Day 15 – Weigh in #2

The night of evil cramps has come and gone, and there was much rejoicing! Yay!

I realize the it being “that time of the month” is usually a reason for unwanted bloating and heaviness…not a fun thing when you’re trying to lose weight. The scale is not your friend at that point.

Other things that can contribute to gaining weight instead of losing, even when you’re doing everything right: muscles retaining water from beginning an exercise program (they retain water as part of the repair process), being dehydrated (your body goes “camel in the desert” and retains every drop it can), you haven’t…um…you know…gone #2 (some diets can lead to constipation, so make sure you’re getting your fiber), maybe your body has gone into “starvation mode” and you’ve hit a plateau. Heck, you may be putting on more weight in the form of muscle but haven’t yet lost the same amount of weight in fat. Muscle is denser than fat (hence people often say it “weighs more”) so a pound of muscle is much more compact and has less volume than fat. If you gain a pound of muscle and lose a pound of fat, the number on the scale won’t move but your clothes WILL be looser.

Point is, there is no smooth, constant, consistent success when it comes to weight loss. And weight loss shouldn’t only be about the scale. If you can get a scale that measures more than weight (such as muscle mass and body fat percentage), it’s worth the investment. Admittedly, the numbers on those scales aren’t always accurate, but if you track those as well, you should see the changes as you lose body fat and gain muscle.

Mind you, saying all that is more of a PSA for anyone else who is trying to lose weight. If you don’t see a loss, or even put on a pound, don’t give up! As for myself…

There was a loss! YAY! I am now down 4.8 pounds and am just a little over 10 pounds away from reaching my first goal. As my diet progresses, I’ll be stepping it up and seeing if I can challenge myself to losing those 10 pounds in May. That means the start is only 2 days away! Yikes! But I like a challenge! Hopefully this time next month my ears will be (temporarily) red from being freshly pierced!

My main challenge this week? GETTING RID OF THE EASTER CANDY! We’ve been trying to pace ourselves in eating it to get it out of the house. There’s nothing wrong with a chocolatey treat, but you don’t want to over-do it in a day. And no…we are NOT giving away the Peeps, Reese’s PB eggs, and Cadbury Creme Eggs! You only get these once a year!

I’m also starting to take a multi-vitamin every day. I tend to forget them, but they make me feel better.

As for the rest of it:

Meal #1:
3/4 c Chocolate Cheerios
1/2 c 1% milk

Meal #2: Bento!
1/2 c jasmine rice
1/3 c shoyu chicken
3 grape tomatoes
1/4 baby cucumber
1.5 oz. baby carrots
1/2 mango

Meal #3:
1 whiting fillet (broiled with Old Bay)
1 c broccoli
1/2 package macaroni and cheese (I know, this was more than I needed, but there are only 2 of us and it doesn’t keep well. =/)
1 hefeweizen

Snacks: (At different times)
1 Activia yogurt – peach
1 Sorrento’s reduced fat string cheese
1 package Peeps (after dinner – dessert)

Water:
Only got in 2 liters.

Exercise:
Week 2, Day 2 of 100/200/200:
Total of 53 push-ups, 81 crunches, 73 squats in 5 sets.

Sleep:
Didn’t get in my full 7 hours. I was in bed that long, but kept waking up to cramps. It was not fun.