Category: Project New Me

Weight: 197 lbs (down 0.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Yes! I did it! Yatta! (To non-Heroes fans, that’s what Hiro Nakamura shouts when he accomplishes something.) Although I didn’t exercise at all this week, I was able to lose half a pound by watching what I ate. This might not seem like much, but every little bit helps. In this case, this little bit helped me hit my first goal. And just in time for Disney World, too! I’m writing this early, so by the time you read this, I should be getting plenty of exercise walking around Disney World! I fully expect my next weigh-in to have a weight increase though due to Disney’s great food.

Weight: 196 lbs (down 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.5 hours

Total Workout Time: 41:36

Total Calories Burned: 299.5

Well, I did it. I was shooting for losing 10 pounds before I went to Disney World and as of this weigh-in, I’ve lost 11 pounds. Goal #1 achieved! Now, I just need to keep the weight off until I head for Disney.

The sleep average is a bit misleading. On Friday night, I was up a few times during the night with NHL. That, combined with a sleep deficit during the week consired to make me exhausted. B was nice enough to let me sleep in. I wound up getting 10 hours of sleep that night. Except for that night, I’ve still been unable to get a good night’s sleep. And, as you can see, I’ve also had trouble keeping up with my exercise regimine. I’d like to use the excuse of preparing for the Disney World trip, and that is partly the case, but the problem is just life. I get home, get everyone fed, get the kids in bed and suddenly there is too much to do and too little time. I plan to keep working on this and not get discouraged.

For now, I’ll take the victory of being 11 pounds down. Only 9 pounds to go and 16 more weeks. This is definitely doable.

Weight: 197.5 lbs (down 4 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 80:36

Total Calories Burned: 531.9

This week I didn’t exercise as much as I wanted to. Various things (mostly my Disney World Photo Book) got in the way. Still, the 80 minutes and change that I did work out must have had an effect as I lost 4 pounds. My plateau is busted! This takes me to within half of a pound of my pre-Disney goal of 10 pounds and nearly 50% of the way to my ending goal (20 pounds).

Part of losing weight/getting healthy is recognizing when something isn’t working and changing it to maximize the effect. Last week, I pledged to work out half an hour per night. During the week, however, I only found time to work out 2 nights. Now, I could either keep the “half hour every night” pledge as-is and feel guilty about all of those missed workouts (thus perhaps making me want to skip them more so I don’t need to think about them). Or, I could recognise that it’s just not working and change it. Given that I don’t think that half hour per night goal is feasible, I’m going to modify it to 30 minutes per night, 3 nights per week. This should be easier to hit.

I still remain a night owl, staying up way past when I should. I know I need to work on this, but I seem to get a second wind at 9pm that lasts until midnight. It’s hard to go to bed when all the other things I have to do and want to do beckon. Perhaps I need to prioritize more.

Weight: 201.5 lbs (up half a pound)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 45 minutes

I pretty much expected this to happen after my incredible first week. I’ve plateaued. Despite eating well the entire week, I actually gained a hhalf a pound. This isn’t going to discourage me, though. Going up and down is part of the whole weight loss process. You just need to make sure that the general direction is down. Given that I’m still 5 1/2 pounds lighter than when I started, I’d say I’m still ahead of the game.

I did work out one day with B using Leslie Sansone but then couldn’t get up the motivation to work out anymore. Finding time to work out after working for 8 hours, making dinner, cleaning up from dinner and getting the kids into bed is a challenge. I’m going to set a mini-goal for myself to work out for a half hour every night this week (perhaps exempting Friday night since Shabbat starts so quickly in January). After all, if I only reduce my caloric intake, my body will react by slowing down its metabolism. Exercising will help increase my metabolism. After all, Weight Gained Or Lost = Calories Eaten – Caloried Burned.

As far as sleep goes, I still can’t get the hang of early bedtimes. I suspect this is going to continue to be a concern. There are only so many hours in the day. NHL usually goes to sleep at around 7:30pm and JSL snuggles with B to go to sleep at around 8:30pm. Since I need to wake up at 6 – 6:30am, I should get to sleep by 10:30pm. So, once B takes JSL into bed, I only have 2 hours to clean up from dinner, do whatever I need to do on the computer, work out (and shower as I’m not going to head to bed all sweaty), and watch what few TV shows I follow. There never seems to be enough time to do it all. At the very least, I need to organize my time better.

Weight: 201 lbs (down 6 lbs)

Average Hours of Sleep: 7.14 hours

Total Workout Time: 0 minutes

This first week of Project New Me has brought about many upheavals. First of all, simply needing to track my points again was something to get used to. I couldn’t just toss a ton of snacks in my lunch bag and eat as many of them as I felt I needed during the day. I had to think more about what was going in my mouth. This is a good thing. When you mindlessly shove food into your mouth, you forget about the calories you’re ingesting and you are more likely to gain weight. » Read more