Weight Loss Progress Report

I have no clue what week I should be on, so I'm leaving that number off this one.  I can't tell you how many times I've stopped and restarted dieting in the last few months.  There's always something that seems to throw me off course (cough cough...Chinese takeout...cough cough).  When I initially started these reports again, I was doing them at the beginning of the week, and it was a week I never made it through.

Well this post is coming after a week of great progress and sticking with the plan!  I have been doing Atkins' Induction all week long.  I've been on MyFitnessPal daily logging my food and exercise, although that exercise has only consisted of mowing the lawn and a couple of walks so far.  I plan on adding back in my regular workouts.  P90X here I come!!

I know the big drop at the beginning of Atkins is losing water weight and throwing your body into Ketosis.  That means my body is burning fat for energy.  By not eating carbs, which your body would normally burn first, I'm forcing it to burn my body's fat stores instead.  So without further ado, the results of my first week back on Induction are:

One Week!!!  Seven Pounds!!!  (Well 'technically' it was 6.6 lbs, but MyFitnessPal rounds up.  Close enough right?)  Why oh why does it take me so long to realize this works?  I did it before, and I'm doing it again.  I was so proud of myself this week for maintaining my self control.  I had an opportunity for my favorite Chinese takout and I didn't take it.  I also went to a child's birthday party, and I didn't eat anything there!  There were many times I wanted to sneak into the pantry and devour some cookies, but I didn't!  And it paid off!!

I'm looking forward to the week ahead and continued success.  I already know of a few bumps in the road, but I'm planning ahead to get through them easily.  It's important to plan to know where your next meal is coming from or at least know what it is!

I've been exploring my favorite low carb recipe website for ideas.  The recipes on Linda's Low Carb are fantastic.  I've had a link to her website in my "Helpful Links" section for years now.  I love how it is broken down into categories so you can easily find a recipe for whatever meal or main ingredient you are looking for.  Some of my personal dinner favorites are the "Easy Cheesy Chili Chicken" and the "Enchilada Chicken Paillard".

Breakfast can be a little tricky.  I get in the habit of having the same thing over and over which can burn you out pretty quickly.  My go to breakfast is two eggs, two strips of bacon, and spinach with my coffee.  This is an improvement over my old breakfasts however which literally just consisted of coffee.

I did try something a little different one day this week.  I made a pizza omelet.  It was pepperoni, mushrooms, banana peppers, and spinach in a two-egg omelet topped with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.  And it was YUMMY!

I had a salad for lunch almost every day last week, but I didn't always use the same ingredients.  Sometimes it was iceberg lettuce, and sometimes it was romaine.  The one pictured above was topped with a sliced grilled bratwurst leftover from the night before.  I topped one with crumbled bacon and tomato for a very BLT tasting salad.  My favorite salad was what I had yesterday for lunch before heading off to that birthday party.  It kept me full and I didn't even feel like snacking while I was there.  I had a romaine lettuce salad, topped with Cesar dressing, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, banana peppers, and tomato.  It was my version of an Italian garden salad I once ordered from Donato's pizza, and it was delicious!!

So I've got a plan in my head, but I'm going to write it down.  On paper it always feels more official.  I like checking things off and staying on track.  I'm going to take this one week at a time, one day at a time really, but always looking ahead to my goal.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go order some more bacon from the butcher's!