Resolution Update: 52 weeks

Yesterday was 52 weeks since my first weigh-in on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009. When I weighed in yesterday morning, my total weigh loss was 53.2 pounds. I have been very pleased with my progress this past year.

Things have changed over the past year. The biggest difference - besides the weight - is the greatly reduced calorie need. When I started a year ago, I was aiming to eat about 1737 calories a day (based on moderate activity). After my latest weigh-in, my target is 1378. If I had tried eating so few calories when I first started, I'm not sure I'd have been able to do it - I would have been hungry all the time. However, as my body gradually changed, and I gradually made adjustments accordingly, the gradual reduction in calorie intake wasn't really noticeable; for the most part, I continue to be satisfied with what I eat, though I do occasionally get REALLY hungry for no apparent reason.

I will say that my weight today is not the most I've lost this year. My greatest weight loss was 61.4 pounds, on Saturday, December 19th. I know exactly why I have gained 8.2 pounds over the last two weeks. I went five days without exercising, from the 19th through the 23rd. I didn't plan it that way. I was busy over that weekend, finishing up with my sewing for my sisters' Christmas gifts. I was fully prepared to get back to my exercise on Monday. Fate conspired against me. I had a medical emergency - I blacked out - at work and was taken by EMS to the ER, and when the first tests they ran came back normal, they decided they wanted to admit me, and I wasn't allowed to just walk around. I didn't leave the hospital until about 7:30 Tuesday night. I took it easy on Wednesday, though I didn't really have to. I did exercise Christmas Eve, but Christmas Eve presented other issues: the abundance of sweets. That Monday night, I was to have gone to the Legion's Christmas dinner, and I had baked a cake. Needless to say, the cake didn't make it to the dinner, since I didn't either. That cake found its way out to Grandma's for Christmas Eve dinner. Daddy had also baked some chocolate chip cookies. There was also hot chocolate and Lebkuchen while we opened our presents. Christmas Day, Daddy always bakes up those Pillsbury cinnamon and orange danish rolls. I had two or three. Then, back out to Grandma's for the turkey dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, and corn, and again, a variety of sweets. A week later, we had pizza New Year's Eve, and then lots of food New Year's Day when we again headed out to Grandma's: ham, barbecue chicken, barbecue sausage, potato salad, pork & beans and corn, and a few more cookies. Oh, and we can't leave out the large number of sodas I've been consuming over the holidays, either. I'm not really freaking out about the 8 pounds in two weeks. I'd already told myself I'd not be obsessing about the calorie counting over the holidays, so I could enjoy them, and I know why I put the weight back on. But, it's now time to get back into the swing of things. Two weeks of not closely minding the calorie intake is enough.

To work towards my ultimate goal - from the latest weigh-in, I've got in the ballpark of 40 more pounds to lose. For the next ten pounds or so, I can continue to aim for a 1000 calorie deficit each day. After that, I will have to make some adjustments. I will have to reduce my daily calorie deficit to 500 calories, so as to keep my body from thinking there is a shortage of food and as a result, slowing my metabolism. So, it may taken me the next year to lose these last 40 pounds. I've not ever really hit a "plateau" (those times when I've not lost, I know why - either not enough exercise or too many calories). I will continue to update here from time to time as I continue my weight loss journey.

My exercise routines are a little different than when I first started a year ago. Those days I go into the office, I still work out with my sisters. I am still walking on the treadmill (though my sisters do intervals on the other treadmill and also the elliptical, trading places), and still doing some free weights. When I'm not at the office, I have mostly been doing in-home walking. Over the summer months, it was just too hot to walk in the neighborhood during the day. Also, with the DVDs, it doesn't really matter what time I do it - right when I get home from school, later in the evening after I've eaten something for dinner, in the middle of the day on the weekends. The important thing is that I continue to get exercise. I asked for - and received - two more exercise DVDs for Christmas. Yesterday morning, I went with my sisters (in 30 degree weather, even!) for the "Shredder Walk" that a trainer at a local gym does. It is a roughly 4-mile walk from the gym to one of the parking garages on the UT campus. When the garage is reached, everyone goes up the stairs to the top level for some exercises (I was a little wobbly at that point) and then it's down the stairs and back to the gym. I'm not sure of the schedule, but I think I'll do it again. It just sucked getting up that early on a Saturday morning, and then having to get my dad up so he could drive me over to my sister's place, since I'm not allowed to drive for a while after my little blackout episode two weeks ago...

