1st Quarter Report- January 1 to March 31, 2011

1st Quarter Weight Loss Graph

     For some reason, I couldn't upload spreadsheets, so I decided to take a picture of my first quarter weight loss. Each bar represents what I weighed on that particular week. I took the weight of each day of the week and took the average. As you can see, it's been a downward trend.
     The last four weeks, I went through an ice cream phase, but now I'm over it. Let's see, I was eating Haagen-Dazs ice cream: coffee, chocolate peanut butter, strawberry, dulce de leche, etc. Thankfully, I didn't gain that much weight because of it and I managed to continue on decline despite of it.
     I told someone I had lost weight by eating vegetarian foods and he was surprised. He asked me if that's the only thing I'm doing. And the answer is yes! I was exercising a little before and I wasn't losing weight and I'm still exercising about the same level. So, it must be what I'm eating!
     I did a Carbohydrate Addicts Diet a long time ago (the toned down version of the Atkins Diet) and it worked, but I got tired of eating eggs, so much so, that to this day, I'm not really drawn to eating that many eggs. I found that the only time I ate eggs was usually when I baked something. So, I'll probably explore vegan baking at some point.
     I also found that I only used butter occasionally, as a spread on toast, or in baking and I already started substituting coconut oil in baking. I also have palm oil and Earth Balance, so if I'll go to vegan baking, I'll experiment and see which ones I like the most. As for a spread, I like Earth Balance as a spread.
     As for milk, I used to drink a few glasses of milk each day. Nowadays, I only use it in my tea or coffee. Or in cereal, but I don't eat cereal anymore. I like the taste of soy creamer so I've been using that.
     As you may have guessed, I love ice cream, but I also like coconut ice cream and I'd like to try hemp milk ice cream. I've tried Rice Dream Ice Cream and I don't like it at all. So, if I stopped eating ice cream, I'd probably eat Coconut Bliss. And when adding cream to soups, I like adding coconut milk already instead.
     I tried vegan cheese and I don't really like it, so I probably won't give up cheese. I don't eat chunks of cheese, but I like adding them to soups and sauces. So, I'll just reduce my usage.
     It almost sounds like I'm becoming a vegan, doesn't it? I probably will never be a vegan, but how about a semi-vegan? All in all, it hasn't really been that difficult in switching to a vegetarian diet and the weight loss has been gradual, but it's been a loss nevertheless?
     I want to hear from you? Are you doing something about those New Year's Resolutions? What are some of your stories? How are you doing?

Hitting the Wall



Back from what seemed like a long journey

 Somewhere along the way in the last two weeks, I hit the wall. I was going very smoothly, losing one pound a week for nine weeks. And then, everything started going haywire. I started to feel stressed and unfocused and I started eating lots of junk (three different Haagen Dazs flavors: chocolate peanut butter, chocolate chocolate chip, strawberry, coffee- wait, that isn't three?!). I realized, after the fact, that I must have gotten sick or something.

My weight fluctuated downwards to 185, then all the way to 189. All that effort seemed wasted. Needless to say, it was frustrating. I wondered why I was so stressed? Was it because of physical reasons or otherwise? I, of course, stayed on my plan and waited this out. Slowly, but surely, I felt the stress fade away or whatever it was that caused me to have uncontrollable eating episodes. From 189, like coming home from a vacation on a plane that's about to land, I gently came back down to 186. While not as nearly as impressive as losing nine pounds in nine weeks, I'll take nine pounds in eleven weeks, thank you very much! Using the equation I was using, my protein needs drop from 79 to 76 grams a day. My BMI is down from 27.6 to 26.3, still in the overweight category. And my waist size is a solid 34.

Anyway, the point is, we'll off get off track and that shouldn't end the ride. Get back on track and see where it leads you. It's been awhile since I heard about your weight loss progress and it seems like those New Year's Resolutions were so long ago. Are you feeling as committed as you were a few months ago? Please let me know how it's going. Me, I feel great and I'm ready for Round Two. (Talking to the overweight me) If that's all you have, you better bring it!

Keeping Track

My weight and exercise journal

So, when I get up in the morning, I go to the bathroom, then I go to the scale and weigh myself twice. I have a digital scale so it usually gives me the same reading twice, but it's like a ritual now so I just do it without thinking. Then, I write my weight down in this calendar. I use this calendar to write down my weight or the exercises I do. I use it to keep track of my progress, but also I use it to challenge myself and set goals. So, this month, I was doing light exercise only twice a week. What I didn't write down were days when I went walking. I must say I've been kind of lazy, but oh well. It is what it is. So, today I weighed 186. I usually don't count it as official until Saturday if I still weigh the same weight.

What are you doing? Do you remember what you said at the beginning of the year when you made a resolution to lose weight or live more healthfully? How's that going for you? Me, I think I'm making progress.

Weigh-In: Week 8

Yes, these are my feet.

So, it's now the end of Week 8 and I weigh 187. So, I've lost 8 pounds in 8 weeks. My BMI is down from 27.6 to 26.6 (still overweight). My protein requirement went down from 80 grams to 77 grams. On a per meal basis, that's not a real change. However, on the waist, it has! I have a 34 inch waist now. My goal is to hit 175, which will put me in the normal BMI range. So, that's 12 pounds to go. I am 40 percent there!

What about you? How is your new year plan going? I would love to hear from you.

Weigh-In

The scale does not lie.

Every morning when I wake up, I go to the bathroom and the next thing I do is go to the scale. I do this everyday. I never was that consistent about it before or did I worry about my weight too much. I had heard somewhere that people who owned scales lost more weight. So, I went out and bought one. Due to weight fluctuations during the week I don't count it as official until Saturday, the end of the week. So, unofficially, I have now lost eight pounds since the beginning of the year. I've been walking around in jeans with a belt on, so I went to the Gap and tried on jeans. I am no longer a 35 waist. I am now a comfortable 34 waist. All of a sudden, there are more style options with a 34 waist. Levi's jump from 36 to 34 so I'll be able to wear Levi's again.