Week Nine: Day One (weigh day)

Good morning!!  Officially weigh-in and some picture posting day!!  I sort of can't believe it's been 8 weeks already, but I also am trying desperately hard to not be upset with the smaller results of the past 4 weeks.

Quick recap:  Week one I began the Atkins diet AND started a 30-day body makeover DVD from Gold's Gym.  This video has three 10-minute workouts to choose from (upper body, lower body, and cardio), and I vowed to do at least one every day.  The 30 days is technically up tomorrow, so I will post those pictures on Wednesday morning.  Atkins really didn't work for me, it has in the past but just made me sluggish and depressed and short-tempered.  All things I do NOT need to be with four small children at home!  So, I lasted 9 days on that and then switched to the Special K diet for 12 days.  Loved this one.

Special K diet consists of 2 bowls of cereal with fruit each day to replace 2 of your main meals.  One balanced meal, 2 Special K snacks (amounting to 100-110 calories each), and lots of water.  I found this diet to be super easy to follow and the variety of cereals were delicious!  I ate lots of fruit and got all my energy back (and then some!).  In just 12 days of this diet I lost 7 pounds - compared to losing ZERO with Atkins.  Whew.  So happy I switched!!

The final week of the month I have been drinking Right Size smoothies to replace 2 meals.  I eat lunch as usual (making sure to stay below 600 calories), fruit during the day for snacks, and drink at least 100 ounces of water.  The smoothies are very tasty...unfortunately, both canisters I purchased are the Lean Cocoa Bean flavor and I am getting a tiny bit tired of the chocolate.  Other than just the monotony of the flavor, the smoothies are quite tasty!  I don't own a blender, so I have just been sticking with 8-10 ounces of skim milk mixed in with one scoop of the powder.  In just 7 days of this diet I have lost....

Ha, ha.  Sorry, you have to scroll through the pictures!

Week One:Day One                         Week Five: Day One              TODAY (Week 9: Day 1)

Wow.  I can see the difference so much more when the pictures are all next to each other!!  I like it.

So, I was going to post the scale pictures, but getting the body shots to actually behave and line up next to each took a lot out of me.  :)  I'm not going to line these up all pretty...

To see the first four weeks scale pictures go here.

Week Five: Day One

This is the same picture I would use for Week Six: Day Three when I began the Special K diet. 

Week Eight: Day One (after 12 days of Special K)

And finally...today's weight.  (after 7 days with the Right Size smoothies)

There it is!  10 pounds this month!  This makes my 8 week total 28.5 pounds gone. 

Thank you to everyone who follows and comments on my progress and has been so supportive!!  I feel good, healthy, and am really excited to beat this 10 pound loss over the next 4 weeks.  I did promise myself I wouldn't be disappointed with any month that was at least 8 pounds lost because this is on track to meet my goal, so WOOHOO!!!  Still ahead of the game and feeling great!!

This next week I will continue with the Right Size smoothies, but I am going to begin eating dinner instead of lunch.  I also didn't have any coffee last week, and I plan to begin having my morning cup again.  Seems like the weeks I drink coffee I lose more than the few weeks where I took it away.  We shall see if this is just a fluke.

Quick side note:  this is the "billing" weigh day.  I believe i have talked to everyone and some people have decided to pay at the end so I won't be tempted to spend the money on bills, and this is totally fine!  For the ones who are paying monthly, I have used the money to "pamper" myself a bit...refer to previous posts for pictures of my new nails and hair!  :)

xoxo