Weight Loss Update

Whoa, we're halfway there.. whoa-oa, living on a prayer..

I really can't believe I just quoted Bon Jovi. My sister would understand my disgust.

Anyways, I have reached my halfway-there weight loss goal: 15 out of 30 pounds! I am 5 pounds down past my pre-Carter weight, but I am 5 pounds away from my pre-Sadie weight. However, I am still about 12 pounds to my lowest weight in 2013.

April 4th       vs    August 7th

Same

Today I finally passed the 15 pound mark! I'm now down 15.8 lbs over 4 months!

Once I get all the way there, I will be at my lowest weight since my freshman year of college.

I tell ya, it has sucked trying to lose weight. As a Registered Dietitian, I find it incredibly frustrating doing weight loss counseling with other people, and seriously I hate doing it with myself. It's a long-term game, slow moving, and takes a lot of mental and physical effort and commitment. There are no fast fixes to weight loss.. and if anyone tries to preach the keto diet to me, seriously go away.

This is what I'm doing to be successful:

1) Counting calories with MyFitnessPal. Yep. Weight Loss 101. Tracking your food can help you be more accountable and realistic. Whether or not you're trying to follow a specific way of eating (keto, whole-foods plant-based, Paleo, etc), it all comes down to energy in and energy out. BTW, I'm not citing sources on this one. I'm too lazy to do that, but there are plenty of other people that have done that.

2) Increasing my non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Back at OHSU in 2007/2008, I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture by a renowned British researcher, James Levine, MD, PhD. He had a dry British sense of humor I loved, but his ideas about increasing non-exercise activity have always stuck with me. Currently, I walk during my work breaks, I dance with my kids (the Just Dance app is perfect for this), and I do a mini neighborhood walk after dinner every night. I use my Fitbit to track my steps, which is a huge motivating factor to me to keep moving.

3) Working out 6-7 days a week. Yes, 7 days a week sounds like a bit much, but 1 day is stretching or yoga. What I've started doing is stretching on Sundays as I've found that my muscles are way too tight. I've also started switching up my routine. I was doing 5 days of RIPPED workouts and 1 day of Barre-style workouts, but I wanted more specific muscle toning. Now, I'll be doing 4 days of RIPPED and 2 days of Barre (plus some additional cardio those days to burn more calories). I'll let you know if this change will help with my body composition and muscle toning.

4) Decreasing portion sizes, not making baked goods as much, and trying to increase protein at breakfast. I'm experimenting if increasing the size of my breakfast meal will help me eat less at lunch or dinner. We shall see, but it worked yesterday!

 Anyways, losing weight is hard. I wish it could be easier, but I believe that making small, simple changes can be sustainable over the long-term. I know I'll never be thin, I'll always have "man shoulders" from my dad and a soft stomach from becoming a mom, and my arms will never be small. This isn't negative self-talk, just my acceptance of my limitations. Going through pregnancy changed my body drastically and irreparably, but hey, at least my boobs like tripled in size! (Is that even appropriate to share here? Oh well.) One day, I just hope to be comfortable in my own skin. Oh, and I guess improving my health is a bonus as well.