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10-Pound Challenge, First Check Point

The 10-pound challenge hosted by Erika from Newlywed's on a Budget is in full swing, week 4 of 12.  So how am I doing, well two steps forward and one and a half steps back.  I have lost 7.8 pounds but had planned to be further along.  As Flylady.com always says, baby steps...

Weekly Weigh In, 02/18/12

Total weight loss goal: 60lbs

Weeks weight difference: +2.6lbs

Total weight loss thus far: -12.4lbs

Total weight loss to go: 47.6.0lbs

Goal achievement to date: 21%

Yep, that is a big fat plus sign in front of this week’s weight difference. I guess it was too good to be true. It’s interesting from a Weight Watcher’s perspective in regards to daily point target values this is where I always hit a wall and struggle.  I am hitting an obstacle, some internal challenge that I am not acknowledging or ready to accept.  Since I have no job time, I have wallowed thought deeply about the reality.  These are my current obstacles (and I am sure I am not alone):

·         Portion control – The size of my meals/portions needs to shrink

·         Food quality – The quality of my food needs to greatly improve.

·         Consistent movement - A sedentary life (some my own doing, but other areas are just part of the computer technology age), that needs to change even when I can’t control the areas.  I need to be conscious of counteracting.

On food quality, I was shocked to find out how poor my food quality really was.  I mean I know it wasn’t the best but sheesh it certainly wasn’t that bad, right?  With weight watchers you are given daily points to meet and as well to meet your 5 fruits and veggies a day, please.  However the online app, while good doesn’t give you everything you need.  I came across an app for my iphone called, calorie counter.  I joined cos it was free, which then made me think about another app I read online (from Newlywed's on a Budget blog) so I joined my fitness pal as well.  I am hooked and will use these in addition to the WW app.  They all have similar themes; myfitnespal looks to be more tailored than calorie counter but I really loved the graphical nature of the calorie counter.  Either way, wow I was in shock how many nutrients I am really missing out on.  My only wish is that it offered all the nutrients we need in a day, but hey this is still pretty cool and hits the big ticket items.  In the last week, I have yet to meet the nutrient levels recommended, and I wonder why I am low on iron, duh? My ultimate take away is this; I had always bought the blanket concept that we live in the US of A and that it’s very EASY to meet the minimum recommended dietary allowance (which is apparently now called reference daily intake).  Well for me, it’s not true.  Check the apps out and see how well you fare?  I should warn you, calorie counter does send a daily email, but maybe I forgot to un-check a box?

How can you expect your body to run at optimum level if you feed crap or even just half way decent food?

Weekly Weigh In, 02/11/12

Total weight loss goal: 60lbs

Weeks weight difference: -3.2lbs

Total weight loss thus far: -15.0lbs

Total weight loss to go: 45.0lbs

Goal achievement to date: 25%

Yeah! I weighed in earlier than normal but I am so excited I reached my 15 pound goal!!! I hope it stays true to next week when I weigh in, in the evening.  Please, please, please fingers crossed.

Weekly Weigh In, 02/02/12

Total weight loss goal: 60lbs

Weeks weight difference: -0.2lbs

Total weight loss thus far: -11.8lbs

Total weight loss to go: 48.2lbs

Goal achievement to date: 20%

Slowly, but surely.

January 2012 Wrap-Up

My January certainly didn’t turn out AT ALL as I expected and the confusion of it is blurring into February.    I’m quite overwhelmed by it all and am taking it day by day as they say.  At quiet times it was nice to have my goals listed and when I could, I would focus on them and that I was still moving forward a little each day even though it didn’t feel like it.  

