Stepping Up My Game

January 29th, 2008 · No Comments

Well, I’m still working on regaining control after last week’s debacle (seven straight days on a food bender). I weighed myself this morning and discovered I’m up a good two pounds as a result of last week’s disaster (It’s got to be at least partially extra water weight, right? Could I have really consumed an extra 7,000 calories (one pound equals 3,500 calories) in just seven days?) Regardless, I hope to shed that, and a pound or two extra, by my “official” weigh-in day on Friday – i.e., three days from now!!!

But if there is one positive to come out of last week, it’s the realization that I need to step up my game if I want to reach my 40 lbs. weight-loss goal by summer.

Since Jan. 1, I’ve managed to lose about one pound a week (I had been down 6 pounds, but I had to subtract two pounds from that because of last week’s gain, so the total net loss to date is now about 4 lbs. over four weeks) I had really hoped I’d be down at least 10 lbs by now.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m very happy that I lost ANYTHING at all. But…. Let’s face it, everyone wants to lose weight quickly – including me. (Plus, I have to fit into that damn bridesmaid dress in August, so I was really hoping to have reached my goal by then so I don’t humiliate myself in blue taffeta)

Now, I’ve gone the crazy crash-diet route before, and I will NEVER subject myself to that kind of torture again. However, I do need to push myself a little harder from now on if I want to stick to my summer goal. No more “cheat days”, no more “let’s just pretend like this week never happened”, no more “I’ll start fresh tomorrow”. No more excuses.

1) The first thing I need to do is start working out more. My new goal is to work out two hours a day. Yes, this is a lot, and certainly I cannot keep up this pace forever. But right now -considering I’m in grad school and not working- I definitely have the extra time to commit to it. I should really take advantage of this opportunity.

2) I also need to cut calories – big time. Apart from last week, I had kept my daily caloric intake to 1600-2000 calories a day. Clearly, this many calories just isn’t working for me if I want to lose 2-3 lbs. a week. If I want to lose that much weight per week, I really need to stick to 1200 – 1400 calories a day.

Well, now that I’ve revamped my game plan, I guess I should go start my 2 hour cardio session.

Bookmark It