Month: April 2018

Cheat Day

During week three we had Easter to contend with. While I was willing to concede to the idea of not counting calories for the day, and thus having a “cheat day,” I was very worried about the idea of eating any cake, candies, or cookies.

In the past Desserts have had a tendency to be my downfall. Once I allow myself one, my whole diet derails. I was extremely concerned about potentially falling off the wagon.

Easter morning I had a protein bar for breakfast. Then later, I avoided all snacking until it was time for brunch. Snacking can really get people into trouble. During brunch I had three plates of food (SOOOOO FULLLLL). I got small portions of everything I wanted, including *GASP* a piece of carrot cake, and one cookie. My willpower had given out, leading way to the desserts, but I didn’t go overboard, as I often do.

After this binge, I was so full, that I could not have squeezed anything else in if I had wanted too. Hubbs wasn’t feeling good (sad face), and I could feel myself slipping into a food coma. We crashed, and HARD! Really – we had the deepest most comfy sleep ever. Honestly we probably could have just slept the whole night through.

Boy did my stomach hate me after eating all that food. My poor stomach has been used to eating a few hundred calories every meal, and then in one sitting I grossly surpassed my usual daily calorie intake. I was nervous to weigh myself the day after, so I avoided it. (Which you should not do!) Two days after Easter though, I was back down to my previous weigh in of 151lbs.

Progress?

Today marks the last day of week three. All week I have hovered around 151  lbs. The photo shows my current weight. To be honest (and share a little maybe TMI) I have not pooped most of the week. After I do, I am assuming that I will see the weight drop again.

Today I took measurements so that I can have another marker, besides weight to evaluate progress. The measurements I took are in the photo below. After thinking about it further,  it might be a good idea to also measure and track the ankle in order to see if there is any swelling/water retention going on.

Changes:

For the coming week we have decided to drop my calorie intake to 1500. This shouldn’t be challenging for me, because typically I am not eating all of the calories I have available to me in the first place.

In the last blog I talked about how weight fluctuation should be expected. However staying virtually the same weight for two weeks is a little tough on the psyche. Hubbs and I talked and we agreed that I may be holding a lot of water. Last year I read that apple cider vinegar will help with water retention, so I am hoping that by taking some over the next few days will help release some of this water.

In addition to apple cider vinegar I will also increase my water intake. Drinking water will flush all the old water out of my system, and is essential for overall health and fat loss. I am not on any water restrictions, so I am going to make a big effort over the week to get more water in.

Hopefully next week I will have more exciting results to post.

Week two of summer shredding is over!

The last two weeks I have been very strict about my diet. Especially about the no cookies, candy, etc part of it. Of course I was also very strict about staying under 1600 calories, and getting at least two miles of cardio in per day. There was something I struggled to do, however, and that was loose weight.

Weight – it fluctuates

There is some debate about whether or not a person should weigh themselves every day. Most people in the actual fitness world seem to agree that it is important to weigh yourself every day. I have also been told by my doctors to weigh myself every day, to be alert for fluid retention.

Often in the past, when I knew that I was going to have a heavy weigh in,  I would avoid weighing myself all together, which was really a vicious cycle. Weighing myself daily helps me know exactly where I am at. The people that recommended less frequent weigh ins, (typically weekly or biweekly) recommended that philosophy on the basis of the simple fact that the scale fluctuates. With that fluctuation some people can get discouraged. It is important to realize that the numbers on the scale may not go down every day. There are a number of factors that can affect weigh-ins.

• Holding water
• Eating extra salty foods
• How late you ate your meal the night prior
• How late you were drinking water
• Maybe you just need to poop
• ETC

On Wednesday I woke up weighing 150.4. On Thursday I woke up a whole pound heavier, likely thanks to the glass of wine I had the night prior.  In fact my weight stayed about the same all week, fluctuating up and down by a fraction of a pound.

Thus it is important not to just go by the numbers on a scale, but how a person feels. I feel great, and according to our fancy scale my muscle percentage has gone up by .4%. The same two people weighing 150 lbs can look extremely different based on how much muscle they have.The more muscle a person has, the more food they can eat. So really – I want all the muscles!!

For every day sustainable long term weight loss, don’t expect the numbers on the scale to go down extremely quickly. Fast weight loss, or more than a few pounds a week, can actually be damaging to overall fitness goals.

Other success markers

Not only have I been feeling great but I am looking better as well. In order to have more progress markers, I have decided that next week I am going to take body measurements. In fact, I don’t know why I didn’t do this before!

Dedication and motivation is all in the mind

The last two weeks have been a challenge. It is not just changing my actions, but I have been working to change my thinking. For example, telling myself that I don’t want any chocolate, has helped to stay strong. I know I am lying, you know I am lying, but eventually the idea is that my mind wont even think about chocolate because I don’t want it. At this point the desire for chocolate is no longer an issue, and the habit of not eating chocolate has developed.

Good habits are ultimately the key to success in most anything in life. There have been many days, (including today) where I do not want to do cardio. I have almost talked myself out of doing cardio quite a few times. The problem with skipping a day, is that if I talk myself out of cardio today, it will be easier to talk myself out of it tomorrow, and even easier the next day. Then after a few days, I have ended up right back where I started.

Treat yo Self!

As a treat to myself and hubby for being good, I ordered us some new workout clothing. I read somewhere (probably Pinterest) that you should reward yourself with things other than food. Not only will new workout gear make us feel good, but we will want to go to the gym and use our new gear, thus cementing a good habit.