Category: Project New Me

Project New Me: Week #10 or At The Halfway Mark #newme

Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 192 lbs (up 1 pound)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

So here we are at the halfway point of my 20 Weeks/20 Pounds challenge. Currently, I weigh 192 pounds. Since I began at 207 pounds, this means that I’ve lost 15 of my 20 pounds, or five pounds over where I projected I’d be. Despite being two thirds of the way there, I’ve still got some hurdles to clear.

First of all, the last five pounds can be the most stubborn. I could easily hit a plateau now and not leave it until the challenge nears its conclusion. Secondly, Passover is coming up. With all the complications of life during Passover, I don’t need to add “counting points”, so I’m giving myself a Points-Free-Week then. This doesn’t mean I plan to engourge myself, but it also doesn’t mean I’m going to examine the box for calories/fat/fiber before I crunch into a piece of matzoh with cream cheese. With luck, I won’t gain too much during those eight days and I’ll still be able to complete the challenge.

Project New Me: Week #9 or Halfway Point Approaches #newme

Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 191 lbs (down 3.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.2 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Last week, we were dealing with JSL running a mysterious fever that we couldn’t keep down. Due to that, my normal routine of planning dinners ahead of time went out the window. Plus, we’re gearing up for Passover and that means buying less non-kosher-for-Passover food and trying to reduce the pantry stockpiles that we have. (What to do with assorted cans of beans, diced tomatoes and soup?) Even with all of that, though, I managed to drop 3.5 pounds. I’m now only four pounds away from my goal (total lost: 16 pounds) with just over half of my “Project New Me” time ahead of me. I’d say I’m doing quite well.

Project New Me: Week #8 or Will-Power, or Lack Thereof #newme

Health, Project New Me, Travel, Weight Loss

Weight: 194.5 lbs (up 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

I did very well this week until our little trip. You see, my nephew was born last Sunday which meant that this Sunday would be his bris. This meant driving to Buffalo, NY and the temptation of lots of good food. I would like to report that I sucessfully fended off all such temptation and stuck rigerously to my diet. I would like to report this, but I’d be lying. The truth is, I’m not so good when it comes to food-based temptations. I’ve gotten better over the years, but show me some bagels, cream cheese and good quality lox and my points-notebook gets tossed aside. Oh, and if there’s tasty rugelach and hamantashen to boot…. well, you get the point.

That said, I didn’t do too bad. I only gained a pound and a half. I’ve learned in the past that, when attempting to lose weight, you don’t confine yourself so strictly that you’re not allowed an indulgence or two. And, if your indulgences go beyond what you planned for, you don’t bury yourself in guilt. That will just lead to more eating and less weight loss. Instead, you accept what happened and try to learn from it. This might means taking steps to increase your willpower or putting yourself in willpower-comprimising situations less or simply planning in advance when you know such a situation is coming up. It is ok to fall off the wagon here and there so long as you immediately get back up, dust yourself off and jump right back on the wagon, gripping it tighter than before.

Project New Me: Week #7 or Closing In On My Goals #newme

Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 193 lbs (down 4.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.8 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

On my first week back from Disney World, I didn’t expect much weight loss. I found myself hungry and snacking all too often as my body adjusted from “Eating Lots Of Wonderful Disney Food” back to “Eating My Normal Lighter Fare.” Still, I must have done a good job because my weigh-in showed a loss of 4.5 pounds. I’m now a mere 6 pounds to my goal!

Still, roadblocks still are in my way. The first roadblock will be this weekend. My new nephew was born last weekend and we’ll be attending the bris this coming weekend. (Weather and child health permitting.) At the bris, there will be a lot of good foods to eat. In addition, that whole weekend, we’ll likely be eating out which means higher calories.

The next roadblock comes in five weeks. At that point, we’ll have the eight day long matzoh-fest known as Passover. During Passover, foods that are normally allowed aren’t permitted. These include not just breads, rice and other grains, but corn, beans/legumes (including soy and peanuts), and a few others. You wind up subsisting on a lot of Matzoh which isn’t conducive to weight loss at all. I plan on treating Passover weight-loss like I treated Disney weight-loss. I will try to make healthy choices, but won’t sweat it at all. I’m definitely not going to try counting points at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few pounds packed on during Passover.

To mitigate Passover’s effect, I’m going to set a mini-goal of reaching 189 by the Sunday before Passover. This means losing 4 pounds in 5 weeks which is completely doable (especially considering that I’ve averaged 2 1/3 pounds per week so far). I also won’t count my goal as being achieved until Passover is over. (As I could hit 187 before Passover and then gain 5 pounds during Passover.)

Here’s hoping your #NewMe goals are going as well as mine are.

Project New Me: Week #6 or Post Disney Weigh In #newme

Disney, Health, Project New Me, Weight Loss

Weight: 197.5 lbs (up 0.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: N/A

Total Workout Time: N/A (though I walked a TON at Disney World)

Total Calories Burned: N/A (again, though, I walked a ton at Disney World)

As other posts of mine said, we spent the past week at Disney World. The food there is so good that I decided from the start that I wouldn’t count calories at all. I gave myself a week off from thinking about weight loss and freely ate cheesecakes, pizzas, ice cream, Tonga Toast* and other things that should have packed on the pounds. And yet, the scale only rose by the smallest of amounts (half a pound). Why? Well, when one sees Disney World, one walks. A lot! B had a pedometer on and I believe she said it was something in the order of 15,000 steps a day on average. Since 2,000 steps roughly equals a mile (this can vary based on stride length but let’s rely on this figure for the moment), this means we walked about 7.5 miles per day. No wonder my feet were so tired at the end of each day! Also, no wonder that I was able to burn off all of that fattening food. If you’re walking 7 or more miles every single day, you probably can eat whatever you want without packing on the pounds. Let’s call this the “Disney Diet.”

Of course, I couldn’t stay on the Disney Diet forever. For one thing, I need to earn money. Until I figure out a way to get Disney to pay me to wander around their parks riding rides, taking photos, and blogging about it all, I need to go to my 9-5 (ok, 8 – 4:30) job. Now, if anyone at Disney is willing to pay me my current salary to be a “professional Disney guest”, I’d be more than willing to take them up on the offer!

Getting back to my weight loss, I actually expected to gain up to 5 pounds so I’m in a very good position. I have 15 weeks to go and just over 10 pounds to lose. I’m not going to rest on my laurels** but I’m feeling pretty confident right now.

* To everyone who’s never heard of or tried Tonga Toast, boy are you missing a treat! It’s a thick piece of sourdough bread stuffed with bananas, dipped in a milk/egg/vanilla mixture, fried and topped with cinnamon and sugar. Not healthy by any stretch but oh-so-good. I plan on attempting a healthy version at one point.

** I was going to make a Laurel and Hardy gag here, but “resting on my hardy” just sounded too risque. Of course, now I’ve gone and made the gag anyway!

1 2 3 4 5