Check In/ Twenty Days Since My New Start

Twenty days since I started counting calories again. Since I don't have access to a scale I've been trying the clothes that I know have fit me tightly lately to see the changes and guess what; they fit!

Now I still have a slight muffin top on the pants but that's better than the giant gut that was going on just a month ago.

I'm hoping that the food intake (and the amazing food at the vegetarian/organic food dinning hall I'm being spoiled with) is helping me to get my health back.

Here's the calorie count for the last 19 or so days with my calorie range being between 1450 and 1550 calories/day:

6/3: 2438 calories
6/4: 2530 calories
6/5: 2230 calories
6/6: 2391 calories
6/7: 2590 calories
6/8: 1496 calories
6/9: 2109 calories
6/10: 2113 calories
6/11: 1592 calories
6/12: 1625 calories
6/13: 1434 calories
6/14: 1217 calories
6/15: 1542 calories
6/16: 1557 calories
6/17: 1589 calories
6/18: 1580 calories
6/19: 1916 calories
6/20: 1565 calories
6/21: 1666 calories
6/22: 1362 calories

I've been checking out the pattern of my food in take to see how I'm doing. The first week I just ate normally but consciously and I saw that indeed I had been going back to eating more than 2000 calories a day "Well, no wonder nothing's happening." From there I started trying to be more responsible about my food and besides a couple of hiccups in the beginning I've mainly been able to stay in the 1500 calorie range. In the last few days I've been trying to focus more on staying closer to 1400 calories and again I'm finding it to be a bit of a challenge. But that's nothing that time and practice can't fix.

Apart from that I've been happy to report that I've been walking every night. Now it's not the same as running but it's rewarding. I'm back to "go a little farther every day" plan and I must say it really is the best method for me to keep going without getting bored. I've been walking the main road from the last hill at camp back to the main road. I started with the perimeters of camps but now I've not only reached the main road but started walking a long it too. It's pretty nice to see how far I've come in a week or two.

Also (and this is my most exciting one) I've been true to my promise to myself of doing push ups and crunches every night. I started with 10 push ups a night. After about a week of 10 push ups I decided to start my "go a little farther" routine and started doing one extra push up a night. So the next night I did 11, then 12, then 13 etc.
Last night I was able to do 24 push ups no sweat. It felt AMAZING.

Impatiently waiting for the time to pass.

I bought my pilates video and the initial weight loss work out has a lot of breathing and stretching. It's more yoga than pilates in my opinion and although I know that breathing routines and stretching are important parts of any routine I've been a little disappointed that I'm not really working up as much of a sweat as I want. So I've decided to move on to the next video that's more of a challenge. I'll let you know how much that video kicks my butt... and hopefully tones it too!

Wait, is this thing even working??

For now all is well. I feel better when I wake up in the morning and I don't feel as hungry at night. My internal freak out and self-hate sessions have subsided and I've found that I got a second wind and I'm more excited about work now; which is a relief because I was really out of it in the beginning. Sigh* I can do this but I have to keep reminding myself that it will take time. Time. Time. Time.

That's all for now. Next week will be the big week when the camp finally opens. Which means the students finally get to experience camp which is awesome. But this also means that camp is open and there are going to be kids everywhere. I hope that my night walks and other activities will continue when the camp is in session.
Here's hoping all will go well.

Have a great week everyone!

love
-w0rld