Warning: Post contains lots of boring diet lifestyle change ramblings. It’s either that or I start writing about how far behind I am in school again. Trust me, the diet/exercise stuff is probably more interesting.

For the first 10 days I wrote down everything I ate and when, but didn’t include calorie counts with the food listing. About 10 days ago I started adding the calorie counts as well. Boy was I unpleasantly surprised ;(

Successes: For the last week I’ve walked up all the stairs I encounter on the way to work (5 sets). Especially when I didn’t want to. I’ve also gotten into a routine where I take the round about way to/from the little girls room at work, which means I get to walk up and down yet more stairs.

A month ago I couldn’t walk more than 15 minutes before I started wanting to find a comfy chair and curl up with a book. Now, I’m walking 45-60 minutes a day on a treadmill (started at 2.0 mph, now at 2.5 mph 1% incline) everyday – whether I feel like it or not. Other than these two items, I’m still pretty sedentary for the bulk of my day; lots of time spent sitting on my kiester reading & typing due to office work and school.

I know these are small successes. I lost about 6 lbs in the first week and have lost another 6 in the last 10 days. Mostly water weight I’d guess. However, I need to celebrate my small successes in order to stay motivated to continue.

On the bright side, I need to wear a belt with some of my pants to keep them from falling down. I may not be losing a tonne of weight but I’m definitely losing some inches!

Challenges: Hitting my minimum calorie mark!

I’m shooting for 1400-1600 calories a day but have really struggled to get my calories over the 1000 mark and to (at minimum) 1200. I know it’s not healthy to eat less than 1200 calories a day so I need to find ways to make better choices when I plan my meals. I hope to hit the mark with more frequency in February.

Some days it feels like I’m doing nothing but eating and I’m still short of the minimum calories. I eat 3 small meals and at least 2 snacks a day. Sometimes I splurge and have three snacks. I haven’t been hungry in weeks. Hopefully that’s a good sign.

I was never much of an eater. I’d frequently skip meals and even go days without eating. I know, how can one get to be as overweight as I am if I didn’t eat much? Well, when I was eating, it would be the wrong things and I did drink a lot of empty calories in pop and juice every day. I’ve cut out pop and most sugary fruit drinks from my diet completely as of 3 weeks ago and am having difficulties finding ways to replace the calories. I do feel more alert and less sluggish now.

While my blood sugars are normal, I do have a family history of diabetes so I’m trying to keep both my sugars and carbs down based on a recommendation from my doctor. This makes it harder to eat “junk type” snacks like granola bars to up my calorie counts. Or even lots of fruits and fruit juices. My sugar goal is no more than 22 grams a day and the carbs goal is to stay under 160 grams each day. I’m more successful at meeting the refined sugar goal than the carb goal at the moment.

I’m allergic to peanuts which means what few tree nuts I eat I have to get in their shells and crack them myself. It’s a lot of work both avoiding peanuts and peanut related products and finding quick and easy sources of protein. I also have some problems with digesting dairy products, wheat and eggs. I really have to limit how much of these items I consume or else my body rebels. Thankfully, I can eat egg beaters (egg whites/egg substitutes) with no repercussions.

Lessons Learned in January: It’s all about taking baby steps.

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