Week 1...A Success

I feel like a new person. So far I've stuck with my lifestyle change for 5 days and can't wait for the next day to get here. I don't even try to talk myself out of exercising anymore. I look forward to jumping on the treadmill and walking my 3km's for that day. The last couple of days I even wanted to push myself further but had to keep myself in check because I am prone to shin splints. I decided that if I was going to stick with this plan I needed to progress slowly (but not too slow) and keep myself from getting hurt before I've barely started.

Yesterday my husband and I were out during the lunch time hour. He is on the Atkin's diet and needed to eat meat. His thoughts were on Wendy's. I hesitantly agreed and was thinking "I guess it's ok if I break my diet and eat some meat...I need protein anyway". Don't you love rationalizing your food intake, ha, ha. Then I remembered that they had salads. My caesar salad was so yummy and I felt good about the choice I made.

Keeping a log of my food intake has helped me so much to stick with my plan. Only 1 day did I go 100 calories over my intake need. My girls and I went shopping and decided to eat at Subway. My oldest daughter and I chose the turkey and ham sub (as we are both trying to lose weight), but we couldn't skip out on the yummy cookies :-) I also had my one and only glass of sweet tea for the week. I decided not to look on this as a failure, rather it was just a choice I needed to make in my journey (choosing between pizza/burger and Subway).

It's been a great week and I'm looking forward to continuing on this "lifestyle change" journey. Blessings. Marg

Back on Track...

Wow, it's been 3 months since I last wrote on my blog. I stopped writing because I felt like a failure. I thought that if I just started with drinking more water it would move me along towards my goal of losing weight. It was too slow of a process and I became very down on myself for failing in this one little area. I just gave up. It's taken me 3 months to finally get inspired once again to attempt a change in my lifestyle...with a real plan at hand...to get up and get moving!

After seeing pictures of my friend, who has continued to workout, eat right and lose weight, and talking to another friend who has begun exercising, I decided that I just have to get my body moving. If I can do that, it will encourage me to take other steps.

My first step was making a visual reminder and "encouragement poster" for myself. I like pictures, so I used a clipart of someone walking on a treadmill. Also, I love Christopher Robbin when he tells Winnie the Pooh that he is stronger than he seems, so I put that on my board. To keep me focused on my plan and goal, in large font, I put down how many calories I can eat per day and how many calories I can burn on the treadmill. There is also a 2 week calendar (think short term) that I can mark off each day of completion and various reminders to "take it slow", "one step at a time", "no work - no results", and "stick with the program". I was pumped up and ready to get started. This was on Sunday.

Monday morning, I got up with my daughter and we went to the gym to exercise. I walked the treadmill for 30 minutes and felt proud of myself for taking the first step. When I came home I decided that I didn't want all that work to go to waste so I looked for a website that another friend recommended to me (Livestrong.com) and started recording my foods eaten during the day. I was off to a good start. I ate within my calorie limit and exercised. Day 1 completed with success. YAY!

Another great website is FitClick. Both websites, Livestrong and FitClick have iphone apps which keep up with your calories and exercises while you are "on the go". They automatically update and sync your information whether you're on your home computer or your iphone. Both websites help determine how many calories you should be eating based on the amount you want to lose. It charts how many carbs, fats, proteins and fiber you are supposed to eat and how many you have actually eaten. I would recommend using a tool like this to help keep you focused on your goal.

It's day 3 now and I'm keeping watch over my calories and planning my meals ahead of time so I don't go over my recommended carb amount. I love carbs and it's usually by downfall. Getting myself moving was my first step and I pray it will become a lifestyle change for me.

My short term goal is losing 5 pounds by the end of October. That is 1 pound per week. I'm excited and ready to make this change. I hope this encourages you to just get up and start moving. Blessings. Margit