My Journey: Week 13

My birthday was last week. Birthdays bring social outings and sugary calorie laden pastries. I have been dreading my birthday week since I started this journey in April, but I have also been preparing for it.

Success: No cake
Setback: Scoop of ice cream
Success: Worked out ON my birthday
Setback: Ate out 3 times :(

P.F. Changs with friends for my birthday. I ate pretty healthy, minus the ice cream, but I probably ate too much. Chipotle with my sister on my birthday: steak salad w/ guacamole, side of pumpkin bread (starbucks). Cafe Rio the day after my birthday (salad, brown rice, no tortilla, no chips, no cheese, 1/2 dressing). I made it healthy, but again, probably ate too much. Overall, this was a great BIRTHDAY week, but a pretty bad NUTRITION week. The good news is that I am under what I was before my slingshot week, so hopefully my weight loss is back on track, now I just need to get my MIND back on track.

My biggest setback of the week was the ice cream, pumpkin bread, and brownie (oh, did I forget to tell you about the brownie?). This is my biggest setback because it puts sugar back in my system, and once it is there I am going to crave it more. So now I am dealing with sugar cravings that I need to get rid of. On top of that I got a little dehydrated last week so my cravings were a little worse. I am working on getting back on track with water and I am back on a no sugar kick until it is out of my system.

My biggest success of the week is the fact that I have now dropped 4 dress sizes :) My pants were feeling a bit big last week so I decided to go shopping on Friday. I started at a size 24 and now fit comfortably in a size 20. The 20's feel a tad big (maybe I'm just used to my jeans being tight?) and I am SO excited to eventually fit into the 18's. Once I leave the 20's I am NEVER going back. The shirts at Lane Bryant are now too big for me. I have one more size that will fit me at Torrid, but after that I'll have to find a new place to shop for shirts. Honestly, this thought scares me. I remember buying XL and XXL shirts at Old Navy, and I still get stuff from Walmart every now and then, but I feel like that and plus size stores is all I have ever known. I wear a 14-16 shirt, so I will need to find a place to buy cute 10-12 shirts. Any suggestions?

Time for the big reveal....

I am a bit disappointed in myself because of what I ate last week, but I am MORE proud of the fact that I have lost 32.6 lbs. I need to remember why I am doing this. Dropping 4 sizes is not enough. Losing 30 lbs is not enough. I have been changing my goals to accommodate what I *think* I can accomplish based on my current progress, instead I need to work harder to make the goals I already set. 

I made salmon and chicken last night. I have been struggling with my food over the last couple of weeks because it has not tasted great (I didn't cook my chicken all the way last week so I didn't even eat all of it....oops). Instead of using prepackaged and pre-marinated salmon this week I decided to go back to flavoring my own. Instead of using thick chicken breasts I used strips so that they would cook completely faster. I made preparing the veggies easier buy buying bags of veggies I can steam in the microwave, that way I can spend more time ensuring that I will actually eat my protein. 

So, back to step 1. And I am keeping a food diary. I HAVE to do this. I am GOING to do this.

My Journey: Week 12

My weight loss has been slowing down significantly over the last two weeks. Yes, I am still losing, but not at the rate I was. I have been reading Chris Powell's book "losing it" because I am following his carb cycling plan. Chris Powell recommends a "slingshot" week during the 4th, 8th, 12th (etc..) weeks of the program. Basically, you follow the plan for 3 weeks, then go off the plan for 1 (but not entirely off, you're upping your carbs and calories a bit for a week). Going off the plan for this long terrifies me, which is why after being on the plan for 9 weeks I had not yet done a slingshot week. The slingshot is designed to prevent the dreaded "dieters plateau", which is pretty much where I am at. Just like your body adapts to workouts (and you stop building muscle/losing weight) your body also adapts to its diet (diet being whatever it is your are putting in your body, not a "restriction" on what you can consume). Given that I have been doing this for 9 weeks, it is quite plausible that my body has adapted to this diet. It is likely that my metabolism has slowed, thus slowing my weight loss. So, I decided to try the slingshot week....er....half week. 

On Thursday night I ate dinner at Taco Bell, which by the way, did not taste NEARLY as good as my turkey tacos. An hour after eating I went to the gym and had the WORST heartburn. No seriously, absolute worst. I will never eat at Taco Bell again. I weighed in on Friday at 258.8. I ate lunch yesterday at Panda Express and had orange chicken, mandarin chicken, and a small amount of chow mein. While this successfully upped my carbs and calories, it made my stomach feel awful. Never eating at Panda Express again either. I went almost 6 hours without eating yesterday, which is a BIG no no. That allows my metabolism to go into starvation mode, which is exactly what I do NOT want to happen. I didn't have anything with me that I could eat, was not able to go home, and did not want to eat out again. So instead I ate at 9 when I got home (another no no). Needless to say, I have been quite successful in going off the plan. I am eating one big meal today, and loading up on carbs tomorrow (spaghetti maybe?? I dunno...) and then back to the plan on Monday. I am actually really excited to get back to the plan. Eating carbs, sugar, and greasy food just feels foreign, and it makes me feel like crap. 

I weighed in this morning at 261.8, but I know I am retaining water, and I have been eating like crap. Usually I would be highly discouraged about this, but I couldn't care less right now. I know that this weekend may set me back 3-5lbs but I am hoping the resulting weight loss will more than make up for it. I guess this is sort of my trial slingshot - we'll see if it works!