What gives?

Sigh. I took my measurements again today. The only change was in my tummy, which went up .5 inches. Six weeks of Biggest Loser and essentially no progress on measurements. I'm seeing it on the scale--I didn't have a good weigh-in last Friday: I went up a pound and a half. Two weigh-ins since I've lost anything...but I was still down 5 pounds, so why no change in measurements?? On top of that, I weighed myself Monday (a no-no, but I had a bad weekend and I was checking the damage) and I was down 2.5 pounds since Friday. So, it canceled out the 1.5 increase from Friday and down another pound from even my lowest weight thus far. Technically unofficial, and I didn't record it on MyFitnessPal for that reason, but it happened nonetheless. What gives?

The scale

Today was weigh-in number 6 of 20. I'm back to the weight I was 3 weeks ago. No downward progress, in fact the opposite. I gained another pound and a half. I'm not making excuses. Does muscle weigh more than fat? Who knows...maybe? Is that what's going on here? I really don't know, and I'm not going to apply hypotheticals to it trying to justify it away. It just is.

I was really hopeful for this week. I was significantly under my calories Monday and Tuesday and slightly under Wednesday and Thursday. I was over by a little last weekend, but I didn't think in the end it would amount to much. I wasn't expecting a huge loss, just definitely not a gain. It's kind of discouraging, and I think I need something to keep me motivated. I'm still tracking everything with MyFitnessPal (today was 45 days logged on in a row!) but I'm starting to come up against the same road blocks I had when I was trying to lose weight before, in that I would exercise and eat pretty well and my weight stayed the same. It's hard to maintain motivation when you don't see the results. But, I measure this week, so I might see progress there instead. Assuming my roadblocks aren't there as well. Fingers crossed!

Biggest gainer??

Well, last weigh-in didn't go terribly well. I didn't lose and gained .2 lbs. I'm not really counting it as a gain, since it's so negligible. So, I stayed essentially the same. I'm hovering at 7 lbs lost. I'm going to try this week to lose 3 lbs to have a total of 10 lbs thus far. We'll see. I'll be happy if it just moves in the right direction, though.

I know I didn't post measurements last week. Really there wasn't much change. I lost .5" on my thighs and everything else was the same. But, this week is the photo, so here goes.

Sporting the Kermit shirt!

Please ignore my hair. I was about to exercise and hadn't showered since it made no sense to shower then exercise.

I don't know if it's much of a difference from last time, but the purpose of it is to chronicle progress over a long period of time and it's only been 2 weeks. Maybe after another 12 weeks it will be more prevalent. Fingers crossed I won't continue being the Biggest Gainer!

Planning and execution

Today I was going to be good (and I still was, don't get me wrong). I was meeting some coworkers at Panera for a brainstorm session at lunch. I sat down this morning and looked at the nutrition facts of what I usually get. Holy. Cow. The you-pick-two can be a whopper. No matter what I chose, it didn't seem like a viable option if I wanted to actually eat dinner, too. Hmmm. Just get a sandwich? No, a ton of calories, plus I wanted soup. I checked a bowl of soup. Wait...so a you-pick-two soup is 200 cal and a full size bowl is 300 cal? Give me the full size bowl and a baguette, please and thanks!! I saved myself a ton of calories by scrapping even the half sandwich.

So after I planned lunch, I remembered that I had a training this evening and I usually take that opportunity to treat myself to Fusian for dinner, which is essentially fast food sushi. Soooooo good if you're in the Dayton/Cinci area, and Columbus coming soon I hear! Anyway, I digress. I also figured up how many calories dinner would be and knew that everything was going to fit into my allotted calories.

Then lunchtime comes and to avoid having three trays of food blocking our workspace at the table, I decided to show up a little early and eat before they got there. After I got done eating, I got a call saying they wanted to switch the meeting to another cafe nearby. Thank God I went early. My whole lunch would have been sabotaged! I don't know what they serve at that other place and I would have been scrambling to find something that would fit in my day's plan.

I did get Fusian for dinner and it was delicious as usual. Seriously, even if you've never tried sushi or think that you don't like it, Fusian is an awesome place to cut your teeth on sushi. 90% of their protein menu is cooked, in case you're hesitant to try raw sushi like I am. They have steak and teriyaki chicken for those who don't like seafood. Oh! And soy wrap in instead of seaweed wrap. Yummy, yummy sushi and their cucumber salad is ah-mazing.

After my training I came home and did some exercising, just dance and some anaerobics. I've been trying to do more strength training stuff, like squats and crunches and lunges and weight lifting. I want my muscles to be strong as I lose my weight! I typically am not enthused about strength training, but it actually hasn't been too bad. I know the strength training might translate into little to no weight loss for me this week, and I'm ok with that. I'm doing this for a better me, and if that means sacrificing some weight loss for more toning, so be it. :)

Progress tracking

Ben suggested yesterday that I take pictures to track my weight loss progress. So, looks like I'm measuring on even weigh in weeks and taking photos on odd weigh in weeks. Oh, and I lost another pound at my weigh-in on Friday. Yay!

If you don't like the fact that I smile in my "before" pictures, tough. I can't stand the "before" pictures where they're frowny. I like myself and I'm not going to act like I'm sad just because I'm overweight. That being said, I tried to be as normal in the pictures as possible. No sucking in, no adjusting angles to be more flattering. What you see is what you get. Besides, I'm only hurting my future progress pictures if I start out with an inaccurate "before" picture.

And no I'm not pregnant. Please don't ask. That's just where the majority of my 176 pounds decided to go.

Can't wait to do another set of pics in a couple of weeks!