Image via Harvard Health

In my last post I talked about how last year I tried to regain the weight loss magic I had years ago, however life got in the way and now I'm trying again a yr later.   This is the first of my monthly updates I plan to do at the start of every month until I reach my goal of gaining muscle and losing 25 lbs.  I will share what I have been doing with my diet and exercise plan, if it seems to be working or not, and what I have learned.


Please keep in mind that what my diet and exercise plan is one I designed for myself based on my knowledge, preferences, and lifestyle.  My goal is to find a plan that works but that I can see myself doing for life.  What I can enjoy and works with my lifestyle.  I  honestly don't know if it will work or if it's the best plan for most.  I do however know that the changes I have made in my own life would not be considered unhealthy dangerous or extreme.  My hope is that following my own journey to better health helps you in your own.

FEBRUARY/MARCH DIET

My overnight crockpot steel cut blueberry oatmeal recipe

Breakfast:

• Every other day: steel cut oats with fruit, (blueberries, strawberries frozen from our garden, etc), walnuts, and stevia.  
• Every other day: breakfast sandwich ( one egg, nitrate free ham deli meat, reduced fat cheese slice on 1/2 whole grain high fiber bagel or english muffin
• Coffee 2 cups a day with stevia and half and half

FEBUARY/MARCH EXERCISE PLAN

Tamilee  Webb of Buns and Abs of Steel Fame

Cardio Plan
My goal: over 300 calories, Over 2,000 steps a day, takes 20-30 min/ a day 7 days a week on the stepper machine
300 calories x 7 days week = 2, 100 calories ( that's .6 lbs a week, 2.5 lbs a month)

I bought a stepper machine in Jan and so far I really like it.  Anything I can do without much thought and while watching TV I am way more likely to do.  It's so little it fits under a chair in our living room and cost under $45. I wasn't sure if I would use it consitently or not but I figured it was worth a shot.  I figured if I didn't use it I wouldn't be out much money and it doesn't take up much space.  I love that it has a electronic digital monitor that shows how many steps I've taken, time I've been on, calories burned, and how fast you are going.

I really liked the calorie counter on it.  I gotta admit that really motivates me and makes me more conscious of calories when I eat cause I know how much work it takes to burn it off.  It also helped me set realistic expectations of my weight loss.  I realized to lose 25 lbs in 4 months, my initial goal, was unrealistic unless I wanted to drastically change my diet and spend over an hr a day working out.  It will more likely take me 6-8 months to get there, and I'm okay with that.

FEB What I Actually Did:
I skipped 2 weeks, because 1 week I set aside for cleaning our carpets, I basically vaccumed all day for a week and figured that was enough activity for me.  And the other week was because I got a major work out just shoveling (this Feb was the snowiest in MN history), again more than enough activity. I did keep up with it just about every day but those 2 weeks off.  I like doing it everyday because If sonething does come up where I don't do it I still know I got a lot in all week.  I have found also if I get lazy and don't want to do it I can at least talk myself into doing 15 min vs 30 min.  I mean 15 min on the stepper while watching guilty pleasure tv really isn't that hard to talk myself into doing no matter how lazy I feel. Meaning I think this is something I can stick to long term even if I'm not trying to lose weight.

MARCH What I Actually Did:
 I can't say that I followed my exercise plan faithfully.  One weekend I skipped using my stepper 20-30 min, because my husband and I walked around a lake, about 2.5 miles each day.   Then the following week I skipped a few days, mostly cause I started my workout to late.  Since then I've been eating breakfast earlier so I have more tine to work out.  I like to eat breakfast before I work out.  I also think it's hard to keep motivated and in your routine when you allow yourself to take a few days off.  I honestly didn't feel like it but did half my usually stepper workout to at least keep in my routinue.    The next weekend I skipped using my stepper due to family celebrations, that involved a buffet ( bad for my diet). 

Weight Resistance Workout
I Want That Body by Tammy Lee Workout Video
ARMS 15 Min workout with 5 lb weights Wed
ABS  15 Min workout Sat
LOWER BODY 15 Min Sun

Feb What I Actually Did
I have only been doing this for a couple of weeks, not the whole month, so I'm just getting familar with these workouts again.  I had been doing these work outs last year so it feels a little familar which is nice.  I have been sore (not due to injury) the next day so I know it's working.  Hopefully that will diminish soon.

