An excellent start!

I’m down 3lbs this week! At first I thought it might be a fluke, but then I realised that what with all the baby steps I’ve been making since last weekend, they’ve added up quite well – and I’ve hardly noticed. I’ve actually managed to exercise my intended three times this week already: walking on the beach on Monday, weights and stretching on Wednesday, and 20 minutes of an exercise video on Friday. I’ve also been making healthy choices with my meals – even if my portion sizes aren’t down pat – and learning to plan ahead. Like when I knew we were going to have takeaway on Tuesday night (due to late working hours, etc) I had a very light lunch and no snacks throughout the day to compensate.

Because I couldn’t stay off the scale this morning, I’ve decided to make Saturday my weigh-in day. I know it’s an unusual choice given that people usually go wild on Friday nights, but I figure it’ll serve as a deterrent and a good prod to make the non-working hours of the weekend as healthy and wholesome as possible.

Saturday Weigh-In 1:

• Start weight: 220lbs
• Current weight: 217lbs
• Weight lost: 3lbs

So, here are my post weigh-in goals for the coming week:

• Cut down portion sizes by using small plate/bowl instead of large.
• Increase water intake to 6 pints per day.
• Increase exercise to 4 days per week.

In some ways this kind of approach frustrates me, because at any other time I’ve undertaken a “diet” I’ve worked out every day for at least an hour, and cut down my intake to sub-800 calories. This seems far too easy by comparison. But it’s something I can stick to. 1200-1500 calories is comfortable, and 20 minutes of exercise 4 times a week seems like nothing at all. I’m obviously going to increase the workout time as I get further into it, but 20 minutes is a step up from the nothing that I was doing before.

For now, I’m going to clean the house, do some balance ball crunches and get ready to go to the circus!