Weight Loss Challenge ~ Weigh-In ~ Week 4 Begins

Saturday, June 23rd (day before weigh-in)

I wish I could say I have good things to report this week, but sadly I don't.  It's Saturday and as I begin to work on this post, I have not yet weighed-in. I dread getting on the scale tomorrow morning.

After 2 good weeks, it seems like whatever switched on to make me want to do this, has suddenly switched off.  I barely tracked my food this week, only measured or weighed my food maybe 3/4 of the time, I didn't drink my water (well, not enough of it) and I didn't exercise.  We've had some extra hot weather here this past week, and honestly, I didn't care about much more than trying to keep cool.


Feelings of depression and anxiety made me want to do some emotional eating and I will admit that I gave in and did some extra snacking this week.  


Looking back and remembering my meals and my snacks, I know I could have done so much worse.  For instance, the sandwiches we had for dinner and a few lunches were made with Boar's Head Buffalo Chicken Breast deli meat instead of the higher in calorie bologna and cheese sandwiches that I really wanted. Also, I still kept away from second helpings.

While eating more than I should this past week, it in no way compares to the meals I ate in the days, weeks, months (years?) leading up to the challenge.

I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  I'm just going to start fresh this week.  I'm making myself a shopping list of all the good/healthy things I plan to eat this week.  Fresh fruit to pair with my yogurt and vegetables for salads and snacks.

I had a difficult time with water again this week and began drinking my calories just for something different.  I'm going to pick up some diet juices when we grocery shop this weekend.  I avoided diet pepsi for most of the week.  I gave in and had some on Friday and Saturday.  Still, 5 diet sodas in 4 weeks is not bad for this diet Pepsi addict.

Again, I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  Don't get me wrong, if I step on the scale tomorrow and see a gain, I'm going to be disappointed.  But I know that I cannot change the past, but I can move on and make better choices for the present and that's what I plan to do.

My goals for the week will pretty much be the same as the goals from last week:

• Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. 
• Find the right balance of calories for each meal. 
• Snack less/choose healthier options for snacks. 
• Exercise. 
• Limit diet soda. 
• Add more fruits & vegetables to meals.  

I also want to add a couple new goals:  

• Practice better sleep habits. 
• Increase dairy servings. 
• Get back to tracking food/calories. 

I had too many late nights last week.  I go crazy watching TV or working on the blog at night after Grace goes to bed.  I need to get to bed much earlier since I notice myself being more hungry when I am extra tired.  

I never consume enough dairy.  I'm not one to drink a glass of milk.  At least not very often.  Aside from the mornings that I have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, my carton of skim milk usually is forgotten in the back of the fridge.  

I had a lot of success when I had a yogurt for breakfast almost every morning the first week of the challenge.  I need to start doing that again.

Tracking calories didn't happen every day last week.  While I know that I need to track and journal everything, I got lazy and just didn't care.  I know that in order for me to stay on track I need to track everything before I eat it.  It's too easy to go over my calories for the day if forget that I ate 2 rice cakes or a mini cupcake or a bowl of cereal earlier in the day.  Write it before I bite it!  That's going to be the biggest rule for me for week 4.  

Well, it's time for me to start thinking about getting dinner ready...see you after I weigh-in tomorrow morning.

Sunday, June 24th (morning of weigh-in)

So it seems I haven't done as badly as I thought I did.  I just got in from watering the gardens, then I hopped on the scale for the moment of truth.  I was expecting a gain, maintaining last week's weight at best.  Instead, I was surprised to see a 0.4 loss.  Bringing my total loss to 5.6 lbs.

The weight loss ticker in my weight loss page (tab under the header at the top of the page) rounds the loss up to 6 lbs.

It's not much of a loss, but much better than my expectations!  I'll take it!  I have a lot of work to do this week to continue to break those old bad habits.  Last week was proof that I still lack self control, although I can see that I was making slightly better choices while giving in to bad habits and temptations.

I'm looking forward to this new week and I'm starting off on a good foot with a smoothie for breakfast.  I'm also going to eat salad everyday this week.  Maybe even twice a week.  And of course, WATER, WATER, WATER!

This is going to be a great week, I just know it!

How did you do this week?

I try post daily updates on my facebook page.  Just quick little blurbs here and there about how my day is going...usually diet related!  So, check it out if you'd like to follow along each day!

Also, if you are also using My Fitness Pal, my profile name there is fitmomma613.  Add me as your friend!

Okay, that's about it for me this morning.  I've got to feed the kiddo her breakfast, make myself a smoothie and then get in the shower.  We've got a very busy day ahead of us!  I'd better get my butt moving!