As a medical student, I meet people everyday who are struggling to manage their weight. Many are dieting with little to no success and most of it is due to the inability to initiate and maintain a successful routine. I, too, fall into this category. So it dawned on me that if I couldn't help myself, it would be difficult to help anyone else.
Over the last four years, I gained 25 pounds. Approximately 6 pounds per year. I no longer fit into my largest clothes, and I felt miserable. When stated that way, the weight itself seems trivial....but if I were to continue that course I would weigh 250 pounds before turning 45 years old and the habits are already extremely hard to stop. That weight would become increasingly hard on my heart, my joints, and it would make it hard for me to work and play with my children.
So I am challenging myself to find an exercise routine that will get the weight off ASAP, but then transition to something I can maintain for life. I started the weight loss part of the journey January of this year, and have lost 10 pounds since with a low carbohydrate diet and a combination of group aerobics classes. However, I am finding that it is difficult to keep motivated and keep on track and I am starting to slide backward. I hope through this I can move forward.
This section is meant to document my efforts and progress. Please feel free to join me in this quest and update me on your progress as well.
1/15/11 - 4/12/11 - Low Carbohydrate diet combined with 4-5 aerobics classes/week (body combat, spinning, step, yoga) allowed 14 pounds weight loss (165 down to 151) but the schedule and diet were hard to keep.
4/12/11 - 4/24/11 - Holidays, a cold, a change in schedule......were just enough to through me off track....the exercise stopped, the diet was thrown off, and the closet eating restarted.....3 pounds regained....how to get back on track.....let's start together, shall we??? My Goal.....138 pounds by September 15th.....< 1 pound/week....Today's weight (4/24/11): 153.5.
4/25/11 - 5/1/11 - Successful return to exercise...partly because of answering to you! Six aerobics classes completed this week (over only 4 days).....diet still lingering behind.....portion control returned, but I still managed to eat pretzel snacks and crackers more than needed and celebrated a friends wedding weekend which had delicious cake and mixed drinks (all carbohydrate heavy). Today's weight (5/1/11): 151.2.
5/2/11 - 5/8/11 - Monday - diet back on track.....light yogurt, mozzarella cheese and coffee for breakfast, turkey and mozzarella cheese for lunch and 2 turkey burgers with spinach, feta and tomato for dinner.....evening aerobics...body combat, Tuesday and Wednesday went just as well...but Thursday I fell in a hole....went out for Cinco De Mayo! Had a great time...nachos and dip, enchiladas and margaritas galore...what was I thinking...we'll I'll call that my cheat day....my only saving grace was the Zumba class I did before dinner. The cheat day might have worked...BUT then there was Friday...daytime was great...I skipped the gym and headed to the movies....but I ate on the way to the movie (pastrami wrap) to save myself calories.....so what could go wrong....it was the yogurt stop on the way out of the movies followed by the pizza second dinner....Saturday...beach day....health food back in place....Sunday...let's call it a combo...health food with a few beach drinks.....overall progress (backward....TOO MANY CHEAT DAYS..I'm not on vacation...this might maintain weight if done on occasion but NOT remove it)....Today's weight (5/2/11)....151.8
5/9/11 - 5/15/11 - Monday...back on track, party is over. Protein shake for breakfast with strawberries. Salad for lunch, turkey burger without bun and salad for dinner...body combat at the gym. Tuesday...yogurt for breakfast, apple and pastrami and cheese wrap for lunch, turkey burger and salad for dinner...spinning at the gym.
