Sorry for not posting sooner. Good news is that I didn’t fall off the wagon (which I can understand you thinking given my last post included picture of cheesecake); bad news is that I’ve been too tired to post! I forgot how much exercising kicks you in the butt and makes you exhausted!
Part 1 – The Weigh In
By the title of this post, you see that I’ve lost 7.5 pounds which is pretty motivating. Need to make some disclaimers though. First, I don’t think that’s the norm, nor do I expect that every week, nor do I think one should lose that much weekly. Second, I’m not sure how much that is a true number. Yes, if you took my weight day #1 and day #7 it is a 7.5 pound difference. However, I honestly think I gained 2.5-3 pounds in the days before starting with lots of high-sodium, high-fat and let’s not forget yummy foods. I attribute those few pounds to water weight. So, let’s say 5 pounds. Still an awesome number, but I want to talk about how I plan to measure my success:
About 13 years ago, I did the “Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet” and it was actually very successful for me. For those of you not familiar with it, one of the parts of the program included weighing yourself every day. You are probably saying to yourself, “What???” Yes, I know that goes against most weight loss plans, but read on so you’ll understand. What they recommended was weighing yourself 1st thing every morning and averaging the week because your weight fluctuates daily. Then you compare your prior weekly average to your current weekly average so that you can get your true weight loss. I also found that having to weight yourself every day keeps you on track. All the times I slipped was because I stopped doing that. In case I didn’t explain it well, here’s my current daily weights (I’m doing it here according to pounds left to reach my goal not my actual weight):
Technically, you need two full weeks of weights to get your first average loss, but I put in my starting weight because that is what I’m measuring for my goal. Looking at this chart, I started with 43 pounds to lose (I secretly added those pesky 3 extra pounds to my goal) and if you take that versus my average for week one, it’s only a 4.6 pound change. Now we are in week 2 and so far I’m averaging a 3 pound loss for the week. Right now, my body is in first week weight loss mode dropping quickly (more on that later) but as it slows down, you’ll really see how your weight can fluctuate daily.
Part 2 – The Food
The weight loss seems pretty dramatic and I’m surprised that it is falling off this quickly. My last serious attempt at weight loss only yielded about a half-pound per week, but then I did allow carbs one meal per day per the Carbohydrate Addict’s diet. To truly kick-start my challenge, I decided to ban all grains and sugar for now and will figure out later how to add them back in slowly and healthily. I really wanted to detox as I am a severe carbohydrate addict (hence why the diet was so appealing to me back then). I truly forgot how well eating like this works for me. Within 2 days, my cravings were gone and I was only eating when I was actually hungry. I think I even had forgotten what true hunger was. Here’s my food journal:
First I was keeping a separate food journal and then I decided to keep it on the My Fitness Pal app (I’m way more detailed on the app than I was here). I wasn’t planning on counting calories, but the app does it for you automatically. I realized I am probably not eating enough, especially when you factor in my exercise. I don’t think the weight loss will be sustainable if I don’t add more in to get to at least 1200 calories a day.
I just typed up that spreadsheet from the app and I bored myself reading it. Problem is, I hate to cook. My version of cooking is something you can just throw in the oven and it’s done. Guess that’s how I ended up with roasted chicken all week. I will definitely need to mix things up and get a little more adventurous or I will get incredibly bored.
Part 3 – The Exercise
Getting back to exercise was a little easier this week because my husband was on vacation and could watch our daughter giving me some flexibility. More than I hate exercising, I hate starting over exercising again. I always think I’m up to what I used to be able to do and then I practically kill myself trying and end up with a migraine. I was shocked I didn’t give myself one on Monday. Here’s what I was able to do:
- Monday – “run” 3 miles and burned 341 calories (per Nike+ app)
- Tuesday – Spin class and burned 330 calories (per My Fitness Pal)
- Wednesday – “run” 2.7 miles, burned 289 calories and give myself a migraine…
- Thursday – Yoga Shakti DVD and burned 116 calories (ended up being only 1/2 hour)
- Friday – “run” 3.1 miles and burned 332 calories
- Saturday – no exercise
- Sunday – “run” 3.1 miles and burned 345 calories
Not bad for a first week. I was pretty surprised at how motivating the Nike+ app was. Given my competitive nature, it shouldn’t be surprising but I’m all about beating my own records and doing better each time. My “runs” have been more like power walking and still only gave about a 17 minute mile. Pretty sad, but certainly better than sitting on the couch – which is what I kept telling myself in order to finish. I was very winded at the end of my workouts and once again reminded how out of shape I am. On Sunday I ran with a friend and really enjoyed that (well, as much as I could enjoy exercise). We were pretty much at the same pace most of the time (at least I don’t think she was slowing down for me!).
I’m still trying to figure out the best time of day for me to exercise. I don’t like having to shower twice a day if I can avoid it and if I have to do it, I’d rather the second shower be in the evening, but that means missing out on evening family time. Wish I was one of those who could get up at 5am and exercise, but I don’t realistically see that happening. For right now, I’m just happy to get my butt off the couch.
Stay tuned as I continue my adventure and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @fitfabnforty
Fit, Fab & Forty 