Weight Loss Goal: Week 2

In order to choose a weekly goal and not overwhelm myself with the right goal, I went old school.  

I wrote them down on small pieces of paper, put them in a Halloween bucket (😊 sometimes silly is an okay by-product), and then decided to choose one every week.

Not very scientific, but still simple.  

I had bought a weight-loss journal.  I had a weight-loss app.  Neither seemed to quite work for me.  Having to remember to journal or scan barcodes for calorie-counting - not gonna happen!  At least not now.

More papers for more goals! 😏 (Yes, emojis and funny faces are also okay.  I'm expressive and this helps.)

When it came to the goals, they had to be simple and measurable.  Measurable wasn't initially a conscious factor, but it helped with the simple part.

Here's an example: One of the goals I read about said, "Eat regular meals."  It was explained that regular meals had to fit your individual schedule and lifestyle.  People who work night shift always comes to mind with that point.

Anyways, in order to keep it simple, I needed something more than Eat regular meals.  What does that even mean?

This became a funny exercise is brain dumping.  I interpreted eating regular meals as eating throughout the day.  I also interpreted it as eating healthy meals.  My funny side wondered if it meant eating more fiber-rich foods - could be that kind of regular. 💩  

My point in keeping it simple means that if a goal makes me ask questions to understand it, it's not simple.  It makes me have to think - translation: stress, which makes me want to stress-eat or take a nap or procrastinate - translation: quit, which is counterintuitive to this whole process.  

Nope not gonna happen.  😂 Letting go also seems to be a theme here.  Maybe that's what the weight is - stuff that we hold on to.

Back to brain dumping: Eat regular meals started off as eat every 2-3 hours.  That's another popular piece of advice.  

Not specific enough.  

The word STOP needs to be thrown in there 'cuz I know there are days - on those sucky, emotional, cheesecake days - where STOP comes in handy, if not a complete necessity.

Then I picked a time to eat breakfast: 8:30AM.  NOW I can apply the 2-3 hour school of thought.

8:30AM Breakfast

11:30AM Snack

2:30pm Lunch

4:30PM [Teeny tiny] snack

6PM Dinner

Yeah, I crammed a bunch of stuff towards the end of the day there.  I find that that teeny tiny snack helps me not want to eat everything in site before, during, and after dinner.  

I also don't get very hungry at the beginning of the day, but if I don't eat, I guarantee that I will eat everything in site at the end of the day.

Sadly, I justify it because as far as calories are concerned, I'm in line.  Problem is that I eat them all at the end of the day.  That can't be good.

Oh the guilt.  Let it go! 🧊

Seriously, who has a boatload of [delicious] vegetables just ready to be scarfed down in a fit of starvation rage?  Confession: I don't.

That's meal prep and I am nowhere near being that organized....yet.

Note to self: Be okay with these ideas and give yourself credit for knowing that you will get there eventually.  Just not today.  Or this week.  And praying not next week either.

Tomorrow, we'll talk more brain dumping.  I'm done for today.  It's time for a nap.  😂

Weight Loss Week 2 Goal: Eat breakfast

Week 2, Day 1 of getting healthier

Losing 4 lbs. with last week's goal gave me such a rush of empowerment.  I made a goal.  I stuck with it.  I accomplished it.

In choosing this week's goal, I found myself reaching the potential status of analysis paralysis.

The first goal that came to mind was, Eat breakfast everyday.  Then I began wondering if it was the right goal.  Really?  

Pick one and go.  I have a bazillion new goals in order to accomplish this quest to be healthy, and here I was wondering if this was the right goal.  I'm hilarious.....and sarcastic!

Another AHA moment hit me then: I was not going through this overthinking nonsense every week if I was going to accomplish this undertaking.  I looked up some common weight loss goals.  Then I wrote them down, put them in a hat and that was going to be my scientific way of choosing a new weekly goal.

Some of these goals I want to put off as much as possible because they create more work than I care to do.  Meal prep anyone?  Hopefully, it's just in my head.  Or maybe by the time I pick that goal, I will be less mentally and physically exhausted, and able to nail it!  More to this point tomorrow.

This week: I'll be staying for breakfast!

Weight Loss Week 1 Goal: Drink the Water

I have to lose 50 lbs.  

I have reached obesity-level weight.  I needed a game plan, but suffered information overload.  This only inspired me to want to take a nap.

In a moment of clarity, (otherwise known as an AHA moment - clarity sounds better) losing weight became easier when I decided to give myself One. Simple. Goal every week.  The idea behind it is to just focus on it and nothing else.

