Just a little frustrated.

I've always found that in addition to having a balanced eating week, one must be extra careful on the day before their weigh-in day. Makes sense, doesn't it? After all, if you pack in a bit extra food, it's going to hang out for a little while.

Though the food I consumed on Monday was pretty healthy, my portions were too high. So I didn't expect much from my weigh-in on Tuesday. And much I didn't get: I was down 0.2 lbs for the week.

Now history has shown me that my body balances out quite quickly. So I delayed my official weigh-in by a day in hopes that a good eating day would lower that number by a little bit more.

And only a little bit I got: another 0.2 lbs. I'd really been hoping for a pound or two. After all, I'm being soooo good.

But I will remain true and post my results from Tuesday since it is my real weigh-in day. And I vow to keep working hard in hopes of better results next week.

Beginning Weight (April 26, 2011): 174.4 lbs
Current Weight: 168.6
Week 3 Weight Loss/Gain -0.2 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 5.8 lbs

There's a lot going on right now outside of keeping this diet, and every one of these is an excuse for why I have not made it to the gym yet.

There is no need berate me and tell me how important good exercise is to a good diet, for I know all too well. But I have some time-sensitive things going on, such as securing a wedding venue and (more importantly) getting caught up on my schoolwork.

It took me a bit longer than anticipated to pick up my school habits and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed after week three. So this week is being dedicated to catch up and I hope to be hitting the gym starting this weekend.

See you next week!

Food from a different point of view.

I quit smoking almost three and a half years ago, and I'm pretty sure I won't ever smoke again. It took a couple of tries, but I (relatively) quickly realized that the key to not smoking again is that first cigarette. As soon as you have that first cigarette, you open the door to having that second cigarette. And so on and so on.
I used to think that this philosophy could never be attributed to something like food. After all, we need to eat to survive? We can just not eat, right?

Right.

But we can choose those things that do us harm. We can cut those gateways back into failure out of our diets. And it's not easy. At least not now. But then again, neither was smoking, right? Except this last time. The last time I quit smoking, I knew it was for good. I had no desire to smoke anymore.

What's hard is that I do have the desire to eat those foods not so good for me. I love food. My coworker once said that she can handle the sweet stuff and the salty stuff, but bread is her downfall. Mine is all of it. I love the sweet stuff. I love the salty stuff. I love big hunks of fresh baked bread and all the things you can do with it. I love burgers and fried foods and everything that's bad for me.

In fact, you could say that it's an addiction in itself. Now, I don't have a clinical eating disorder, but it's not to say that I have a problem with food. Every meal is a challenge. In between meals it's a challenge to know where and when I'm really hungry or if I'm just bored or needing water.

But I'm here to try.

An old roommate used to leave fresh baked cookies in a container on the counter. And every time I walked through the kitchen I would have to see it and say no. After three or four times in a fifteen minute time span, I took the container and put it in a cupboard where I wouldn't have to see it, thereby removing the need to make the decision. Now that it's just Thomas and I, we just have to make sure that those kinds of things aren't in the house in the first place.

I went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner with my family on Saturday. I knew where we were going and I looked at their menu in advance. I tried my hardest not to change my mind on what I had set out for. I avoided even looking at the pasta and pizza sections of the menu so that I just wouldn't be tempted.

And I survived. So...the part you've all been waiting for:

Beginning Weight (April 26, 2011): 174.4 lbs
Current Weight: 168.8
Week 2 Weight Loss/Gain -2.6 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 5.6 lbs

Still working on the fitness part...but I've got a couple of people willing to be my conscience on that one, so I have a feeling it won't take long. As a side note, it took about six weeks of weight loss through diet alone before I was ready to start at the gym back in 2009 when I dropped my first 25 lbs. But I don't think it will take that long this time around ;)

It's hard to break through this point.

I've found that the hardest part of dieting is releasing old mindsets. Everytime I've started to pick this up, I've given in to old habits and just ate whatever was at hand because it was appetizing or convenient.

If I make good choices it eventually becomes easier, I think. It's been so long since I've stayed on track for more than a few days. And my body tells me that every day.

Every time I give in to those cravings, I reset the clock on being able to defeat them. In fact, a pretty good watchin-my-food week ended in an evening filled with chips, a sausage filled with processed cheese, and a hamburger I couldn't even finish (so tell me, why did I bother?).

It was the end of my week, but I didn't stay at home that night (yay election watching with friends, boo election results). So no weigh-in; I've temporarily set Tuesdays as my weigh-in day until I can figure out what is going to work best for me.

I also didn't prepare food very well for having two days away from home. As a result I ended up having more fast food for lunch. Whopper and fries...counts for 29 points (a full day's value). I didn't eat a lot otherwise, but what can you do?

I know I can do this. But even as I type this I'm craving a baked something or other.

Despite all the above, the results of my first weigh-in weren't terrible. But when you're on a diet like this, you hope to shed about 10 lbs in just 'water' weight in your first two weeks. At least I do...

Beginning Weight (April 26, 2011): 174.4 lbs
Current Weight: 171.4
Week 1 Weight Loss/Gain -3.0 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 3.0 lbs

On the fitness side, I took it a bit easy. I got my first ever pair of orthotics and was working them in. I didn't want to do too much beyond that because I needed to ensure that if I received any pain it was due to them and not sudden increase in activity.

So now that they're worked in, I hope to get back to it. No plan as of yet, but I'll figure something out :)