New Diet Plan and More Weight Loss Pictures

I updated the progress page yesterday and all it did was make me realize how awful I've been at keeping up with SparkPeople.

That, combined with actually getting on Wii Fit today - mostly so I could weigh the cat, but also to weigh myself and see my progress - gave me the kick in the ass I needed to actually start caring enough to track what I eat and keep track of my calories burned from exercise.

I'm going to make reaching my next goal more of a slow and steady journey, rather than a "OMG, I'm practically plateauing at this point and need to get in gear and lose 5 lbs in two weeks!!!" journey.

Hopefully I won't get as burnt out or discouraged this way and it should help to make this weight loss lasting so that I'll be less likely to gain it all back with a couple of bad binge nights - which I am prone to have, haha.

My weight is currently hovering between 117 lbs and 118 lbs, which is a huge improvement over the 140 lbs I was just 5  months ago, but it's still not my goal weight of 110 lbs. And I still haven't reached 115 lbs yet, which I had hoped to get down to before the move to Florida, but things don't always work out like you plan.

My plan is this:

     1.   Go from 118 lbs to 110 lbs by October 20, 2011 - a weight loss of 1 lb/week

In order to lose one pound of fat, you have to burn/create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories. I plan on creating this 3,500 calorie deficit through a combination of diet and exercise - 1,750 through cutting calories and 1,750 through exercise per week.

2.  My current Basal Metabolic Rate - the amount of calories I burn through living - is 1,650

This means that in order to keep with the 1,750 calorie deficit/week through diet, I need to cut 250 calories per day. That leaves me with a maximum of 1,400 calories to eat during the day, depending on how much I exercise.

3.  Exercise for at least 30 minutes/day 6 days a week

I could exercise every day and only have to burn 250 calories/day, but realistically I know that I won't exercise every single day. If I work out 6 days a week, then I only have to burn 290 calories/day, which is still very doable and I won't have to kill myself at the gym each day in order to achieve that. If I keep the amount that I have to work out each day manageable, then I'll be much more likely to exercise.

So that's the plan!

Lose 8 lbs in 8 weeks, eat 1,400 calories or less per day, and burn 290 calories through exercise 6 days per week.

If I can stick with this then hopefully I'll break this plateau and get down to my goal weight before Halloween, because, let's be honest, who doesn't have a secret goal of getting a totally hot body by Halloween so that they can wear some whore costume and have everyone else become jealous bitches?

In keeping with the new diet/exercise plan of complete and utter awesomeness, I've got more weight loss pictures!

I like taking weight loss pictures at certain intervals to keep myself motivated and it helps to actually see the weight loss.

Hopefully in October I'll have even more weight loss pictures to post, haha.

This is also, HEY LOOK, I got new gym shorts!

The boyfriend has so lovingly cruelly nicknamed them "the whore shorts."

I, personally, love them. And think that they are cute. And think that they make my legs and bum look good. 

Though they are very, ahem, figure hugging.... Okay, they're skin-tight whore shorts, but whatever, they're cute.

And I'm a big wuss and will probably never wear them in public, haha.

I'm too self-conscious about them riding up my ass while I'm on the treadmill and having my cheeks hang out for all to see to wear them to the gym just yet anyways.

In other clothing news, the first of the packages for today arrived this morning.

Yay, Banana Republic!

Unfortunately, or fortunately - depending how you look at it, the two dresses and the cigarette pants did not fit. Much too large and they were all size 6!

I now have to find a Banana Republic nearby and get exchanges done and hope that they haven't run out of the Mad Men collection. Sighhh.

But, on the bright side, I suppose this means that I'm now a size 4! Which is crazy, I haven't been a size 4 in ages. I bought a dress for a wedding I was in a year ago and it was a size 8 and fit me quite well just a few months ago, so suddenly being a size 4 is a strange experience for me. I'm so used to online shopping but I honestly had no idea what size I was when I was buying clothes, haha. Russian Roulette of sorts, I guess.

Well, it's Wii Fit time, as the boyfriend is studying so I have no one to go to the gym with and I'm not going to make my first time at the new gym be by myself! Take that, world!

According to Wii Fit, if I burn 300 calories then I've earned myself 2 slices of French toast, 2 vegetable egg rolls, or a glazed donut.

I'm convinced that this is why people don't actually lose weight on Wii Fit. The only way to set a calorie burn goal is to find a food equivalent for the amount of calories you want to burn, so when you finally do burn the calories you want - which in and of itself is a right triumph considering how ridiculously long it takes to burn even a slightly substantial amount of calories on Wii Fit - you ruin it all by saying to yourself, "Oh, well now I've earned myself a hamburger!" and then proceed to eat bad foods you wouldn't have normally eaten in the first place.

And that little rant illustrates why people should learn to reward their efforts with something other than food. Harumph!

I should post on Saturday after all of the packages have arrived, I've made the exchanges, and I've used my womanly wiles to force the boyfriend into taking glamour shots of me in all the new clothes, haha.

A bientôt, lovelies.

- parisienne.love