Well, folks, I weighed in today, and have lost a couple more pounds from my last unofficial weigh-in! I was very excited to see that I had gotten out of the 170's, and barely squeaked by into the 160's, but I'm there! So now I'm officially not in the obese range, but still in the overweight category, of course. I have only one pound to go before I hit my monthly goal, but I intend to keep going. Since I started my Dietbet diet and exercise program, I've been obsessing about my weight, and everytime I passed my bathroom, would get on the scale. I discovered that you can vary from 2 to 2.5 lbs. a day, so I want to at least get to be a few lbs. lighter, so I can be sure not to be on the heavier side of my day when I do my final weigh-in. Plus, now that I am seeing some results, I want to keep going, and lose as much as I can as fast as possible. And now I'm not feeling the urge to check my weight 10x a day!
A friend that I work with is a personal trainer (I work at a gym), and she told me that it's best not to put too much emphasis on numbers, rather, see how you feel. For instance, a couple of days ago, I got into jeans that I could not get into before (for a LONG time), and the jeans that I normally would wear, I need a belt to hold them up now! Yeah! She also warned me that the easiest time is your first week. At some point, you will plateau, and it will be a little more discouraging, and will take a little longer to lose. I kind of knew this, but it's good to hear it from someone who really knows all about diet and exercise. Although I have been working at the gym for 4 months now, I only sporadically exercised (VERY sporadic!), and the last month not at all. So last week, I worked out 4 times, about a half hour each time, and will do the same this week. That's not huge, but a decent start!
I also joined My Fitness Pal (a friend at work recommended), and I'm surprised that I was able to lose any weight at all until I used this. I've only used it for two days, and I was quite surprised that some of the things that I was eating had such high calories! For instance, I was eating very healthy meals, but was adding a good sized dose of Bleu Cheese dressing to get the raw veggies down. I originally counted it as only 36 calories (shown on My Fitness Plan as generic Bleu Cheese). I mean, I knew Bleu Cheese dressing was probably pretty high in calories, but didn't realize how high! Yesterday, I input the brand name, and lo and behold, it was really 130 CALORIES I was eating! Yikes! So that's going in the trash! Before My Fitness Pal, I was not accurately measuring portions, just kind of guessing. Guess I lost lbs. due to cutting out all sodas, breads and sweets, which have been my downfall in the past.
I HAVE been feeling more energetic, and now when I want something sweet, I reach for a clementine or roasted almonds, instead of cookies or candy. I'm even thinking of clementines as my "orange candy" now, but I am counting calories on that one as well. Usually only get one of those a day. I am allowing myself one small dark chocolate square a night, and one cheat item on Sundays, and yes, I am counting it all! Only get one, though, so I'm not undoing all the good that I've done during the week. That way, I won't go crazy, and go off the diet altogether! So every day, I plan my menu for the next day, and the more I do this, the better I will get at planning healthier meals.
Let me know how you all are doing! Love to hear from you guys, and any advice that you can share is certainly welcome!
Take care,
Dona