Category: Project New Me

Weight: 188 lbs (up 1 pound)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.2 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

This past week brought an unexpected challenge: The Jewish Holiday of Shavuot. I forgot that during the holiday I wouldn’t be able to write down my points. Usually on Saturdays (when I also can’t write), I just keep track in my head. That works fine for 1 day, but 2 days is too much. I’m quite sure that I would up eating too many points on those days which hindered my ability to shed pounds gained from JSL’s birthday party. Still, I only gained a single pound which isn’t too bad.

With this weigh-in, I bring my 20 Pounds in 20 Weeks challenge to a close. While I didn’t end at or under my goal, I’m not going to count that as losing the challenge. First of all, it’s just one pound. I lost 19 pounds over the past 20 weeks. I can’t see calling those 19 lost pounds a “loss” because one additional pound didn’t drop off. Secondly, I actually hit my goal weight twice. And lastly, well, it is my challenge against myself so why *can’t* I declare myself a victor? 😉

Next week, I’ll look back over my weigh in and sleep figures and that will be my last Project New Me post.

Weight: 187 lbs (down 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 5.4 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Yesterday’s weigh in brought a pleasent surprise. I was at my goal weight. This was a surprise because my parents were in town for JSL’s party and I had eaten some less-than-perfect-for-me foods while we went out to eat. I don’t think I overdid it, but those foods could have easily packed on an extra pound. Instead, my metabolism seems to be able to withstand a day or so of overeating. (I overdid it at JSL’s party yesterday also and did an unofficial weigh in this morning to find myself at 187.5 pounds.) Of course, eating like that continually will lead to trouble, in the form of packed on pounds, but it is nice to know that my body is at the point where I don’t need to worry about the occassional stray into fattening foods.

Weight: 188.5 lbs (up 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 5.4 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

As expected, I inched a bit above my goal weight this week. I’m not too worried about this. It’s not that high above. One and a half pounds in 2 weeks is completely doable – even if birthday parties for JSL might mess me up a bit. My big problem recently has been sleep. I tend to get very tired around 7pm. Unfortunately, I can’t just go to sleep. I need to help get the kids ready for and into bed. Once this is done, I get a second wind which lasts until about 11pm – 1am (depending on the day). Then my energy levels crash and I drag myself into bed, completely exhausted. Of course, by the time I do this, I don’t get enough sleep during the night and I’m tired the next day. Until it is time to go to sleep, though, at which time my second wind kicks in again. Wash, rinse, repeat. I’ve got to start learning to ignore that second wind (at least most nights) and go to sleep at a reasonable time.

As my Project New Me winds to a close, I’m also thinking of going over the data I collected during the 20 weeks it ran. Obviously, I rarely exercised, so that’s pretty useless. (I only keep those “Workout Time/Calories Burned” lines in there because I copy/paste from the previous week’s post to get the new one started. Total inertia.) However, it might be interesting to see whether my weight fluctuations were tied in any way to my sleep patterns.

Weight: 187 lbs (down 5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.3 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Last week, upon weighing in, I was surprised to find a 2 pound gain. This time, I was very surprised to find a five pound loss. And not only did I lose five pounds, but I hit my goal. I was actually twenty pounds lighter than when I started and 3 weeks early to boot.

Does this mean my 20 week challenge is over? Not at all. I’m going to continue on for the next three weeks with the goal of staying at my goal weight. I don’t want to go off my diet, step on the scale in three weeks’ time, and see ten extra pounds packed on. So while I’ve achieved my goal and will pat myself on the back appropriately, I also am not letting up. Here’s hoping that, three weeks from now, I’ll be posting a title of “GOOOOAAAALLLL (Still met)”.

Weight: 192 lbs (up 2 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 5.9 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

This week’s weigh-in was a mystery to me.  I followed the diet closely and didn’t go over my allotted points.  In fact, most days I left many points unused.  And yet I still gained two pounds.  The key here is to just accept that these fluctuations happen and to look at the bigger picture.  I’m still down 15 pounds from when I started and am a mere 5 pounds away.  5 pounds in 4 weeks is completely doable.