Weekly Weigh-In: Week 4

This was a hard week for me. If last week was about carrying momentum throughout the week, this week was about resisting temptations and trying not to completely fall apart. (I’m slightly dramatic, yes?)

Eating healthy just doesn’t feel natural. And it’s not like I expect it to, but I had so many feelings of overwhelm come over me throughout the week. From telling myself that I didn’t need to pick up take-out for dinner, to waking up early to work out, to choosing water over soda. I had a rough start to my week, as it seemed to slip my mind that stores would be closed on Easter and, since Sunday is my grocery shop + meal prep day, it meant I had to shift that over to Monday/Tuesday. (And I do not do well with changes in my schedule. It usually makes me want to “cheat” and give up and say I’ll try better the next week.)

But I made it through the week. I didn’t give into temptation, stayed away from soda and most sweets (I think I’m realizing I don’t need sweets and even having healthy ones on hand is a trigger for me), and got in another six days of solid workouts. (You guys. I still can’t believe I am working out six days a week! I know it’s only for 30 minutes most days, while others work out for an hour+, but this is monstrous for me!)

My workouts for the week were more of the same:

Monday: Couch to 5K (30 minutes)
Tuesday: Stationary bike (30 minutes) and this killer circuit training workout (30 minutes)
Wednesday: Elliptical (30 minutes)
Thursday: Stationary bike (30 minutes)
Friday: Elliptical (30 minutes – used this workout), strength training (15 minutes)
Saturday: Couch to 5K that devolved into a walk (30 minutes), Ripped in 30 (30 minutes)
Sunday: Rest day

I’m quite pleased with my working out, though I’m still not sure how many calories I’m burning. I’m using the sensors on the workout machines but I don’t think those are very accurate. For strength workouts, I typically divide what MFP tells me the calorie burn is in half. I need a heart rate monitor, ASAP! I’m still working through week one of Couch to 5K and I’m trying to take it slowly this time around, not moving on the next week until I feel comfortable. I’m still not sure if I like running, but I wanted to add something different to my workouts. I’m going to keep it up for 2-3 more weeks, and then evaluate. I never look forward to my runs like I look forward to my gym workouts or strength workouts, though.

All in all, a great week for me! I was very nervous about getting on the scale because I weighed myself on Thursday and I was up 1.5 lbs from Saturday and that seriously bummed me out for two whole days. It’s so interesting how every ounce of work and effort and time you’ve put into weight loss comes down to those 5 seconds of waiting to see what the scale says.

What I’m trying to remind myself is that the scale won’t always reflect my work. Some weeks, I’ll lose an incredible amount for little effort, while others I’ll lose nothing, or very little, or even gain weight when I thought I put in the work. The most important thing is that I try hard. That I do my best because the ultimate goal is feeling better and being healthy. As long as I do that, as long as I eat healthy and exercise, the weight will come off. Maybe not as quickly as I want it to, but it will eventually come off.

So what happened on the scale this week? I am happy to report it was a successful week – I lost 1.4 lbs! This puts me at 6 lbs lost over the last three weeks (8.2 lbs since the start of the year), and I just need to lose 1 lb next week to win my DietBet. Hooray! I am so pleased with that number. I did a little fist bump in the air when I stepped on the scale and saw that. (And stepped on the scale again… and stepped on the scale again… and stepped on the scale again. I wanted to be 100% certain it was accurate!)

Last week, my goals were:

• Stay under 1,500 calories a day and under the limits MFP gives me for fat/sugar. PASS. I easily stayed under 1,500 calories, stayed well under my recommended sugar grams, and most days, under my fat grams (one day, I went over by one gram, the other day by five grams).
• Drink 40 ounces of water a day. FAIL. I think I managed this one day. Ugh.
• Take a multivitamin and iron supplement daily. FAIL. I managed this one day, too. This is an important part of healthy living (especially iron, as I have an iron deficiency), so I’m going to try to do better.

My goals for this upcoming week are:

• Make one meatless meal.
• Drink 40 ounces of water a day.
• Take a multivitamin and iron supplement daily.

The last week of the DietBet commences today, and I want to win my $25 back! That’s my motivator – winning some moolah! Here we go!