In my last update, I told you how a shift had happened in my training program at Dragon Gym after a couple of tough weeks. The last two weeks have been just as fantastic as the that week I described. I am getting to the gym, I am doing the work, I am food journaling, and I am making PROGRESS….. measurable progress.
This past week, I met with Steve on Friday to have our weekly War Meeting to address my food and nutrition challenges. I’m still using the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone (you can also use it on the web) and I LOVE IT! It really has made both food journaling AND calorie counting so easy for me. Last week I was able to keep my daily calorie consumption in the 1200 range, with one day getting up near 1500. The remarkable thing is that keeping my calories in that range really isn’t that much of a challenge for me. I am eating when I feel hungry, and some days I feel like I need to eat MORE at dinner to make sure that I am not eating too few calories. Of course, there are other days when I need to exercise much more control, but overall, it hasn’t been too bad.
I am still having occasional “cheat” foods and not eating 100% “clean”. There’s just something about a Dairy Queen Blizzard on a hot night that I don’t want to give up. But, now I order the mini size and I also make sure that it still stays relatively within my caloric intake goals for the day OR that I’ve gotten in some vigorous exercise to offset any food indiscretions. I want to be realistic during this process. The only way that this is really going to become a LIFESTYLE for me is for me to find a way to live in the 90/10 zone (90% healthy foods/10% “cheat” foods). It is unrealistic to think that I will eat healthy foods 24/7 for the rest of my life.
Because my food journal has been looking pretty good for the last 2 or 3 weeks, we’re going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and see what kind of progress I continue to make over the next few weeks. If I continue to lose weight/inches, then that is great. If I start to plateau, we’ll start to look more closely at the exact foods and food combinations that I am eating. I’ll keep you posted on that.
Because my journaling has been going so well and we do want to start to be able to measure the effectiveness of any changes that may/may not be made to my eating patterns and exercise routines, it was time to do my first weigh in and body composition measurements since the beginning of this project. So, I give you the NUMBERS:
Weight Change: – 7 lbs.
Body Composition:
Arms: – .5 inches (each)
Thighs: – 1 inch (each)
Waist: – 4 inches
Hips: – 4 inches
Want to know a great way to head into Memorial Day weekend? Find out that you’ve lost 4 inches from your waist and from your hips…. that’ll definitely put you in a good mood!
I’m really excited by these results so far. More importantly, these results motivate me to work harder and do more because I know now how much more I can do, not just from a wight loss perspective, but also from a strength and coordination/balance perspective too. It feels so good to be on the road to good health. Thanks so much for taking this journey with me!
Until the next Shannon’s Slimdown, have a healthful week!
*Disclosure: Dragon Gym has provided personal training services and gym membership to me in order to do this project. No compensation was received for this post, and as always, all opinions are strictly my own.
~Shannon
Philaburban Mom 
June 1, 2011 at 1:30 am |
congratulations! that inches off the waist is key to feeling slimmer isn't it? there is just something so sweet about getting into smaller pants that makes your day. also spoze to be good for your health according to dr. oz for whatever that is worth.