Saturday, May 7, 2016

Weight Loss Journey Week 8

Weight loss for week 8 was 0.4 pounds.

From last week through this week I've been dealing with some depression. 
It may be because I've been working some really tough jobs and am totally exhausted. 
Losing weight is hard - and depressing to have to keep doing it over and over again. 
I don't like the extra money I'm spending on diet food.
And like I said last week, I haven't been very motivated on my SparkPeople weight loss challenge because out of 21 people on the team, most are not active on the challenge - which doesn't make it any fun when only a few people are trying to win the challenge against the other teams. 

But, I refuse to wallow and not succeed!
I think I've come to an epiphany to stop dieting. No, that doesn't mean I'm stopping my weight loss journey - it means I'm going to stop eating special food. I need to get back to the way I like to cook and eat. What I'm going to do is limit my portions. I'm going to use a smaller plate, measure everything out and learn what an appropriate portion size is for someone my age. I need this to be a life style change, not a diet where I am going to gain it back again after I lose it. 

It's always easy to be motivated and doing well at the beginning of a diet. I've done really well and have lost quite a bit of weight - lost 25.2 pounds in 8 weeks is great! I just need to make some changes so that I can continue to be successful for the rest of my journey.
I'm back on track and motivated again. I'm not depressed anymore - thank goodness! Life happens and it's always a choice to wallow or pick yourself up and live a happy life with a grateful heart. I am so thankful for the weight I have lost, I have a great life and I know by getting ALL the weight off will make me happier. I can do this!

I am still riding my exercise bike 30 minutes and walking outside for 30 minutes every day. On top of my work schedule - that is a lot of movement my body does all day long. I also am trying to put in more strength training with my hand weights. I wish it were easier for my body to lose weight, but I know it's my age and metabolism that I have to deal with. But, I can lose weight with a lot of energy put into it. I'm thankful that my body is healthy and allows me to be this active. 

My steps per day were:
Sunday: 8095
Monday: 9221
Tuesday: 9498
Wednesday: 9412
Thursday: 10924
Friday: 10035

Nutrition this week:
 Sunday:
 Monday
 Tuesday
 Wednesday
 Thursday
 Friday
 Saturday

Even though I had some tough weeks, I haven't gave up. I'm still moving forward. I know there will be good days and bad days - although I prefer only good day. I'm going to do this! I'm going to succeed.

As an added on note - this came in from our team leader (which confirms my frustration with our team):

I hate to say it but we are currently in 3rd place in all categories, both for the week and overall. We actually had a gain overall of 0.1 pounds this week, which is a first for this team (both of the other teams have recorded gain weeks before).

Overall we are 1200 cardio minutes behind the 2nd place team, 1300 ST minutes behind the 2nd place team, and 200 ATC points behind the 2nd place team. We also would have needed to lose another 7.8 pounds to catch up to the 2nd place team overall in weight loss.

Weight loss winners: CHANCE04, MOLLIEJEAN2, KAMEE720, and KKLIONESS013 all lost over 1 pound

Cardio champions: THINK2BFIT, DAVENPLK, MYSPARKLER, and 2BSXYKITTEN all accumulated over 400 minutes

Strength Training superstars: KAMEE720, THINK2BFIT, MYSPARKLER, and GREBJACK all totaled over 150 minutes.

Thanks for all your efforts. Remember, this is a team effort. We're all working together on this. No one should feel bad if they had an off week. It happens to everyone. Part of being on a team is encouraging others, especially if they are struggling, and cheering when other team members have good weeks. Let's put week 5 behind us, we can't change it, and just focus on the remaining weeks of the challenge.

The Results:
3RD PLACE - Cruisin' For Losin'

0.003% Weight Gain 
0.1 Pounds Gained 
51.9 Total Pounds Lost to Date
14 Members reporting in (out of 21 people)
7 Losers
-1.53% Total Starting Weight Lost to Date
Biggest Loser 2.8 - CHANCE04
ATC 350

3 Weekly Place 4,202 Weekly Minutes Cardio (I did 765 minutes of this number)

3 Weekly Place 1152 Weekly Minutes ST (I did 198 minutes of this number)

3 Weekly Place 350 ATC points
(ATC points are earned from the challenges we do each week.
 I earned 125 of these 350 points - that means the other 20 people only earned a total 225 points - divided by 20 people averages 11.25 points per person. This is so very sad!!)

It's so frustrating to be on a team where your teammates who made a conscience decision to join - have not lived up to their commitment. One more week of this challenge. I'm not sure I want to do it again - especially when 3/4 of the team members refuse to join in. Argh!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I like your idea of using a smaller plate and using portion control. I might add that you may want to make sure you are eating a balance by using the full plate method. 50% of your plate is vegetables, 25% protein and 25% is starches. This has helped me tremendously. I actually spend less money on groceries because I am not buying junk food. If I feel like a dessert, I go out and order it- that happens infrequently- LOL Because basically I am a slug and want to stay home after I get there.

Sondra said...

Thanks Sunny Howard, those are excellent ideas. Thanks for sharing your knowledge to help me on my weight loss journey. I have the same thoughts about leaving home after I get there from work. I guess I'm a slug too - ha ha ha!

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