It’s officially been 2 weeks since I began my mission to lose 40 lbs by July 1, 2022. If you missed my first update (Day 9), check it out here. If you didn’t see my posts about why I’m setting a big goal, publicly, check out my first post about it.
In this post, I’ll give an update on my current weight and document what I’ve been eating.
Weight
- Weight on Day 1 (Jan. 5/22): 178.8 lbs
- Weight on Day 15 (Jan. 19/22): 170.2 lbs
- Total lost in 14 days: 8.6 lbs 🙂
I’m really happy with my progress to date! From experience, I know the weight comes off more quickly in the beginning, but losing 8.6 lbs in two weeks shows me that what I’m doing is working (eating the right foods, intermittent fasting), and my progress motivates me even more.
When I first began my mission to lose 40 lbs by July 1, 2022, I calculated that I’d need to lose an average of 6.7 lbs per month. I expect to lose more per month in the beginning and less per month towards the end of the 6 months.
Due to those expectations, my goal is to get down to 168 by Feb. 1, which will be a loss of 10.8 lbs in 4 weeks. I’m pretty sure I will meet that mini goal.
My Food Record
Part of the accountability I place on myself is to take a picture of everything I eat and post the photos in my update posts.
I’m not 100% at remembering to take a photo of every single thing, but I have pictures of most of the food I ate. Whether I have a photo or not, I list what I’ve eaten.
Day 9 January 13
- Coffee: Nespresso (half caf, half decaf), oat milk, homemade cashew milk
- Leftover brown rice ramen soup with carrots, zucchini, red pepper, onions, mushrooms, lemongrass, cilantro, veggie broth (Better than Bouillon: veggie)
- Mandarin orange and apple
- Salad: spinach, arugula, parsley, dill, broccoli, cucumber, mandarin oranges (packed in juice), grapes, capers; dressing was juice from capers and oranges
- Potatoes (with a bit of sweet potato) with vegan gravy (I had too much potato! On occasion, I still overeat. It’s an eating pattern I’ve had for a long time; I’m determined to overcome it.)
- 3 L of water
- No Alcohol
- Finished eating at 6:30 pm
After eating too much potato, I had a tight feeling in my chest that came off and one for a few of hours (indigestion, I think; has happened before, and is NOT fun), and my hot flashes came on strong.
To me, this was my body’s way of telling me it was out of balance. My body was disrupted by having to digest too much food.
At first, I felt disappointed in myself, and then I quickly shifted my mindset (I’ve built up my ability to do so). I knew the feeling was temporary, and I knew I could learn from my mistake. I’m developing new eating habits that will take time.
What’s important here is that I didn’t let this setback get me down. Mindset is super important when it comes to reaching our goals and conquering the obstacles or setbacks along the way.
In a future blog post, I’ll get into more details about the specific tools I’m using that have hugely helped me transform my mindset.
I didn’t need a big salad AND that much potato for one meal! I love my potatoes, so often I try to get some in after a salad. I need to learn that if I want potatoes or some other filling food, I need to have a small salad. If I go for the big salad, that’s probably filling enough (especially when I add avocado, which makes it especially satiating).
Day 10 January 14
Today was a Friday, and my husband and I did a virtual online cooking class in the evening. We learned how to make homemade pasta. What a lot of fun! For that reason, I indulged and also ate later than I normally would.
We also decided to have some Italian wine to go with the experience. Drinking wine led to more drinking later in the evening (Drambuie).
I don’t have any regrets about what I ate or drank because my choices were intentional, and I knew it was for only one day. Of course, I was taking a risk because in the past, that one day of eating foods that are more calorically dense and drinking alcohol would often turn into days or weeks of eating that way.
My goal is to drink very little alcohol as part of my lifestyle, because I know how unhealthy it is. Day 10 (Jan. 14) was the first day I had alcohol since Jan. 2. I’m fine with having booze once in a while, as long as it doesn’t lead to days of consistent drinking.
If you’re interested in learning more about the dangers of drinking alcohol, check out these posts:
- Coffee: See Day 9
- Smoothie: spinach, arugula, parsley, banana, frozen blueberries, flax seed, water
- Falafel wrap: falafel, lettuce, red cabbage, tahini, with guacamole and hot mustard (wrap was from a health store called Vita Health, in Winnipeg)
- Club soda
- Bowl of potatoes with chopped kale and vegan gravy (this gravy is made from white beans and is awesome and very low in fat). Recipe is from High Carb Hannah’s Let’s Get Saucy recipe book
- Crackers with Boursin cheese
- Piece of flax/sunflower seed bread with butter
- Italian red wine
- Homemade capunti pasta with tomato sauce and shredded cheese (Pecorino Romano DOP cheese) The “DOP” is “Denominazione d’ Origine Protetta”, which means Protected Designation of Origin. Read more about this cheese from the Toronto restaurant that offered the course. Normally, you can’t take this course in Winnipeg, even though it was virtual; it was a special event hosted by a third party.