So, the plan is to renew the New Year's Resolution. I will keep up with the exercise. I will try to push myself: as I get closer to my goal, it is likely that I will have to do more to see the same results. Time will tell. I will continue to count my calories, and I know I will soon need to make some adjustments soon, when I get to those last thirty pounds. I will also work at making sure I get a decent night's sleep each night. Lack of sleep can contribute to weight problems, and getting enough sleep was also a part of the discussion when I was in the hospital. To that end, I'm off to bed. It's Sunday, and I don't have to get up for anything in particular once morning rolls around.

Resolution Update: 46 Weeks

Today is 46 weeks since I began my New Year's Resolution. I successfully fit into my dress for my sister's wedding a couple of weeks ago (though I am not completely happy with all the photos I've seen). That Saturday morning, I had lost a total of 58 pounds. After my weigh-in that morning, I wasn't going to obsess over calories and what-not. I went to out to my favorite local Chinese restaurant for lunch with my best friend, Lyric Mezzo. I ate wedding cake. Sunday, we drove out to Fredericksburg to visit Lyric Mezzo's old voice teacher from college. The three of us had a nice lunch at Der Lindenbaum then had some dessert at Clear River Pecan Company (they make homemade ice cream). I didn't get any exercise in on the weekend. Oh, and I hadn't mentioned that we have all the leftover wedding cake here in the house...

Needless to say, since the wedding, I've not been exercising and eating as I should. When I weighed in last weekend, I'd put on 6.6 pounds. I've been better this weekend about exercising, but I haven't been eating like I should. When I stepped on the scale this morning, I hadn't gained any more weight, but I hadn't lost any since last weekend, either.

The big thing for me was to be satisfied with how I looked for my sister's wedding. I didn't look as fabulous as she did, but that wasn't going to happen - I'd have had to have lost ALL the weight I want to lose, and living a normal life (e.g. - I don't have the time or money to devote to the physical training, etc.) making that kind of progress just wasn't feasible. I'm just happy that I can once again shop in the petite department; that's something I haven't been able to do in years...

I'm going to try not to get too worked up about calories and such over the holidays. Thanksgiving is less than a week away. There will be turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, bread and, of course, desserts. Since the wedding is behind me, I will allow myself to eat what I want and enjoy the holidays. Christmas dinner will be much the same, with the possible addition of ham for Christmas Day. Christmas Eve, we'll have the traditional German bratwurst and the traditional Mexican tamales (hey, we're from Texas, what can I say?) and chili. I'll continue to do my exercise (something I still need to do today, and I even put a couple of exercise DVDs on my Christmas wish list), and once all the holidays are behind us, and can return to the concerted effort to continue my weight loss.

After nearly a year, I have something that works for me. I can afford to slack a few times over a couple of months without doing too much (if any, if I work it right) damage. I am nearly to the point where I will have to "cut back on cutting back", which will slow my progress towards my ultimate goal, which I had always expected. But, when I do finally reach that goal, the only thing that I plan to change is the fact I won't have to cut calories anymore. I would expect to be at that point by this time next year. We'll see how that goes...

Resolution Update: 35 Weeks

This week, I have surpassed the half-way mark towards reaching my goal. As of my weigh-in this morning, I have lost 48.2 pounds since I made my New Year's Resolution to lose weigh. I have 46.8 more pounds I want to lose. As said in my previous post, there are still weeks when I don't make much - if any - progress, but thankfully, over the past 5 weeks, I haven't gained anything from weigh-in to weigh-in.

I have made an effort to bump up my cardio - walking further than I used to during my workouts, which of course means I have to increase my pace.

I am also continuing to keep an eye on what I eat, but I still don't deny myself sodas and sweet. I'm just being judicious about when I'm eating them. I've even doing this for some baking/cooking I've done recently. I calculated that if I make the Peanut Brittle Brownie recipe that Sarah sent me, and I divide the pan into 24 pieces, each one is 236 calories. Knowing that helps keep me from eating a second one, especially considering I have to be smart about when I have even just one of them... I also calculate calories for other things that are home-made and not just prepared out of a box with a convenient label on the outside. Plan on doing that for the holiday baking I'd like to do, too.

So, I will keep at it. I won't reach my goal before the end of the year - that is unrealistic - but I fully expect to look nice in my dress in my sister's wedding in nine weeks.

