Morning weigh-in: 154.4!!!!!

Goal weight: 155

New goal weight (because we still have several days!): 150

I did it!!! I honestly can't believe that I made it here so quickly. Not to say that I haven't been working hard, but I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing differently now than what I've done in the past, because this is definitely the most effective weight-loss I've ever encountered. 

Some thoughts: 

  • My focus has been way more on my food intake than working out. I still shoot for 5 days working out, but they tend to be lower intensity workouts. In the past I've stuck with crazy, make me sweat activity but didn't so much adhere to a calorie goal. I would use working out to justify extra eating. But it really is calories in, calories out. 
  • I think the lower intensity workouts have lead me to build less muscle than I would have otherwise. I'm not bulking as much, just trying to tone a bit. When I do high-intensity workouts, it's usually a cardio video (kenpo), running, or something core related. I'm focused less on weights. 
  • My water intake has been much better this time around. I don't hit it every day, but I shoot for 64oz, and there have been a couple of days I've reached over 100. 
  • I've watched my salt and tried to avoid as much bread, potatoes, and rice as I can. I've not been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance, but I know I feel so much better when I'm not eating it. Same with most starches. I haven't cut them out completely, but I've been limiting them drastically.
  • All of my condiments are measured out. I have a seeeeeerious weak spot for condiments. When I think about how many calories I was consuming in one of my "standard" portions of ranch dressing before this, I'm a bit horrified. I'm not cutting out condiments entirely, but I track them and account for them - I measure my ranch, I measure my coffee creamer, I measure my salad dressing. Because I know better than to trust my stomach's judgement ;) I've also realized that 1tbsp. of most of those condiments is enough to flavor my food. I don't need like a 1/4 cup. 
  • I don't keep junk food in the house. It really helps that my husband is on board this time, because I can justify not having any junk around. My eating problem is a willpower problem, and if it's here, I'll find some way to justify it. But junk is junk, and it doesn't belong in my body. 
  • I keep a bunch of delicious healthy foods in the house and try to get creative. It's not just about limiting - I get excited to try new recipes, I love Chobani flip yogurts, and I thoroughly enjoy fresh fruit. I also make sure I have easy to make options for those times I'm incredibly lazy (a lot of the time). The easier I can make the decision-making process, the better it's going to be. 
  • I journal every day. I did this for my last Dietbet as well, and let me tell you - it helps me so much to stay accountable to myself. I weigh myself daily, but make sure to keep it consistent and not take fluctuations too seriously. Some people swear against daily weigh-ins and calorie counting both, but for me it's what works.

That's about all I've got on that. Yesterday still kept to around 1,200 calories. Skipped our walk in the morning, but we did Total Synergistics when the husband got home from work. Leftovers for dinner. I did get a sweet craving in the evening, so I mixed some strawberries with greek yogurt and a bit of neufchatel (pretty much low-fat cream cheese) and a sprinkle of stevia. Not quite strawberry cheesecake, but still really delicious! 

Did our walk this morning. Hoping to fit something else in today as well on the workout front. Dinner is going to be chicken chili. 

Hope you all have a fantastic day!!