Katie: Week 8

Welcome to week #8!

Current weight: 153 pounds

Last week's weight: 155 pounds
Total weight loss: 17 pounds

*Oops!  I put my total weight loss this morning as 18 pounds, but I definitely did the math wrong.  Sorry!  It's fixed now.  :)

I'll be honest here: I haven't been very committed lately.  No, I haven't broken my rules (although I really wanted to just have M&M's and chocolate chip cookies and other yummy stuff this week), but I also haven't been trying all that hard.  So, I'm super glad that I lost two pounds anyway, but I'll admit that I'm not really sure why.

Now on to the weekly recap of 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).

Like I said, I really really wanted some.  A lot.  Especially the dark chocolate peanut M&M's I was offered yesterday afternoon.  But I decided I'd be more sad about failing at my goal than I was about not eating the yummy things I was craving.

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.

It was Valentine's, for heaven's sake!  Of course Bryan and I went out to eat.  We went to Guru's and I did fail to look at the menu ahead of time (we decided on our way there that that's where we were going to go), but I wasn't overly worried about what I ordered because the food their is generally healthier than most restaurants and because of a weird schedule I hadn't eaten much that day anyway.  Suffice it to say that, in this case, I feel fine about having gone out to eat.

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. 

Bryan was a sweetheart and made healthy banana bread for us on Valentine's day so we could enjoy a healthy treat.  Yum.  I really do love that stuff. 

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

I may need to make a trip to the store for cherry tomatoes today.  Eating cherry tomatoes with my lunch seems to keep me on track.  I get thrown off when we're out.  And we're out.

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

Yep.

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, okay, okay.  So maybe my exercises this past week have been a little lame.  But it really was a workout to walk around three different stores with my sister and the three kids we have between us on Saturday, especially since the big O fell asleep in my arms and I had to carry her that way all through Walmart.  And perhaps cleaning the house for a few hours yesterday wasn't doing quite the same for my body as, say, doing Tighter Assets, but... well... I just didn't feel like doing hard core workouts this week.  However, from here on out I shouldn't have much of a choice in the matter.  Last week when I finished up the initial body testing for the postpartum study I'm participating in I found out that I've been assigned to the strength training group (i.e. lifting weights).  That starts this week and I'm doing it twice a week for something like four months now, so I think I'll be covered in the "real workout" category from now on.  Man, I'm so weak.  Wish me luck!  Oh, and I also tried sucking in my abs a lot more throughout the day this week.  And I can tell it's helping a little because my abs have been kind of sore.
 
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.

I did ho-hum with drinking water this past week.  My goal in this coming week is to drink water more consistently throughout the day since I tend to chug late in the evening.  That's not such a good strategy.

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.

I did sort of put off doing the whole assessment thing this week for a couple of days, but I caught up and it's all okay.  I'll try not to do that again this week.  (That's what I said last week, but, sadly, it's true for this week too.  I'll try to actually be better this time.)  <--That's a direct quote from last week.  Sad day.  I have really got to get a grip on this thing again.

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

As always, no real problems here.  

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

Did it!


Well, even though I don't really know why I'm continuing to lose weight at a nice rate, I certainly am happy about it!  How are you all doing with your goals?  What things do you do when you get in a rut?  How do you motivate yourself to be diligent in keeping your goals when you're just not in the mood or you don't really care that that moment?  I'd love to hear your advice.

Have a great week!