Today I weighed in at 186.5 lbs, which means I lost 3 lbs over the past week and slightly exceeded my mini-goal of 15 lbs total lost! I surfed right over to the SparkPeople store and ordered myself that T-shirt I promised myself. Woo hoo! (I love mini-goals).
At this point it looks like my short-term goal of hitting 175 lbs by New Year’s Day is still very much a possibility. I’m really excited by that thought—like I keep saying, just leaving the 180s will be a biggie for me.
Over the past week I kept my calories consistent at around 1700 or a bit below, and I exercised five different days for at least 30 minutes: two days I rode my bike to and from work (3.5 miles each way), and three days I put in 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym. I’ve started to cautiously think about strength training with free weights, but I am nervous about injuring myself and “doing it wrong.” I am looking for some helpful books or other reference materials on the subject—any suggestions? My no-frills, wallet-friendly gym doesn’t have or allow for personal trainers, so I will have to be mostly self-educated on the subject of free weights.
I have also tossed around the idea of replacing some of my insta-foods with less processed fare. Honestly, I think that this is something that will have to happen very slowly for me. But that is okay. At this point, if I could incorporate one more fruit or vegetable per day, I would be proud of myself. I may set this as a goal for the near future. In the meantime, I’ll continue the basics of sticking to my calorie budget and exercising 5 days per week. I’m so happy with my progress so far!
3. November 2009 at 5:12 PM
You definitely have the right idea with setting mini-goals and taking things one step at a time. That is what has helped me on my journey :) Congrats on the loss!!
I love strength training and I definitely saw amazing results when I became consistent with it.
I personally think free weights are the way to go (as opposed to machines). SparkPeople has excellent “visual” aids to show you many different moves you can do and how to do them. Just make sure to work out each area of your body: chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, back, legs, abs. You can do it all at once or split it up between upper and lower body on alternating days.
Good luck :)
3. November 2009 at 7:36 PM
Hi Sarah! Thanks for reminding me that SparkPeople offers those demo visual aids for strength moves! It’s great to hear that strength training has been so beneficial to your own journey.
4. November 2009 at 4:19 PM
Oh I am so gald you asked!! I just recently started reading The New Rules of Lifting For Women…..Lift like a man, look like a godess. I picked it up from Walmart.com for $15. Anyone who is thinking about weights should read this book first.
4. November 2009 at 5:34 PM
I second what Kristine said. The New Rules of Lifting for Women is on my wishlist because I’ve read so many weightloss bloggers write such great things about it. Congrats on the 3 lb loss!!! That’s awesome. You will definitely hit your Jan. goal!!!
4. November 2009 at 5:43 PM
Kristine and Josie: Thanks to both of you for the book recommendation! I will definitely be checking that one out.
4. November 2009 at 5:36 PM
My best suggestion for little steps to eating a little less processed/healthy – add a serving or two of frozen veggies to your micro meals/soups/whatever, or just eat them on the side. It’s great because they never go bad (ok, they can get freezerburnt but that takes months), and portable (throw in tupperware, put in fridge/freezer at work, nuke and enjoy).
On the menu later this week is tuna helper. I plan to dump in an extra can of tuna and two full bags of veggies to make it from an 800 calorie pasta dish dinner to 2 helpings of 480 calorie dinner and with fairly significant nutritional value and less empty carbs. Still processed? Sure. Making it so I don’t freak out on a busy day and order takeout? Yeah. Works for me.
4. November 2009 at 5:47 PM
Quix: Love your tuna helper makeover example! Thanks for the frozen veg suggestion. I definitely have a problem with fresh veggies going bad in my fridge, so that’s an idea that would make sense for me to implement. Any recommendations on frozen veggie brands, or do they all taste about the same?
5. November 2009 at 1:11 AM
I have to say that I LOVE this book so far.
Love the tuna helper makeover. This is something I usually make once
a month as a standby lazy meal. LOL.
I really like the name brands of veggies much better than store brands. Before I only bought Walmart brand frozen veggies because they are pretty cheap, but once I tried a bag of the Green Giant veggies I never looked back. The flavor is so much better. Pictsweet and Birdseye are great brands too. They came out with a new microwave steamer type for pretty much all brands that cooks up really well, just like steaming it on the stove.
Oh plus Green giant makes these 4 packs of veggies like corn, broccoli and cauliflower(sp?), they only have 40 cals and steam in their own tray. Great for lunches.