A tough time washed down with some good news

This last week has been, a trial in more ways than I can even count at this point. it felt like everything was caving in on me all at once including not being able to loose weight. For three weeks I didn't drop a single pound and I saw some pictures of me that were really discouraging. I felt even bigger than when I had started and I hate that feeling but sadly me knee jerk reaction is to eat more. Not good.

One of the highlights of my week though was a letter I got from my Grandma Walker. She praised me for the work I was doing and then also cautioned me to maybe try and take smaller steps, set smaller goals that I could reach and not get so discouraged so quickly. I thought about that and realized she was right. I still want to loose the 100 lbs in 12 months but what about in between? I started to really think about that and it raised a few questions. How do I get from 230 to 130? What are the stepps I need to take every day to get there? What are some micro goals that I could set for myself that I could reach in less than 12 months and be proud of? After thinking those questions over I finally came up with a few answers and they may not be what anyone is expecting but here they are.

I realized I needed to a) pace myself. at first I was burning 700 t0 1000 calories per workout and then only eating 1200 calories a day. That means my calorie deficit was between 1000 and 1300 calories. My body was literally going into starvation mode and holding on to everything after that first 4 lbs. So in pacing myself I mean, make myself stop working out after about a half hour to 45 minutes. That may sound strange, but after talking with my Personal Trainer, I realized that more is not always better. My second realization was that I needed to not totally beet myself up over a workout missed or a few hundred calories over my limit. I needed to take life as it came at me and if I did miss a workout to buck up and make sure I went the next day.

So this week I have not had a perfect run by any means. Since last Monday I missed a work out and only had two workouts over 35 minutes. I haven't been counting my calories, well at least not till yesterday, and I haven't even really been watching what I've been eating. I was in a slump, let me tell you, when I went to my session this morning, but to my amazement there was good news to be had. I had lost 4% body fat and not only that I had dropped another 2 lbs. I was so thrilled! That being said, now I need to get back on track and start counting calories again. if I just let myself go in the eating department I will stop seeing results. I guess the reason I shared all that with you was because even if you feel like you have really messed up its not a total waist. for me I lost 2 lbs during a week I was sure I had gained some. God has a funny sense of humor like that.