Accountability Works!

I weighed in this morning at 221.75 - three pounds less than last week! Woo! Look at that, being accountable actually works. :)

Confession time, though: I was really only good on Wednesday and Thursday. I spent the weekend (a three day weekend) with Jim, not caring to be good when I was spending time with him and eating delicious burgers two days in a row. And I spent Tuesday eating bad at lunch and then at home after work. But I cleaned it up the last two days, and my body did the rest. And actually, those last two days, the thought of having to report in here is all that kept me from being bad again. Thanks for being out there to watch over me, all four or five of you. Next week I'm shooting to be good at least four out of the seven days. (I'll work up to a whole week of being good, I swear.)

But hey, three pounds down, and I'll take it. My goal for next week is to lose another two or three pounds. I'll let you know if it happens!

Reinstating Weigh-Ins

So, I have come to a conclusion, and I think it's one I've reached on this site before, but sometimes I have to learn things twice (or even more often than that).

I need accountability.

What does this mean? It means I need to start weighing in with someone. And since I'm not going to Weight Watchers or Nutri-System or any paid weight loss program, I'm going to weigh in to you. You can be my watchers, the people I need to not let down every week - the people holding me accountable.

Why have I decided this? Because I've been going to the gym for about two months now. I've felt myself getting a little bit stronger every time. I can feel my muscles tightening up in my abs and my thighs. I have one pair of work pants that feel noticeably looser right under my butt (which feels like a weird place to notice a difference, but I assume it's from doing the elliptical three times a week). But my weight? Hasn't changed nearly enough.

When I started at the gym, my trainer there weighed me at 230 pounds. That was in the afternoon, dressed in gym clothes, so my at home, in the morning, naked weight was probably about 228 or so. That's what I'll figure. My weight this morning? 224 3/4.

A 3 1/4 pound weight loss in two months is NOT ACCEPTABLE! I started this thing with 13 months to go until my wedding BBQ picnic, and now there are only 11 months. Time is slipping by, and I'm not doing the work I need to do to get into those size 8 Levi's (what I want to wear when I get married). So the work (well, the food work) starts now.

I hereby pledge to be here every Friday morning, weighing in. If I don't lose, I'll be honest and tell you if I haven't done well on food. You can feel free to chastise me, and I'll do better the next week. My wedding day is 11 months from Sunday. I can do it, and you can keep me honest and help me get there! :)

Day Three, November 6th

I did well yesterday! I didn't actually eat healthy foods all day, but I did go under 1500 calories, so I'm happy. I ended up at 1495 yesterday.

Of course, today J is away and I'm PMSing and I went to the store and got a Lunchables for lunch (remind me never to do that again - they're not worth the money), and some non-diet type foods may have slipped into my basket as well. Uh, oops. I blame the hormones. Anyway, I don't imagine I'll be posting here with a good update again until Tuesday - apparently I'm taking the weekend off. I'll be back on the wagon Monday, though, don't worry.

Day Two, November 5th

Well, I got through day two without going over, woo! It was harder than day one, I think. I REALLY wanted junk. I was very glad we didn't have any in the house. J came home from visiting his parents with a pocketful of mini Hershey's and Snickers, but I don't like Snickers, and I only ate two of the Hershey's, which I actually had room in my calories for, so that was okay, and it satisfied my craving for junk.

Anyway, I ended up with 1528 - ten calories less than the day before. It's still about 80 calories higher than I'd like to end up once I get used to eating less again, but I'm happy. At least I'm not eating non-stop like I had been.

Now to get through today and make a successful day three!

Day One, November 4th

Look at that, accountability works! Or at least it worked on day one. Yesterday I ate 1538 calories. I came really close to my upper calorie limit, but I did NOT go over, so I deem the day a success. :)

There weren't too many temptations yesterday. The one thing I need to do, though, is leave more calories for the evening. I went home yesterday with over 500 calories left to eat, but after dinner I was down to 72, and I was NOT satisfied. I wanted more to eat! So I ended up eating 3/4 of a piece of plain bread (and giving the rest to the dogs, because the whole thing would have made me go over).

Of course, if I weren't used to eating WAY more calories than that (like, probably double, at least), I would have been full when I was done with dinner. And I know I'll get back there again.

Anyway, it was a successful day, and I'm glad I stuck to my limit. Woo! Now to get through today...

Accountability

Okay, here's the deal. I've been sucking on this whole dieting thing. It's November 4th already, and I haven't managed to stick to my calorie range at all yet this month. I think I need some accountability. So here's what I'm going to do.

Even though I'm pretty sure not many people look at this site at all, I'm going to start coming in here every day and posting about how I did the day before. I'll write how many calories I ate, and I'll write a short note about how the day went. Was I tempted? Did I take the temptation, or pass on it? Did I do well overall? Was it hard or easy? I'm hoping that if I know I have to go online and record my day for everyone to see, I'll start behaving better.

So tomorrow morning I'm going to be coming on and telling you how I did today (so far so good, but then it's only 9:52 a.m.). And I'll be doing that every day until probably mid-December. I'm planning on being a little less strict with myself at the end of December, because I just can't turn down Christmas cookies and other holiday treats. I can't. And they only come once a year, so I won't make myself.

And just for the record - my goal for calories is to stick between 1350 and 1550. Be back tomorrow with my results for today.