Successes, habits to maintain, and areas to improve

Starting weight: 218.6 (10/28/2009)
Last week: 193.6
This week:191.8
Difference: -1.8
Total: -26.8

41 week challenge update:
39 weeks left
27.6 pounds to go

(Something is wrong with the Ticker Factory site because it is not letting me update my tracker ticker or even create a new one to post.)

I was extremely surprised by such a large loss this week. My home scale only showed a 1 pound loss in the morning. I think it may have had a little to do with the clothes I wore, and a lot to do with my water intake not being as high as normal for that time of day and not having eaten either a morning or afternoon snack. The only part of this "formula" I am going to pay attention to at all is the clothing to wear for weigh ins. It is very easy for me to recreate my outfit for work, as the pants I wore I own in 3 colors, and the tanks/camis I have a ton of because I layer them under everything. I do not want to play games with the scale where I'm restricting my water and food during the day do I have a better number on the scale when I go. I may come up with a general weigh in day menu for before the meeting, just to keep that somewhat consistent (ie. cereal w/ milk for breakfast, sandwich with fruit/veggies/yogurt for lunch, and some sort of small snack)

Some restaurant related NSVs:
 - I went to Cheesecake Factory on Sunday and I:
       1) did not order my normal meal of chicken and biscuits. I got the lunch portion of grilled salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans.
       2) did not finish all my mashed potatoes (completely unheard of for me as I'm a potato addict).
       3) did not order cheesecake! I was satisfied with what I'd eaten (why I stopped eating my mashed potatoes) and realized I didn't really want any cheesecake at that time.
 - I went to Uno's after weigh in and only ate 1/4 of my 5-grain thin crust pizza and 2/3 of my dessert and was perfectly satisfied with my meal.

I'm slowly remembering what it is like to eat while listening to my body,not finishing food because I think I should, knowing that stopping when I'm satisfied is a good thing and it is ok at that point to throw away the leftovers or save them for another meal.

I'm still struggling some days to get in all my water and I did not take my multivitamin every night like I wanted for the week. I'm also struggling with my fruit and veggie intake. These are all things I know I can work on and am working on slowly but surely.