Hi, everyone!

Thanks for hanging in there with me yesterday-- it was a tough one. I'm feeling much better today. There’s no need to sugarcoat it: I had a bad day, I was discouraged, and I let it get to me. But here’s the thing—bad days don’t have to turn into bad weeks. I woke up today, stepped on the scale, and was reminded that one slip doesn’t erase all my progress. 

So what helped me reset? First, stepping back and remembering the science—you don’t gain real weight from one day of overeating, and my night-time weigh-in was meaningless. That simple fact kept me from spiraling. I also focused on taking care of myself instead of punishing myself. I took a shower, curled up in my blankets, drank my water, and reminded myself that today is a new day. And now, here I am, moving forward.

(Also, never weigh yourself at night. Night weigh-ins are fake news. That's not fat-- it's water, food, poop, and lies. Weigh yourself in the morning and then stay away from that scale until tomorrow!)

I didn’t gain six pounds overnight. I didn’t undo months of work in one moment of frustration. My body is still changing. I am still changing. And I am still in this. 

Also, I was so busy having a pity party yesterday that I forgot to mention—did you notice the new look? It took me-- no joke-- weeks to find a theme that actually works for this blog. I started searching at least two, if not three, weeks before even writing my first post. The problem? Almost everything out there is optimized for photography-heavy, magazine-style layouts rather than text. I wanted something clean, simple, and designed for actual writing—which was much harder to find than it should have been. So, when I finally stumbled upon this one, I was so excited! I think it’s such an improvement over the old look. What do you guys think?

Tonight, I went to a Galentine's Day party with a bunch of other single female grad students (most of whom I met for the first time), and we had pizza and treats (I brought chips and artichoke dip) and watched Jane Eyre. I ate more than I intended to, but it's not a big deal-- one meal or one day doesn't define the journey; showing up consistently does. It was a fun night, and it was good to make friends, which is something I have really struggled with in the year I've lived here. I really want to make more of an effort socially, even though that's hard for me. 

I also DNFed the book I was reading-- something I rarely do. The book in question (Long Island by Colm Tóibín) was the sequel to Brooklyn, a book I read over Christmas break. Brooklyn became one of my top ten, maybe even top five historical fiction books of all time. The sequel was nothing like that, though-- the main story arc made no sense based on how the characters were established in Brooklyn and the writing (which was gorgeous in the first book) felt like a chore to read, and so I ended up DNFing about a third of the way through because it was such a slog. (For those of you not familiar with Goodreads slang, "DNF" means "Did Not Finish.") So hopefully this weekend I can scroll through my Goodreads "Want to Read" shelf and find something good to start. 

I guess that's about it for tonight. I stayed out later than I thought I would (these younger grad students do not understand the #grannylife) so I'm going to bed fairly imminently. 

Until next time, 

Simone

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Friday, 14 February 2025
(The Feast of St. Cyril and St. Methodius)

Location: Ohio (home)

Reading: Nothing right now (DNFed Long Island)

Weight: 319.9 lbs. (145.1 kg)