Resolution Update: 30 Weeks

Yesterday marked thirty weeks since I began my weight loss journey. Two weeks ago, I surpassed another milestone. I weighed in at less than 190 pounds. As of yesterday morning's weigh-in, I am 188.4 pounds. I have lost a total of 41.6 pounds since I started. That means I've only lost 10.2 pounds in the last eleven weeks. There were two weeks in a row, weeks 21 & 22, when I actually gained weight. There were two weeks, from week 26 to week 27, where I didn't lose any weight at all. And other weeks, the weight loss has been hardly notable. It has been frustrating at times.

However, I have to remind myself that times like this to happen when trying to lose weight. These times I've either gained, or not lost, or not lost much, I can sometimes connect to not being as mindful of either my diet or my exercise. The week of Memorial Day (week 21) and the following week, I had several days each week where I didn't hit my calorie-cutting target. I also have to consider if I was completely honest with how I gauged my physical activity.

I also need to keep in mind that, now that I am in better physical condition, I'll need to put forth additional effort. The mile or two walk I had been doing on the treadmill probably doesn't burn as many calories as it used to. I'll need to walk a little farther, walking a little faster. I'll need to considering adding more sets of my anaerobic exercises (a variety of weights, as well as things like lunges & crunches).

I do have to be quite a bit more judicious when selecting what to eat. When I first began this back in January, so long as I was "moderately active" each day, and allowing for cutting 1000 calories from the number of calories I was burning in order to lose weight, I could allow myself about 1737 calories a day. As I have lost weight, my body does not require as many calories as it used to. Now, after yesterday's weigh-in, I'll be aiming for 1453 - nearly 300 calories fewer. That's about two cans of soda, or two Twinkies, or an Oscar Meyer beef frank on a bun, or a peanut butter sandwich.

I also need to consider trying to be a little more exact in calculating my calorie burn each day. What I have been doing up until now has been using my BMR to make a rough calculation of my calorie needs. Have I been sedentary, lightly active or moderately active? Only once, maybe twice, have I judged myself to be "very active". This rough calculation has been okay when cutting 1000 calories, but I'll soon need to cut back on cutting back, so I'll need to be a little more precise. I'll just need to find new tools to help me figure out how many calories I'm burning through walking X amount of miles in X amount of time, or by lifting the weights, or, as I hope to start doing once the weather cools down again, riding X amount of miles in X amount of time. I should check in with my sister about that...

I did order my dress on June 22nd. I need to double check when it is supposed to come in, but that should be in the next week or two. When I placed the order, I fit into a size 16, so I ordered a size 14. It probably won't fit yet when it comes in, and I doubt I'll be in a position to have it altered down to a size 10, and at the slowed rate of weight loss, it may not need to be altered at all. I can fit into some size 14 things - I have a few in my closet - but not every size 14 is the same...

I've also been able to take even more things out of my closet. I've had two large black trash bags full of clothes that no longer fit riding around in the trunk of my car for weeks. Every time I'd stopped by the Goodwill donation point, it was unmanned, until yesterday. Now, I can continue to work on yet another bag of clothes that are too big, since I once again have room in the trunk of my car to put it once it is full. Also, yesterday, I tried on some old clothes that had been too small. For now, they fit. These things are for fall and winter, so I won't be wearing them yet, but hopefully they will fit long enough that I don't have to do too much shopping over the next few months for things to wear as the weather begins to cool down.

Not sure when I'll post my next update. Guess that will largely depend on when I hit the next milestone...

Resolution Update: 19 Weeks

It has been 19 weeks now since I first weighed in to see where I was starting in my quest to reach my ideal weight. I stepped on the scale this morning, and I have passed a significant milestone. I now weigh 199 pounds, even. It's the first time in years that I have weighed less than 200 pounds! I have lost a total of 31.4 pounds since I started this journey.

Another big deal for me is being able to shop for clothes in "regular" stores. I have bought a summer dress and a couple of skirts and tops at Old Navy (something I couldn't have done when I started all this), and I've bought some tanks tops for the warmer weather in the regular department in JC Penney. Thursday morning, I went through a couple of boxes of old clothes that I had recently taken out of storage, and I am able to fit back into most of it - cute skirts, a few pairs of jeans, and a variety of tops. And, I've also been able to put lots of stuff into a big, black trash bag to be taken to Goodwill - I think I'm working on bag number 4. It was nice, a few weeks ago, to put on a pair of shorts from last summer and have the waistband fall down to my hips.

