Here are quick stats for week #4.
Yippeeee! In week #3, I believe I stalled on the pound loss because it was period week and I could feel more muscle on my legs, and muscle weighs more than fat. In week #4, I think more weight came off because of water loss post period bloating, I'm able to exercise at higher intensities than when I started, and I was able to not over eat on the weekend. As I mentioned, the weekends are the hardest days for me to stay disciplined with the food intake. As well, I had a naughty not eating enough day which I'll talk more about in the "emotions" section. (more after the jump)
For food, I've been eating about 1200-1500 per day. I don't want to
go less than that because I've learned in the past that my body
metabolism will quickly adjust to the new lower calorie intake, and I'm
not going to "diet" the rest of my life. I enjoy food. I was able to
continue to wean from dairy products. I didn't have any cheese at all
this week which is a biggie for me because I'm a cheese-aholic. I'm
noticing that I don't feel as heavy after meals because I'm not feeding up on the cheese, butter, or milk.
Since the beginning of the year, I have been eating vegetarian at lunch. I find that the common lunch foods which combine a meat and a carb like turkey sandwich, chicken burrito, or Kung Pao chicken with rice was leaving me groggy and heavy feeling by the afternoon. When I eat vegetarian at lunch, I feel lighter and less listless. It also allows me a bit more calories for snack time in the afternoon since I'm not eating the heavier calories in the meat at lunch. So okay, there's an ulterior motive.
For dinner, I've started cooking more brown rice for Matt and me, but honestly that is going to take some getting used to if I ever do that. I'm Asian and grew up with white Jasmine rice. That's real rice to me, and something of a cultural need. Unless a doctor tells me I'm going to drop dead because of my white rice, it's never leaving my menu. Another big lifestyle change is that Matt and I are not night snacking as much. That's another biggie.
Last week, I discovered this mountain climbing workout on the treadmill from FitSugar,
and I have to say that I am just really digging it. I have created
several versions of the workout to fit my fitness level, and it's been
fun doing something new. I also discovered that when I get to the
10-15% incline level at 2.7-3.0 speeds I can burn from 10-12 calories a
minute, at my current weight. That's the same calorie burn rate when
running at 4.8-5.0 at 0% incline. It's cool to know that I can walk,
albeit at a stiff incline, the same amount of calories as running and
put less stress on my joints. I'm noticing that I can feel the muscles
in my inner thigh coming out again, and in my glutes as the incline
work is really good for those muscles.
I've yet to start on any resistance exercises like weight lifting yet because my gym is in the middle of re-construction and the current weights floor is small and cramped and filled with guys. I don't mind working out with guys around but not when it feels like a cramped dorm room. And yes, yes, yes, I know that I have to start adding the resistance exercises in, and will soon. But considering that I am getting some cardio 5 days a week when I was doing zero in the last year is real progress.
I had one day of emotional eating this week, and one day of not eating
enough because I was feeling pressure to succeed on this weight loss
journey of mine that I have made so public on the Internet. Not eating
enough has never been a problem for me, but I started to see my weight
loss story written up on some high profile sites/blogs and I felt the
accountability thing big time. I've never made a weight loss journey so
public before so I didn't really know what to expect. It scared me to
be honest. In one way good and in one way bad.
The good part is that by making a commitment publicly you have a higher level of accountability. It's harder to slack when you know you have to post results in a week, and that accountability helps you stay committed to reaching your goal. In the bad way, which I let myself get caught up in for a day, I start doing the unhealthy weight loss tricks to keep the progress going like eating less than 1200 calories for the day. And before you start going "Okay, now Steph..." I know. I know. I sought aid. But this is part of me, sharing some of that not-so-perfect "middle" part between the Before and After I talked about previously. Losing weight is a human process which will be laced with the positive and the not-so-positive.
Again, I didn't beat myself up. I had a good talking to myself and journaling as to why I did this, and then talked about it with my best friend. She keeps me grounded. On the emotional over eating day, I was over eating because of the money issues. The end of the month is next Sunday and I might end up not eating because I won't have any money to eat or pay bills. Again, I know that more money will come from my blogging, but there are times when survival mode kicks in and you panic and worry. Having trust that the universe will provide is tough, and I can see why so many people drop their dreams to go back to something secure and a sure thing. I could do that, but my soul is most alive when I'm doing the blogging thing. I just have to keep faith and figure out some happy balance so that I'm not overeating to stuff the panicky feelings.
