Day 4: Dragging

Yes, it’s true. I’ve hit that point that I always hit about 3 - 4 days into a new regime where I am starting to wonder what the point of it all is… My resolve is flagging, and I feel like indulging in tasty treats!

Yesterday’s calorie intake was a 1138. And as Mark worked a half day, we went out as a family to the mall to go for a shop. A little bit of walking, but really no major exercise to report.

Feeling majorly glum today as it was meant to be our wedding day until the bureaucrats stepped in to shut it down. On the one hand, I’m super sad but on the other - hey - it gives me more time to lose weight and get my body better.

I’ve been drinking an ABUNDANCE of coffee lately. Weirdly, yesterday I ran out of my fake sugar, so I used REAL sugar. Today, my weight went up 3 lbs! Correlation??

Not really sure if I can blame it, but it IS interesting, no?

I have also realised something that I guess I knew all along but which I never quite put into words until now. I don’t like fruit. It’s weird, right?

I love vegetables. I’ll eat LOADS of veg. But every time I buy fruit, it just goes off. I NEVER want it. I mean, if I eat an apple or a nectarine (which I had this morning), I don’t HATE it. But I have NO inclination to actually eat it.

Weirdly, though, I love fruit yoghurt. And fruit candy. And fruit ice cream. I prefer fruit flavours to chocolate or other such sweetness. But ACTUAL fruit? Newp. Not my bag.

Anyway, today seems to be quite a nice day, though slightly chillier than it has been. I think I might take the baby for a nice long walk when he wakes up.

I also realised that I NEED to invest in a good sports bra. I have two, both of which are FAR too small for my ample breasticles. So I am forced to source a new one which can take care of my 34HH’s.

Then I can truly begin to exercise.

Beware Rogue Calories

Annoyingly, I am sometimes forced to ingest extra calories due to my own stupidity. Today, my daily 3 cups of coffee ended up adding a whopping 96 calories because I made it too strong.

I usually use 4 scoops of coffee for a full pot. But only making 3 cups, I should only use about 2.5 scoops. But on autopilot, I added the full 4 (heaping!) scoops, which made my coffee more like a double espresso!

So to get it down my neck, I had to forgo my usual one teaspoon of sugar for THREE. As each teaspoon is 16 calories, that was an extra 32 calories per cup.

Of course, I’m sure I could have easily dumped the pot and started again, but I hate wasting things…

Still - starving children in Africa aren’t exactly suffering if I throw away my coffee, so perhaps I should have bit the bullet. With that extra 100ish calories, I could have had any number of treats!

Don’t believe me? Check out this from Web MD.

Day 3: Tired

So yesterday was a good one, as well. Went for a nice long walk, but have no idea how many calories it might have burned. I took in a total of 1356 calories in food, as I forgot breakfast and had a nice healthy dinner.

Made a big pot roast last night with baked potatos, vegetables and homemade rolls.

I need to learn to stay away from bread, though. I just have such a bad reaction when I eat it. It tastes so good though, that it’s hard to say no!

Was really tired yesterday due to a lot of rotten sleep because the baby was teething. Also had the remnants of my 3 day migraine.

It’s been tough!

I had a sneaky peek at the scales this morning. I know I shouldn’t have, but when you’re really struggling for motivation you need a way to keep you honest. It shows a loss of 4.5 lbs so far.

Now, this seems great, but I know a few things you don’t.

First - day 1 was on the final day of my period, which means I was retaining extra weight.

Second - the first week of a new diet sees a lot of water weight loss anyway.

Third - I’ve had a bit of a tummy bug, so I’ve not been keeping all those calories inside of me. ;)

Of course, it is the weekend coming up, which means I’ll have a lot of chances to “cheat.” But I like to think I’ll also have a lot of chances to get out and about and exercise.

Today I feel quite bloated, but I’m not sure why. I’m also in a lot of pain because the baby came into our bed at 5 am, and he used my face as his personal mattress/pillow/kickboxing bag.