Also, I went to David's Bridal Wednesday evening on my way home from work. I needed to get some information about how far in advance I'm going to need to order my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding. I've decided to go with a short dress, and with the color my sister chose, that only gives me four dresses to pick from. I was able to try on a smaller size than the first time we all went to the dress shop with my sister, when she bought her dress. I've narrowed it down to two dresses - my first choice, which is the same dress my other sister chose, and a "runner-up" dress, but it was also good to be able to say "I don't like either of those". Both the dresses I'm considering will take 12 weeks to come in, and then I need to allow 4-6 weeks for them to do any needed alterations. I did explain that I am in the process of losing weight, and that I had lost about 30 pounds since the beginning of the year. They said that - if I will be continuing to lose weight - when I order my dress, I should order one size smaller than what fits at that point, and then they can take it in up to two dress sizes from there. Eighteen weeks from the wedding is July 4th, but I don't want to cut it that close, so I have decided I'll order my dress on/around June 20. That gives me five weeks more...

I will admit, I don't always get the exercise in, but when that happens, I also make adjustments to what it is I consume. I still eat fast food, but I try to be smart about my choices. I love Sonic, but that's about one of the worse choices I could make, so I don't go there. And, I'll often order the kid's meal or order items a la carte to keep portion size under control. I've been able to keep my sweet tooth from getting out of hand. I bought a box of Twinkies several weeks ago because I had a craving for a real one, and I'm happy to say I still have several of them left. I also still have some of my Easter candy left, too. I will have the occasional soda (I pick up some of those 8-ounce cans), if I can spare the calories. Since I've been seeing steady progress (there has still only been that one week when I didn't lose weight), it's been a lot easier to think "do you want that *soda, candy, fast food*, or do you want to keep losing weight?" to keep myself from making poor choices. So far, so good.

Resolution Update: 9 weeks, 5 days

At the 8 week mark, at my Saturday morning weigh-in, I had lost a total of 15.6 pounds. That Saturday was also my sister's 28th birthday, and she had invited me and some other people to met for lunch at Chili's. This wasn't a problem, as I had planned ahead by looking at their nutritional information online, and I was also able to order of the kids' menu. So, I got the half rack of ribs, some fries, some of those yummy corn chips with salsa and a glass of tea, and did not hit an unreasonable number of calories. I did try out the gelato stand at the mall when I went there after lunch, but I did do my exercise. So, while I didn't hit my 1000 calorie deficit target for the day, 704 was still acceptable.

I don't think I stepped on the scale the next morning, but that Sunday was a bad day. It is a family tradition to go out for someone's birthday dinner on a Sunday around lunchtime. The birthday celebrant gets to pick. My sister picked the family's perennial favorite, Texas Land & Cattle Co. The problem began with the fact that this restaurant does not provide nutritional information on their website. So, I just ordered what I wanted to eat (chicken fried chicken with crispy fries, and I had my other sister's bowl of delicious steak soup, and just one slice of their sourdough bread, and Pepsi), instead of trying to count calories. To compound the problem of what I ate for lunch, the naughtiness wasn't over. After lunch, we went back to the house to present my sister with her birthday gifts, and to have "cake" and ice cream. We didn't actually have cake. We always have leftover cake, even when we buy the smallest one from HEB's bakery department. So, my other sister volunteered to pick up brownies and/or cookies from Tiff's Treats, and she ended up getting 9 of the brownies, to cover all the family & significant others. Let's just say my brownie was about 9 square inches of chocolatey deliciousness, with a little bit of vanilla ice cream on the side. The only other thing I ate that day was a bowl of Corn Pops with a half cup of skim milk, but the damage had been done...

This past Saturday, I stepped on the scale and was 1 pound more than I had been the week before, but that was still an improvement over where I had been earlier in the week. This was the first time I had actually gained weight between weigh-ins. But, I think it has been an important learning experience. Yes, I ate what I wanted, but there were obvious lower-caloric choices I could have made (like the grilled chicken with a baked potato) that wouldn't have done near the damage, even if I didn't know how many calories it was. It was also a bad day to have as my "off" day for exercising, even though I'm allowed one day off each week. If I had instead taken the previous day off, I'd have broken even with the calories in vs. calories out on Saturday, and I would've be so much less out-of-whack on Sunday.

