Week Two Results

Monday, August 18, 2014 Public 1 Comment

It’s Monday check-in time!

I completed week 2/4 today, and the results are great! I am down to 163, which is a 2 lb loss from last week. With last week’s loss I’m back to averaging the 1.5 lb/week that I had hoped to accomplish. Woohoo!

This week wasn’t without its challenges. I was due for a “hormone imbalance” around this time of the month, and that always threatens to derail me when I get overly emotional. My “fix” involves chocolate of some sort, but this week I resisted the urge to overdose on M&M’s and resorted to using chocolate flavored whipped cream (from the can, easier to limit my intake that way) in my coffee ;) It was delicious AND hit the spot for my cravings. Win!

That said, I am a HUGE coffee fan, but it has to be sweet and creamy. In my effort to make all my foods healthier, I dialed down the extras and am now happy with just some skim milk and a little flavoring in my coffee. I try to avoid the fake sugars for the most part, despite their being more calorie friendly. Even though they help avoid consuming extra calories, I’m not convinced they are “good”. Even so called “natural” ones like Stevia. So for myself, it’s either straight sugar (or flavored syrup like Hershey’s) or just milk. Sometimes I give in, but for the most part, I’m pretty good about it! Not that straight sugar is super innocent or even “healthy”, but for now, I feel it’s better than the artificial ones. So I’ll go for “healthier” at least.

Working out this week was also still a challenge. I found out that I was at risk for a potential hernia in my abdomen, so I was nervous to do anything last week until I had my ultrasound this morning and get more information on what was going on. Turns out, I’m all clear, and I can go back to my workouts! It will be a little tricky this week since we have visitors, and they will be staying in my workout space (our basement). But, since I’ve gotten my food under control and the all-clear from the doctor, I’m going to use these last two weeks of the challenge to really get serious about committing to exercising in the morning again. Even if it means just jogging around the block if our basement is occupied. I have a route mapped out that is almost 2 miles, which is a perfect length (should take me under 30 minutes to do, but includes hills, so will get my heart rate up). I can then finish with some strength training (situps/pushups) at home, which shouldn’t wake anyone up. It’s just a matter of prepping the night before so that I don’t have any obstacles to leaving the house in the morning.

Looking back to when I was consistently working out, one thing that has helped in the past to get me going for morning workouts was a product by BeachBody. I don’t usually promote products unless I use them often. I tried their E&E supplement after Kendra had sent me some samples when I complained that mornings were a big struggle for energy. I just needed something I could drink quickly, that had caffeine but wouldn’t make me jittery. Coffee was too hot to drink quickly, and this I could just mix with water (cold or room temp). It has a lemon-lime flavor, and after about 15 minutes, I definitely felt it kick in. I just felt more awake, not crazy, and could give that extra push during the workouts. It also kept me going through the rest of my morning routine, and helped me get the rest of my family up and out the door :) It does have caffeine though, and I did notice that after taking it for a few weeks, when I went on vacation I got some wicked headaches from the caffeine withdrawal. Coffee helped, but I keep that in mind now when I travel. Still, I love the stuff!

Back to planning for this week, I have meals planned out for the most part, and no big splurges planned for the weekend, so I should be able to stay on track with food. I’m going to put my game face on for tomorrow morning and get myself OUT of the house and jogging. Rain or shine, I’ll be out there! These last two weeks I’m definitely going to give it my all! Then I can enjoy my week long vacation in New York for Labor Day! :) But still “on plan” of course. My goal weight is still out there, even though I don’t have a deadline after August!

My kids are also benefiting from the challenge. I’ve had veggies to give them for every meal, and thankfully they both eat them (even it does require some tough coaxing for Ben). Slowly, I’ll get them into the habit of eating veggies that they like. :) But at the very least, we won’t have bad food in the house anymore!

Week Three, here I come!

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My stats for this check-in:

Start Weight (May 2013): 191.5 lbs
Start Weight (August): 166 lbs

Current Weight: 163 lbs

Goal Weight (August): 159 (7 lbs)
Goal Weight: 130 lbs

Lost in August: 3 lb (4 lbs and 2 weeks to go)
Total lost (since 5/27/13): 28.5 lbs (33 lbs to go)

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