Weight Loss Update - Day 36



14 months ago

 Day 36 of weight loss plan
(I know, no make up yet again)

I don't really have time to write a lot, but I did want to update my weight loss.  Surprisingly, I am not really losing a whole lot of weight. I am still only down about 11 pounds.  And yes, that part is still frustrating.  On the bright side, I can tell in my clothes that I am losing inches.  Based on my diet and exercise, the weight will have to fall off at some point simply because of the mathematics of the calories eaten versus calories burned.  It will just take time. 

I saw someone the other day that I had not seen in about 2 months and she made my day.  She was throwing compliment after compliment at me and even told my that my results have inspired her to start doing something herself.  I was very flattered!

On another note, I have got to figure out a way to vary my menu a bit.  That is the next thing on my agenda.  I will let you know how it goes.

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Homemade Protein Shakes

Day 7 of my weight loss plan............

That's right... here we are at Day 7 of the diet, and I have shaken it up with lots of protein shakes. I am proud to say that I am down 5 pounds.  I know, five pounds in one week seems like a lot, but keep in mind that I have pumped up the protein and removed bad carbs. I'm still exercising, combining cardio with some weight training, so my hope is the pounds will continue to fall off. Honestly, I can't believe I have done this good for seven straight days.  Even though I had my mind set on making these changes, I had my doubts about myself and my ability to follow through with it.  

Speaking of protein, have you ever really looked at the recommended amount of protein for your daily diet?  I have looked at it before, but I have never really crunched the numbers, especially if you are looking to lose weight.  The amount of protein suggested is crazy high.  Although you can find differing numbers from various sources, here is one example from a website called Fat Loss School.

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There are 4 calories in a single gram of protein. Therefore 180 – 630 calories in terms of grams of protein would be roughly 45 – 157.5 grams of protein. Here’s a list of protein calories and grams you should be eating depending on the calories in your diet:

If you’re on a 1200 calorie diet, 120-420 calories (30-105 grams) of protein are recommended.


If you’re on a 1400 calorie diet, 140-490 calories (35-122.5 grams) of protein are recommended.


If you’re on a 1500 calorie diet, 150-525 calories (37.5-131.25 grams) of protein are recommended.


If you’re on a 1600 calorie diet, 160-560 calories (40-140 grams) of protein are recommended.


If you’re on a 2000 calorie diet, 200-700 calories (50-175 grams) of protein are recommended.

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Now, how many of you actually have a diet that consists of 150 grams of protein a day?  It is near impossible unless you are trying to achieve that goal.  Take a look at the packages of crap you eat each day. Most junk has incredibly high carbs and near zilch on the protein.  In order to get the protein high in my diet, I incorporate protein shakes. Here is the deal though, most protein shakes are not very tasty with just the powder alone.  Therefore, I have worked to devise some yummy protein shake recipes that are helping make this weight loss journey a tad easier. So far, my favorite is the Strawberry Vanilla protein shake.  It's practically sinful! Most of the shakes have 18 grams of protein and between 150-190 calories.

  

This is my white chocolate protein shake.



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Sugar Addiction

Today is day 5 of the big diet, and I am still hanging on despite the fact that I could have easily eaten sugary cereal for breakfast and sugar sprinkled cookies for lunch.  HA! Yep, I am finding out that sugar is a true addiction and it is not easy to rid your body of it. Despite my cravings, which are diminishing I might add, I have not given in to the sugar that I hear oh-so-clearly calling my name.  I did a bit of reading on low carb dieting, sugar addition, and such, and came a cross a video I wanted to share with you.  I am sure many of you can relate to this. It is a tad long but well worth watching. This guy actually has lots of videos that can be found on his website called Under Ground Wellness.

After doing some reading, I have made a change in my diet plan by removing one shake and replacing it with a high protein, low carb dish that remains low in calories.  I will re-evaluate things as the days go by, making adjustments as needed.  Because I am trying to eat every 2-3 hours, the food consumption is kept in small portions.   I'm sure there is a diet guru out there that can probably point out things I am doing wrong, so feel free to offer any insight you have.  I am open to input. Here is a sample of one dish, which consists of turkey, cheese, and egg. I got a bit happy with the pepper shaker.

