Lowpoint

Tonight is a night that I am thankful I have no goodies (especially ice cream!) stocked in my house. Because I am, tonight, sick of this whole counting calories thing. Tired of it. Over it. Done.

This evening for the first time, probably ever, I made my family one meal (tacos! Gooey cheese!) and then fixed myself a "lighter" version made with ground turkey. Let's just say it doesn't look very yummy. I'm hoping that it will taste better than it looks.

It's also a good thing I'm still in my grubbies for the day and don't feel like changing. Otherwise, I imagine wild horses (or at minimum, Troy and all of the children) would have to hold me back from running for the front door and ICE CREAM. Yummy, creamy ice cream.

19 lbs gone. 19 lbs gone. 19 lbs gone. 19 lbs gone. Finally in the 100s. Finally in the 100s. Finally in the 100s. (My personal mantra for the moment.)

Time will tell if it works.

First Weight Loss Goal, Take 2

Back in June, I actually met my first weight loss goal of 20 lbs lost by August 30 (today). However, because I was not following the program I'd established for myself during the entire month of July and, quite frankly, through most of August as well, I'd lost some ground and gained back a portion of that weight. Last week, I was only within 1 pound of reaching that goal anew. However, after eating out several times last week, I stepped on the scale today and had not lost any weight. I'm thankful I didn't gain, but the fact remains that I still missed my deadline.

I was very disappointed about it. And then my wonderful, supportive husband reminded me how proud he is of me and my 19 lb weight loss achievement. My personal cheerleader encouraged me not to look at what I didn't accomplish but what I did accomplish. 19 lbs of weight? Gone. The 200's? Outta here. It is rather wonderful to  continually see that scale register a weight in the 100s. And that number will only get smaller as the weeks go by.

So I'm going to shake this one off and focus on meeting my next weight loss goal, which is a total of 42 lbs lost by December 30.

For last week:

(1) Logged in at MFP every day.
(2) Exercised 3 out of 7 days.
(3) 0 pounds lost.

Weekly Check-in

Into my daily schedule (that I'm trying to make a habit), I've incorporated at least 30 minutes of walking with the walking DVD. I'm planning to add the free-step on the Wii Fit in 10 minute increments periodically so that I'm doing at least 40 minutes of exercises each weekday, working up to an hour each weekday. So for each weekly check-in, I want to keep track of (1) how many days I exercised, (2) how many days I logged in on MFP (myfitnesspal.com), and (3) my weight.

(1) I only did 1 day of exercises last week
(2) I logged in 3 days last week
(3) I lost 4 pounds last week, bringing my new weight to.........198! Only 1 pound away from my goal of 20 lbs down by August 30! Yayness!

Checking In

Since August 5 (not remembering what day of the week that was), I have lost 2 lbs, putting me back down to 202. It's not a big loss. But at this point, with not a whole lot of commitment to the program during the last month and a half, I'll take it.

Now that things are getting back on track and I'm keeping track of my calories again, things should be improving. Hopefully I'll hit that goal of being down to 197 by the end of August after all! That's only 5 more pounds to go.

It's a Dance

Before our month in Indiana, I'd hit my 20 pound weight loss goal. Yay!

After a month of not keeping track of my calories (and making some poor diet choices), I've gained back 7 of those pounds, bringing me back to 204. Not yay.

So, in order to meet my goal again, I'm going to have to work extra hard. It can be done, but I'll have to work for it.

I guess sometimes this whole weight-loss process is a dance. Forward two steps, back two steps. Hopefully, the next step forward will be a bigger step than the next step backward a smaller one.

First Weight Goal - MET (6/23/11)

I broke up my weight loss journey into several smaller goals. The first one was to lose 20 lbs (be at 197) by August 30, 2011.

After arriving home from Iowa a couple weeks ago, I gained about 2 lbs but had not gotten on the scale since then. For the last week or so, I've been sick and hadn't been consuming my calories each day. It's not like was not eating on purpose, but when you've got a huge fever blister on your lip, a nasty cough, and a fever, there's just not a lot you want to eat (I ate a lot of popsicles and drank fluids through a straw).

So out of curiosity, today I got on the Wii scale. And was STUNNED to see that needle stop at 197. For the first time in well over 7 years, I AM ACTUALLY BELOW 200 LBS!!!!!!!!

Even better, I've now REACHED my first weight-loss goal of 20 lbs down by August---a whopping 2 months early!

One-der land is AMAZING.

A New Tool

The kids and I got back from visiting family in Iowa for a week and a half (including four travel days) on Friday. I'd been a bit afraid of stepping on the scale because of all the goodies enjoyed while away. AE Chocolate Milk. Homemade ice cream. Chocolate chip bars. Special K bars. And while at Adventureland with the family -- pizza and FUNNEL CAKE. Yum-o!

But today I had to step on the scale and face my worst fears. My sister gave me her "body bug" (although it's not the same version as the one showcased on Biggest Loser -- this is a Body Media device) to help me get a better idea of how many calories I actually burn each day. So this afternoon, I spent a few minutes setting up an account and had to....gasp!...include my current weight for my profile. The damage done after that time away from my strenuous 1500 calories a day? A 2-lb gain. Really, in the grand scheme of things, 2 lbs is not a huge deal. Yes, I could've done better. But I'm not gonna sweat it.

Meanwhile, back to the grindstone!