How To Lose 20 Pounds In 10 Weeks

Weight today: same

Total lost: 0 in four days

1/2 cup of oatmeal:150
1 tsp of sugar:15
1 tbl of powder creamer with coffee:30
with sweet-n-low:0
total:195

vanilla protein shake:110
2 oz banana:50
1 tsp of Flaxseed oil:40
total:200
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running total:395

1 large egg:70
1 large egg white:10
1 lefse: 30
1/3 cup of fat free cottage cheese:53
4 oz of sliced strawberries: 36
1 tsp of sugar: 15
1 tbl of powder creamer with coffee:30
with sweet-n-low:0
total: 244
-------------------
total: 639

4 oz banana:100
vanilla protein shake: 110
1 tsp of flax seed oil:40
total:250
----------------
running total: 889

1 Ritz cracker: 16
1 Laughing Cow:5
1/2 cup of brown rice:85
3 1/2 oz chicken breast:123
1 tsp of Smart Balance light: 15
6 oz of broccoli: 60
total: 304
--------------------
running total:1193

4 oz banana: 100
1 tsp of peanut butter:33
total: 133
--------------
running total: 1326

Today's challenge: It hurts to swallow, I may be coming down with something.

Planned fitness: 7-mile run, my abdominal routine twice

Note on picture: I Ritz cracker:16 with 1 Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese light bight:5. One of these bites is the perfect size to spread out on a Ritz cracker. This is pretty guilt-free yet tasty for only 21 calories.

How To Lose 20 Pounds In 10 Weeks

In this post, I'd like to give you all a quick little review of what I did to successfully lose twenty pounds in ten weeks.

Some who have been following this blog, perhaps already know and understand what I did while others who have perhaps just started their diet would appreciate a little overview. In this post, I've also include links to articles for your convenience which I've written that addresses certain items in more depth.

1.) I decided in my mind...that I was sick of the current weight I was at. I wanted a change and was emotionally ready to commit to a change. Not a half-way change...but to a change that would yield results. For more info click here.

2.) I set up my food diary. I went out and bought a notebook that I would use to log my food and the calories of everything I ate. Click here for how to set up your food diary and here for why calorie counting works.

a.)I found one or two photos of myself at my current weight to put in.

b.)Then I put in several photos of myself looking the way I wanted to look. And if I didn't have any photos of myself that looked the way I wanted to look, then I found photos of other people in magazines with the type of body that I eventually wanted to obtain. Then I put my head on these bodies. And put them in my food diary. The purpose of this is to help our mind to begin envisioning our success. The more it "sees" how it is suppose to look, the more it will strive for that look.

c.)Also, I put in my food diary an inspiring poem that I have written about myself that describes the essence of who I am.

d.)Also, take note that the food diary is also a place where you will journal your feelings and thoughts as you work through learning to control what you put in your mouth.

e.) You adhere a calendar in your journal to help plan how you want your future weight to be.

3.) I set my calorie limit to 1,400 a day. I wrote down everything I ate and how many calories were in it. If I didn't know...I estimated. The important thing here is to get in the habit and act of writing everything down. When you first begin, it's not important if you underestimate the calories of things...because you will by about 30%. The very act of writing things down...slows your eating down. It's like magic that way. (note: on days where my work-out activity exceeded 75 minutes, I upped my calories so that I would have enough energy to complete the work-outs without losing muscle.) Click here for how to count calories without using a scale.

4.) Plan a fitness goal that will occur in the future say...about two weeks after you hit 10 weeks. A fitness, goal that you have to train and work-out for. Maybe it's a 5K walk to benefit your local charity. Maybe it's a bike race. Maybe it's a half-marathon. The fitness goal helps to direct your work-out efforts, and gives it more purpose. We're not designed to work-out to just lose weight. We stick to a work-out plan better if there's an event we are training for. Click here for how to plan your cardio exercise.

5.) After you've planned your fitness event, plan the type of work-outs that you need to do to be prepared for that event. For some it may simply be walking. For others, it may start out with walking to slowly adding a little running or biking. Whatever you do, try to increase each week the level of cardio activity that you perform. After I'd just had one of my kids, I started out running only six minutes on the treadmill, three times a week. Each week I added two minutes and before you knew it, I was at 20 minutes. However you plan it, make it seem un-intimidating...Just like writing down what you ate, it's important that you begin to do something... anything. If you make it seem too hard, you may not even get in the gym.
Click here for why you should work-0ut.

Click here for an overview of my fitness program.

6.) I embarked on a weight lifting program. I weight lifted three days a week. On this particular dieting stretch, my weight training was more intense than usual because I lifted for about an hour each time. But when you first start out, 20 minutes of weight training three days a week is a good start. In fact, this is what I did for many years. (The only reason I'm lifting longer periods is because I have it in the back of my mind that I might like to train for a body building competition.) But seriously, a weight training program is an essential part for me being able to sculpt my body to the way I want it to look after the fat drops away. Because the fat will drop. Also, weight lifting increases your metabolism and helps you to burn more calories. Click here for an overview of my weight lifting program.

7.) I weighed myself everyday. I wanted to stay on track more than I cared that the numbers might offend me. Weighing first thing in the morning reminds me of my daily focus. Click here for the benefits of weighing daily.

8.) I ate five to six meals through out the day to keep my metabolism running high and to not allow my body to think it was being deprived. Also, smalls meals throughout the day kept me from getting hungry to the point that I would yield to snacking. Click here for how to space your calories.

9.) I planned my meals and snacks around my work-outs in such a way so that I had energy going into my work-outs and had a recovery meal of protein plus carbohydrate within 20 minutes after my work-out. If my work-out exceeded an hour and 15 minutes, I brought additional carbohydrate to replenish my energy stores so that my body would not resort to using muscle. On my long runs, I gave myself energy gels for the same aforementioned purpose. Click here for how I plan my fitness around food.

10.) When going to functions that involved an offering of food that I could not control, I brought my own food to use "in case" they didn't have food I could eat. Or I just used my own food. Click here for how to take your own food.

.)11 I tried to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day so that my body would be able to function to its best potential and so that my body would not try to retain fluids.

12.) I tried to eat at least 100 grams of protein a day to give my muscles the protein it needed to grow. Click here for how I use protein shakes, and here for how I use energy gels.

13.) I began an abdominal routine three days a week. Then, in the last two weeks I increased it more to obtain a flatter belly. Click here for my abdominal program.

14.) I started a blog...it made me more accountable. Also, it encouraged me and helped me connect with other individuals who were pushing for similar goals.

15.) Finally I had a vision for how I wanted to look. Click here for Defining Your Dream, and here how to set your next goal.

Well, I hope this helps you understand how I lost twenty pounds in ten weeks. I have more helpful articles that if you're interested are in my archives and I will also be writing more articles on what I did to lose this weight.

Thank you for your interest.