Weekly Weigh In #1

Week one is complete!  Don't they say the first part is always the hardest?  I haven't been dieting very long obviously, but a week is at least some momentum, right?  I feel like the pieces are moving into the right places if not all the way there just yet.  First, some successes.

I am proud of tracking my food all week!

8 day streak, baby!

I have an internal battle with myself about tracking my food and I have no idea why.  I have a small idea, actually.  I cook a bunch of stuff at home and I feel like it is such a hassle to try and piece together the ingredients and portions I ate out of the whole recipe.  This time around I decided that the priority was to track first and foremost, and it doesn't need to be an exact science.  For instance, last night I made banh mi sandwiches.  It is a crusty roll from the grocery store bin (no nutritional info), pork chops with hoisin sauce, pickled veggies, sriracha mayo.  It is delicious, but a lot of little pieces add up to the whole sandwich.  So instead, I just searched the database for a bahn mi that someone already entered, and boom, it was done.  It wasn't exactly accurate and I know that, but at this point the habit of tracking is more important to me than the exact calories I am getting in.  It is all a deficit compared to my pre-tracking days so I still count it as a win.  

If you are on myfitnesspal, add me as a friend here if you would like to connect!- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/profile/nataliehinkley2

I stayed within the calories allotted by My Fitness Pal most days!

I tracked everything, and I was usually right on the money with the calories I was supposed to eat.  I went overboard on some candy eating and I went over like 300 calories on Saturday.  But if you take the 80/20 approach or the 'No S' diet approach, I did just fine.  I owe a shout out to my new drug Trulicity.  If I overeat or consume too much fat or sugar at once, I feel like garbage and it will be expelled from my body by any means necessary, post haste.  Therefore, I have been hyper-aware of portion sizes and am able to talk myself into healthier options much easier.  True Story, I ate out EVERY MEAL on Friday and stayed in the calorie range!  I shouldn't be proud of all that eating out, but I made good choices so I don't need to feel guilty about it at all.

I am challenging the notion that healthy food doesn't taste good.

One week ago, I was boo-hoo-ing to my friend about how healthy food just makes me depressed because it just isn't tasty.  I think of healthy food and I see a sea of tasteless vegetables, sad salads, and plain, tasteless, rubbery chicken.  That is 100% me being dramatic.  I went on a quest to actually find some okay looking healthy recipes and I went a little crazy on pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/nataliehinkley/healthy-meals-to-try/.  So putting this on my wishlist too, by the way.   Then on Friday, I had the most delicious and decadent tasting tomato basil soup from Piada.  Like so good it felt like a cheat meal and it totally was a light choice! Plenty of people eat healthy foods on a very regular basis, and aren't punishing their taste buds in the process.  The info is out there, I just wasn't trying to get out of my comfort zone.  Our fridge is stocked and I have a full week of new recipes to try.  So excited!

So the week went pretty well, all things considered, though not everything was sparkles and rainbows.

I didn't lose any weight.

Well I did, then I didn't.  I weigh myself every morning and one point I was down two pounds.  Then I ate out every meal on Friday (all the sodium) and ate too much candy on Saturday.  I have been tracking my blood sugar levels in the morning and they go remarkably hand in hand.  When I was down 2 pounds, my AM levels were the lowest all week.  So I know that in order to get the scale budging I need to stay in my calorie range and get less calories from carbs and sugar over all.  It is a new week, and we are going to try and get it done!

Planning ahead could have been better.

When I have a plan, things go smoothly and I do what I planned to do with little varying.  When a wrench gets thrown in, then I drop the plan like a hot potato.  It wasn't the biggest deal, but we were supposed to have banh mis on Saturday but I forgot the dang cilantro.  So I could have gone to the store, or I could have swapped it for another healthy meal from later in the week.  But instead I just instantly went to the frozen pizza.  I need to quit buying them, but I suppose it saves us from the calorie bomb of ordering take out?  

As I stated before, I am pretty happy with the progress this week despite the setbacks.  I am ready to hit it hard this week and have even more to be proud of next Monday!

mirror selfies are not in my wheelhouse of skills yet.