Biggest Loser: Week 1

Week 1 of our Family Biggest Loser Competition is under our belts! I have to admit, week 1 seemed looooong. At the start of the week I was quite sure I just may starve for the next couple months. Everything in our pantry seemed evil. I have never actually dieted before (and really, I like to think of our "diet" as a healthier eating lifestyle change but "diet" is easier to type) and the healthiest I probably have ever been was while I was pregnant when I was so conscious of the good and bad I was putting in my body. That's a mentality I should alwasy have. Michael has helped me realize that just a few small changes can go a long way, and here are a few things I am hoping to accomplish and change to our new normal:



1. Calorie counts. With the help of an app called My Fitness Pal (there's also one called Lose It) I have been tracking my caloric intake daily. I set my daily calorie goal at 1500 which seemed to be a reasonable base for me to lose a few pounds but also be able to maintain beyond that. On most days I come in under that goal. I also log my workouts there and it has also made it clear to me that I sure don't burn as many calories running as I thought. Total Bummer! Naively I used to use the excuse that I could eat loads of yummy crap just because I had worked out. Turns out a 3-mile run doesn't burn a whole lot more calories than a large soda. Perspective.

2. Portion Control. I've always known that I eat too much, and fortunately counting my calories has made me more conscious of my portion sizes. I hope that these new portion sizes will become my new norm.

3. Substitutions. There are obvious substitutions, such as switching to low fat mayo or whole wheat pasta, but I know there are a lot of other easy swap-outs that won't affect taste but will trim some fat and calories from our meals. (However, our switch to Skim milk may be short-lived... is yummier 1% that much worse?) I also want to start trying some leaner recipes to learn some other substitutions, such as evaporated milk for cream and ground turkey for ground beef.  These are things we can learn now that we can implement forever.

4. Routine exercise. I heard a great quote this week. When a famous writer was asked if he loved to write, he responded with, "No. But I love having written." Isn't that the case with so many things? I don't really enjoy working out, but I love having worked out. This week I set my alarm and managed two workouts before work, arriving at the gym by 6AM. I have to admit, I rather enjoyed getting there, getting my miles in on the treadmill, and then still have some leisure time to lift weights and take a shower without missing any awake time with my little man. Since I have a bad tendency to not exercise unless I have a race on my calendar (or a Biggest Loser Competition), I'm really hoping these 10 weeks will ingrain in me that habit of morning workouts, regardless of what's on my race calendar. Literally, the hardest part if just getting out of the bed, and if I can overcome that regularly, then I'm set.

5. The Sack Lunch. Too often I try to accomplish a whole lot on my short lunch break that I end up grabbing something on the go. Or I'm just too lazy to prep something healthy. While I know that burgers and fries are bad and sandwiches are better, paying attention to the calories at restaurants has been eye-opening! Even my beloved Jimmy John's sub with sprouts, cucumber and avocado has -- wait for it -- over 700 calories! {Mr. Jimmy John, if you're reading this, I would LOVE for your company to develop a smaller, say, 4" sub. Eight inch subs? Really?} It's no wonder this country is overweight! And it's not to say that I can't eat one of these sandwiches ever or even a quarter pounder with cheese. I'm just learning that it's all relative to my overall diet and exercise.


Yes, eating isn't as joyful as it used to be, at least for right now, but eventually as my new normal becomes habit, it won't be as hard to decide what's for lunch.

So, how did I do for week 1? Off to a great start: 4 pounds lighter (2.72% loss).

On to Week 2!