You should not tease or play tricks for a laugh.

Various weight-loss related observations:

• Holy shit, I can actually feel muscles in my upper arms, upper back near my shoulders, and thighs. It kind of weirded me out at first because it's so strange to suddenly touch your arm and feel that it's kind of hard. I don't think I've ever actually noticed muscles in myself before.
• Since I've noticed this, I've decided I'm not going to let myself get bummed out by the numbers on the scale anymore. Well, I haven't been exactly depressed by them (because they have gone down every time, just not very much) but now I realize that it's not that I'm not losing, it's that I'm replacing fat with muscle - which is probably much better in the long run. Also, let's face it, despite how many pills, programs, etc. claim to do just so, it's really not that healthy to lose 10 pounds in one week.
• For the past few weeks, I've basically just been eating less of regular foods because we didn't go shopping until last weekend and I didn't have much choice. So now that I've got much healthier food to choose from, it's ridiculous how much more I can eat in a day. I had gotten used to basically having one main thing for every meal and then one or two little sides with it and feeling hungry later in the day but now I'm actually struggling to get in enough calories and nutrients because I'm like, holy shit, I can eat so much now! It's crazy the difference it makes.
• When I first started this, I was like, no way, I'm never going to actually enjoy drinking tons of water because I never have before. But I've actually gotten in my recommended eight cups a day all this week now and I find that I'm not missing the beverages I've replaced it with at all! I thought I would crave regular pop (I still drink diet every now and then, when I eat out mostly) - not to mention sweets, salty snacks, fried foods, etc. - and while I'm not exactly at the point where I would no longer enjoy these things if I did have them, I don't find myself particularly missing them either.
• For the first time after a walk yesterday, my legs didn't continue to ache afterward. And I don't think they will today either. It's been a couple of hours and they don't really ache at all. Also, it takes me much less time to get my heart rate and breathing back to normal following a long walk; really, only a couple minutes. Actually, I don't really get out of breath at all anymore. I guess that means it's about time to increase the intensity or something.
• Of course I am still a fairly short ways into this and it could all come crashing down but I really feel like it's going to stick this time. I feel much better about it and less like I'm dieting, more like I'm making a total lifestyle change. Which is how it's supposed to feel.