Day 5 of Week 1, The Benefits of Daily Weigh-Ins

Weighed this morning: Lost another pound
Total lost: Four pounds in four days

Today's challenge: Staying away from the cake I made for my daughter's birthday

1/2 cup of oatmeal: 150
2 tsp of sugar: 30
1/3 cup of 1% milk 36
cinnamon: 0
coffee with 1tbl of powdered creamer:30
sweet-n-low sweetner: 0
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running total: 246

protein shake: 120
2 nilla wafers: 30
2 large eggs: 140
lefse: 120
bite of cookie: 20
bite of kids food: 20
coffee with 1 tbl of powdered creamer: 30
Total (480)
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running total: 726

protein shake: 120
cookie part: 30
3 crackers:45
two small pieces of cake:75 (est)
potato 5oz: 110
2 tsp of light butter: 30
2 tsp of light sour cream: 12
bacon rance 1 1/2 tsp: 40
3 1/2 oz. chicken: 136
coffee with 1 tbl of powder creamer: 30

total (628)

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running total: 1334

mystery calories :) :175

Today's total: 1509


fitness: 1 1/2 mile walk with kids to the gym
chest and triceps workout-45 minutes
abdominal exercises
1 1/2 mile run
1 1/2 mile bike ride back from the gym

I update my food intake throughout the day if you want to keep track of what I'm eating. I also weigh myself daily.

Note about pict: I eat this at night. It's a 1/2 cup bowl. It's Blue Bunny premium light Bunny Tracks with vanilla light ice cream, thick fudge and peanut butter caramel ribbons, chocolate covered peanuts, and peanut butter filled chocolate bunnies. Only 150 calories.

Does is really feel like a diet when you have this to look forward to at the end of the day?

The Benefits of Daily Weigh-Ins

When I mention to people that I weigh myself everyday, I often hear surprise and groans of "I couldn't do that, that would depress me too much."

And here I go again with how it's been shown that people who weigh themselves everyday keep better control of their weight than those who don't.

Have you thought about why that is?

I think that weighing everyday is conducive to what your trying to accomplish. Weight loss.

It starts your day with immediate focus on your diet. It's a daily update on where you're at on the scale. It's a great motivational tool.

For the past four mornings, I have lost one pound every single morning. I JUST started counting calories. It's tough. The first week of counting calories could arguably be the toughest week of all ten weeks.

But, wow, how motivated am I to see that weight loss on the scale and see the progress?

But what if I didn't look at the scale, even though I was losing weight? What if I weighed myself once a week? I would be missing out in the last four days of excitement over this four pound weight loss. I would be missing out on some very needed motivation.

Ok...now let's look at next week, even though it hasn't happened yet. I predict that starting next Monday I may go five to seven days before I see a weight loss.

NOT seeing a weight loss is also motivating because it makes me think that I need to follow the plan...it makes me aware that the next pound hasn't dropped yet and I need to remain focused.

You still may argue that NOT seeing weight drop is still too depressing, but that's the part where you express yourself in your journal. There have been times where I have actually cried because I was following the plan and I went 10 full days at the same weight.

But here's where daily weigh-ins have helped me...

Get this...I have observed over the times that I have done this that your body does not always lose two pounds exactly every week. It may be one pound in one seven day cyle and then three or four pounds in the next seven day cycle. But I would never have figured that out if I hadn't been weighing myself everyday.

Even worse, if your weighing yourself only once a week, you may not know that you finally dropped three pounds in one day until as much as a week after it happened. Now tell me how depressing is that? How unmotivating and agonizing is it to not know the good things that are happening to your body because you're afraid of the possibility of bad news?

So...now when I go 10 days without dropping a pound I realize that nothing is wrong...my body just hasn't given it up yet...but it will...without a doubt...it will.

Daily weigh-ins is just another reason why I can tell you, with confidence, that if you or I follow this plan your weight loss will average 20 pounds in a 10 week period.

You see...sometimes ignorance isn't bliss.