This morning was a moment of triumph – after walking 11 miles yesterday (!!) I weighed the lowest I’ve probably weighed in years (as determined by the fact I actually looked good in a shirt I haven’t felt comfortable in since January 2011.) I’ve lost almost 20 pounds since April 7th, but in the past few weeks I have struggled, stalled, and on some days gained weight. This is apparently normal, but in looking through my fitbit.com dashboard, I’ve noticed these days have correlated with three mistakes that I should have been smart enough not to make.
Don’t Drink Your Calories
I made a huge shift in the beginning to stop drinking my 500+ calorie Iced Rice White Chocolate Mochas and switch to iced coffee. I was, hoever, still adding “sweetener” – or 90 calorie syrup to every coffee. I usually get two coffees a day, and over the course of a week, this really adds up. It also leads to sugar spikes, which are followed by crashes, leaving my tired and in need of more sugar – a cycle that’s hard to satisfy let alone stop.
Eat More Veggies, Less Other Crap
During the second half of the month, I also switched to what I call my “Chipotle Diet” and away from my fresh salad bar salads. This was mostly out of the desire to save a few bucks, as Chipotle salads are about $2 cheaper than a Whole Foods salad. They are also about 200 calories more. Combined with my sweetened iced coffee, I was packing on 2800 more calories the second week than during my first!
Walk As Much As Possible
During the first week, when I lost 10 pounds (which was probably mostly water, I’ll admit) I was walking 10 miles a day. During the week where I stalled and even gained a pound for a few days, I was only averaging 6 miles a day. I was barely maintaining a 1000 calorie a day deficit, which is critical to lose about 2 pounds a week. The past week I corrected course, walk about 10 miles a day (it’s really not that hard) and make sure I’m eating lots of fresh veggies and drinking a lot of water.
This week, I lost 5 pounds. I should be at an overall loss of 20 since I “lost” 15 pounds the first 15 days, but since I stalled/struggled a bit, I’m at a total loss of 18 pounds since April 7th. Maintaining a routine is easy – but it’s important to know that you’re routine is working and most of all, that you’re doing it right!
Have you recently changed the way you eat or implemented a new exercise routine? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!