My year started out with my dad learning he had cancer, it is moderately aggressive but the prognosis looks to be extremely good.  The stress of the C word and having to learn quickly about the situation so that informed decisions can be made at a minimum is very emotional.  This news was followed by my grandma falling ill and passing on in the last few weeks.  A wonderfully kind and loving lady, she was the sweet grandma that I envision we all dream about.   She will be missed by many and many of us grandkids and great grandkids will try to live up to the unconditional love she shared with all. As I have posted before, in the mix of this I had emergency gallbladder surgery.  I seriously thought I would be down only a few days and at most a week.  Right! This has not turned out to be so, the doctor recommended I needed 4 weeks of recovery and not to push it and she was right. Slow healing, but still glad the surgery occurred.  As if this wasn’t enough to handle, in the mix of surgery my company downsized and eliminated unneeded positions, and yep one of them was mine.  My thoughts are, are you serious?  And if the cloud storm wasn’t enough, hail had to pour down as well because my son finally told me he wasn’t going to college this semester  (read no health insurance now for him & no wiggle room now that I have lost my job) and the icing on the cake, my landlord informed me he was raising my rent.  All I can say in passing is, so how’s your January?

January 2012 Goals

·    No soda – Yep complete. I came close to caving especially with all the stress this last month.

·     No coffee – Yes completed.

·     Attend weekly weight loss program (4x) – I say yes, but I did miss the day after surgery.

·     Lose 2.5 pounds – Yes, yes, yes, the total for the month 11.6 pounds and going strong.

·     Track my daily food intake (at least 80%) - Awe this I failed; I did start to track but then stopped when I had surgery.  I mean seriously who wants to track that I had 5 bites of mash potatoes and 3 bites of jello. That’s my excuse and I am sticking with it, even into February, which of course has to stop because now I am eating real fatty high-calorie food like Claim jumpers and Chili’s…

·     Take body measurements – Yep completed.

·     Take my vitamins - Nope, totally blew it off.

·     Exercise 20 minutes 3x a week - Failed, I started out well, but haven’t started again since surgery.  Maybe next week I will feel well enough to start again? I have started to clean, so that’s some movement.

·     Sign up for 2 exercise classes – Yep, signed up and one class starts this week. I may just show up and stretch because my belly is in no position to be shaking.

·     Make annual health appointments – No I didn’t do this. With losing my job I need to figure out what appointments to make and take care of. 

·     Get rid of 52 things – Failed, but I did get rid of 14 items, mostly bathroom items clutter.  I will catch up in the year I am certain.

·     Determine what my outstanding debt is – Yeah I did this, and OH MY freakin GOSH is all I can say.  I knew sort of what I owed in each area individually. It’s amazing to really stare at a total sum number.  $44K, this is for just me, one person and it doesn’t include property (okay partial is for my son but I am responsible for it).  The really scary part is two thirds of it was accrued in about one year, starting at the end of 2010 with my accident. 

·     Have conversation with darling son with regard to where he’s headed – Yeah this happened and it didn’t quite turn out how I expected.  I am still trying to wrap my head around this one.

·     Investigate PM credentials – Yep, completed.  I looked into the MS program, the PMI program and the extension program.  Now I need to decide how to proceed.

So I successfully completed 9 out of 14 objectives for January, which isn’t too bad considering how my month went, the fact that I started late in January, was gone traveling for a week for my grandma’s funeral, and was down and in bed recovering from surgery. 

Weekly Weigh In, 01/27/2012

Total weight loss goal: 60lbs

Weeks weight difference: -7lbs (two weeks)

Total weight loss thus far: -11.6lbs (yeah!!)

Total weight loss to go: 48.4lbs

Goal achievement to date: 19%

Body fat percent difference:  NA

I had a great two weeks for weight loss.  However, I’m not sure how real the loss is since I recently had abdominal surgery.  It seems like a huge jump? I don’t have those kinds of jumps since I usually have to work for every freakin pound ounce lost. I fully expect this number to even out in the next few weeks.  But hey, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Since surgery, I have blown off tracking my food intake. I need to get back on track since it’s an area that’s key for me.  It really does make or break my weight loss/maintenance success. Just haven’t had the physical or mental energy as of yet. 

As well I bought a body fat scale, so I will start tracking fat loss percentage. I think this will be a good motivator later down the road when the scale barely budges but you know your body’s changing.

I haven’t really exercised yet since surgery but today was the first day I did get some “store shopping” walking in.  The slowness and fatigue is killing me… It’s tough when you expect your body to do more cos it should be able to.  It’s amazing how everything is really connected to your abs!