40 years, 40 pounds – Week 1 Roundup
Week 1 is a wrap!
I wanted to share with you a few brief thoughts on my experience this week. At the beginning of the week, I loaded up the fridge with all kinds of healthy things, planned a few meals, and was off and running.
At the end of Day 1 of being fully on the program, I was anything but full. I’d eat, be satisfied for an hour or so, then my tummy would start rumbling again. I know that this is all part of the process. Anytime I change my eating habits, I’m hungry almost continuously for the first few days. I’m told it’s mostly psychological, and knowing that helped me to cope. I drank a ton of water, and if I couldn’t stand the rumbling any longer I’d opt for a zero points snack like cherry tomatoes or a bit of melon. I spent a lot of time in the washroom the first two days due to all the water I was drinking. Again, par for the course till the body adjusts.
The important thing was, I made it through that part. I think most people fail at healthy eating programs because their body and mind wreaks havoc on them the first couple of days. Just getting through that part makes all the difference. By Wednesday, I was totally in the groove. I even had trouble eating all my points on Wednesday and Thursday, I had like, 6 left over at the end of the day! It’s important to eat your full allotment of points every day, or you won’t be getting enough calories and your body could actually start to store fat. That’s bad news.
The really, really good news? I weighed in this morning, and I’m down 3.2 pounds! I’m actually down 4.8 pounds in total so far (I had lost about 1.6 pounds the previous week just by cutting out the bad stuff I was eating).
What I do need to improve upon is my activity level. I hurt my foot last week and that put a damper on my efforts to get out walking more. It’s better now though and I hope that will motivate me to get the walking shoes on and get out the door. The nicer weather will help too. I’m trying to do yoga and some weights and I have to work harder to step away from the laptop and get that done.
One day, one step at a time.
Thanks to all of my amazing friends and buddies on Twitter and Facebook, your support has been amazing. It even appears I’ve inspired a few people to start their own weight loss plans. Best of luck to you and feel free to weigh in in the comments!
6 Comments
Congrats! Glad to hear you've found a system that works for you – that seems to be the hardest thing! Whohoo!!
I'm really proud of you, Suze. I was successful enough in 2007 to lose about 1/2 my goal and even that earned me many compliments, the problem is that now I reversed and gained back the 20+ I lost plus 5 or 6 so now I have to get serious. I do eat healthy but then I slide back and the exercise is sporadic. Your post is inspiring and since summer is sort of upon us in Wisconsin, I am going to keep at it and hopefully by fall, it will be a routine and habit once again. You GO! 🙂
Changing lifelong habits is so hard…but, we have to start somewhere, or we will be nowhere. Be gentle on yourself….you're doing great!!!
Well done!
Keep at it and knock our sox off. 🙂
Excellent, you should be very proud of yourself. Keep up the good work & the faith. I know it's possible. In the last 4 years after moving to MS I gained 40 lbs! I was horrified. One day I woke up and realized HOLY hell. I have never had to worry about my weight when I lived in San Francisco since I walked everywhere ate healthy, and was very active. Livings in MS there are no place to walk, the humidity is unbearable and my choice of farmers markets is about 1 hour away by car.
But, like anything I do, I go full force. I lost 30lbs in 45 days. I placed myself on a very strict 500 calorie a day diet. Drank tons of water and cut all fat out. I was never big on soda so that was not a big deal, but no cream in my coffee, no butter, no dairy, no olive oil. That alone has made me feel 100% better. It's been about 2 month now and I have not put the weight back on. Everyone is expecting me to blow up 🙂 not going to happen because now I am conscientious of everything I eat… and I eat about 6 to 7 times a day. Fruits, vegetables, melba toast, small portions of everything and plenty of water. Good luck!
Hey there Suze,
As someone who's had to go on a health kick recently, I feel you and give you full kudos for sticking the early hurt and making it work. Bet you feel incredible too – nice one 🙂