First week loss

So it's been a good week. You usually do well in your first week because you're motivated, you lose water, and your system gets a bit of a shock. Despite going to a wedding, I followed my meal plan and did most of the exercise I planned to do.

Some of the challenges of the week were:

• I didn't cycle to work on Monday because it was pouring rain
• I didn't get to kayak on Wednesday night because I wasn't able to borrow a kayak
• They served my favourite dessert at the wedding - pavlova
• I had less than seven hours sleep several nights, when I'm an 8.5 hour girl.

I was really proud of how I handled the wedding. Fortunately it was a daytime wedding, and we had cold cuts and salads for lunch, which meant I had no difficult decisions to make. We were given dessert, but I managed to just eat half the pavlova, and none of the cream, and gave the rest to my weightily blessed boyfriend. I only had two glasses of wine the whole day! Because I'd eaten so well all week, I knew that the wine and pavlova wouldn't have a huge impact. The secret is balance. If you know you're going to have a day where you might eat or drink more than your usual daily allowance, you just eat a little less on the other days. Of course you can't eat like you're not watching your weight, but you can allow yourself a few little treats.

I really need to make sure I sleep well. I know that when I'm tired I snack more. I managed to control it this week by drinking diet cokes but that's not particularly good for my teeth, so it's not a sustainable way to live. Just have to sleep more!

I made up for missing a couple of my normal exercise sessions by taking a long walk on Sunday. One thing I did notice with all this exercise was that I was a bit hungry. I haven't been allowing extra kilojoules for the exercise, and while this may mean I lose weight faster, it also increases the risk of me eating something I hadn't planned to eat. Next week I'm going to make sure I eat a bit more.

 

When you're losing weight, it's always a good idea to track your measurements, especially if you're starting to exercise more. Some people gain muscle weight quite quickly, which can disguise weight loss. Gaining muscle weight is a good thing - muscle burns off more kilojoules than fat! I'm happy with my small improvements this week, and already notice it in one or two pieces of clothing.

I'm going camping next weekend, with lots of physical activity planned - walking, caving, swimming etc. Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track...