Still feeling strong, though.

MOTIVATION!

Day 2: Headspin

So Day 2 saw an intake of 1388 calories. A much better effort than day 1. I also expended about 242 calories, which means a total of 1146 calories for the day.

As far as feelings, I had an ongoing headache from the day before, and it didn’t leave me at all. In fact, its still hanging around despite a good night sleep, a change of contacts, repeated medication and a nice hot shower. Frustrating, but that’s how it is.

I am drinking a lot of coffee in the mornings. I make enough for 3 cups, and I use xylitol rather than sugar, so hopefully that will be okay. I only use a teaspoon anyway, as well as coconut milk. I am trying to get away from dairy products. I don’t know how I’ll manage, though, as cheese is a big staple of my life!

Yesterday I experimented with making a jacket potato in the microwave. I covered one in two sheets of kitchen roll and nuked it for 5 minutes. Then left it in there for another 5 minutes. It was PERFECT. I was shocked!

I topped it off with 1 tbsp of butter and a can of drained tuna (in springwater, not oil). A bit of seasalt set it off nicely. I am looking forward to having the same for lunch today. :D

Today is also the farmer’s market in town, so I’ll be headed down for some fresh veg and fruit to see me through the week.

The biggest thing I’m finding is that my personal issue is feeling deprived. I like to much during the day, and not having a snack becomes an obsession. So I am going to integrate lots of fresh veggies to snack on. It’ll add calories, but they’ll be from a good source, and I think it’ll make things easier.

Anyway - It is a lovely day today (again) and since I couldn’t take the baby out at all yesterday due to my headache, I am hopeful that I’ll be able to take him today. I’m actually thinking about quite a long walk, down to the trading estate. I could treat us to a McDonalds coffee (chocolate milk for Dex) or maybe even go to Mothercare, which is a little farther away but on a parallel road…

Not sure yet. Anyway, I need my headache to go away before I can do any of it.

Tabata Protocol

Found information on the Tabata Protocol.

Can working out for 8 minutes 3 times a week really work to help you burn up all your fat and get really fit at the same time?

I’m going to try this, as having heard about it a while back, I finally got around to researching it today. And honestly? It seems that even if it didn’t necessarily work as well as it claims to, it will still be quite beneficial. And if it DOES work, then hey ho! What a great thing to do!

I have a feeling there is validity to it, though. My ex-husband went from never having exercised in his life to deciding to train as a pro-wrestler. And in his training sessions, he did something VERY similar to this with his coach. He was ridiculously knackered the whole time, but it definitely built him up quite quickly.

Anyway, I will be trying it!

Chocolate to Lose Weight? Yes, please!

Apparently, chocolate can help you to lose weight.

Stumbled across this in the Daily Mail today and got very excited. I have a half-eaten bar of dark chocolate sitting next to my laptop that was totally mocking me yesterday… now I’m thinking about indulging in a square or two… MUST KEEP WILLPOWER!

Day 1: In and Out

So yesterday was pretty good. I took in 1555 calories while doing exercises that burned 294 calories.

Total calories: 1261 calories

General feelings included many cravings. I have brownie mix in the cupboard, crisps in the snack drawer and even potato salad in the fridge.

I did indulge in some of my homemade chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake, which tacked on 500 calories! But the point of this is that nothing is off limits. I exercised and ate well so that I COULD have that slice of pie. Perhaps i should have waited until after the first day before eating crap, but honestly I spent all day craving it, and I SO don’t want all that hard work to go to waste. Its not exactly portable for Mark to take to work.

Anyway, I also got a terrible headache yesterday afternoon, which lasted all through the night and is still here this morning. Not sure if it’s psychosomatic or due to lack of something, but not enjoyable.

Today is day 2 so we’ll see how it goes! :)

Week One. Day One. Photos and Measurements.

Weight: 184.0 lbs

Chest: 44.5
Waist:39
Hips: 43.5
Wrist: 6.5
Forearm: 10
Thigh: 26
Calf: 15.5