Losing the Baby Weight, Update #1

It's been a whole month since I started Operation Lose the Baby Weight.  It feels like it's been a lot longer! But I'm happy to say that it's working. Slower than I would like, but at least the weight is coming off.  I've lost 7.2 pounds so far.  

You might be thinking--you are nearly halfway to losing the weight you wanted to! Ahhhh, but you'd be wrong.  See, I was incorrect about my starting weight.  I stepped on the scale right after my initial weight loss post on here, and learned that I was 3 pounds heavier than I thought.  So my new goal is to lose 18 pounds; meaning I have 11 pounds to go.  If I stay at my current weight loss pace, I should hit my goal weight by early to mid November--just in time for holiday food. Hopefully I won't have to restart my diet after the season of roasted turkeys and pecan pies!   

For those of you that are interested in my weight loss methods, I'm religiously using the iPhone app "My Fitness Pal".  I use it to enter every single piece of food I eat, and every bit of exercise I do, and it tallies up my calories.  It also lets me know how much I can eat--or how much I need to exercise--in order to achieve a 1-2 pound weekly weight loss.  The app is amazing. If you are trying to lose weight, I highly recommend it. Plus, it's got a Facebook-like feed that allows you to lose weight with your friends.  It's great having friends cheer me on when I lose weight or exercise hard. Plus, it's easier to avoid eating a doughnut, knowing that I've made my food diary visible for my friends to see.  If you are already on My Fitness Pal, or want to join, let me know if you want to be friends!

My daily calorie intake is usually between 1200 to 1500 calories a day, with 500 calories burned from exercise (so usually under 1000 net calories).  I eat 3 meals a day, and have 2 snacks.  I spread out my eating so I never get too hungry (which can cause me to overeat when I finally get some food).  I limit my carb intake, and snack on fruits and cheeses.  And Energy Balls, of course.  I watch my portion size, which I think has helped a ton.  I exercise 90 minutes a day on weekdays; a mixture of running and walking.  On weekends, I try to squeeze in walks where I can, or a quick run.  Which means I'm exercising 7 days a week right now.  It's tough, but if I want to be able to eat fish tacos every now and then, it's what I got to do. Otherwise I'll be living off carrots and lettuce.  I knew from the beginning that I would not succeed in my weight loss goals if I wasn't happy with what I was eating, so that meant two things: 1.) exercise hard so I can eat more and 2.) find healthy recipes that actually taste good.  Thankfully, I've had a lot of luck finding some great recipes.  I made Skinny Enchiladas this week that were to die for.  I'll be posting the recipe on my blog soon, I promise.  

If this had been a few years ago (and a baby ago), I definitely would have already lost all my goal weight.  But with age (and babies), my body and metabolism has changed.  It's difficult for me to see the scale move so slowly; especially since I'm incredibly impatient.  It's just so much easier to stick with a diet if you get immediate results, and that's not really happening for me any more.  So instead I'm relying on accountability to keep me in line--on My Fitness Pal and on this blog.  And, hopefully, at my baby weight update next month, I'll be close to my goal weight. Until then, I'll keep on', keepin' on.