It's the End of March

Click the image to see a larger version of the graph.

Feeling good.  Got my scale exchanged at Kohl's.  I didn't lose quite as much this week, but I'm still heading in the right direction.  It's the end of the first month of my new effort to change my lifestyle.  I have really enjoyed feeling stronger and having more energy.  I have definitely had some struggles, though.  Pizza, brownies, Krispy Kremes, and burgers are difficult to say no to.  Not that I'm giving up those things entirely, I just need to make sure I stay balanced and don't let that kind of junk food overtake the healthy portion of my diet.  Whereas before I might eat an entire pizza on my own, I need to rewire my brain to eat smaller portions.  Before, I often would get fast food on my way to work, now I need to find healthier options to bring to work.  

Surprisingly, I think the part of the month that I have found most enjoyable has been getting some exercise.  I've really enjoyed taking walks.  One day I even took a 2 hour walk and it felt great!  The part that I'm getting sick of fastest is recording what I eat.  It does make me more aware of what and how much I'm eating, but it feels like it takes up an annoying amount of time.  My plan right now is to stick it out and keep recording what I eat until September, and then reevaluate if that's something I want to continue doing.  Maybe by that point I will have developed a good awareness of what and how much I eat without needing to record it.  

New Energy

I know it's only been a few weeks, but I definitely feel like I have MUCH more energy than I did before.  I am able to get more accomplished during the day without feeling sluggish.  I have also noticed that my hermit-like tendencies are a little lessened.  :-) 

And I've already gotten a few compliments that I look like I've lost some weight.  The changes may be really small, but I feel better about how I look, too.  That makes me feel great!

Encouragement

It is so refreshing to get encouragement from friends and family.  Even just a simple "You can do it!" or "Yay" on my blog gives me renewed motivation.

 Or when I'm home and my family makes a healthy dinner instead of pizza.  Or someone offering to help me learn how to make healthy food.  Giving me tips on things they have learned about living a healthy lifestyle.  And I especially like it when people invite me to join them in a healthy activity.  Even something as simple as going for a walk.

These may be simple things, but add up to a wonderful circle of support and I am so grateful.

10 down, 22 to go

I somehow managed to lose another 5 lbs this past week.  So, I've lost a total of 10 lbs and I feel great!  I have 22 more lbs to lose by September.  I'm still only planning on trying to lose 1-2 lbs a week.  You can keep track of my progress by looking at the bar at the top and bottom of my blog.  The one at the top measures my progress towards my September goal and the one at the bottom measures my progress towards my ultimate goal.

Here's an update on what I'm doing...

1. I'm trying to get some exercise every day.  At this point it's mostly walking.
2. I'm trying to eat healthier.  I'm aiming for half of what I eat being fruits and veggies.  I'm also trying to cut back on sodium intake.
3. I'm trying to eat less by only eating when I'm hungry and stopping before I'm over-full.

So far so good.


Aaand... my computer is on the fritz so I may not be able to update more than once a week.  We'll see.  But please keep reading and commenting!  It really helps me stay motivated!  (For the few of you who may be unaware, you can comment by going to the bottom of the post and clicking where it says "0 encouragements".  Or the number will be different if someone has already commented.)

Here's an issue I'd like to get your opinions on...
Am I losing weight too quickly?  They say if you lose only one or two lbs a week, you're more likely to keep it off.  But, I'm not sure what I would do differently to try to lose weight slower.  At this point I'm inclined to keep doing what I'm doing and let the weight fall off however quickly it wants to, but I'm not sure.

Oh, and my new scale broke.  Boo.  I'm going to see about getting an exchange.

Book Review - The New FIT OR FAT

I went to Goodwill yesterday and, as usual, found some great buys.  One of these is a book called The New FIT OR FAT by Covert Bailey.  My review is about this particular book which was published in 1991. There is a newer edition which I have not read called The Ultimate FIT OR FAT, which was published in 2000.

This book is an easy read with a lot of good information and some great tips for people who want to start to incorporate exercise into their lifestyle.

One of the things he talks about is why dieting alone is not the healthy way to lose weight.   People who have excess fat have a body chemistry that converts calories into fat.  When a person gains fat, it they gain it in their muscles as well as under their skin.  Dieting removes subcutaneous fat, but not intramuscular fat.  Exercise (especially aerobic exercise) reduces intramuscular fat, "increases muscle, tones it, alters its chemistry, and increases its metabolic rate.  All of these cause you to burn more calories even when asleep."

After explaining all of the benefits of exercise, Bailey goes on to explain how to exercise to lose weight.  He describes the difference between aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise, and why aerobic exercise is the most beneficial way to lose weight.  He defines aerobic exercise as "steady exercise, exercise that demands an uninterrupted output from your muscles for a minimum of twelve minutes."  In contrast, anaerobic exercise occurs when you overexert yourself.  "If you make a muscle work too hard, it will need more oxygen than your heart and blood can deliver."

Also outlined in the book is a list of aerobic exercises that he recommends and how to begin doing aerobic exercise if you are a beginner or if you are excessively overweight.

This book has made me excited to exercise!  Breaking down exercise into 12 minute segments feels so much more doable to me right now than thinking about exercising for 2 hours straight.  I also feel like I can go at my own pace and not worry about how slow I am compared to other people.  I can't remember the last time I felt excited about exercise!  Woohoo!

Hurray!

According to my new scale, I lost 3 lbs this week!  That means I have lost 5lbs total and I have officially lost 1% of my original body weight.  Woohoo!  I'm excited that I didn't take a step back like I had expected I would.  On we go!

My New Scale

This weekend I bought a scale at Kohl's.  We were having a big sale... everything in the store was on sale and associates got an additional 30% off.  :-)  I bought what I think is the best scale that Kohl's has.  It's the Talyor Glass Bodyfat Scale.  It measures up to 440lbs (though I'm planning to not get any closer to that than I already am.)  It also measures body fat percentages and body water percentages.  Of course, right now I'm so big that the scale can only measure my weight, but I am okay with that.  It gives me something to look forward to; at some point over the next few years I will have lost enough weight for the scale to be able to measure my fat and water percentages.  That will be a great day.  I'm looking forward to it.  

Tomorrow morning I am going to weigh myself.  In my experience, I have found that it is not uncommon to get different measurements on different scales; on one scale I may weigh 2 or 3 lbs more than I did on another scale.  So, I am setting myself up for the possibility that even though I have done well this week, this new scale may read differently than the scale I used the last couple of weeks.  I have decided that I am not going to be disappointed if it says I have not lost any weight.  In the long run, if I consistently use my own new scale, I know it will measure accurate progress.  And that is what I'm aiming for.  

On another note, today was a great day nutritionally.  I have been recording what I eat and inputing it to sparkpeople.com's nutrition tracker.  Even though I have been eating healthier and cutting back on the amount that I eat, I have continued to go way above the number of calories that they recommend for someone my size.  But not today!  Today I met all of my goals for calories, fat, carbs, protein, and sodium!  I also went for a 40 minute walk today.  I feel great!