The first week is always the best...

Seriously, why can't week 7 be the big weight drop week?  With every diet attempt I've ever had, I've always lost a pretty significant chunk of my weight goal during the first week, and then plateau or even gain further down the road.  Its most likely because I am the most motivated and focused on losing during the first week, and then as time goes on, I let myself slip up, and that is when I plateau.  My goal for this attempt is to not let myself get complacent, and challenge myself, so during week 7, I can lose as much as I have lost during week 1.

While I was lifting weights today, I picked up 2 20 pound dumbells to do my calf raises with.  And I realized that that is the stress I would feel if I was 40 pounds heavier than I am now.  My joints hurt; it was hard to get up onto my toes.  And it made me wonder how great my joints and muscles will feel when I do lose all the weight!  It is amazing how just adding a little bit of weight can put so much stress on your body.

AND I have a recipe for you all! I can't take credit for this one, because I found it in a Cooking Light magazine, so I'm posting the link to their website.  My mom gave me a subscription to Cooking Light for Christmas, and I have been trying to make a dish each week.  Last week it was sauteed chicken with a tomato sauce; tonight's incredible dish was 5 ingredient tex-mex pork.  It was easy and SO yummy! Here's the link, and I hope you will all try it!
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000108389

Current weight: 192.0 lbs
Weight loss to date for this attempt: 3.0 lbs
Total weight loss from beginning of blog: 10 lbs!

-Austin

A New Year, A New Goal

So, I know you all have been waiting on the edge of your seat to find out whether I met my 12 Pounds of Christmas goal... well, I have bad news for you: I didn't.  In fact, I don't actually know what my weight was, because my scale at home was pretty messed up (like 10 pounds higher than what it should have been). I think at the end I was probably around 194.  And I worked out almost every day (I probably missed maybe 8 days out of 30). I think I just ate too much, and I wasn't as conscious about what I was eating, because I wasn't the one cooking it.

HOWEVER, its a New Year, right?? And that means I am going to set a new goal! I'm aiming for 15 by summer... I started yesterday at 195, so my goal is to be down to 180 by the time June 1st hits.  I don't have a clever name for this or anything (I'm open to suggestions, though!), but I do better when I have a goal and I can work towards it! SO, 180 by June 1st it is!

I also have a recipe to share with you guys! This one is pretty simple, and although its not super lo-cal, I discovered it yesterday and have eaten it for the past 2 days for lunch! I have to give partial credit to my cousin, Kate, for turning me onto onion and chive cream cheese... its delicious!

So, the recipe is for a simple turkey sandwich! I take 2 pieces of bread (I use whole grain white), spread a tablespoon of the onion and chive cream cheese on the bread, put a serving of deli turkey split between the two pieces, and a slice of 2% provolone cheese! It ends up being about 300 calories, but the cream cheese has so much flavor that it is totally worth it and super filling!

Hopefully, I'll be able to update this more often than I did last semester... Sorry!

Current weight: 194.0
Weight loss to date: 1.0 lbs.

Have a good Wednesday! I'll be enjoying (well not really, I'm SUPER bored) my 3rd snow/ice day in a row!
-Austin