Watch it Go

I haven't updated in a while, but I am home sick (yes, again!) and thought this would be a good time to catch up.


In the last few weeks I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself about losing weight. I didn't make much progress in March, due to a lot of stress at work. But I've lost 6 lbs already this month and only through healthy means. It seems pretty obvious, but the crash diets and shortcuts don't work for me. I need to use a consistent method and stick to it. I've lost 14 lbs since the beginning of the year. I'd hoped to lose 20 by the end of this month, but am giving myself a bit of a reprieve because of March. My new target was 15, but I've already lost 14, so I'll be happy with anything more :)

In terms of the gym, I found that doing a fat burn mode on the eliptical where I use it for longer, on a higher resistance, but go slower, hurts my knee less and gives me a better overall workout. I had been planning to sign up with a personal trainer when I got back from India, but tried a group class on Saturday and loved it! I'm going to try to integrate at least 1-2 classes per week into my workout schedule. I'm actually starting to look forward to my workouts!

I've also joined a site called SparkPeople to help me in the process. It gives me recipes, workout tips, provides an online community, and has an iPhone app to track my food and calories burned. It's shown me that, as my personal trainer used to tell me last winter, I don't get enough calories in a day. It's counterintuitive, but I need to eat more to lose weight. I've still been eating small meals throughout the day, but trying to eat a little more often. It's also just a very positive site with a community of people that are going through the same struggles. So I get emails with healthy vegetarian recipes, easy exercises, motivational emails, and just general positive vibes!

My clothes are much looser, but not too big yet. Clothes that didn't fit before comfortably do now. So yay!