This is the first week that I’ve set and followed some concrete goals regarding my fitness and weight loss… trying to get to a place of better health and more energy. Today I have some mixed feelings about the whole thing. They’re familiar feelings though; I have had them every time I made a concentrated effort to *do* something about my weight but haven’t gotten the results I want, quickly enough. It’s a mindset of “I am putting in this effort, and I deserve X result!” And it has never done me any good to think that way in the past. But it’s there, just starting to bubble up (already! Less than a week in!) so I want to put it out in the open and address it before it does what it has often done in the past: make me throw up my hands and give up what I’m doing.

The Good:

My goal is to hit 7500 steps every day on my FitBit. So far:
7501
7601
7767
7536
7772

I’ve learned quickly that if I want to hit my steps goal, I need to get out for a walk sometime before noon… and sometimes, another walk in the evening. But I need at least one ‘intentional’ walk to get it done. I am happy to be getting into the habit of walking every day, parking farther from stores, making extra trips outside or downstairs, etc.

My other goal is to bike every day for at least 5 minutes. This sounds silly but given my knee and foot issues I have to ease into this. The point is to build the habit of the bike, Just getting on the bike sometimes lead to a longer ride, anyway. So far:

5 min
13 min
5 min
16 min
6 min

I have learned that it is by far more enjoyable to get on the bike first thing in the morning, after I have coffee and take the dogs out for a little fetching. Otherwise, I get too busy and forget about it. On the one day I didn’t bike in the morning, it got to be 10:30 pm before I remembered and had time to get on the bike. I’d rather relax and unwind that late at night.

As for the diet, I’ve cut back some on carby stuff (no candy, chips, cookies), am eating smaller portions, and drinking plenty of fluids in the form of water, unsweetened iced tea, and black coffee (no sweetener).

The success at the changes is encouraging and I feel like I can continue this without a problem, and over time can increase both my steps and my time biking. But you know what? I am still not losing weight (yet). In fact the scale has gone up a couple of pounds since I started this. Maybe it’s the time of month, I dunno. I guess as I increase activity over this month and give it time to take effect, I will see the results. I am just going to keep doing what is best for my body and hoping my body responds by burning off some of this extra fat.

(c) Escape from Obesity – Read entire story here.