- Drambuie
- 4 squares of dark chocolate: nudie brand
- 3 L of water
- Finished eating at 11:15 pm
Day 11 January 15
I went to bed really late (2:00 am) after having an evening fire in our backyard. I didn’t eat late, but I did have a hot cocoa in the late evening (cocoa powder, dates, oat milk and water blended). I didn’t include the cocoa as eating late, because to me, it was really just a beverage. Technically, it DID break the fasting period. I aim to fast after 6:00 pm, but I didn’t include it because it didn’t feel like I was eating something. That approach works for me.
You can read more about what I’m doing with intermittent fasting to help me lose weight and become healthier.
When I went to bed, I felt really light and really good about how the day went, considering I had indulged the night before.
- Coffee: See Day 9
- Hashbrowns baked in the oven. I forgot to take a picture after they were cooked, but the brand is shown below. Normally, I would not buy packaged potatoes like this, but they’d been in the freezer for a while, and I’d wanted to try them. Overall, I wasn’t impressed with them, so I won’t buy them again. I’d much rather eat potatoes I’ve prepared on my own (although there is one brand of frozen French fries that I do love).
- Papaya and apple
- Sweet potato, black beans, chopped arugula, cilantro, mango, avocado, salsa
- Homemade hot cocoa (cocoa powder, dates, oat milk, water, blended)
- 3 L of water
- No alcohol
- Finished eating at 5:30 pm
Day 12 January 16
- Coffee: See Day 9
- Oatmeal: steel cut oats, oat milk, frozen blueberries, ground flax seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, cinnamon
- Apple
- Potato with chopped kale and vegan gravy
- Avocado toast
- Crackers with “Un-brie-lievable” vegan cheese (Brand: Nuts for Cheese)
- Peaches (packed in fruit juice)
- Dark chocolate: 4 squares (nudie)
- Licorice tea
- No Alcohol
- 3 L water
- Finished eating at 5:35 pm
I always make lots of oatmeal to store extra in the fridge. I label it with the date it was made (with some masking tape–nothing fancy!). It lasts several days; I just pull it out, add oat milk and microwave it when I need it. Super fast and easy!
Day 13 January 17
- Oatmeal: steel cut oats, oat milk, ground flax seed, banana, peaches (leftover from yesterday), raw pumpkin seeds
- Avocado toast
- Vegetarian chili (canned, from Costco)
- Ramen soup: brown rice ramen, veggie broth, cilantro
- Red grapes
- Toast with natural peanut butter (no added sugar or oil…just peanuts)
- I did NOT get in my 3 L of water today
- No Alcohol
- Finished eating at 5:50 pm
Day 14 January 18
- Hot water with GTLP shot (ginger, turmeric, lemon juice and black pepper, blended together and frozen in small cubes)
- Oatmeal: steel cut oats, cashew milk, banana, pear, ground flax seed, cinnamon and walnuts
- Vegan pea soup: veggie broth, green split peas, onions, carrots, celery, red pepper, dried onion, cumin, smoked paprika, liquid smoke, salt and pepper; made in Instapot
- Dark chocolate: 2 squares Lindt sea salt
- Hot water with GTLP shot (see above)
- 3 L water
- No Alcohol
- Finished eating at 7:00 pm; finished my soup at 6, but I caved and had the chocolate just before 7 🙂
That’s it for my 15 Day update.
I’d like to add here that I’m doing many things to help me lose weight and get healthier. Future posts will go into more details about all the things I’m doing.
To recap what I’ve posted so far about the strategies I’m using for success:
- I’m eating low calorie density foods. Check out my Day 9 post for more details about the calorie density, fat content and nutrient density of key foods for weight loss.
- I’m doing intermittent fasting. Check out how I’m approaching this strategy for weight loss.
Coming Soon…
My next 3 posts will be about three other key things I’m doing:
- Water intake
- Moving my body
- Mindset
Live your true life,
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I love how you’re documenting everything, with pics of your meals and all. And great progress too! Looking forward to reading more, so thanks for sharing!