Here's What I'm Doing...

Hello friends!

What the heck, I'll tell you what I'm doing to lose weight. I'm about done with six weeks of dieting and still at a 14 pound loss, but I anticipate some more weight dropping in a few days.

Well...I had observed that over the past several diet attempts even with avid weight training and running (cardio) I was only dropping an average of one pound a week. I was taking in between 1,400 to 1,700 calories a day. So, I figured that since one pound equals 3,500 calories, I should lose additionally that much if I cut my calories by 500 a day. Then, I would get the two pounds per week average I had been wanting to drop.  Also, I felt like I was taking in too many carbs, so I slashed those in half.

This is not my normal method of weight loss. I usually advocate consuming more calories. That being said, I felt that this was something I wanted to try to see if I could get something to happen. Also, at present I am not weight lifting, only running two miles, three to five times a week and doing abs. For this particular season in my life, I felt like not weight lifting until I'd lost a few pounds because 1.) I felt discouraged when I would see myself in thegym mirrors while carrying so much weight. Running didn't involve mirrors so much because I could run outside or on the treadmill in my sweats 2.) I didn't have much time or motivation to weight lift.

So, I'm eating about 900 calories a day, three to five meals a day. I try to eat two spinach salads a day. No wheat or sugar. Although I will put some sugar in a coffee or two. 

I also fast one day a week. I usually pick a day that's most convenient for me usually on the weekend. I try to pick days that might involve a lot of food. For example, I fasted on Easter and the week prior on a family birthday party when there was a lot of food. Instead of going backward from overeating on those days, I lose weight the next day. I don't have to worry about spending two or three days making up for one bad day. When you take eating out of the day, things feel more simplified for me. Before this diet, I'd never fasted before. I was scared of it a little I think. But once you get through the occasional hunger pangs, I feel fine. At first, I thought I might be weak from hunger, but that wasn't the case.

I also decided to change my perspective on eating and trying to let go of my desires for certain foods or let go of the idea that I was somehow languishing from not getting certain foods. I decided to replace this with the notion that I would enjoy eating less. What I had formally seen as negative aspects of dieting, I would view them as positive.

Maybe next time I will give a little more outline on exactly what I eat each day. I do suspect that when I start weight lifting, my calories will go up.

Talk later!

Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama