Content in the Meantime: Weight loss Challenge: The First 2 Weeks

I'm so excited about the things I have been learning! I already learned so much over the past years of trying to lose weight. I started being concerned about my weight after I graduated high school. I was 180 lbs, and with Weight Watchers I lost 30 lbs. But the weight loss didn't last. I stopped counting points and gained the weight back, plus an extra 20 lbs.

I wasn't concerned about changing my lifestyle and learning how calories work. Last year I had personal group training and I learned a lot about adding protein to my diet and combining cardio with weight training. I enjoyed exercising, but I couldn't get the food part working properly. I ended up gaining weight and feeling stuck between 200-210 lbs. I even tried raw vegan but I was still missing something.

It took another year to finally put all the things I have learned together. Eat clean. Exercise regularly. Eat enough calories to keep your metabolism running. Eat less red meat. Eat less carbs. Minimize processed foods. This is what I am working on now. I will add weight training later, once I get my calories in balance first. Then I can add more exercise and balance again. This is what it's all about. Balance.

I need to brag about Calorie Count for a minute. The past 2 weeks have been great. Sometimes I forget to log in foods, but I fill in the blanks the next day and be as accurate as possible. I use Map My Run to calculate my distance and calories burned more precisely.

When you log in your food and exercise, the program calculates a net calorie. Recently I was wondering, "How do they figure out net calories?" So I did a basic Google search. The first result took me to Calorie Count's forum, where some of the members were talking about the balance between how many calories you eat and what you burn. What I learned today is that with the daily exercise I do, I have to have a deficit of at least -500 or less to make sure I had enough "fuel" to keep my metabolism up. What does that mean? I means I have to eat MORE food. I was trying to keep my calories less than 1500, but when I ate a little more, the net calories balanced out. Now I have to figure out what to eat to keep a lower negative deficit.

I also like how you can write something to close the day, and people can comment and support you. Nothing like support to keep me motivated!

There's even this cool weight loss ticker that I can add to my blog for more motivation.