One Week Into The New Year

Here I am, one week into 2009 and I’m just now getting around to posting. I made it through the holidays without gaining a pound! I even managed to lose a couple pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years day.

I am looking forward to this new year. I didn’t set any resolutions, but I do have my goals. I plan to continue with a healthy diet and exercise plan. My goal is to lose at least one pound each week. Two or three pounds a week would be fantastic, but I’m happy with an average of one pound a week.

My ultimate goal for 2009 is to be healthy.

Baggy Jeans

I know, it’s a day early for my weekly check-in, but  my Tuesday schedule is going to be far too hectic to log on and  write a post.

I’ve been doing okay with my eating, water, and exercise plan for the week. I have been waking up earlier so I can start out my day with exercise. I think it’s working! I haven’t stepped on the scale, so I don’t know how I’m doing on weight this week. However, I can tell you this… my clothes fit like I’ve lost a great deal of fat!

I am so excited to have clothes fitting like I’m losing weight! It’s about time. I’ve been wearing skin tight jeans for far too long. This week my jeans are nearly falling off. Okay… that might be stretching it a little. But really. When I put them on right out of the dryer, they are a bit baggy!

Basic Weekly Wrap-up                                        

• The morning workout is working for me, so I’m going to keep it in my schedule this week.
• I was drinking a lot of water last week, but over the weekend I got off track. I know I need to drink plenty of water. Why oh why is it such a challenge some times.
• Calorie counting is probably my biggest challenge. I need to figure it out so I’m within the 1200 – 1500 calorie range.

I’m pretty happy with baggy jeans! I’m not going to weigh myself this week.

Weekly Weigh In… Oh No!

We made a last minute decision to go to our church camp. Church camp always seems to include of a lot of eating. The sisters in our church are some of the best cooks in the country and everyone likes to put out their very best homemade dishes. It’s a lot of fun when the big kitchen full of women all preparing their favorite recipes.

The menu is fairly simple. There is a pizza night, a BBQ night, and a few potluck dinners throughout the long weekend.  Breakfast is served daily, pitch-in snacks buffet is served in the evening, and a pitch-in dessert buffet is served each night sometime before bed… in other words… late. Just what we all need. Something fattening just before bed.

The bbq didn’t do me in. I had a grilled burger with sides of watermelon, cantaloupe, and grapes. But the potluck dinners were anything but healthy… everyone had to bring their favorite dishes including creamy, rich, sweet, buttery, oh-so-fattening favorite desserts. Yeah… not only did we have dessert before bed… we had dessert with each meal.

I had a plan. I would take plenty of healthy snacks and easy breakfast food.  I could eat breakfast and snacks in our room.  I planned to avoid the main lodge every night during the late night dessert buffet. So I stocked our room with a bag of apples, 5 nectarines, 8 bottles of v8 juice, water, 8 bananas, and a box of  high fiber breakfast bars.

Sounds like a good snack plan doesn’t it?

Well, I came home with a bag of apples, 4  nectarnes, 8 bottles of v8 juice, 3 bananas, and an unopened box of high fiber breakfast bars. It was a good plan. If I had followed through. But noooo… I ate breakfast in the lodge… bacon, eggs, and pancakes one day. Sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy on day two… okay. You see the pattern here? Good old fashioned down home cooking… every single day for five days! 

Ohmygoodness… I’m up 3 pounds!

I feel like I need to de-tox from all the bacon grease and chocolate desserts. It’s a yucky feeling. I don’t want to do this next year…

My plan for this week: I’m going to stick to my 1200 calories a day and exercise daily.

Weekly Check In August 5th 2008

Weigh in 8/5/08

Starting weight 268

Today’s weight 252

Weekly weight loss 4 pounds

Total weight loss 14 pounds

 

What have I done well this week?

• Dear hubby and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. I planned ahead, so I didn’t go off the atkins plan during our meals.
• There was a church dinner this week. I found it challenging to plan a potluck dinner atkins style. I ended up buying a couple of big packs of chicken legs and thighs. I seasoned the chicken and roasted it. I steamed a package of fresh broccoli, and took a big leafy green salad with cheese, bacon, and grilled chicken. I think the salad was my favorite part of my Sunday dinner. There are several guys at church low-carbing it, so they all prepared low carb dishes too. There was no lack of variety for us at the dinner.
• I drank plenty of water and liquids. Measuring out my water in the morning has really helped me keep track of how I’m doing with my water intake.

 Where I need to make improvements this next week:

• I need to make strength training a priority this week so I don’t miss a planned day.
• I need to make the time to log on here to post in my blog more often.

 What I have learned this week.

Last week I set up my goals, as listed in the sidebar. One of my goals was to limit myself to 3 diet sodas throughout the week. I added it as a goal, because for the past few weeks, I’ve been drinking regular sugary sodas without even thinking about what I was doing. Adding the goal of 3 diet sodas worked for me. I actually only had 2 diet sodas all week long.

I worked on my issue from last week. I rewarded myself with an evening out with my friends…. sticking to the atkins plan, but it was a lot of fun.