Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Counting Those Points

I've been part of the Biggest Loser challenge since the beginning of January. So far I've lost about 15 pounds. I am happy about being a little bit lighter. Losing 15 pounds in 4 months is pretty darn good, but I had expected a little bit more. My goal had been to lose 35 pounds in 6 months. So if I still want to meet that goal, I have to lose 20 pounds in approximately 10 weeks (or 2 lbs/week on average). Yikes! If I was on the real Biggest Loser, I could probably do it because those people exercise about 40 hours a week. In real life, I don't have that much time to exercise in a week. As I see it, my alternatives are:

1. Plow ahead and try to meet my original goal of losing 35 pounds total.

OR

2. Modify my goal a little bit.

As much as I think it's most realistic to modify my target, I feel like I'm giving up if I modify my goal. Right now I'm really trying to get my act together and focus on Option 1. I don't want to settle for a new goal - not just yet. You never know, I might be able to pull my act together sooner rather than later.

I wish I had tried harder these past 4 months. The first month or two were hard because I started back at work, and Julia started at daycare. That was a huge adjustment (more for her than me, but I stress about her). When I'm more stressed, I eat more. Life is starting to calm down a bit. We're getting in more of a routine. Julia's gaining a bit of weight and eating & sleeping a little more at daycare (that takes a LOT of the edge off). I'm better able to devote some time and focus on losing the weight now.

I ordered a heart rate monitor online (oh shoot, I forgot to go to the upromise link before I bought it!). When I get it, I'll be better able to tell at what rate I'm exercising. I'm one of those people who cannot take her own pulse, and I don't have a CLUE at what intensity I work out. Not that I work out a whole lot, but I do 2-mile walks, occasionally Shred, very occasionally do The Firm, etc. You can set it to beep at you if your heart rate goes too low, so then you get an audible reminder to kick it in higher gear.

So my plan is to lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks by: 1) obsessively and compulsively counting points and staying within my point range AND 2) exercising with my new heart rate monitor when I get it in the mail.

6 comments:

April said...

Good for you! I vote for forging ahead, working toward your original goal. I have this nasty little habit of totally slacking if I give myself any wiggle room. For example, if I resolve to do 2 loads of laundry every day I have to do them completely and if I miss a day(such as washing and drying them and not putting them away) I must start over fresh the next day by putting away the 2 loads from the day before PLUS doing the full 2 loads for that day as well. Other wise, by friday I have 4 or 5 loads in baskets in the laundry room floor, one load wrinkled in the dryer and one souring in the washing machine, in addition to the 2 loads stinking in the hamper. Ummm, you know, if you can apply that weird analogy to a weight loss plan...somehow....

B said...

I totally get the analogy! 2 loads a day - yikes! I thought I had it bad with 4 loads a week.

Okay, I'll keep plowing ahead. 20 more pounds lost, here I come!

Scrapping in Circles said...

Now I know why I never lose weight since my first response was, give yourself a break and lower the goal. April's response made me feel guilty. I will always picture her analogy every time I come up with an excuse not to exercise...of course, I'll probably just be more diligent about doing my laundry rather than actually exercising more. (;

B said...

I'm so lenient on myself, and that's why I fail. No more leniency!

Leigh Ann said...

Thanks for this blog. I was secretly thinking about changing my goal too. But now...I must SQUASH you! Ha Ha!

No throwing in the wrinkled, soured, unfolded towel for us! ;0)

B said...

We are not at ALL competitive! :)