Progress Update

I'm pretty damn proud of this week.  I stayed on task and the results are in:

2 lbs from my weight
1 inch from my waist
2 inches from my hips

My body fat is calculating as higher than last week, but I'm skeptical that it was an accurate reading.In fact, I'm skeptical of this week's reading too.  I've been going off of a tool I use on the Shape Virtual Trainer, which takes into account, your height, weight, neck, bicep, forearm, and thigh measurements.  Seems pretty thorough, right?  Either I carry it really well or this is off.  I got a second opinion from LiveStrong's body fat calculator and it had me at 26.6. I'm thinking this is more likely and I'll tell you why.

Remember this?

This chart tells me that I'm at the "fitness" classification of body fat, according to the number that the Shape Virtual Trainer threw at me.  Well, I know my body and I think I fall more along the lines of "acceptable."  And no, I'm not being hard on myself  I'm just sayin' it like it is.

This is me today:

See?  Acceptable.  I want to look more in the fitness range.  Gotta keep at it.
That being said, I feel like I'm moving toward my goal at a reasonable rate.

Tonight I'm going to the gym to power out 7 miles and get some weight lifting in.  High five!

I'm a Salty Dog

I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down another three and a half pounds from when I pouted about my weight, making it a total of 5.5 pounds that I've lost in just a couple days.  Looks like that excess salt came with a lot of excess water weight.

Yesterday was my first day of not additionally salting anything, and according to the Daily Plate, I was still over my recommended sodium intake by about 350mg.  This might sound like a fail to you, but when I looked back over my nutrition intake from the last couple weeks, I was averaging about 1000mg to 2000mg over my recommended dosage.  Some select days I was up to something like 4000mg of sodium in a day.  Yowza.

Today is day-three of no Coffeemate.  I had two cups of French press coffee, black, and not an ounce of me wanted to break down and buy creamer.  My two slices of peanut butter toast may have had something to do with that - the peanut butter was sweet and creamy enough that it almost felt like I needed the black coffee to cut the richness.

Tomorrow evening I leave for Sacramento for a friend's wedding.  Wish me luck in staying on track!

it's good for your heart, right?

Despite drinking an entire bottle of wine on Saturday night, I feel pretty good about my calorie intake and exercise.  Abby and I got together like old times to speed walk and eat something healthy.  It was, over-all, a weekend of portion control and getting outside at least twice a day.  I also remembered how much I love walking. 

I started eating my new breakfast, which is egg whites, spinach, and greek yogurt, and it needs some tweaking but working more protein into meals has made for a happy household overall.  I definitely feel better, and the man in my life is happy too.  The daily plate is definitely to credit with opening my eyes to what I'm eating and how to alter subconscious bad habits into conscious good ones.

I feel like I'm approaching my goal at a decent pace and I'm happy with my progress so far.

my initial weigh-in

I'm cringing as I write this.  Admitting the hard facts is... well... hard.  My hope is that it will help me come to terms with my body and more dedicated to fitness and being a size I like.  I haven't truly felt fat in a long time, but I've definitely been in better shape and there's no excuse I can't maintain it.

So my "before" picture is just how they do it in the magazines: unflattering picture in lumpy, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing, bad hair, no make-up.  This will make for a more satisfying transformation later, don't you think?  That being said, it's still cringe-tastic to look at.

Yesterday I started tracking my nutrition and exercise on The Daily Plate, which is also where I got the estimates for my % body fat and BMI.  It's one of the most fantastic fitness sites I've come across.  To be honest, I feel less guilty about the two slices of pizza I had at dinner last night after factoring them in and seeing I still came in under my daily projected calorie allowance (1,637) after my workouts.  It's also kept me from eating the cheesecake that appeared in our breakroom today.  Go me.

My first goal to meet is going to be to lose 15 lbs and get to a size 8.  When that's achieved, I will reset the goal.  This time, I will not give up and get lazy once I'm at my goal.  I need to continue to challenge myself.

Have you been to The Daily Plate?  What do you think of it?