October 23, 2010

Well it's been about a week since my last post, so here is an update:

I have lost TWELVE pounds since last week!! I have been cutting out 95% of the sodium I used to eat and trying to watch the calories as well, and it hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it might be. I've had nothing but water to drink and that's been a little more difficult. I gave up soda 2 weeks ago tomorrow and while that wasn't as hard as I thought, I really miss milk. I can have it, but I have to limit it to 1-2 cups (measuring cups, NOT glasses, unfortunately) and it just has way too many milligrams for me to waste on one drink. Plus, I like to chug milk like it's going out of style and 1 cup doesnt allow for much chugging. :)

I started walking with Gavin every single evening at the lake park by our house, for 20-30 minutes. I try to keep it brisk and I get an even bigger workout when Gavin spots one of the 5 million cats that live around the fire station, b/c I have to pull hard to reign him in. Sigh. :) I've also been spending 30-45 minutes on the Wii Fit, doing a mix of the rhythm boxing and other aerobic workouts. I could really tell a difference toward the end of this week - my once-comfortable jeans were getting loose.

I gathered up my courage and weighed myself this morning........12 lbs lost in 8 days!! I couldn't believe it! I know a lot comes off in the beginning and it will slow down, but I've been doing a lot of research on how to lose more than just that one pesky pound every week, and by continuing on this low sodium/calorie diet and keeping up with the amount of exercise I've been doing, I should be able to lose about 2-4 lbs per week. Sounds great to me.

It took me over 10 years to gather this willpower.....for so long I've tried this diet and that diet and whenever I wanted something, I always justified my want and fell off the wagon, so to speak. I have never felt like I have now, where just yesterday I was able to turn down my most favorite food in the world - french fries. Not the nasty ones like Mcdonalds makes, but the really good ones you get at the Clock or Petes. They smelled SO good but I kept reminding myself of all the progress I've seen this week and how much BETTER I feel and that a french fry is NOT worth giving up all of that.

It worked.

A few weeks ago that would never have worked. I would have eaten it anyway just because I wanted it. I can't tell you how much better I feel - I can get up in the mornings w/o feeling so sluggish (though I'd still like to take a hammer to the alarm clock) and I'm tired at a reasonable hours for bedtime....I sleep more soundly and I have so much more energy. Nothing I've ever tried before has ever done ANY of that for me.

My shirts are already fitting better as well as my jeans. I have a total goal in mind that I want to have reached by this time next year. I'm not ready to give you the actual number yet but I'm already a lot closer than I thought I would be after just one week. :)