Weight: 192 lbs (up 1 pound)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

So here we are at the halfway point of my 20 Weeks/20 Pounds challenge. Currently, I weigh 192 pounds. Since I began at 207 pounds, this means that I’ve lost 15 of my 20 pounds, or five pounds over where I projected I’d be. Despite being two thirds of the way there, I’ve still got some hurdles to clear.

First of all, the last five pounds can be the most stubborn. I could easily hit a plateau now and not leave it until the challenge nears its conclusion. Secondly, Passover is coming up. With all the complications of life during Passover, I don’t need to add “counting points”, so I’m giving myself a Points-Free-Week then. This doesn’t mean I plan to engourge myself, but it also doesn’t mean I’m going to examine the box for calories/fat/fiber before I crunch into a piece of matzoh with cream cheese. With luck, I won’t gain too much during those eight days and I’ll still be able to complete the challenge.

Weight: 191 lbs (down 3.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.2 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Last week, we were dealing with JSL running a mysterious fever that we couldn’t keep down. Due to that, my normal routine of planning dinners ahead of time went out the window. Plus, we’re gearing up for Passover and that means buying less non-kosher-for-Passover food and trying to reduce the pantry stockpiles that we have. (What to do with assorted cans of beans, diced tomatoes and soup?) Even with all of that, though, I managed to drop 3.5 pounds. I’m now only four pounds away from my goal (total lost: 16 pounds) with just over half of my “Project New Me” time ahead of me. I’d say I’m doing quite well.

Weight: 194.5 lbs (up 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

I did very well this week until our little trip. You see, my nephew was born last Sunday which meant that this Sunday would be his bris. This meant driving to Buffalo, NY and the temptation of lots of good food. I would like to report that I sucessfully fended off all such temptation and stuck rigerously to my diet. I would like to report this, but I’d be lying. The truth is, I’m not so good when it comes to food-based temptations. I’ve gotten better over the years, but show me some bagels, cream cheese and good quality lox and my points-notebook gets tossed aside. Oh, and if there’s tasty rugelach and hamantashen to boot…. well, you get the point.

That said, I didn’t do too bad. I only gained a pound and a half. I’ve learned in the past that, when attempting to lose weight, you don’t confine yourself so strictly that you’re not allowed an indulgence or two. And, if your indulgences go beyond what you planned for, you don’t bury yourself in guilt. That will just lead to more eating and less weight loss. Instead, you accept what happened and try to learn from it. This might means taking steps to increase your willpower or putting yourself in willpower-comprimising situations less or simply planning in advance when you know such a situation is coming up. It is ok to fall off the wagon here and there so long as you immediately get back up, dust yourself off and jump right back on the wagon, gripping it tighter than before.

Weight: 193 lbs (down 4.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.8 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

On my first week back from Disney World, I didn’t expect much weight loss. I found myself hungry and snacking all too often as my body adjusted from “Eating Lots Of Wonderful Disney Food” back to “Eating My Normal Lighter Fare.” Still, I must have done a good job because my weigh-in showed a loss of 4.5 pounds. I’m now a mere 6 pounds to my goal!

Still, roadblocks still are in my way. The first roadblock will be this weekend. My new nephew was born last weekend and we’ll be attending the bris this coming weekend. (Weather and child health permitting.) At the bris, there will be a lot of good foods to eat. In addition, that whole weekend, we’ll likely be eating out which means higher calories.

The next roadblock comes in five weeks. At that point, we’ll have the eight day long matzoh-fest known as Passover. During Passover, foods that are normally allowed aren’t permitted. These include not just breads, rice and other grains, but corn, beans/legumes (including soy and peanuts), and a few others. You wind up subsisting on a lot of Matzoh which isn’t conducive to weight loss at all. I plan on treating Passover weight-loss like I treated Disney weight-loss. I will try to make healthy choices, but won’t sweat it at all. I’m definitely not going to try counting points at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few pounds packed on during Passover.

To mitigate Passover’s effect, I’m going to set a mini-goal of reaching 189 by the Sunday before Passover. This means losing 4 pounds in 5 weeks which is completely doable (especially considering that I’ve averaged 2 1/3 pounds per week so far). I also won’t count my goal as being achieved until Passover is over. (As I could hit 187 before Passover and then gain 5 pounds during Passover.)

Here’s hoping your #NewMe goals are going as well as mine are.

Weight: 197.5 lbs (up 0.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: N/A

Total Workout Time: N/A (though I walked a TON at Disney World)

Total Calories Burned: N/A (again, though, I walked a ton at Disney World)

As other posts of mine said, we spent the past week at Disney World. The food there is so good that I decided from the start that I wouldn’t count calories at all. I gave myself a week off from thinking about weight loss and freely ate cheesecakes, pizzas, ice cream, Tonga Toast* and other things that should have packed on the pounds. And yet, the scale only rose by the smallest of amounts (half a pound). Why? Well, when one sees Disney World, one walks. A lot! B had a pedometer on and I believe she said it was something in the order of 15,000 steps a day on average. Since 2,000 steps roughly equals a mile (this can vary based on stride length but let’s rely on this figure for the moment), this means we walked about 7.5 miles per day. No wonder my feet were so tired at the end of each day! Also, no wonder that I was able to burn off all of that fattening food. If you’re walking 7 or more miles every single day, you probably can eat whatever you want without packing on the pounds. Let’s call this the “Disney Diet.”

Of course, I couldn’t stay on the Disney Diet forever. For one thing, I need to earn money. Until I figure out a way to get Disney to pay me to wander around their parks riding rides, taking photos, and blogging about it all, I need to go to my 9-5 (ok, 8 – 4:30) job. Now, if anyone at Disney is willing to pay me my current salary to be a “professional Disney guest”, I’d be more than willing to take them up on the offer!

