesity blogs that I read:
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
http://carbsanity.blogspot.com/
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/
http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/
http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/
http://rdfeinman.wordpress.com/

5. Fun Question: What was your most recent dream that you can remember? 
Last week I had a dream that I woke up and wrote right down.  I dreamed that I went to the grocery store. It was a fancy store and I bought a lot of stuff, including some $60 hair stuff like shampoo or conditioner. Then I went back to the house and it was an old house in a city and I guess I had roommates or houseguests. Then some bad guys broke in and I felt helpless as they were doing whatever they came to do, which was bad. But then I ran to get my camera and took pictures out the front window of their car and started to take pictures of them, which was bad for them. Then one of them tried to shoot himself but I knocked the gun out of his hand and he pulled out a smaller gun and tried again, but it didn't work. And then I woke up.

I was upset when I first woke up, but then realized that the dream could be about me taking action and being powerful, and I felt better.