It's the first update of the year! I know! Slacker! The good news is, I haven't been slacking in losing and staying on the plan. I went off for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Boy did I suffer the consequences. I gained no weight after Thanksgiving. But I gained a whopping 8 pounds after my Christmas follies! I couldn't believe it. I figured it would all come off quickly, but it took the better part of three weeks to get all the weight off again. Since then I am down another 3 pounds. So in the end I am down to a new low of 270. I am through the holidays and the worst part of my year for work and now can concentrate on healthy eating and adding exercise.
I continue to use intermittent fasting as part of my regiment but now mix it up a bit more. Before I was pretty much on a schedule of 8 hours of eating and 16 hours of fasting most every day. Trying not to eat until 10 AM and finishing by 6 pm. Now I am adding in a longer fast on Sundays periodically and some days not fasting at all. I think it is good not to let your body get too comfortable in any one thing.
I continue to add new recipes to the mix, this month trying a new cheesy cauliflower recipe and brats in a blanket. We are still gathering recipes for our cookbook but we are getting closer to putting it together. I have also started exercising this week, finally. I have heard many good things about HIIT workouts so I decided to give them a try. It was tough, but really got my heart rate up. I think it will be exactly what I need. HIIT stands for "High Intensity Interval Training." The basic concept is to go as hard as you can for a short burst then rest then go again. I think once I get back into some kind of shape and can add in some resistance to it I will really see more results. For now it will be good for cardio. As usual, most likely due to water retention, I gained a pound the next morning.
Here are the happy numbers
Weight - 270 lbs, started 367 lbs
Chest - 47 Inches, started 60 inches
Stomach - 48.0 inches, started 64 inches
Waist - 40 inches, started 54 inches
Mid Thigh - 20 inches, started 25 inches
Total pounds lost - 97 lbs, Total inches lost - 37 inches
Goal weight - 195, 75 Pounds to go
Just 3 more pounds to go until I am down 100!
