I made a resolution this past New Year’s Day to lose ten pounds. Ten pounds is all that stands between me and what I weighed before I had kids. I’ve made this same resolution before and have never been able to keep it, but this year I hoped I had found new tools to make my goal possible.
The tools in question are my new iPad and the LiveStrong calorie counter app I installed on it. Since Christmas Day, when I got the iPad and installed LiveStrong on it, I’ve been pretty consistant about tracking how much I eat and how many calories I burn through exercise. The LiveStrong app allows me to tell it how much weight I want to lose each week and then calculates a daily calorie goal to help me drop the pounds. I discovered pretty quickly that if I burned a certain amount of calories each day, I could eat more, so I set a personal goal of 500 calories a day burned through exercise to allow myself to enjoy a few luxuries like a cup of hot tea, a piece of chocolate or an extra muffin or bagel for a snack.
Well, what do you know? It looks like I’m actually losing the weight. Since Christmas day, I am down 7 pounds. I’m hoping by the end of March, I’ll be able to say I’ve lost all 10 pounds and I’m keeping them off for good. I’m giving myself an extra month to say that because I know my weight tends to fluctuate with my cycle and because I know I’ve got some very stressful weeks coming up, which will affect how much I eat and how much I exercise. I’m trying to stay in control of that, but sometimes I do break down and treat myself to a bowl of ice cream when I’m having really crappy day.
Exercise-wise, I’ve been using the Hubster’s elliptical machine, going to karate class, swimming and doing water aerobics. Plus I’ve worked to throw in extra exercise sessions on the Wii, mainly with EA Sports Active 2 and Walk It Out! Walk It Out is a particular favorite right now because it’s low key exercise that lets me blow of some stress without exhausting myself. With all the stress I’m dealing with right now, that’s kind of important.
So anyway, that’s the update on my weight and fitness goals. I’m going to squeeze in a little exercise now and I’ll let you know next week if I manage to drop another pound.
