Oh, it's on now!!!

I am writing this with a smile on my face. I lost 3.2 pounds during my 7 day diet cycle. I am thoroughly pleased, because recently, my weight has shown a steady decline. This time around, I combined my 7 day diet plan with using livestrong.com's MyPlate calorie counter, and I exercised every day. MyPlate was what helped me lose 21 pounds the last time I had my "Okay, that's enough" moment, so I know it's something that works for me. By combining that with the 7 day diet plan, I was able to make sure I monitored how much I was eating so I'd know I was never starving myself. It also felt good to be back on a consistent workout routine. I feel healthier already!

I'm taking about a week off from doing the 7 day cycle, because from what I've read it's not good to do it back to back. However, I'm continuing the calorie counting. What I've learned about myself is that I need to monitor what I eat. I need to look at nutrition information and make diet decisions based on the information there. When I first stopped using MyPlate, I was towards the end of my time at Berklee, and the stress was getting to me. I had several major projects that I needed to complete, and I was feeling like I didn't have time to use MyPlate. I tried to eyeball what I was eating and guess at what combinations of foods would give me the proper nutrients and calories to help me continue to lose weight. That didn't really work. When I came home, I was no longer running my own kitchen. I was no longer buying my own groceries. I stopped eyeballing it all together, and started making food decisions based on cravings. This was the worst thing for me! But I know that if I do not use an actual tool to monitor my food, I will eat too little or too much, and I will eat the wrong combinations of food. MyPlate is something that works for me that I want to do long term.

That's pretty much it for now. I'm in a better place than I was after David's Bridal! I know progress is being made, and I'm still seeing it in my clothes and in how I'm feeling. I might post a quick blog when I'm starting my 7 days up again, but if not, I'll post again after the next cycle. I'm feeling pretty darn good about all of this!

-Jayme

p.s. my new scale rocks.

Here's the latest...

I'm gonna try to make this quick because I want to head down to the workout room before there's a thousand people occupying all of the machines. My new scale that I ordered online came in yesterday, roughly two weeks after I ordered it. (It came in an "Express" box, which I found hilarious considering how frickin long it took to get here.) Anyway, I'm taking baby steps with the weight loss thing. I don't want to say exactly what number I'm at, but I set a goal for myself the last time I did the diet cycle I'm on that I wanted to get under the 10 mark. (For example, if I weighed 163, my goal was to get under 160.) I reached that goal, and that's according to BOTH scales. I'm happy with that, and I'm ready to set the next goal. We'll see what happens. I'm back on day 1 of the 7 day cycle, and I'm ready to make even more progress. I went and tried on bridesmaid dresses yesterday, and while I maintained a positive attitude, the size that I fit into was a size bigger than the largest sizes I own at home. I wasn't terribly pleased about that, but I know this: the clothes I do have are fitting a little bit looser. The belt that I wear on a daily basis is almost too big. That's a huge motivator for me, because it's progress that I can grasp. Sometimes just looking in the mirror isn't good enough, because I can't always tell the difference unless I put on clothes and they don't fit, or I look at pictures and do side-by-side comparisons. Seeing a difference in my clothes is something I can grasp. So, I'm going to keep on truckin'. One thing I'll add, even though this diet is a 7 day cycle that you don't have to repeat back to back, I have made changes to my diet when I'm not on the cycle. I'm not completely vegetarian, but I eat a lot less meat. I eat a lot of things in much smaller portions and in moderation, like bread, cheese, and some of my other favorites. And I've increased my intake of fruits and vegetables a lot. I'm happy about all of that. I'm not looking back, either. I know that the way I was eating before was not doing me any favors. Okay, I'm rambling now, and I need to get changed for the gym. As always, a huge huge huge thanks to all of my friends and family who have written to me with personal stories and words of encouragement, etc. I appreciate all of you more than you know. OKAY BYE!!!

-Jaymers