First Weigh In for my Weight Loss Challenge

This past week, I have made a lot of changes in my lifestyle as part of a weight loss challenge that I joined. I have to lose weight, and challenges and groups like this are a really huge help for me.

I have cut way back on my beverage of choice, which is diet cola. I have cut most of the stuff out of my coffee and am drinking it black most of the time, and the rest of the time, I am drinking water. I am trying to WAY up my water intake.

We got a treadmill for free last week and I have used that almost every day, some days twice (I do about 20 minutes at a time, on days that I do it twice, the first time, I put it at a slight incline, do a fast walk for five minutes, jog for three and then cool down with a slower walk at the end and then the second time I do a quick walk with a full incline. On days that I only do it once, I switch between the two. I am hoping to gain strength and stamina over time, but right now, I only want to push myself so hard.

I have also cut WAY back on calories. I still cook my family normal meals, and then construct my own meals out of the lower calorie, higher protein options in the meal (like for example, the other day, I prepared salisbury steak, mac and cheese and broccoli. I ate half a steak and a ton of broccoli and skipped the mac and cheese altogether.) and cut my portion sizes down.

Last night was kind of a strange night, as far as our schedule went, so we ended up having a late dinner and my husband wanted pizza. So we ordered pizza. I went with the best option I could, with a thin crust (less crust HAS to mean less calories, right?) with light cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and jalapenos. I ate slightly more than I wish I had, but this is a work in progress, and in addition to eating RIGHT, eating LESS is also something that I need to teach myself to do. I am definitely working on it.

Yesterday morning was my weigh in day, and I am excited to announce that at weigh in time, I was 4.2 pounds down. I am actually hoping for an even better week this week (though I'll admit I didn't start out as well as I had hoped I would, but I am trying REALLY hard not to beat myself up over this.)

Today, I will be writing two reviews for two products that I have used, I will be posting some reviews throughout the day. I have others that I will be doing as well, but these two are related, I have one for a pretty great scale, and one for the pants that I use when I work out! In case you were wondering, I also have two wall decal companies and a costume to review! I will be bringing back the Christmas Season a little bit with my review of a Santa Clause Costume Review!

Thanks for reading! For those of you who are losing weight along side me, let me know how you're doing! What are your successes and failures? Any tips and tricks that you're using?