Category: Weight Loss

One of the easiest ways to sabotage weight loss is to set a single goal and then get frustrated when you aren’t reaching it.  That’s why I’m a big fan of having an overarching goal as well as a series of mini-goals.

In my case, my over-arching goal is, of course, to lose twenty pounds.  However, this could take me months and I wouldn’t want to feel like I haven’t crossed any important milestones on the way.  Therefore, I consider every five pounds lost to be a mini-goal.  (Except for the last one, of course, since then I cross my overall goal.)

This means that I’ve reached the first of my three mini-goals.  I’m now down by five pounds and am ready to say goodbye to that “2” at the beginning of the scale’s read-out.  Since all goals should come with a celebration, perhaps I’ll “treat” myself to a serving of non-fat chocolate ice cream with some whipped cream.  Then again, considering the freezing cold outside, maybe I’ll find a warmer celebratory snack.

Last week, I began my 20 pounds in 20 weeks challenge.  So how did I do?  Well, my first week weigh-in was 202 pounds.  Since my initial weigh-in was 205 pounds, this means that I am down by 3 pounds.

I ate a lot of salads during the week.  I have to admit, I usually like salads, but I wasn’t feeling the salad-love.  For some reason, a big pile of greens with very little dressing on top just didn’t make my mouth water.  So what was my secret?  Bacon bits.  Well, imitation bacon bits, actually.  (Remember, I’m kosher.)  Turns out that 2 servings (14 grams) of these are 1 point and this is a LOT of imitation bacon bits.  The only problem is that we’re running through bacon bits quickly.  We add them to egg whites (with dried onion flakes) as well as to our salads.  NHL has taken to liking them as well.  BJ’s used to have large containers of kosher, imitation bacon bits, but it looks like those were discontinued.  Now, I’m searching for another bulk source.  It’s getting expensive buying lots of those small containers.

Last year, I tried to lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks.  I succeeded, but the remaining 32 weeks in the year allowed those pounds to sneak back on me.  I resolved that I would lose 25 pounds and intended to start my weight loss plan on January 2nd.  However, a bout with strep throat set my plans back by a week.

Therefore, this week officially kicks off my 20 Pounds in 20 Weeks in 2011.  This time, I’ll be doing things slightly different.  B has signed up for Weight Watchers Online and will be following their new Pro Points plan.  I’ve based my previous weight loss attempted on their old plan (Calories/Fat/Fiber) and it worked pretty much every time.  (The first time, I lost about 80 pounds!)  However, to simplify matters and better support B, I’m basing my new plan on Weight Watcher’s Pro Points plan.

As you can see from the table on the side, I’m beginning my weight loss journey at 205 pounds and intend to reach 185 by the time this is up.  This works out to 1 pound lost per week on average.

As with last year, I’ll have two “off” weeks.  The first will be when we go to Disney World.  After all, I’m not going to go to Disney and watch what I eat!  Besides, with all the walking you do in Disney World, I might not even gain that much weight.  The second week will be Passover.  It is hard enough figuring out what to eat during this holiday (when bread and pretty much any bread product is forbidden).  I don’t need to toss in the additional complication of a weight loss plan.  Of course, we tend to eat more fruits and vegetables during Passover anyway, so this might work in our favor.

Here’s to hoping that I’ll be blogging 20 pounds lighter in mid-May!