My weigh-in on day 5 shows my weight is down 3 pounds.  I know there will be natural fluctuation daily with water retention and other things so my weight could go up and then back down. Plus, I am sure my body is in a shock mode right now, so it might drop the pounds quickly here in the beginning and then taper off.  As far as weighing daily, the other day when I was watching Oprah and the nutrition expert Bob Greene was on there. He said not to weigh until the end of the first month so you don't get discouraged with the daily fluctuation.  That seems like a long time to me. Sorry Bob, but I don't think I can wait a month.

Come back soon to see if the weight loss progress continues. 

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Weight Loss Blog

The weight loss plan begins......

The time has come.  The time is here.  I have got to try and rid myself of the weight I gained while pregnant. I have decided to get serious about this weight loss, and what better way to help get my frustrations out than to vent them right here on my blog. Of course I do hope I have some successes to post, too.  I will be the first to tell you that weight loss is not easy, and as I have always said, "If the food didn't taste so damn good, it simply wouldn't be a problem."



 In January of 2009 I started exercising daily. By July of 2009, I was pretty much running about 3-5 miles a day. In about August of 2009 I had sort of gotten my body where I wanted it with about 10-12 pounds to lose when I found out I was pregnant.  Having had two pregnancies before where a lot of weight gain had occurred, I knew the scale was about to start moving up again.  I decided that during this pregnancy, I would continue to walk 3 miles a day, which I successfully did throughout the entire pregnancy.  Unfortunately, despite my efforts, the weight crept on with a whopping 50 pound weight gain by the end.


This is when I was about 8 weeks pregnant.

This was at about 5 months pregnant.

This is just a few days before I delivered, about 12 months ago.



And this is me now.

 So, here I am 12 months postpartum and I am hanging onto about 20 pounds of  baby weight in addition to the 10-12 pounds I wanted to lose before I got pregnant. That's a whopping 30 pounds that I would like to lose.

This little journey is not going to be easy.  Why? Because let's face it, food is good.  In addition, I am a stay at home mom right now, and do you know how many times I pass by my pantry each day?  LOTS!  It's too stinking easy to grab something that is not healthy.  I don't want to remove everything 'bad' from the house because I do have two kids and a hubby that don't have this little weight gain issue like I do.  Plus, I like to bake, which I don't really want to give up.  I guess I will just have to use my nose to enjoy those baked goods and not my mouth.  boo hoo

By the way, I started this little diet yesterday, so this is actually day two for me. Day one of this weight loss journey was quite difficult. Okay, day 2 is hard also!! If you are wondering what kind of weight loss plan I am doing. I guess you could call it the "Molly Plan", as it is basically just a strict diet plan that I have come up with. I devised a plan where I eat every 2-2.5 hours. The plan is made up of 4- 80 calorie nutrition bars, 3 - 140 calorie shakes which I created, and 1 meal that consists of 1 lean meat and 1.5 cups of selected steamed vegetables. Although it is not many calories (under 1,000), I am eating every couple of hours, so I should be able to keep my body in a fat burning zone.  I guess time will tell. 

Despite the fact that I have not been eating well the last few months, I have indeed been exercising.  I have actually been doing 3-5 miles a day (run/walking) six days a week. You would surely think that this would help the weight come off, but it hasn't. Hopefully now that I have given up bread and all the other crap I have been eating, my efforts will start to pay off.  One other factor that I think may have been working against me is the increase in my appetite from breast feeding.  I exclusively breastfed for about 6 months and continued to nurse Hudson several times a day until he was 9 months, and I actually still breast feed once in the mornings, which of course, he is soon to be weaned from that.

Like I said, this little journey is going to be a struggle for me, but with the support of my husband and kids, I do hope I can be successful in getting this weight off.  I will post blog updates on my efforts, so I guess you could say that I will either succeed publically or fail publically. I do hate to fail! So, with that said, pleeeease let the weight loss begin! :-)

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