I’ve been lax on my weekly weigh-in posts lately. Mainly because the number on the scale hasn’t been moving much. Even though I’ve cut soda out of my diet and have been consistently exercising for the past 6 weeks, I’ve been pretty disappointed by the scale. Apparently, I’m not one of the lucky ones who can just cut soda out of her diet and lose 10 lbs, no big deal.
Ah, well. At least my addiction is gone and I can move on to other unhealthy habits, right? Right. And my clothes are fitting better so I imagine I’m losing inches (still haven’t gotten out the measuring tape to see) and I feel better. That’s so much more important.
I wanted to change up the way I wrote my weekly weigh-in posts. While I enjoyed the more “stream of consciousness” posts I was doing, I realized I wanted to talk more about the day-to-day. I’ve broken the posts up into a few sections:
- The Workouts: A run-down of my workouts this week, as well as how I felt about them in italics.
- The Goals: With Best Body Bootcamp, Tina likes us to make two goals for the week. If you meet your goal at least 5 times, you get entered into the weekly cash drawings. It’s great incentive! I’m also including my goals for the upcoming week.
- The Weight: Because it’s not a weigh-in post without a weigh-in, right?
- Overall Thoughts: Any thoughts or musings about how I felt about the week.
The Workouts
Monday – Elliptical (15 min.) and then Workout A of BBB, a Legs & Shoulders Strength Pyramid. Felt good, and didn’t have to modify anything for the boot camp workout. I really, really love strength training.
Tuesday – Bike (45 min.) and a short core workout (5 min.) My core is so weak, it’s not even funny.
Wednesday – Workout B of BBB, High-Intensity Circuit. Oh my heavens, this was one tough workout. Lots of high-intensity cardio. I was breathing hard and sweating buckets. I had to make some modifications to the moves because some of it was too much for me right now.
Thursday – Rest day.
Friday – Rest day.
Saturday – Bike (30 min.) and Workout C of BBB, a Chest, Back & Arms Strength Pyramid. Tough circuit and I felt soreness the following day. But I felt really good during this workout!
Sunday – Circuit workout. I was planning on a long bike ride in a park, but it was too cold out (I will not say how cold, lest those of you in actual cold climates laugh at me) so I grabbed my mom and we did a fun circuit workout using playing cards. In total, we did 50 squats, 50 burpees, 50 push-ups, and 50 sit-ups. We also did a 1-minute plank and 1-minute wall sit. It was a tough, tough workout!
The Goals
Goal A – Track my food daily. This has been a goal I keep putting on my list and then promptly forgetting about. I’ve gotten very unmotivated lately to track my food. It’s not that I’m eating super unhealthily. I’m really not. I’m probably following a 70/30 diet – 70% of the time, I eat healthy and 30% of the time I don’t. I just don’t have much motivation to input. And I think I’m just going to lay off on myself with this. Give myself a break and let go of the need to track every single food I eat. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t but I don’t want to get bogged down in what I should be doing and forget that I am making major strides in healthy living by the choices I make. Whether or not I write them down.
Goal B – No sugary snacking. I made this goal 5 out of the 7 days, which is a success on the BBB plan. I had cookies on Tuesday night and then a deep-fried Oreo (blech.) on Saturday night so it’s a HUGE step down from how many sugary snacks I was having before and I think this is going to help me out so much with weight loss. Cutting out two of my biggest calorie suckers and sugar vices (snacking and soda) should help me out a lot on the scale.
The Goals… for this week
Goal A – No sugary snacking. Hoping I can continue my trend!
Goal B – Eat 3 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
The Weight
I lost 3 lbs this week! I expected a great weight loss because I really challenged my body and ate much healthier than normal this week so I’m thrilled to see all my hard work pay off. Since the beginning of the year, I have lost 4.4 lbs. Not an impressive number by any means, but forward motion nonetheless.
Overall Thoughts
I really tried to ramp up my exercise this week, by incorporating cardio on my BBB days as well as doing longer workouts when I’m not doing BBB. I’ve only been doing around 30-minute workouts 4-5 times a week lately and I know I can do longer and harder workouts. And I feel good about my eating choices. By cutting out sugary snacking and adding in healthier alternatives (like hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, and nuts), I’m drastically reducing my sugar intake and it’s helping me feel better about myself and giving me super crazy energy.
You know, I thought going Paleo was just going to shed the pounds off me. Turns out, not the case. I’m disappointed, but at the same time, like you said, I feel better and I know it’s the right thing to do for my body. I know in the end it’ll make a difference, I just wish I could see the differences faster!
I was hoping I was one of those girls who stopped drinking soda and BAM! 10 pounds lost. But I’ve always had to work REAL HARD to lose even a few pounds so it’s not surprising. Plus, I was snacking a LOT (to counteract my cravings! Ha!) so now it’s time to work on better snacking habits.
We both rocked January so hard, though! Go us!
It IS an impressive number! You’re doing an awesome, inspiring job. 🙂 I love these updates, they make me more excited and motivated to maintain my own gym visits and keep on truckin’ with the healthy eating. 🙂
Oh, that makes me happy! I’m glad they inspire you. 🙂 Healthy eating (and maintaining the habit!) can be so hard so just keep on truckin’, friend. We’ll get there!
I hear you on the scale thing. Some days I weigh myself and I’m down five pounds total from when I started (!) and then the next day I’m back up two pounds. It is so frustrating. BUT I do feel better, I see new muscle tone and my clothes are fitting better and you have it right when you say that is what matters, cause it is true 🙂
Since you’ve been exercising consistently, it could be that your body is building muscle while simultaneously shedding pounds, and since muscle weighs more than body fat (so I’ve heard), that could be why you’re not seeing any difference on the scale but feeling your clothes fitting better. I could be completely wrong, of course, I’m no fitness guru, but it’s a thought.
Nice work on the weight loss! That is a solid number to put up there. I am glad all of your hard work paid off. It helps to have those good weeks that remind you that it’s worth all the effort. I sometimes think there is a delay on when your body starts to change from things like quitting soda. And like you said, it was such a positive change overall, so you should definitely be proud of yourself!
You really focused last week and it shows!! I think good weeks like this should serve as motivation to keep it up- I know you’ve got it in you! Good luck this week 😀
Awesome job, Stephany! That’s great news. Four pounds is a great deal– you should be proud of yourself!
I really recommend getting out that tape measure. We tend to focus too much on the number on the scale and not the entire picture. You’re doing awesome though!
I like to think about pounds in terms of calories. There are 3,500 calories in a pound, so instead of ONLY 4.4 pounds, you’ve actually burned 15,400 calories. I dunno, it just tricks my brain into feeling so much more accomplished. It’s really put the sugar fast into perspective for me, too. I’ve lost 12 pounds since giving up sugar, or 42,000 calories! It is INSANE for me to think that I would have consumed 42,000 calories of just sugar in a month and a half if I hadn’t given it up.