40 years, 40 pounds – Week 1 Roundup

Week 1 is a wrap!

I wanted to share with you a few brief thoughts on my experience this week. At the beginning of the week, I loaded up the fridge with all kinds of healthy things, planned a few meals, and was off and running.

At the end of Day 1 of being fully on the program, I was anything but full. I’d eat, be satisfied for an hour or so, then my tummy would start rumbling again. I know that this is all part of the process. Anytime I change my eating habits, I’m hungry almost continuously for the first few days. I’m told it’s mostly psychological, and knowing that helped me to cope. I drank a ton of water, and if I couldn’t stand the rumbling any longer I’d opt for a zero points snack like cherry tomatoes or a bit of melon. I spent a lot of time in the washroom the first two days due to all the water I was drinking. Again, par for the course till the body adjusts.

The important thing was, I made it through that part. I think most people fail at healthy eating programs because their body and mind wreaks havoc on them the first couple of days. Just getting through that part makes all the difference. By Wednesday, I was totally in the groove. I even had trouble eating all my points on Wednesday and Thursday, I had like, 6 left over at the end of the day! It’s important to eat your full allotment of points every day, or you won’t be getting enough calories and your body could actually start to store fat. That’s bad news.

The really, really good news? I weighed in this morning, and I’m down 3.2 pounds! I’m actually down 4.8 pounds in total so far (I had lost about 1.6 pounds the previous week just by cutting out the bad stuff I was eating).

What I do need to improve upon is my activity level. I hurt my foot last week and that put a damper on my efforts to get out walking more. It’s better now though and I hope that will motivate me to get the walking shoes on and get out the door. The nicer weather will help too. I’m trying to do yoga and some weights and I have to work harder to step away from the laptop and get that done.

One day, one step at a time.

Thanks to all of my amazing friends and buddies on Twitter and Facebook, your support has been amazing. It even appears I’ve inspired a few people to start their own weight loss plans. Best of luck to you and feel free to weigh in in the comments!