Weigh In Week 1

Okay everyone, how did we do on our meal plans? Did you lose weight this week? I lost exactly 3 pounds, bringing my total weight loss to 21.5 pounds.

For some reason my loss really slowed down in February. It looks like March is going to be a better month. I certainly hope so anyway.

Some of you have asked what I'm doing to lose the weight. I'm counting calories and keeping them between 1100 and 1300 a day. I write down everything I eat. Sometimes I jot this on paper in the kitchen but more often I use Sparkpeople.com. It's a free program that has a nutritional and fitness planner with it. You can choose on any given day to use their meal plan or go with your own. It also has its own blogging community. Most of the time my girlfriend, mykidsmom, and I have been copying and pasting our meal plans and emailing them to each other. This helps us stay on track a little better. This week mykidsmom went on vacation and I just wrote things on paper. By now I have a really good idea of how many calories something has in it.

No food has been forbidden on my diet. I've eaten anything I want just in smaller, measurable portions. I have a little diet scale and weigh anything I'm not sure of. I also measure the Tablespoons. I've been baking all my life so its easy for me to eyeball a Tablespoon, however, I did measure out peanut butter and cream cheese by the Tablespoon just to be sure I knew what it looked like. You don't dare miscalculate something like peanut butter or you've added umpteen million calories without even knowing it.

One thing that has been hard for me is the fact that I cook everything from scratch. There are no labels to look at when it comes to my recipes. So I have devised a plan to keep me in line. When it comes to a homemade casserole I give myself a quarter of a cup and call it a hundred calories. I recall when I used to go to Weight Watchers I had so much trouble because I am a bite here and there type person. I can easily have a bite of a soft gooey brownie and walk away. The problem is that there is no way to figure the calories in that bite. So Weight Watchers told the nibblers in the group that if you take a bite you count it as 50 calories. I use that method with a bite of dessert.

This week I have began exercising. That probably helps contribute to the jumpstart on my weight loss. I put in around 4 hours of exercise this week. This coming week I'm going to keep better track. I actually do love to exercise. I always say I hate it but really I do think I like it. Here's the paradox. I hate it when I'm in the house thinking about it. I love it when I'm outside doing it. The air right now is so filled with springtime and birdsong that I could just walk and walk.

My back yard gate opens into a housing development complete with manicured lawns and sidewalks. I cant tell you how many neat landscaping ideas I have gotten from walking over there through the years. I can walk all through there and never have to go out onto the busy highway. In my own cul de sac it's a quarter of a mile to walk around it just like a track. I do that a lot but everyone knows me so sometimes when I want to be alone to pray or think things over as I walk I go out the back gate instead. Then I don't get caught up in gabbing with the neighbors.

As for that dreaded water, well I've been drinking about 4 cups a day. That's a lot for me but I'm working on bringing that count up to 8 glasses.

Okay, its your time to weigh in. Anyone is welcome to join at any time. Tell us what you lost or gained this week. We are here to support you all.