Weight Loss Wednesday

This week I have added some ab exercises and core workouts.  My abs are so weak.  The day after my first set of ab exercises I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach.  I was so sore.  It's getting better though. 

Still dancing and walking.  I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I am getting a little tired of the dances on Just Dance 3.  You can buy more dances but I'm probably too much of a cheapskate to do this.  We're thinking of buying Zumba or Just Dance 2 for the Kinect.  The reviews for Zumba are mixed so I'm not sure.  I wish there were more snow and then I could go snowshoeing at Sugarhouse Park. 

This week I've lost 2 lbs.  Which is par for the course I think.  I still am drinking 16 - 20 oz. of coke a day, and I haven't sacrificed too much in the food department.  I just eat a smaller portion than I used to.  I'm cutting back on the Coke, slowly but surely.  Yesterday we went out to Smashburger for lunch.  Instead of a cheeseburger I got a grilled chicken breast sandwich on a whole wheat bun.  I didn't order fries, although I did steal a few off of Brig's plate.  I got a 20 oz. drink and only drank those 20 oz. and didn't leave the place with a refill like I used to do. 

As I've mentioned my family is doing a Biggest Loser competition.  Some people in my family have lost 4, 5, 7, and 8 pounds in a week.  You'd think this might discourage me, and to be honest I'm surprised that it hasn't.  It's just I already feel so much better with just the seven pounds that I've lost.  My stomach is flatter.  My jeans are looser and I have more energy to do other things that used to exhaust me.  Plus I know that my weight loss will extend past the three month competition, so it's not really about the money or winning, but the end goal I've set for myself.  In the past I've went really gung-ho with weight loss, eating a very restricted diet and exercising like mad.  While I've gotten results, I can never sustain that behavior because well, frankly, it sucks.  I was miserable and felt awful.  It usually makes me give up, and this time I'm not giving up so for me a slower weight loss is okay if it means I can still enjoy eating and I don't feel like I'm being deprived. 

This shouldn't come as news, but I feel better about myself and about life in general now that I've taken control of my weight issue.  For so long I've felt as if it were out of my hands.  I couldn't help overeating because it's what I did for emotional comfort.  I couldn't help not exercising because I was so tired.  But now I feel as if I could do this.  I feel as if I have power over the things I put in my mouth and how I treat my body.  I don't have to be slave to my passing cravings, the way to deal with past emotional hurts or current stresses is not to eat everything in sight.  I deserve to lead a long healthy life in a body that can go on hikes with my family, chase my kids around the park, and can fit into cuter clothes. 

Best of luck to all those in the trenches.  Remember if you have a bad day or give into temptation you can make a better choice the next meal or the next day.  Never, never, never give up.