I am, however, happy to say that, although I haven't taken an official weight - that is this Saturday morning - as of this morning, I am down 1.2 pounds from where I was for my week 8 weigh-in (which means 16.8 pounds, total, "unofficially"). I didn't get my exercise in today (that "excuse" will be my next post), but I watched what I consumed (usual breakfast and lunch food items, but no juice, sugar-sweetened tea, or Kool-Aid to drink, only water), and carefully planned what to have for dinner to allow me to still hit my 1000 calorie deficit target for the day, but not still be hungry (a tasty serving of chicken tortellini with marinara sauce, one slice of Texas garlic toast, and 20 calories worth of Parmesan cheese) after I finished eating.

And, let's just say, I'll be more careful in the future. One day of being REALLY naughty can undo weeks of progress. Makes me wonder how I'm going to manage when I'm at the Milblog Conference next month. That weekend is the end of Week 16... I'll definitely need to make sure I get some exercise in (that fancy hotel is sure to have a fitness center with a treadmill), and I'll have to make wise choices about what to eat (and drink), and I may even be packing some snackage for the trip that I'll know how many calories it is. And, we'll see where I am this Saturday morning...

Resolution Update: 4 weeks

I've been working on my New Year's Resolution for 4 weeks now. Yesterday was my "official" weekly weigh-in, and I had my mom help me again with measurements. Also, following my sister's advice, I took another one of those nothing-but-my-bra-and-panties pictures. Here's the score:

I've lost a total of 10.2 pounds since I started. As expected, the rate of weight loss has slowed, and I've now been doing it long enough to get an idea of how I might expect the usual hormonal issues to affect my progress, at least when just looking at stepping on the scale.

Not all the measurements changed, but I can now wear some clothing items I haven't been able to wear in a while (at least in a fashion that I am not embarrassed for others to see me in them...). Also, there are some articles of clothing that are already set aside for Goodwill: they don't fit anymore because they are too big! And, comparing the original for-my-eyes-only photo with the new one, I can see definite improvement, improvement that isn't easy to gauge just looking in the mirror every day. So, I am seeing progress, and I am not discouraged.

And, planning ahead, I was able to allow myself to have 4 slices of a medium Papa John's "The Meats" pizza and 24 ounces of regular Pepsi on this Super Bowl Sunday, without eating more calories than I'm aiming for to continue losing weight. I just made different choices for my earlier meals: an apple for breakfast, and a bowl of cereal with a half cup of skim milk for lunch. And, I was even able to allow myself 2 Fudge Stripe cookies and another half cup of skim milk for a dessert.

So, I've been aiming for a 1000 calorie deficit each day (give or take), and I try to exercise every day. The only times I have trouble getting in the exercise are those days when I substitute teach: after I done with school, I go into the office job, so I miss going to the fitness center with my sisters, and since I work later on those days, to make up the hours, I'm not exercising when I go home. I haven't exercised every weekend day, but I'm trying. The point is, I am exercising regularly, and those days when I don't exercise, I take that into account when making decisions about what to eat. As I think I have mentioned before, looking at calorie counts on the labels doesn't mean much, unless you have some idea of your individual calorie needs...

I haven't gone shopping for any new clothes yet. I kind of get to go "shopping" in my own closet, and pick out some things people at the office have never seen me wear. I want to wait a little longer, and lose a little more weight. Plus, it might be nice to wait until the weather gets a little warmer (which won't be too long - I do live in Texas, after all). That way, I'll get more use out of any new clothes. No sense in buying new cold weather clothes I know I won't be able to wear come next fall and winter...

Resolution update

So, it's been two weeks since I began with my New Year's Resolution to lose weight. I've lost another three and a half pounds this week. Now that I have some concept of how much my body needs to function, and how many calories I should be consuming to lose weight without making my body think it needs to start conserving its energy, it has been much easier to stop myself from eating things that would be counterproductive to my goal.

I still haven't had a soda. The 150 calories for a 12-ounce can just aren't worth it. Why do that, when I can have an entire quart of sweet tea with my lunch for only 25 more calories? And, it is helping me to "plan ahead" for special occasions. My sister's fiancé has a birthday on Monday, and he wanted to celebrate with friend tonight. So, I've known for a week or so that I'd be going out to dinner, and where, and I've been able to check online for nutritional information. While the chicken strips are Hooter's aren't exactly low in calories, I'll still order them, along with the not-low-in-calories fries, but I'm taking that into consideration for my meal choices earlier in the day. An apple for breakfast, and some chicken noodle soup with crackers for lunch. While I might not hit my current target of a daily 1000 calorie deficit, I still won't be going over what I need for the day. I haven't gone for my walk yet, but all I need to do is put on my shoes and socks, and grab my iPod, house key and cell phone...