March What I Actually Did
I did not reach my goal of three 15 min weight resistance workouts a week.  In reality it was more like 1 arm work out a week.  I did however go from 5 lbs in my arm workout to 7 lbs.  Arm workouts are my fav, so that's why I only did that.  I often needed to tell myself I could just do the first (of the 3 reps) in the workout and if I didn't feel like doing more that was OK.  But I always did finish the whole workout when I did start.

I think next month I will really need to get more regular with my weight resistance workouts because I will likely skip a lot of my cardio workouts due to my many garden and landscaping projects.  Look for posts on all my outdoor projects to come soon. 

FEB RESULTS
I think I lost 2 lbs.  Which is to be expected since I'm not doing anything super drastic.  I figured out if the monitor on my stepper is right in how many calories I am burning (9,000) a month I should lose 2.5 lbs.  That's not counting my Tammy Lee workouts and assuming I do my full workouts and I don't consume more or less calories than normal.

MARCH RESULTS
I think I've lost only a pound this month.  Slow progress, but at least it is progress.  It is hard to know just how much I truly weigh because of water weight.  I weigh myself every mourning after I pee and before I drink anything, but it can still very over 5 lbs day to day.  Also muscle weighs more than fat, so you could weigh more due to gaining muscle which of course is a good thing.  I think going forward once a week I will take my measurments since that's a better measure of progress.

While I've probably only lost 3 lbs since I started, I'm OK with that.  I intitialy was planning on having my goal to be to lose 25 lbs in 3 months.  Until, I realized how drastically I'd have to change my already not to unhealthy lifestyle.  Working out for hrs a day and avoiding all sweets and bad foods is sonething I can do for a few months but not life.  I recently leaened that there was a study on the Biggest Loser contestants that showed most gained the weight all back and their metabolism was worst than when they started.  The theory is that they lost too much too fast, causing their bodies anti starvation mechanisms to kick in.   I think 2-4 lbs a month is a healthy goal, since I am trying to lose weight in a way I can maintain for life.  That means it might take a year or more to reach my goal, but I will be doing it in a way I can maintain for life, and not a crash diet.

How Do You Know When You Have Lost a Few Pounds?
Seems like an easy question right, when the scale reads less right?  Well kind of, but the problem is our weight can fluctuate day to day and even hr by hr.  Try weighing yourself before and after you pee alot and you will see what I mean.  I have weighed myself every mourning after I pee and before I drink coffee since Jan and my weight has fluxed up to 5 lbs on average.  Lately for the last 6 days it has been steady at the lowest weight I have been having since Jan.  So that either means I lost weight and was actually bloated up a few pounds, or I have stayed without much water weight for an unusual amount of time.  Then today I weighed a pound less, and officially lower than I have since starting to weigh myself in Jan.  So my guess is I lost 2 lbs, and have a 1 lb of water weight right now.   I know this is not alot.  But 2 lbs a month will add up eventually.  At this rate I'll at least lose 8 lbs by bikini season. 

What I Learned This Month
1.  Keep your diet and exercise plan realistic to what you could do forever, not just for a month.
2.  Maintaining your new healthy habits should be a priority.  For example if your feeling lazy and thinking you will skip your work out, maybe try only half of it just to stay in the rhythm of it.
3.  Be realistic and patient.  I am so glad I did the calorie math with my stepper routine and realized I would only lose 2.5 lbs a month  from that.  I started thinking about how it's likely a month or more could go buy without me noticing I actually lost weight due to water retention (see my comment above).  I also could lose no weight at all, if I actually over ate alot.  For example what if I eat out more than usually and end up eating way more calories than I realize.  In this case I might not lose weight but I wouldn't gain the weight I would have otherwise.  In other words I'd at least stop the slow cycle of gaining a few pounds here and there, but if I didn't understand this it would feel so discouraging.

I hope sharing this helps you in your own journey to better health.  Check back next month for my next update.

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Disclamer I am not a doctor. I have ZERO medical training and NO formal nutritional training.  The information provided on this site, such as text, graphics, images, is for informational purposes only. It is not to be construed as medical care or medical advice and is not a replacement for medical care given by physicians or trained medical personnel.  Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider(s) when experiencing symptoms or health problems, or before starting any new treatment.