Weightloss Challenge ~ Weigh-In ~ Week 2 Begins

I had hoped to find time to check in and do a mini update for the Summer Sizzle Slimdown Challenge during the week, but I was busy getting into the routine of keeping a food journal!  Writing down every little thing I ate or drank took most of my extra time this week. 

While I joined in with my challenge post on Sunday (the official start of the challenge), I didn't officially weigh-in and begin counting calories until Monday. For some reason, I had the start date mixed up and didn't realize until later on Sunday that the challenge began.  I didn't want to start mid-day, so I started with a fresh slate on Monday. 

After my Monday morning weigh-in, I logged into my neglected My Fitness Pal profile.  I added my weight and specified that I want to lose 1 lb. per week. (I may adjust this to 2 lbs. per week, later in the challenge.)  Based on the information I typed in, My Fitness Pal was able to tell me the amount of calories I should eat each day.  My daily calorie limit is 1,370. 

The focus of the challenge this week, is to WRITE IT ALL DOWN.  I'll be continuing to do this thoughout the entire challenge.  I will be weighing and measuring EVERYTHING since I don't trust myself to just eye-ball the portion sizes.  Of course, the exception will be when we go out to eat or have dinner at a friend's house.  Those situations are rare for us, so a little guess-timating on portion sizes shouldn't be too bad once in a while.  I just don't want to make a habit of it, because I don't trust myself not to "cheat" myself.  That scale and those measuring cups will help keep me honest. 

I will admit that counting calories and keeping a food journal is very time consuming, like I mentioned above.  Not to mention the extra bowls and measuring cups piling up in the sink from measuring out the meal portions.  In fact, not much else was accomplished around the house for the first half of this week during this adjustment period. 

I tried keeping a journal in a notebook, but Grace keeps finding it and scribbling in the pages.  Good thing My Fitness Pal keeps the journal for me when I enter in my calories for each meal.  I keep my laptop logged into MFP all day long, that way when I eat a meal or want a snack, I can easily figure out and enter my calories for that item.   

Here are some of my successes this week:

• As I said earlier, I'm allowed 1,370 calories per day.  This week, I managed to stay under that limit 5 out of 6 days!  The one day I went over by just 9 calories!  When I participated in a challenge last summer, part of the challenge was to set our calorie limit at 1,200 calories per day.  I had a really difficult time with that and ate over my limit most of the days that I participated.  In the end, I felt like a failure and dropped out of the challenge.  This time, I allowed My Fitness Pal to determine my daily calories and I'm having an easier time of it.  I'm going to give it a couple of weeks with the 1,370 calories and possibly adjust it to a lower calorie limit then.

• I added a lot of fruits and vegetables to my diet this week.  This has been a goal of mine for a while and this challenge gave me the extra boost I needed.  I added fruit to my yogurt, ate fruit or veggies as a snack, and included extra veggies to my meals. 

• I got more sleep this week.  I have horrible sleep habits.  I tend to wind down and watch TV at night after Grace goes to bed.  But after watching kids' shows all day, I sometimes have a tough time turning the TV off and going to bed at a decent hour.  But this week, I managed to get my butt in bed before midnight a couple of times. 

• I'm a snacker.  I could graze on this and that all day long.  This week, I substituted my usual high-calorie snacks with smaller portions of lower calorie foods and didn't feel cheated at all. 

• I drank water!  This is a huge deal for me.  I HATE water!  HATE! HATE! HATE! water!  But this week, I drank lots of it!  And sometimes even looked forward to it!  

• And finally, probably my biggest accomplishment all week!  NO SODA!  I am a Diet-Pepsi addict (I drink it from the time I get up until the time I go to bed) and I haven't had any all week!  In fact, I haven't had any soda since last Friday, when we went out to eat.  How did I manage this?  Last week, I ran out of Diet Pepsi and I didn't want to ask Joe to stop to pick it up on his way home, so I made lemonade from the powdered mix we had in the pantry.  I drank that last week and throughout the weekend.  When I started the challenge on Monday, I switched to water.  So far, my plan is to only drink soda when we're out.  Or when we get take-out, since pizza and Chinese food isn't the same with a glass of water.  But again, those situations are rare for us. 

So, now it's Sunday morning and I just weighed myself.  I'm very pleased with my results this week. 

The scale was very friendly and showed a 3.6 loss! 

This type of loss is rare for me, but I'm sure it's just a one-time deal.  I'll gladly take it!  In fact, I can already notice a difference in my belly!  That's probably mostly due to the soda I skipped all week, but that's okay, seeing a difference now will be an inspiration to keep going! 


My goal for this week is to just stay on track.  Lower calories, smaller portions, water, water, water.  I'll try to add in some exercise, too, since that's the challenge focus this week. 

I'll also try to come back and do a mini update this week, but with trying to keep up with my regular (not always diet related) posts, finding time for an added post is sometimes difficult.  However, I do 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!