Week 4: Weigh In (Down!) + Update

How has it already been one month!? These weeks are flying by!

As I suspected, last week I was holding some weight due to PMS and it’s highly likely my calorie intake was higher than my calorie output.

Click to Week 4 Food & Exercise Diary

After posting last week’s update, I found my FitBit and charged it to be ready to use Saturday in order to better see and track my cal in vs cal out. Below is a screen grab from my FitBit app, showing a graph for my calories in/calories out since Saturday:

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According to my FitBit app, when I subtract the actual number of calories in from calories out, the difference is 2,163 calories which is 0.6 lbs. However, due to my weight retention the previous week and start of this week, I actually lost more so this is a great reminder how these tools are simply guides, and not 100% accurate.

Even so, it’s still nice to have a visual reference that validates whether we’re on the right track to meet our goals or not.

Exercise & Activity

This week marked the longest number of days I didn’t practice Yoga since March of this year. The most days without yoga prior to this weekend was 2 consecutive days and to be honest, I could feel the difference by day 4.

Friday was non-stop putting furniture together and I was exhausted by the end of the day. Saturday I woke up with a mild cold however still kept doing things with the kids, around the house and shopping etc. Sunday was also an active day but on Monday I was just lazy and exhausted from how busy the weekend was. While furniture was being put together and things were out of order, I could feel my anxiety starting to surface. Since my attention was on furniture, the kitchen and living room got messy and when so many things are ‘messy’ around me, I feel messy inside!

By the time it was Tuesday, I was craving my yoga practice again to feel the calmness and connection within. It’s funny to me how beneficial the practice is for feeling better overall and yet I was so apprehensive about it for so long in the past.

I thought I was able to bypass getting the full cold I was starting to feel on the weekend but right after Yoga Tuesday night while going to sleep, I could feel the cold coming on strong. The yoga seemed to help move the energy out so Wednesday was a full day of sneezing, sniffles and grogginess.

Being busy with home projects and not feeling well, I did not meet my goal to exercise 3 x this week, but I’m starting to feel better today and hopefully will have the energy to get back to it next week.

Week 4 Food & Exercise Diary

DOWN! Today I’m down 1.4 lbs making my total weight loss to date 2.3 lbs or 8,050 calories. Might not seem like much over 4 weeks, but this is SUSTAINABLE weight loss since changes I’m making are being repeated over and over to become new habits and ultimately achieve long term success. Life is always going to be full of ups and downs.

WEEK 4 – FOOD & EXERCISE DIARY	CALORIES	EXERCISE	YOGA
	Average 1786/day
Monday – Home made banana and zucchini sugar free muffins – Apple – Protein bar – Cashew chicken stir fry with rice – Popcorn	1651
Tuesday – Home made banana and zucchini sugar free muffins – Protein bar – Apple – Leftover whole grain pizza with tomatoes, red onion, mushrooms and spinach – Popcorn	1379		18 min
Wednesday – Mushrooms, spinach, egg, egg whites and lactose free cheese – Banana – Protein bar – Roasted chicken leg with garlic sauce, ceaser salad, half a Naan bread – Popcorn	1761	Does sneezing 100 times count?!
Thursday – Organic plain greek yogurt, strawberries, banana, salad topper (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries) – Protein bar – Home made chicken fingers with organic chicken dipped in egg then whole wheat bread crumbs, cauliflower rice, ceaser salad, Naan bread – Apple – Mini halloween size Smarties	1333		25 min
Friday – Smoothie with kale, frozen berries, banana and organic plain greek yogurt – Protein Bar – Egg, egg white, spinach and lactose free cheese – Restaurant: Cheese filled burger with mayo, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, red onion and a side of fries (chose it guilt free!)	2382	Hours shopping + putting together furniture
Saturday – Protein bar – Apple – Sandwich with whole wheat bread, mayo, lactose free cheese, chicken – Sweet potato fries with chipotle sauce – Delivered pizza with whole grain crust, tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms – Popcorn	2470	Shopping + putting together furniture
Sunday – Egg, egg white, spinach and lactose free cheese – Leftover whole grain pizza – Protein bar – Organic chicken breast, broccoli, mini red potatoes pan fried with olive oil – Popcorn – Homemade banana and zucchini sugar free muffin	1527	19 min biking Shopping, chores
WEIGHT LOSS – /GAIN +	-1.4 lbs	176.3 lbs
PREVIOUS WEEK		177.7 lbs
Total cal/lbs lost since starting Sep 25 and 178.6 lbs:	–8,050 cal	-2.3 lbs

In order to know who we are – to have an identity – we must know (or at least feel that we know) what is and what was “real”. We must observe what we see around us and label it correctly; we must also be able to trust our memories and be able to tell them apart from our imagination. Losing the ability to make these distinctions is one sign of what psychoanalyst William Niederland called ‘soul murder’.

Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk