Random Thoughts on Weight Loss

Well, it's been a week. I went back and forth over whether to post this on my blog, and it took me a few days to go forward with that.

First, many thanks to Joyful Dreamer who suggested that I snack on protein instead of saltines and applesauce. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and will be implementing your suggestion.

So, last week I cut 1/4 cup of sugar out of my tea. I drink a lot of tea-as discussed earlier, our water is flavorful, LOL, so there we go. Tea is a better option for me to stay hydrated. And it's actually fairly weak-two tea bags per gallon. We live in the high desert, so even just hanging around the house, hydration is an issue. The air sucks every last bit of water out of you some days, so we try to drink a lot. Anyway, but cutting out 1/4 cup of sugar, I cut out 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Just doing that, I consumed over 5000 LESS calories than the week previous. I cut out another 1/4 cup this week, and added an herbal tea bag for flavor (peppermint). Didn't even notice the loss.

I also instituted portion control. When I started, this was working fairly well for breakfast and lunch, not so much for dinner. But last night at dinner, I got about 1 cup of casserole, plus a small amount of bread. And, following my rules, had to wait at least 15 minutes before going back for more. Well that 15 minutes turned into way more because kidlets started finishing their dinners and had to be cleaned up, and, well, the long and short of it is that I didn't need more. Now, this morning I'm ravenous, but that's OK. That means my body used up all of the food I consumed, that I digested well because I didn't eat anything too late.

Exercise, well, that area has lacked a bit more than I wanted it to. I think I've walked twice this week-but once was pushing kidlets in the stroller plus 40 pounds of potatoes in the basket (on sale). About a mile there, 1/2 of it pushing the potatoes home. DH went with me and offered to push several times, but I made it all the way home. Was useless the rest of the day, because it was hotter weather than I usually walk in, and I didn't drink enough while walking. And my arms were sore the next day. My stroller needs a front end alignment! The second walk was an hour or so through Trinidad. The bigs were invited to a birthday party in town, and DH had some stuff to do, so the littles and I took the stroller and played tourist. We have lived down here for seven years and I have never walked the main street of the beautiful historic town that we live 30 minutes away from. It was nice. I found this gorgeous little shop tucked away on a side street and spent a few minutes there, admiring all the pretties.

I did not, however, do much more exercise than that. There are various reasons, but I just didn't get it done. Time is a factor. Going on a walk takes about 40 minutes total prep time. In the mornings I'm doing other stuff (including sitting here way too much!) and doing any kind of workout during the day means I have kidlets crawling all over me. Ever done crunches with a 2 year old bouncing on your stomach? It's an adventure! But, on the bright side, we are getting an exercise bike from a friend who got a new one. So I can dedicate some time to that every day and then jump on whenever I have a few spare minutes. Will be much easier to dedicate 20 minutes than an hour for a walk plus 40 minutes of prep!

The biggest benefit I saw this week was increased energy. We slept late on the weekend, instead of getting up by the alarm. Huge change for me. But I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in probably three years. Of course, Sunday night, the baby was up a lot, so I got maybe 4 hours of very broken sleep (I think she's teething). But Monday I had ENERGY. I didn't need a cat nap. I got my entire to do list done (possibly due to our new chore lists). I was amazed that I had so much energy on so little sleep. Last night I got my normal sixish hours and can't wait to see everything I get done! I really think that cutting out the sugar helped, as I didn't have as many sugar crashes. Well, I never got to feeling shaky and wobbly-because I was consuming less sugar, I didn't have as much of a sugar high to come down from.

I was NOT cranky or crabby (except for a bit of PMS-so we'll say not OVERLY cranky or crabby). But I firmly believe that implementing changes slowly is the name of the game. After all, I am trying to change a lifestyle here. We all know that dieting doesn't work. Curbing your eating habits for a few days or weeks or months and then going back to what you were doing before just means you're going to gain the weight back. You have to make life long changes, and that is what I'm trying to do. And if you try to do those quickly, you get really frustrated and often give up. If there is a medical emergency, and you have a doctor telling you that you have to do this or die, well, that's a bit motivating, but I don't have a medical emergency. I'm changing my lifestyle BEFORE it gets to that point. Then I don't have to do it fast and hard.

So, on to the bottom line. How much did I lose? Honestly, I don't know. I don't have a scale. I weighed myself at a friend's house last week, and haven't had the opportunity to go back. I will get a scale as soon as we are financially able, but right now that is a luxury item (DH is still job hunting). But, I lost half an inch around my waist. I don't know if that is a lot. I don't know if that is a little. But, it's something. It's encouragement. I lost something! I guess, if I carry that out over the time of my goal, I will lose seven inches by September 5. That is more than 10% of the inches in my waist. Again, I don't know if that's good, but it will certainly be a positive weight loss. In a quick search this morning I can't find a correlation of how many inches you should lose in a week. I did find a study that showed people lost an average of 2 inches over a four week period, so it looks like my half inch is decent, according to that article.

Have more to write, but have to go fix breakfast and such.

Thank you, God, for the strength to make these healthy changes for our family!