Week 3: Weigh In + Mindfulness and Exercise

I was nervous to weigh myself this week, not necessarily for myself but because I’m being transparent as I share my progress. Before stepping on the scale I was creating stories in my head wondering if my hormones aren’t balanced and second guessed whether my exercise and activity levels were enough. This was last night before stepping on the scale. These were based on fears of what other people would think as I continue to share my (often very personal) journey.

After weighing myself this morning, I cried. It’s easy to share progress when it’s going as you’d like it, but not so easy when it’s not.

Click to Week 3 Food & Exercise Diary

Mindfulness

Tracking what I eat on physical paper was something I started back in 2005 and I personally found it to be very beneficial. I had continued to write everything down with pen and paper for a couple years at that point, and later moved to the MyFitnessPal app in 2015.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m a visual learner so being able to see the foods, portion sizes and calories at a glance helps me to not only SEE what I’ve consumed, but lets me assess and make any needed changes. The app having fancy graphs and pie charts is a nice bonus too.

What I’ve found while physically tracking whether it be on paper or through an app is it helps me to stay mindful for not only what I’m eating at each moment, but also how much and why.

This week I noticed an old pattern of mine where I’d get hyper focused on a project and forget to eat until I’m really hungry and then grab something quick. Another observation I made was how my eating habits change on the days my kids are at their father’s house. The days my kids are with me, I feel more energized and have a much easier time with mindful eating.

Exercise Update

As per the Dr’s orders, I tried to increase the intensity of my exercises and yoga this week and to be honest, it brought up quite a mix of emotions. Having had a nervous breakdown in recent years, I’m still carrying some intense fear of working too hard and over exerting myself again. I’m holding myself back and I’m completely aware of it, but at the same time want to get stronger and leaner. Definitely feels conflicting at times.

I signed up for the free BeachBody 14 day trial and tried one of the 21 Day Fix workouts, but found it was a bit too hard for where I am at my fitness level at the moment. I did the modified version offered in the video for a couple of the exercises, but felt overall it was just bit too big of a step now and would prefer to work my way up to that intensity.

This was emotionally hard because I was doing quite intense workouts at OrangeTheory Fitness for years not that long ago and now I’m starting over in many ways.

The next day I tried one of the free MadFit workouts on YouTube to see how that compared and preferred that. She does mostly 30 second intervals which I prefer over the BeachBody workout that had 60 seconds intervals.

I continued to go for my usual walks and biking which helps me move and keep energy flowing while connecting to nature, but with those being low intensity I’ve come to terms it’s a necessity to also start including at least three days of higher intensity workouts. One week at a time.

Week 3 Food & Exercise Diary

Today I am UP again. This time I’m up 0.7 lbs and while it’s not a significant gain, it’s still disappointing to see the scale go in the opposite direction two weeks in a row.

I’m aware the scale is only one tool to track progress, but the inches don’t appear to be coming off either… yet. While I do feel better overall which is most important, it’s nice to have the physical validation too.

I’m thinking my total activity level still isn’t more than my calorie intake since I’m sedentary for hours each day, and possibly being the week before that time of the month, I could be retaining water which is usual for me.

For next week, I’m going to wear an old FitBit (which connects beautifully to MyFitnessPal) to track my calorie output so I have a visual reference. I was comfortable with the calorie intake and didn’t feel overly hungry or desire to overeat, so my gut is telling me I need to move more.

WEEK 3 – FOOD & EXERCISE DIARY	CALORIES	EXERCISE	YOGA
	Average 1717 /day
Monday – Whole grain wrap with mushrooms, spinach, egg, egg whites, lactose free cheese – Protein bar – Apple – Thanksgiving Dinner: turkey, ham, stuffing, squash, mashed potato, homemade cheesecake (all portion controlled)	1515	42 min biking	20 min
Tuesday – Whole grain wrap with 2 egg whites, spinach, and lactose free cheese – Protein bar – Apple – Popcorn – Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beens, mixed green salad with apple, pear, pecans, blue cheese and olive dressing – Mini Kit Kat and Smarties	1868	30 min walk + 4 min 289 stairs	30 min
Wednesday – Whole grain wrap with egg, egg whites, spinach, mushrooms, lactose free cheese – Apple – Protein bar – Ham – Popcorn – Dark chocolate chips	1800	1.5 hrs taking apart & moving furniture
Thursday – Blueberries and banana smoothie – Gluten free oatmeal with mixed berries, salad topper (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and cranberries) – Protein Bar – Apple – Whole grain wrap with mixed greens, mayo, left over turkey from Monday and goat cheese – Popcorn – Dark chocolate chips	1552	10 min arms by Madfit	18 min
Friday – Protein bar – Popcorn – Organic sweet potato fries with chipotle sauce – Organic tortilla chips with guacamole – Dark chocolate chips	1750
Saturday – Whole grain wrap with mushrooms, spinach, egg, egg whites, lactose free cheese – Apple – Protein bar – Popcorn – Organic spring mix with cucumber, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, chicken, goat’s cheese – Dark chocolate chips	1853	30 min BeachBody trial class
Sunday – Whole grain wrap with mushrooms, spinach, egg, egg whites, lactose free cheese – Protein bar – Apple – Banana – Two homemade pizzas with whole grain tortilla’s, grape tomatoes, spinach and goat’s cheese – Tall, no whip, half sweet decaf, oak milk pumpkin spice latte – Popcorn – Mini Kit Kat bar	1681	20 min of a MadFit video 42 min walk	12 min
WEIGHT LOSS – /GAIN +	+0.7 lbs	177.7 lbs
PREVIOUS WEEK		177.0 lbs
Total cal/lbs lost since Sep 25, 178.6 lbs:	–3,150 cal	-0.9 lbs

When the job goes bad, when a cherished project fails, when someone you count on leaves you or dies, there are few things as helpful as moving your muscles and doing something that demands focused attention.

Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk