Goodbye to the 70's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So today was weigh in day for Week 2.  I didn't want to have a repeat of Week 1's small weight loss, so I pushed it hard this last week and......It went MUCH BETTER!  My weight loss for Week 2 was 4 pounds.  Woot woot!  So now my total weight loss is 5 pounds in 2 weeks.  AND!!!!!!!!  I am no longer in the 270s pound range.  My weight today is 269 pounds.  I will NEVER EVER see 270 pounds again for the rest of my life!  I am super stoked! 

WHAT DID I DO DIFFERENT THIS LAST WEEK?
 
Food wise, I tried to meet my Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) or be under it everyday.  My RDI is 1800 calories for slow moderate weight loss.  My goal is to be between 1600-1800 calories for my of a range.  Most of the week I was under or about at 1600 calories.  But not only did I try to keep my calories to meet my RDI but I tried to make sure I was choosing healthier options. 
Another food mile stone that I conquered this week was that I learned to say "no thank you" to foods offered to me that I knew would inhibit my goals.  Before I would just say "okay" and then try to compensate later, which typically doesn't work and you typically go above your goal amount.  But with just saying "no" it was much easier to keep to my goals.  I avoided high calorie and fat treats at work, eating out (didn't get the delicious looking cookie at the Soup Kitchen), no desserts at church activities, had healthy snacks at my LOST finale party, etc, etc.  The other good part is that I noticed my friends and coworkers are just getting to the point that they don't offer those foods to me as much, which really helps.  So THANK YOU everyone for your help in this.  You all ROCK!

But don't worry!  I have also found some great alternatives to satisfy the sweet cravings and needs.  There are the good ol' rice cakes that have been greatly improved.  Angie introduced me to the mini caramel flavored rice cakes.  They are a great after dinner treat that are only 60 calories for 7 mini rice cakes.  Deanna introduced me to Skinny Cow.  I LOVE ice cream, so these are perfect.  So far I have tried the ice cream sandwiches (chocolate on chocolate and vanilla on chocolate) which have only 140 calories per ice cream sandwich.  I have also tried the Mint Truffle Ice Cream bar which only has 100 calories.  Both are delicious and a great after dinner or even post work out treat.  Thanks to Angie and Deanna for these great low calorie discoveries!

I also have been much better at tracking my calories on Fat Secret.com.  I've been trying to log my foods after every main meal so that I can be aware of my calories throughout the day.   It makes it much easier to decide what to eat and how much you can still eat when you know how many calories are left for the day.  This website is awesome!  I know I've talked about it before but you SERIOUSLY need to check it out, whether you need to lose weight or not.  Today when I put in my new weight I told me that I could meet my total weight loss goal of 120 pounds if I continue to lose weight at the same rate in 7 months!!!!!  It was a great motivator! 

Exercise has definitely changed this last week.  Before I used to only do 30 minutes of moderate to high intensity cardio.  Then I would follow my cardio up with 30 minutes of weight training using heavy weights.  Well this last week I increased my cardio to be 60 minutes and I have been trying to do more interval training to target more fat burning.  I am still trying to do 30 minutes of weights after too, but I have been using lighter weights and am doing the same amount of reps in hopes that I will tone instead of build muscle.  So hopefully this is what my body needs to lose weight efficiently and  will continue to work for awhile.   

Game plan for Week 3!!!!!!

So to keep up the 4 pound weight loss or more per week goal (cross your fingers for me!) I am going to try to be sure to increase my workouts to be everyday except for Sunday.  This last week I only worked out on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday.  I am hoping if I can at least do something physically active each day it might help keep the weight loss on track.  We'll see how this holiday weekend will affect that.  I am 99.9% sure I am going to Las Vegas on Saturday (so lots of driving!) but you always do walk a lot in Vegas, so hopefully I can count that.  But we are hoping to also do some hiking in Zions too. 

I am also going to continue with the goal to meet my RDI (1600-1800 calories) or be under my RDI on a daily basis.  With the road trip I am going to be sure to pack healthy snacks that won't kill my caloric intake too! 

So there you have it!  Week 2 was a complete success!  I am so excited and even more motivated than I was after having a terrible Week 1.  Thank you all for your words of encouragement and support.  I really appreciate it.  Good luck to all of those out there trying to lose weight and get healthy too.  I know you can do it!  I kind of gave up for it being possible for me but I have already lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and I feel great about it.  Slow and steady wins the race!!!!!