Week One Goal  

My goal was to drink 8 cups of water everyday.  

Good Days vs. Bad Days

I reached my goal 6 out of 7 days.

The one day I did not reach my goal was not a good day for me.  I found myself not really caring about how much water I drank.  I was short by 1-1/2 cups.  I didn't beat myself up too badly over it.  A bad day doesn't get better by adding to my grief.  It was a bad day.  Then a new one came, along with a new opportunity to succeed.  BAM!

Game Plan  

I am a visual person.  When I was home, I filled a 4-cup Anchor Hocking measuring cup with water.  So technically, I only had to count twice!

I drank two cups of water as soon as I woke up.  

Funny observation: I learned to go to the bathroom before leaving the house.  2 cups of water plus 1 cup of coffee - you do the math!

For days that I went to work, I filled my water bottle.  The problem was that the water bottle wasn't see-through.  

If I sat at a desk that day, I had a 1-cup measuring cup with me.  Using a fancy measuring cup versus a practical-looking one made me feel better and more likely to drink.  Little things, people.  I surprised myself at how quickly that one cup of water went down.  I ended up running out of water by the end of the work day.

There were days that I did not sit at a desk all day.  I was all over the place doing things (which will work great when I have a Steps Taken goal).  This was harder because my water drinking became more of an intentional thing than the other two scenarios listed above.  In order to help myself, every time I found myself back at my desk, I took a big chug of water, or several if I just wanted to finish it before the end of my work day.  Yes, there were moments where it was a chore, or something else to remember doing.  I learned to be okay with those thoughts.  I got it done.  💪

Observations

• It was fun to focus on just one thing.  
• I didn't worry about how much exercise I got, or didn't. 
• I didn't worry about whether or not I ate enough fruits, vegetables, [insert healthy food here], or didn't. 
• I allowed myself to stress eat.  (OOO goal for later💡)  
• Not gonna lie: I drank the rest of the wine after making shrimp scampi pasta.  (I don't normally drink alcohol.)
• I ate a few pieces of cheesecake.....in one sitting.  
• The kids ate the rest of the chips before the next grocery shopping day, sooooo none of that for me.
• The moments that I started worrying about the woulda, coulda, shoulda, I reminded myself to focus on drinking the water.  💡 I found myself exhaling an ounce of stress.  It was refreshing.
• The day I ate the cheesecake slices was towards the end of the first week.  Something in me was different.  I ate it, but with less need to feed my stress, and more because it was so doggone delicious.  I thought it was worth mentioning. 

RESULTS

I lost 4 lbs.  46 to go.  See you next week!

Weight Loss Observations

Photo credit: Stuart Miles

Happy New Year to you!  We're a week into the new year and one of the most popular resolutions is to lose weight.  A new year, a new you - only less of you.

Over the years, I've made some observations about different weight loss techniques and diet plans.  The most important one being that most of them offer similar food menus and support.

Admittedly, I have attempted the weight loss challenge once.  The second time I changed my eating habits was to satisfy a curiosity, weight loss was a side effect.

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Clean Eating magazine (pictured above) has a 14-day meal plan, including a shopping list.  I did this menu plan many years ago because everything was laid out for me.  After 28 days of it, I felt great.  

Recently, I saw Amy's on How I Made My Millions.  I checked out their website and saw their products in my local grocery store.  The food they provide is for vegetarians and they offer a diet plan.

How do you lose the weight?  How do you stay motivated to finish the task at hand?  How do you keep it off?

Before undergoing this massive overhaul of your life, and because it is lifestyle change, check with your health care provider.  You want to improve your health and eating habits, while at the same time maintaining your body's equilibrium.  Keeping up with your PCP will help you accomplish your goals.

Set goals.  If you are trying to lose weight, set goals that are measurable and attainable.  Can you realistically lose 20 pounds in two weeks?  Probably not.  The average healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.

Have a plan.  How do you drive from NY to CA?  A road map.  Measurable and attainable means that you will define how you will accomplish losing the weight.

Example: Week 1 - "I will drink 8 cups of water everyday this week."

Week 2: "I will add one more serving of fruits and vegetables to my meals everyday this week."

Week 3: Do 10 lunges while vacuuming one room per day.

Week 4: Exercise 30 minutes per day, 2 15-minute increments.

Cut yourself some slack.  If you have a day in which you overdo it on one of your goals, forgive yourself.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Keep going on your task at hand.  Remind yourself that you are worth it.

Strive for success, not perfection.  Have fun on this journey.  Please share your successes.

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