New Year's Resolution

Anyone who has seen some of my comments on some of the threads at some of the sites I frequent has probably picked up on the fact that I am overweight. Technically, based on my height and weight and the resulting BMI, I am obese. That's really kind of a hard thing to say... But, there it is. I wasn't always this way - I wasn't as a child, but I was a little pudgy in junior high, but not so much during my high school and college years (I was walking EVERYWHERE..., and I never gained that "freshman fifteen" they talk about). Then, I graduated and got that office job. The pounds slowly added up. I've tried exercising, and doing diets, that hasn't stuck in the past. For a while, I was doing really well, with the Atkins diet and my membership at Curves. Atkins was hard to stick to, especially with the job I had that required lots of travel sometimes. Then, I moved back to Texas, and I had to let my Curves membership expire when I made the decision to go back to school and earn my M.Ed. While I hadn't put on a lot more weight since coming back to Texas, I still put some on. And I'm tired of it. I'm tired of having a hard time finding clothes that fit - the combination of being short (5'2") and overweight makes fielding a decent wardrobe a difficult thing. I'm tired of seeing all these cute clothes that I can't wear. I'm tired of feeling über-unattractive to the opposite sex. I'm tired of seeing how I look in the mirror. I'm tired of the fact that it's not so easy as it once was to bend over and tie my shoes (though I still can).

Back around the end of April, I got a job at the same place my sisters work. They didn't take a "lunch". They would eat at their respective desks, then take a break around 3pm to go work out in the fitness center that is provided to employees for free. It's not fancy - 2 treadmills, 1 elliptical, 2 stationary bikes, free weights, exercise balls, and some sort of weight machine, as well as a TV with cable and a sound system of sorts. So, when I started working there, I started going with my sisters for my "lunch hour". I walk on the treadmill. I don't like running, really - never have; I feel COMPLETELY uncoordinated on the elliptical. But, the oldest of my little sisters likes the elliptical, and the youngest one runs on a treadmill. We're all too short for the stationary bikes - even with the seat as far down as it will go, we can't really reach with our feet to pedal. So, most days, we all go together, all lined up on the 2 treadmills and the elliptical. But, I just wasn't making any progress, even though I was getting exercise that I wasn't getting before, and I don't think I was really eating any differently. And, it didn't help when I had a longer-term sub position, and would put in a couple of hours in the office after school for several weeks October/November and wasn't exercising at all. In all honesty, left to my own devices, I likely would have spent my lunch hours reading a book.

Losing weight is something I've wanted - and knew I needed - to do for a while. I'd make what would turn out to be half-hearted or unsustainable efforts and end up where I started, or worse. Then, I found out my sister's boyfriend would be proposing while they had a mini-vacation to Las Vegas mid-December. While he's basically been a part of the family for years, and I am very happy for my sister, that didn't make me feel very good about myself. I don't want to be the fat spinster at my sister's wedding, and I also don't want to look like I do right now in the wedding pictures that will be around forever - I will be one of my sister's bridesmaids. So, with this motivation, I'm sticking to this New Year's Resolution...

I ate the last slice of New Year's day chocolate Dream Pie on Saturday, January 3rd. Sunday, January 4th, marked the real change I've decided to make. On Saturday morning, I stepped on the scale: 228.8 lbs. I also took one of those embarrassing wearing-nothing-but-your-bra-and-panties pictures. No one is going to get to see that: that is strictly for my own use, a visual record of where I started and to gauge how much process progress I make. I also got my mom to help me take measurements, practically from head to toe.

I've been keeping a food diary - hit & miss - since late September. I've managed to keep it daily since December 29th. It's not (necessarily) that I eat tons of crap, although I do admit that I might have been a little too free and easy about picking something up at the drive-thru for convenience sake. But, keeping track of what I'm eating doesn't do a whole lot of good if you've not really got a concept of how many calories that all is, and then again how many calories you're burning daily. Having a dinner of a piece of grilled or baked chicken with beans and rice doesn't sound unhealthy, but if you're in reality eating twice as much as what a serving should be, how are you going to make any progress? I decided I needed one of those little kitchen scales. Off to Target I went, and I found what I was looking for, and on clearance, to boot. Now, I am able to weigh portions, and for items in the scale's database, get instant calorie counts. I went to the grocery store this evening: pieces of chuck steak and pork loin are now individually packages in zip-lock baggie with the calorie count written on the outside with a Sharpie. A can of honey roasted peanuts is broken out into 11 28-gram (170 calories) and 1 31-gram (188 calories) servings .

