4 DOWN - More to go!

Week one was a challenge!  The good news - I lost 4 pounds! **can you see me doing the happy dance?**  The bad news - I pulled a muscle in my back on Saturday which stifled my exercise for the rest of the week.   The crazy thing about it was on Saturday morning when I weighed myself I was down 4 pounds already.  So from Wednesday to Saturday I lost 4 pounds.  Sunday - Wednesday was a challenge to maintain that 4 pound weight loss when I couldn't exercise.

FOOD!
I've come to realize that my biggest food challenge days are on the weekend.  Saturday night I took Kai out to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate a couple of things:  She made honor roll for the 4th trimester in a row, she had a fairly decent swim at her meet on Saturday and made it to finals (where she dropped 8 seconds off her time in the 200 Butterfly), and we'd just received her allergy test results back and shellfish didn't show up this time (she has not eaten shellfish for 9 years). So off to Olive Garden we went so she could have her favorite - Shrimp Alfredo!  I swear those Olive Garden bread sticks are the DEVIL!  I made a healthy choice by ordering soup and salad.  I know the Chicken Gnocchi soup is high in sodium so I drank lots of water (not ordering soda was a huge success for me).  The fat girl in me just had to order Alfredo dipping sauce for the bread sticks.  I promise you I had about 6 bread sticks to keep from wasting the Alfredo sauce.  Am I the only one whose mother said "Eat all of your food - there are children in Africa starving!"  Well clearly I was eating bread sticks and Alfredo sauce for all of Africa.  It was a shame!  I did stick to my weekly goal of eating 1 raw meal a day!  I know that helped me keep that 4 pounds off!

EXERCISE!
Every night (Wednesday - Saturday) I exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes.  I did Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and also dabbled in fitness videos on Comcast/Xfinity On Demand.  On Saturday afternoon (prior to my Olive Garden excursion) I had to go and get fancy and do an abs video where I did v-sits with a side to side twist.  I was so proud of myself, I did them without stopping.  About 22 minutes into the video I felt something that was not normal, of course I ignored it and kept going.  Sunday morning I was very sore but assumed it was the normal soreness I get when I haven't exercised in awhile.  By Sunday evening I couldn't do much of anything (sit, stand, lay down, get up, roll over - NOTHING!).  I knew something was wrong.  It turned out to be a pulled muscle in my lower back.  I was told to lay off the exercise until this coming Saturday (12/11) and take it easy :(  Come Saturday I am back on a mission!

GOALS FOR WEEK 2

• Stay away from Olive Garden! :)
• 30 minutes of exercise - no excuses - but I promise to listen to my body this time!
• 1 raw meal each day - this week I am going to do some juicing to increase my vegetable intake!
• DRINK MORE WATER!     
• Celebrate the baby steps! 4 pounds was a great success for me this week! 
• Remember to pray and stay focused, especially during those times when I know I should make wiser choices.

Pray for me and send me some juicing recipes!  Have a great week - I will!

This Journey Is All Mine!

Rhonda