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.