checking in: Week 6

week: -3
total: -10

• exercised: three times


• kept track of portion sizes: daily


• took vitamin: daily


• water: 3L and 12 glasses

Milestone week. Nice. Around June 9, I got two packages in the mail from Amazon. One was a stick blender that had been heavily discounted. The other was a little pocket-sized handbook called The Abs Diet Eat Right Every Time Guide by David Zinczenko. I had added the book for two reasons: a, to get me up to free shipping; and b, because I had read favorable things about the method in various places.

It's called a diet, but it's really a food plan, with lots of emphasis on good unprocessed natural ingredients. Nothing is absolutely forbidden, and that's the kind of plan that I need, as long as you get lots of your daily foods from the core list (the ABS DIET POWER 12). Turns out that on this food plan, smoothie snacks are highly encouraged, so the purchase of the stick blender was fortuitous -- I find the stick part a lot easier to clean up than the blender pitcher.

I'll admit, I felt a little overwhelmed my first time in the fancy organic food store, trying to find flaxseed powder and extra-protein powder (the only supplement that the plan supports). I'll also admit, I have to learn a new style of shopping entirely, to keep my fresh foods from going bad before I get around to eating them.

I'm sure I have some new good habits. Must stay vigilant and not get lazy.

week 5

week: -2
total: -7

According to my Goals Log at Joe's Goals, my stats this week:

• exercised: 3 times


• kept track of food diary: 7 times


• took vitamin: 7 times


• drank water: 7 litres and 12 glasses

It was like the perfect week. It may be all in my head, but I feel like I have more energy. My knees are definitely not a creaky as they once were. There is confirmed muscle development in my arms and legs. Now to unearth all these new muscles from beneath the flab.

WEEK 4 WEIGH-IN

weekly change: -1
overall change: -5

In the last seven days, I:
kept track of food (portion size, calories): 7 days
exercised: twice
took a vitamin: 6 times (a new personal record)
drank water: 7 glasses and 5.5L (glasses are really plastic Mardi Gras cups usually, which I use when taking my vitamin or an ibuprofin)

The Good

I'm drinking plenty of water. Don't berate me about the water. 8 8-oz glasses is an excessive requirement, and the researchers who made that cryptic statement also said (and it gets lost in our sound-bite era) that a lot of this water is delivered to us in our food. So I think my daily intake is fine. At least it's not sugary soda (an old addiction of mine which I must constantly struggle against).

I'm almost taking my vitamin every day. It helps that I threw out the generic horse-chokers that my doctor originally recommended and went with the name brand, which is a slightly smaller pill.

The Okay

I only reached the gym twice. But still, I went twice and did good work, so that counts for something.

Where can I improve?

I'm trying to buy less pre-packaged food and make more use of fresh ingredients. It's hard for me though, because I'm no fan of vegetables mostly (dislike the textures, raw and cooked). Also, I'm not a wizard in the kitchen, but I'm determined to change that.

tracking

There's a simple website called Joe's Goals that I use to keep track of various daily tasks. It's quite customizable, tracking good habits and bad. I don't think the "Reports" are very well implemented, and you can only view it by the week, but for my purposes that is sufficient.

So, for example, in the 7 days before our Week 3 Weigh-In, I can tell you that I:

• kept track of my food intake: seven times


• exercised: twice


• took vitamins: five times


• drank this volume of water: 9 glasses and 2.5L

I think I'd like to start making this a regular part of my weigh-in, as it really pulls into focus what I have accomplished, more than a (not-so) little number on a scale.

checking in: Week 3

Weekly change: 0
Net Loss: 4

I seem to be on a plateau again. What is different about now and two weeks ago, when I had a spurt of weight loss?

I actually visited the doctor yesterday (my birthday in fact; bad planning on my part), for an unrelated issue. We talked a bit about my trying to lose weight, but it wasn't the main topic of the conversation.

Week 2 Weigh-in

well, I had a net gain of 1 since last week. Guess when my weight shot up? The day after my wedding anniversary. The day after my darling loving husband convinced me to go out for both breakfast and dinner. We did go to the gym the next day too, but it was too late. My exercise schedule was also thrown off last week.

New Leaf!

ooh pretty