On Friday, January 2nd, one of my sisters sent me, my other sister and my mom the link to this article at MSN.com. In the article is a link to another article about how many calories a person should eat to lose fat. That second article has a link to a Basal Metabolic Rate calculator: you enter your age, weight, height and sex, and it returns with how many calories (roughly - I realize everyone has a little bit different metabolism) a person burns in a day if completely at rest all day long. Last week, for me, that was about 1766. Then, the article also includes another calculation you can do (using the first number) to determine how many calories you are burning, based on your activity level. With light to moderate activity, I have been burning between 2428-2738 calories daily.

Now, to lose weight, you should be consuming fewer calories than you are burning (DUH!). Since I am so much overweight, I am able to go into a larger calorie deficit to lose weight more quickly in the beginning (normally, you would want to lose about 1 pound/week, or be in a deficit of 500 calories/day, but I can aim for 2 pounds/week, or a deficit of 1000 calories/day, and may initially lose more than this as I'm starting - it would be "water weight and bloat"). I'm reading labels and, using that nutritional scale, I can calculate calories in things like raw chicken and sliced apples, which enables me to make better decisions on how much I should be eating for my desired calorie intake each day. I will need to re-evaluate my calorie usage as I lose weight and/or change my activity level (will I ever be like my sisters and go beyond a moderate level of activity?) - if you cut your calories too much, your body will think it needs to slow its metabolism to conserve energy, and that is counterproductive. As of this morning, I am down 4.4 pounds. I did re-evaluate my BMR this evening - it has dropped to 1746.

I'm not making drastic changes to my routine or diet. I need this to be something I can stick with for the rest of my life - "diet" is a four-letter word; people don't stick to "diets" after they lose the weight - they go back to what they were doing before. I'm not on a diet; I'm making a lifestyle change. I have cut out the sodas - I haven't had one for a week now. I'm drinking home-brewed tea with a little bit of sugar (I'm not a coffee drinker, and lately I've been fixing a 16 ounce hot tea at the office in the morning with 4 sugar cubes (60 calories), and I'll pack a quart-sized Thermos with either Kool-Aid (240 calories per quart) or sweet tea (about 180 calories per quart). A 12 ounce can of soda is about 150 calories... I'm not eating weird stuff - this week, I've had spaghetti and meatballs (a higher calorie choice), chicken on the griddle (seasoned, no oil or butter), and corn tortillas with refried beans. I'm just not going back for seconds. I'm having a glass of water with dinner. You don't know how much I'd love to down a soft drink with a meal, but I think to myself "do you want that, or do you want to lose the weight?" Also, I discovered - when I was looking for something for lunch today - I can have a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup and 10 saltine crackers for only 270 calories. That means I was able to "afford" eating a piece of cake at my second cousin's 3rd birthday party this afternoon. So far, the wanting to lose weight is winning out...

As for my exercise routine, while I can't afford some fancy gym membership with access to a personal trainer, I thankfully don't really need one. One of my sisters really should have a job like that. She has given me a list of exercises - some using free weights - to do to work different parts of my body, and a schedule as to when I should do them, in addition to the cardio workouts. I should listen to my sisters - they both look great... Where I need to make improvement is on the weekends. Today, I didn't get up until about 10am, and I was putzing around the house before going to the party, then I ran some errands. Needless to say, I didn't get any real exercise in (walking around Target or HEB doesn't really count...). But, I've kept track of what I ate today, and I've still managed to hit that 1000 calorie deficit target...

I'll be doing weigh-ins weekly (and I bought a new scale that I've been able to program with my information, so it can give me body fat, body muscle and bone mass information, along with body water, so I'll have to kind of compare the weight from the old scale to the new scale tomorrow morning). I'll only be getting help measuring me about once a month - that will take more time to see a difference, I think. I'm not going to turn this into a weight-loss blog site, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to put this out there, and give updates from time to time. I just thought that by sharing, I might also be able to help encourage others who might be dealing with the same issues. I know I felt good about the progress I've made in just one week. One of my sisters asked me what I weighed in at today, and when I told her, she insisted on an exploding fist-bump ;-)