Getting back to my weight loss, I actually expected to gain up to 5 pounds so I’m in a very good position. I have 15 weeks to go and just over 10 pounds to lose. I’m not going to rest on my laurels** but I’m feeling pretty confident right now.

* To everyone who’s never heard of or tried Tonga Toast, boy are you missing a treat! It’s a thick piece of sourdough bread stuffed with bananas, dipped in a milk/egg/vanilla mixture, fried and topped with cinnamon and sugar. Not healthy by any stretch but oh-so-good. I plan on attempting a healthy version at one point.

** I was going to make a Laurel and Hardy gag here, but “resting on my hardy” just sounded too risque. Of course, now I’ve gone and made the gag anyway!

Weight: 197 lbs (down 0.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Yes! I did it! Yatta! (To non-Heroes fans, that’s what Hiro Nakamura shouts when he accomplishes something.) Although I didn’t exercise at all this week, I was able to lose half a pound by watching what I ate. This might not seem like much, but every little bit helps. In this case, this little bit helped me hit my first goal. And just in time for Disney World, too! I’m writing this early, so by the time you read this, I should be getting plenty of exercise walking around Disney World! I fully expect my next weigh-in to have a weight increase though due to Disney’s great food.

Weight: 196 lbs (down 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.5 hours

Total Workout Time: 41:36

Total Calories Burned: 299.5

Well, I did it. I was shooting for losing 10 pounds before I went to Disney World and as of this weigh-in, I’ve lost 11 pounds. Goal #1 achieved! Now, I just need to keep the weight off until I head for Disney.

The sleep average is a bit misleading. On Friday night, I was up a few times during the night with NHL. That, combined with a sleep deficit during the week consired to make me exhausted. B was nice enough to let me sleep in. I wound up getting 10 hours of sleep that night. Except for that night, I’ve still been unable to get a good night’s sleep. And, as you can see, I’ve also had trouble keeping up with my exercise regimine. I’d like to use the excuse of preparing for the Disney World trip, and that is partly the case, but the problem is just life. I get home, get everyone fed, get the kids in bed and suddenly there is too much to do and too little time. I plan to keep working on this and not get discouraged.

For now, I’ll take the victory of being 11 pounds down. Only 9 pounds to go and 16 more weeks. This is definitely doable.

Weight: 197.5 lbs (down 4 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 80:36

Total Calories Burned: 531.9

This week I didn’t exercise as much as I wanted to. Various things (mostly my Disney World Photo Book) got in the way. Still, the 80 minutes and change that I did work out must have had an effect as I lost 4 pounds. My plateau is busted! This takes me to within half of a pound of my pre-Disney goal of 10 pounds and nearly 50% of the way to my ending goal (20 pounds).

Part of losing weight/getting healthy is recognizing when something isn’t working and changing it to maximize the effect. Last week, I pledged to work out half an hour per night. During the week, however, I only found time to work out 2 nights. Now, I could either keep the “half hour every night” pledge as-is and feel guilty about all of those missed workouts (thus perhaps making me want to skip them more so I don’t need to think about them). Or, I could recognise that it’s just not working and change it. Given that I don’t think that half hour per night goal is feasible, I’m going to modify it to 30 minutes per night, 3 nights per week. This should be easier to hit.

I still remain a night owl, staying up way past when I should. I know I need to work on this, but I seem to get a second wind at 9pm that lasts until midnight. It’s hard to go to bed when all the other things I have to do and want to do beckon. Perhaps I need to prioritize more.

Weight: 201.5 lbs (up half a pound)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 hours

Total Workout Time: 45 minutes

I pretty much expected this to happen after my incredible first week. I’ve plateaued. Despite eating well the entire week, I actually gained a hhalf a pound. This isn’t going to discourage me, though. Going up and down is part of the whole weight loss process. You just need to make sure that the general direction is down. Given that I’m still 5 1/2 pounds lighter than when I started, I’d say I’m still ahead of the game.

I did work out one day with B using Leslie Sansone but then couldn’t get up the motivation to work out anymore. Finding time to work out after working for 8 hours, making dinner, cleaning up from dinner and getting the kids into bed is a challenge. I’m going to set a mini-goal for myself to work out for a half hour every night this week (perhaps exempting Friday night since Shabbat starts so quickly in January). After all, if I only reduce my caloric intake, my body will react by slowing down its metabolism. Exercising will help increase my metabolism. After all, Weight Gained Or Lost = Calories Eaten – Caloried Burned.

As far as sleep goes, I still can’t get the hang of early bedtimes. I suspect this is going to continue to be a concern. There are only so many hours in the day. NHL usually goes to sleep at around 7:30pm and JSL snuggles with B to go to sleep at around 8:30pm. Since I need to wake up at 6 – 6:30am, I should get to sleep by 10:30pm. So, once B takes JSL into bed, I only have 2 hours to clean up from dinner, do whatever I need to do on the computer, work out (and shower as I’m not going to head to bed all sweaty), and watch what few TV shows I follow. There never seems to be enough time to do it all. At the very least, I need to organize my time better.

Weight: 201 lbs (down 6 lbs)

Average Hours of Sleep: 7.14 hours

Total Workout Time: 0 minutes

This first week of Project New Me has brought about many upheavals. First of all, simply needing to track my points again was something to get used to. I couldn’t just toss a ton of snacks in my lunch bag and eat as many of them as I felt I needed during the day. I had to think more about what was going in my mouth. This is a good thing. When you mindlessly shove food into your mouth, you forget about the calories you’re ingesting and you are more likely to gain weight. Read more of this article »