Life

Current Mission: Lose Weight – Week 4 Check-in and Measurement Day

July 19, 2020

Today is measurement day!!

This completely makes it seem like I am excited about “measurement day” which I wasn’t really. I was more curious. I was nervous. I was also proud.

Proud that I had made it an entire month. No matter what the scale and tape measure showed, I had completed an entire month! Luckily I felt that way as I had no idea how important that would be.

How Did Week 4 Go on my Weight Loss Journey?

This week went really well for me. The planning I did last week made it so easy. I didn’t have to think about anything. All I had to do was read the plan and make the food. That kept me on track.

I also didn’t have any major blips so that kept me mentally motivated. I even found days that I was wondering if I should do a second workout because I had energy and wanted to move. Y’all. This is a big deal. I have never in my life craved a second workout in a single day. And I found myself wanting that twice this week. I didn’t do it lol. But I wanted it.

And then of course it got to measurement day and while I was nervous and curious what the actual numbers would be, I felt confident.

Looking back on the first month of this journey, I was confident and proud.

Nutrition This Week: 7 out of 7 days*

So, yes. My nutrition journey this week was all 7 out of 7 days. See last week’s post to learn what I meant by that. AND it includes an asterisk.

What do I mean by the asterisk? Well two weeks ago in this same section, I mentioned “the nibbles” and that I intended to stop nibbling. In complete transparency, I have done no such thing.

I did try. I really did. And I still do not mean the sarcastic “nibble”…. but I can’t help it. I sneak a nibble here and there. A handful of pistachios, a cracker or two. Once this week, I even snuck a truffle. Just one and it was a small one. And it was a delicious morsel that melted in my mouth, if I’m honest. But I don’t overdo it. I don’t do it all the time. And I don’t stick the bag in my lap and mindlessly eat. If I’m going to nibble, I want to be intentional about it and have complete awareness.

Even more important though, my weight loss milestone survived “the nibbles” and a Saturday night! If you read last week’s post, you know I wasn’t sure that it ever would. But it did, and I think I know why.

For those that haven’t read last week’s post, I have been struggling with Saturday nights. I’ve been saving my containers and not overeating, but I have been having a treat or two on Saturday nights and then Sunday, I’d wake up a pound (or even two!) heavier for my efforts.

I was beginning to wonder if I was doomed to never be able to have a glass of wine without “undoing” progress for a day or two while I got back on track.

NOT. THIS. SATURDAY. NIGHT.

This weekend, I was able to have a glass of wine, and “happy hour plate” and keep the pounds off come Sunday morning’s weigh-in and measurements. How? I really think it all boils down to timing.

The past two Saturdays, I have eaten dinner (with wine) at 9 pm. This Saturday, I decided to eat the same types of things but to do it at 6:30 pm (which is my normal dinner time).

I had what I call a “happy hour” plate. It’s essentially a cheese board without the cheese. So I had veggies (cucumbers, tomatoes, jicama, pickles) and meat (turkey slices, prosciutto) with Dijon mustard to dip them in. I then had a glass of Port. I woke up Saturday morning with zero increase in weight!

Fitness: 5 out of 5 days

I am really enjoying Barre Blend and look forward to getting out of bed to work out. And that’s saying a lot because I wake up between 5:15 am – 5:30 am to do this.

I have started taking the Beachbody pre-workout (Energize – Mixed Berry Flavor) and am really noticing a difference. I used to HATE the tingly feeling you’d get when taking a pre-workout. So I would take Advocare’s pre-workout (affiliate link) which gave me energy without the tingly feeling. That worked well so it was really just curiosity that led me to try Beachbody’s Energize.

Energize definitely gives you the tingles so if you don’t like that feeling, I recommend Advocare. What I’m finding right now though is I’m motivated to push even harder in my workout because I want to get rid of the tingles as quickly as possible lol.

So I plan to have both Energize and Advocare’s pre-workout in rotation.

Measurements and Your Weight Loss Journey:

This week is measurement week as I’ve said a couple of times throughout this post. Before I give you my results, I want to discuss the importance of measurements.

Measurements are so important, in my opinion. For your mental health really. The scale can bounce up and down (trust me, I know) and your photos can also be deceiving.

My photos that I took today, in my mind, don’t look much different than the ones I took a month ago. But my measurements tell a different story. The scale showed my late night wine on Saturday nights, but my measurements would have told a different story.

Take them. Take them at the start of your journey. And if you didn’t do it then, take them today. Trust me, you will be thankful you have them while you’re waiting for the scale and your photos to catch up to the story your measurements tell.

Now, for my results, and a funny story.

This morning, I was excited, nervous, and curious about what my measurements would show. I jumped out of bed, hit the scale (yes, I’m a daily weigher. Yes, I know people think that’s bad. But, it works for me.) and when the scale showed what I had hoped to see, I was super excited to take my measurements.

And then, I started recording them.

Chest measurement…. one inch gained. What? well that’s odd, but maybe I was wearing a sports bra the first time I measured.

Arm measurement….exactly the same. Bummer, but okay. It is what it is.

Waist measurement….one inch gained… wait, what now? There’s no way?

Hip measurement…one inch gained.

What is going on here? There’s no way! I’ve lost weight. I can SEE the difference in the mirror. I’m working out, so it’s not lean muscle loss, what on earth. I lay back down in bed and frantically googled “why would you lose weight but not inches?”

My boyfriend woke up and I commiserated with him about what might have happened. And even he said it was weird because he could see a difference. Then he said, all that matters is how you feel. Do you feel healthier?

Now… I am so thankful that he is as supportive as he is. But this time, “feeling” my way through this wasn’t going to cut it.

So I decided to go measure again – like that would change the numbers magically. I told myself, I’m going to be super accurate, go slow, make sure I’m exact, that I’m measuring myself in the proper placement, etc.

I got my tape measure (it was a new one, by the way) and I pulled it out nice and slow to wrap around my chest.

All of a sudden, I see this.

Every measurement I took started out almost 2 inches MORE than what it should be. Every. single. one.

Goodness. I laughed out loud for a good 30 seconds. I smiled with relief that I wasn’t actually crazy. And since we’re being honest, I teared up at the fact that I might actually have something to show for the past month of effort.

This isn’t exact because as you can see, it’s not exactly starting at “2” it’s really maybe “1.7” inches. But to make it easy, I subtracted 2 inches from each of my measurements and….. drum roll please…..I have lost a total of 6 inches!!

And I am off to by a new measuring tape today, of course.

Weekly Grade: 90 out of 100.

I did really well this week. Can I improve? Of course! Was I perfect? Of course not – hello “nibbles.” but I did freakin’ good this week and I’m proud of myself.

And I have the results to prove it.