So today I’m just going to jump right into my results after the first week. And what a week it was! But we’ll get to that after I announce this week’s results!
Drum roll please…
So over the past week, I have lost 2.6 pounds. That’s actually pretty amazing since I was only expecting to lose just one (if that).
Weekly Overview
Earlier this week my father had moved in with us all the way from Colorado so that I can start helping him take better care of his health. So from Tuesday it was havoc and chaos at the ranch while I scrambled to start getting things cleaned up and organized. I’m sure I was more active over the course of the last three days since we moved into our home in December!
What really helped me was trying to just make the most of it.
I suffer from seasonal affective disorder. If I had it my way, I’d choose to hibernate all winter long than lift a finger. Sadly, that’s just not realistic and I have to keep things functioning around the house. There were a couple days this past week that I had eaten over my calorie budget. At times I even had a strong urge to just sit on the couch all day and eat myself into oblivion. But I knew that it wouldn’t just be me that I was effecting with these thoughts or actions. My husband works so hard all day long and is exhausted by the time he comes home. My daughter needs me to be present for her. So I really just tried to make the most of it and stick to the positives of what I was doing to help myself by proxy.
Maximizing Housework Into A Workout
An object at rest, stays at rest. An object in motion, stays in motion.
Newton’s first law of motion
On top of working resistance training and push ups into my routine, I still have a lot of housework to do every day; from dishes to sweeping, cooking to laundry. Also, I still have to tend to a 6 month old and now more unpacking! I treated each heavy box I lifted as a work out. I increased my steps by taking multiple trips to the garage to get boxes. I lifted, I stretched, I used all my strength in just putting things away. By the end of Wednesday night, I was beat. It was one of the best nights of sleep I’ve had in a while.
On an average day, I like to throw on tunes and dance around while I work out and do housework to increase my heart rate. My daughter thinks it’s fun and I like to keep her engaged while I’m doing other work around the house. Any time you’re in motion, you’re burning calories, you’re elevating your heart rate, you are physically active. Housework can be so much more than a daunting chore. Depending on how much work there is to do and what your laundry list contains, you can still incorporate it into your daily work out.
Our trash gets collected every Thursday, meaning every Wednesday I’m responsible for getting the trash out to the end of our driveway. Now, to the average homeowner this wouldn’t be such a big deal. However, my driveway just happens to be 1/3rd of a mile.
After it’s all said and done, I walk close to a mile twice a week to take the trash bin out and retrieve it again. I honestly don’t mind it though. It’s a great workout, it’s beautiful outside for the most part and my neighbors have horses that like to walk alongside me while I finish my task. I like to think they cheer me on.
My Daily Diet and the Grocery List
While I did manage to lose 2.6 pounds, looking back at this week, I really wasn’t eating the greatest foods. I did enjoy a delicious cheeseburger on my Valentine’s lunch date with my husband. I meticulously measured how many crisps and cheese curls I ate during the week. I indulged in the deliciousness that is macaroni and cheese. But they are not of any true nutritional value and I actually wasn’t feeling good about myself after I ate them.
However, there were times this week that I did try to incorporate healthy foods. Dinner on Tuesday night consisted of chipotle parmesan chicken with steamed broccoli and a light cheese sauce. Last night I made General Tso’s chicken with steamed edamame and rice with soy sauce.
I wasn’t feeling very good about the inventory we had in our kitchen and decided to do a shop. What I will say is, everything you’ve heard about shopping the outside of the shelves is true. I got some romaine lettuce and a new salad dressing I’m very excited to try for lunch this afternoon. I’m going to attempt to make carrot fries this weekend and I’ve got grapes in the freezer right now for a delicious sweet snack for later. I feel much more confident in my grocery shop yesterday because it minimized any chance for me to indulge or binge myself into a frenzy. I can only hope to see the same – if not better – results next week.
But I wanted to take a look at my TDEE again to see if my caloric intake should change, and I did one better to look at my macros I should be taking into account.
Oddly enough, my caloric intake increased 10 more calories so I will be very mindful of this in the coming week. I personally think sticking to a moderate carb diet will be more beneficial for me, since any lower would only mean increasing my fat and protein intake. As you know, I don’t have a gallbladder so any higher of a fat intake could be costly to me weight-wise.
What are my goals this week?
Last night my husband taught me how to use our new chainsaw. What a rush! We are still in the middle of winter and we have tons of wooden pallets that are in need of being cut down for firewood. I really want to help my husband out and take over the role of cutting that wood up so we have plenty stocked up for the wood stove and give my husband a well deserved break.
I still need to finish painting my daughter’s bedroom. While I got a large chunk of it finished, it’s a very laborious job. So I’m hoping within the next week I can finish another third of it on top of everything else I’ve put on my plate.
I’m still doing my push-up challenge, and while I’ve been slacking on posting any before photos, I have been doing 50 push ups a day – even if they are still on my knees. I’ve created a small circuit workout for me that involves doing 10 push-ups, 10 reps of 3 different arm workouts with my resistance gym and back again for a total of 5 sets each. This takes me generally 30 minutes to complete and I’m very proud of achieving it every day.
I plan to post about my food challenge involving those carrot fries and my experience as well as the recipe that will be used. Hopefully they taste delicious and hopefully my family enjoys them as well.
Thank you to everyone that follows along and is joining me in this venture. I feel more held accountable for my actions and only want to improve on this blog and myself. Here’s to another week!
Unfit For Human Consumption 