I have officially made it to 21 days!!! Starting out when I would see something I wanted, but it wasn't on the food plan, I would just remind myself that it was only for three weeks and if I was successful and still wanted that thing I could have it. At the time, 3 weeks sounded like an awfully long time to wait, but it just FLEW by! I can't believe the 21 days are over already - that's just nuts.
I had a few people ask me about last weeks post and the answer to that actually ties in to this weeks post! No, I did not write a post last week because this past week was a bit of a disaster and I simply didn't get around to it.
Week 2 was overall, pretty great. I had spent that Sunday planning meals and precooking things. I hard-boiled a whole dozen eggs, I made a batch each of steel cut oatmeal and quinoa, then I grilled some chicken and baked some, too. I separated the oatmeal into individual containers and left the others together in large containers that I could just scoop out what I needed when I needed it. It was great! That whole week I was so good about sticking to my plan and having the things precooked so they just needed reheated was so nice! I even got a little bit braver with experimenting with foods and made an amazing substitute for chicken fried rice using quinoa and cauliflower instead of rice! The workouts were surprisingly easier and I had even bought myself a small set of hand weights to use during my workouts instead of the cans of sauce I had been using the week before.
I went home over the weekend to see my family and took all my stuff with me - the containers, my plan book, several of the Shakeology packets, and my workout DVD. In regards to food, I did pretty well while I was home. I used my containers, I talked with my mom about what foods I'd be able to eat and worked with what she was nice enough to fix for us. However, I did not do well with working out. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive, so I got in Friday evening and spent the evening catching up and not working out. Saturday we babysat 3 young girls pretty much all day and while I didn't do my actual workout, I did play Just Dance with them for about an hour so that was a fairly decent workout in itself! Sunday was much the same as Friday only in reverse....church, packing, early dinner, then driving...and of course because of weekend detours in Pittsburgh and a quick stop to drop something off to my brother, my 3 1/2 hour drive actually took about 5 hours. So, it was about 9 when I got back to my place and I hadn't eaten since about 3 that afternoon. But, I weighed myself Monday morning and I had still lost another 2 pounds! Woohoo!
Then Monday happened. The day started off well enough, but then right before the end of my workday I had a work issue go haywire. I ended up having to stay at work late, I hadn't done any of my food shopping or food prep since the drive in took so long the previous night, and by the time I was out of work I was so hungry and had no food to eat and was just mentally in a bad place because of the issue. I went straight to the store and got my groceries - for the most part I stuck solely to my shopping list and only deviated because I needed something to eat for that night. And despite my bad mood and my desire for nothing more than my couch and a tub of ice cream, I ignored the siren call of the stress food and went for the already prepared lemon chicken, green beans, and roasted potatoes. I didn't get my exercise in, and I didn't eat all the food I was supposed to for the day, but overall the day was a major win because I didn't succumb to the temptation.
Frankly, the rest of the week didn't get much better. The same issue went through the entire day Tuesday, and it again got to dinner and I had no food already prepared and no will to actually make anything let alone exercise. Wednesday I put in some volunteer hours with a conference that we were hosting so I literally worked all day - barely had time to stop to eat let alone workout. Then on Thursday, my friend Pam came to visit for the weekend from South Carolina. We ate out a couple times and I am super proud of the choices I made. We went to one of our favorite places, Mad Mex, and instead of getting the plate-sized burrito that I normally would have gotten, I got the chicken quesadilla. It was loaded with lots of chicken and veggies and had just a little cheese in it. On Saturday, we went to a tailgate and to the football game. I allowed myself to have one brownie and one sausage, but I resisted all the other delicious but not so good for you foods there, and didn't buy anything in the stadium....plus we walked A LOT. I made chili in the crock pot that was done when we got home and I had used both beef and turkey to make it a little healthier. We ended up eating that again on Sunday since there was a lot left over.
Given the week that I had, and that I didn't work out at all during the week, I could have done a lot of damage to my progress. But, I feel like I made some of the best choices I could given the circumstances I had. I avoided trigger foods, didn't eat any candy, didn't make any pumpkin seeds (which makes me so sad), and made some reasonably healthy choices while eating out without depriving myself. I'm pretty proud of myself and I think it really showed me that while I certainly don't want to have a week like that all the time, it's manageable. You can eat delicious foods and still lose weight. You don't have to deprive yourself - I even had a few drinks this weekend...I just limited it to one each day. I even made cupcakes to take to the tailgate and managed to avoid eating any of them!! There's still about half a dozen sitting in my apartment and they don't even look that tempting to me. I can do this.
So, my 21 days has officially come to an end, obviously that doesn't mean that I have to stop. I've been working these last three weeks with a "challenge group" on Facebook with other women who have also been doing it. I liked the accountability and support that came with it - people who were just starting and facing similar demons, people who had gone through it before and could share how much they hurt the first week too and tell us that it gets better, who would share recipes of things they tried and liked. There's another one with my coach starting on Nov. 9th that I've committed to joining. For this week I'm going to still follow the plan but go a little easy on myself...I may even eat the frozen homemade meatballs that have been staring me in the face for the last three weeks. Then, when the new group starts up next week, I'll be ready to tackle things again head on without losing any progress.
Initial weight: 254.4
Week 2: -2.0
Week 3: -1.2
Total weight loss: -5.8
Current weight: 248.6
I also took my measurements before and after and have lost 5.5 inches! Two from my waist, one from my hips, and two and a half from my thighs combined! I have no doubt that if I had done the exercises more these numbers would be even better. I can't wait to see how different they look the second time around.
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