Starting Weight: 225.8 lbs
Caloric Intake Required to Maintain This Weight: ~3058 calories
Actual Calories Consumed Today: ~1953 (my max. ceiling was between 2000 & 2200)
Amount of Exercise Performed Today: 30 min / elliptical to burn 431 calories
Net Required Calories: -1536 calories (1 lb = 3500 calories)
Day #1 is a success!!!
So needless to say, I’m very proud of myself today because I really didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but somehow I did – not only did I get up and exercise first thing in the morning before work, but I also stuck to a strict (at least for me!) diet all day long, counting the calories and turning down some very good looking donuts at the office! I know this probably doesn’t sound like much, but anyone who’s ever started a new plan knows that it really is a big deal. This is my first step towards finally losing this extra weight and returning to a level of health that I haven’t seen since I worked at the warehouse…
A couple things to note:
- As much as the exercise itself sucked, I couldn’t believe just how much more awake I felt at work this morning, despite only having gotten a few hours of sleep. I used to exercise every now and then before work earlier this year, but I never felt this good before. Kinda weird, but definitely a good thing!
- I was very happy to learn that ultimately, my diet isn’t going to kill me and I don’t have to entirely give up any of my favorite foods. Portions have never really gotten along with me because I love to snack and it isn’t hard for me to go through half a bag of chips in a single night … hence how I got so overweight, I suppose! But now I see that more or less, as long as I can keep my calories where they need to be, there’s really no reason why I can’t have a few sweets here and there and still lose the weight. Mind you, I’ve still got some tweaking to do because my sodium was absolutely ridiculous and that’s the one thing I really need to watch with my blood pressure, but in my defense, this is only day one and it’s really the first time that I’ve ever figured out just exactly how much of anything I’m taking in.
- And along the lines of not giving up my faves, while there truly are no substitutes for Oreos and fudge and those giant peanut butter cups from Disney World, I am making it my goal now to come up with some other alternate menus of things that I’d like to enjoy more often, but really shouldn’t at real world caloric values. First up is pizza because I’ve yet to see a single slice of delivery or frozen that’s under 300 calories and most are a lot more – this is a problem because there’s no way that I can stop at just one slice, so I need to see what I can do to clean that up a bit, at least as far as the homemade variety is concerned.
It’s going to be a long and arduous road, that I’m sure, but after years upon years of either doing things half-assed or simply putting them off altogether, at least now I’m finally taking a stand! I’m absolutely starving, but at least I’m taking a stand… 🙂