Katie: Week 3

Here we are at week 3!

Current weight: 161 pounds
Last week's weight: 161 pounds
Total weight loss: 9 pounds


What?!  Did anyone notice I'm at the SAME WEIGHT?!  We'll talk about it in a minute.  But first...


Pictures:  Week 3

Week 1:

I do feel like my tummy has gotten a little flatter/smaller.

Now let's talk about that weight staying the same thing.  Here's what I think happened (by way of doing a re-cap on my rules)...

My rules:
1. No Sweets!
Absolutely NO sugar sweets/junk/desserts/candy/etc. for three months (i.e. until April 1, 2010).  At that point I'll reassess and see if I can allow myself small things here and there or if I need to keep up the no sweets rule.  I will allow myself the occasional healthy dessert, but it will count as a processed snack (see below).

I didn't eat any sweets this week, so that wasn't the problem.  However, I have found some really great "desserts" with hardly any sugar and lots of good healthy things (like veggies!) that Bryan and I have been enjoying.  Yes, that's right, even the chocolate and ice-cream eating husband of mine enjoyed these treats just as much as I did.  I'll post recipes for you all to try.


2. No Fast Food!
No fast food or eating out.  Period.  And if on the off chance I'm stranded somewhere or something and I have to get fast food I will order the healthiest thing.

I didn't eat any fast food this week, so that wasn't the problem.  (Although I'm scheduled to go to Zupas with some good friends next Monday.  I'll have to do my homework so I can order the healthiest thing.)

3. Healthy Meals and Snacks!
Eat three healthy meals each day along with 2-4 healthy snacks, with no more than one processed snack (100 calorie packs, etc.) per day. 

Okay, well other than some alfredo sauce that I didn't realize was such a killer until after I had already eaten it, I really think I've been very good about eating good foods.  I basically eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day and then we always fix dinner (This is a huge step for us, by the way.  I really have no idea what we were eating this whole time in our marriage.  Cereal?  Probably.) or eat left overs.  Either way, we're always eating a healthy, delicious home-cooked meal.  While these meals may not always be ultra low in calories, I know they're healthier because I know what goes into them.  Also, I try to only eat one serving, although I did have an extra serving one or two times this week.  That could have contributed to my not losing any weight this week.


4. Fresh Foods!
Trade out cravings/impulses to eat granola bars and other processed snacks with fresh fruits and veggies.

I have definitely been enjoying my fresh fruits and veggies.  Also, I found some 100% carrot juice at the grocery store and I've been trying it out.  (Remember all our talk about carrot juice?)  I'm counting this as a fresh food because it says on the side of the bottle that they harvest, process, and package the carrots within 24 hours to make sure it's fresh.  Cool, no?  I will admit that for the first few days I was moderately whining the carrot juice down, but I think I'm developing an acquired taste.  Yesterday when I had a glass with my lunch I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.  (Although I think it helps that I wasn't having any fruits or anything sweet with lunch.)  Anyway, I don't think my lack of weight loss was due to not eating fresh foods.


5. Keep Track!
Write down everything I eat in my food journal (a little notebook I can carry around and keep with me).

Well, I wrote down everything I ate, but I think this ties in with part of the problem.  I'll get into it more in #8.

 

6. Exercise 30 Minutes!
Exercise in some way for at least 30 minutes every day and write down what I did to exercise in my food journal.

Okay, I think this is the main source of my problem.  While I did exercise for at least 30 minutes every day, I don't think it was the kind of exercise my body needed for losing weight.  My friend Sarah and I went on walks for about an hour most days (the other days I went on a walk with Bryan or did some yoga at home) with both up-hill and down-hill parts.  Sarah and I both agree, however, that walking is probably a better exercise for maintaining a healthy weight rather than trying to lose weight.  So, my plan for this next week is to keep going on walks with Sarah (that is, when she hasn't made herself sick with leftovers or whatever it was that happened--Feel better Sarah!) and ALSO do "Tighter Assets" at least 3 times this week (hopefully more, but let's start small...ish). 

 

7. Drink 80 Fluid Ounces!
Drink at least 80 fluid ounces of water every day and write down how much I drank in my food journal.

Here is another part of my problem.  I was way under--closer to 40 fluid ounces--almost every day this week.  No good!  I think this also has to do with #8.

 

8. Balance Food Intake!
Enter the foods I eat each day into the Menu Planner on MyPyramid in order to make sure I'm getting a good balance of the foods I need.

My second downfall this week.  So while I was still very dutiful in writing down all of the food I ate and all of the water I drank, I got behind in actually doing my little recap at the end of each day where I totaled up how much water I drank and assessed my daily calories and amounts in each food group.  During the first week I entered things in a few times each day and that helped me stay on track and know "Oh, I've already eaten a lot of grains today.  If I'm hungry I should really have some fruits or some veggies since I'm really low on those."  Since I got behind in entering things in, I didn't know where I was at, so my snacks were chosen based on what I wanted (still healthy, but) not what my body needed.  Now that I know how important it is for me to enter things in and keep track of my daily balance of food throughout the day, I'm going to put more emphasis on this this week.

 

9. Stay Active!
No sitting at the computer/TV for more than an hour (or one movie) at a time.

Again, no real problems here.  I could of course always be more active, but with the cold weather, a 4 month old baby, and a small apartment, I think I'm doing the best I can at this point in my life.  Although I want to be clear, I do get up and do a chore or walk around or fill up my water bottle or something every so often when I'm working on the computer so that I'm not only sitting for a long time.


10. Get out!
Get out of the house at least once a day!

I am happy to report that I have definitely made it beyond our apartment complex every day this week.  No snowfall and clear sidewalks/roads makes it much less tempting to just go to my sister's and back.


Now, what's that?  Did I get a haircut?  Why, yes, yes I did.  What?  You think I have a poof ball head now?  Ah, well, me too.  Although it's a little better now with mousse to maintain my natural wave instead of blow-dried and fluffed up.  Here are some normal, not-so-revealing pictures of me from this past week of my new haircut. 









Above: How long my hair was before.  They cut off a little over 7 inches.

Below (left to right): Me with a cute hat (that I think I lost on our walk yesterday--hopefully it'll show up in the lost and found soon).  A weird picture of me with the mousse and the natural wave thing going on that I tried this morning.  Just trust me when I say that this picture is much less weird than the other pictures I tried to take of myself. 

I'll admit that I was hoping one side effect of getting my hair cut would be a little bonus weight loss.  My hair is so thick that when it was as long as it was before I got it cut, it wouldn't even really stay up in a pony tail anymore.  It was so heavy that it would make the ponytail just kind of...fall.  Anyway, so I was hoping that with getting a little over 7 inches cut off and having it thinned (in order to make my life easier and also to keep my 4 month old from grabbing and pulling it) it would get rid of some weight too, but no luck.

Well, I hope things are going well for all of you in your goals!  Don't be too discouraged if you have a week like mine where you don't seem to be making any progress.  Even though I didn't lose any weight, I did make progress in turning my goals into habits.  And that is an important step.  And, like Bryan said to me this morning, and least I didn't gain weight!  So true.  Have a great week everybody!

Oh, and I'll get to work on posting those yummy recipes.