RESULTS: Lost 1 pound for a total of 5 pounds!

I've been at this for three weeks today – and thank goodness I've been able to see progress every week because it's starting to get a bit…tiring. 😉

This weekend I had an all-day party on Saturday so I tried really hard to be good all week so I could overeat a little at the party. 🙂 I stayed well under my calorie count Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday, I ate 280 calories over the limit – I think because I had ramen noodles for lunch and thought that only the calories mattered. But I think it was the high-carbs/no-protein that caused me to crave sweets and have the munchies the rest of the day!

Eating at the party was fun and delicious and I mostly ate what I wanted, including a peach ale. But I decided I'd log everything, no matter how much I ate. I guess the two weeks of being careful was already becoming a habit because I only went 336 over (as compared to the 1200 or so calories over the day before my diet started). Not much more than on Wednesday. But did some of that junk food affect me on Sunday? Because I had the munchies Sunday, too. (I ate right up to my calorie limit and still thought I felt hungry.)

But with five “under” days, and not being horribly bad on the two “over” days, I still lost one pound. Granted, I'd gotten used to losing two pounds, so I have to admit I was a little disappointed. But my goal is to lose one pound a week and I did that this week! I've also learned the difference in how some foods affect me versus other foods with the same calorie count. So that's helpful information going forward. With good healthy food and exercise, I can do this! 😀

Which brings me to the other habit I've been trying to improve this year – exercise. I'm so pleased with myself that I've exercised five out of seven days this week – four days with a 40-minute walk, and one day with a 50-minute walk.

My friend Doug gave me this awesome hand weight set for Christmas, so I've been trying to remember to bring the 2-pound weights with me on my walks. I only remembered on two of the five walks this week, but I did bicep and tricep curls as well as straightening my arms up and down over my head on and off during those walks.  (On the longer walk, I went to the grocery store and carried home about ten pounds of groceries.)

I'm guessing it will take a while for me to notice a difference in how my arms look, but I'm going to keep going with it and keep adding weight. And I guess that's the point, right? To keep going.  🙂  Plus, I want to add more strength exercises as time goes by as well as yoga stretches. Being super busy with work has kept me from that so far.

The only two things I've noticed in just three short weeks is that my jeans fit significantly better with only a 4-pound weight loss and, because my goal is to lose 50 pounds and not 5 or 10, I've already noticed a little difference visually (i.e., because I have so much to lose, it's easier to notice a few pounds lost when I'm in the shower). That's pretty cool in less than a month – and yet more motivation to keep it up for another 47 weeks!

If you're wondering what has helped me the most to stick with this diet so far, it's still the fear of humiliation. 😀 I posted a picture of myself at the end of Week One (no, I'm not linking to it; if you want to see my chubby self, you'll have to go find the post yourself!), and the only way I can live with that is to post a picture of myself 50 pounds lighter later this year! Haha!

If you're working on getting healthier this year, Keep Going! We're both going to think all the work is worth it!