Hard Work Does Pay Off

I think I mentioned in my last post that I hadn't really made any progress in the weight loss department.  At least, I hadn't made as much progress as I would have liked.  As I mentioned in that post, I was going to buckle down with my eating for a couple of weeks and see if that was the culprit.  Needless to say, I found the culprit of the pounds not dropping off. 

Two weeks ago during my morning training session, after another weigh in I wasn't pleased with, I told my trainer I needed to get serious about my diet.  I thought I could do my diet on my own, but I couldn't.  My trainer sat down and wrote out a meal plan for me and told me to stick to it as much as possible for the next two weeks to see how I did.  The meal plan consisted of the following:

Breakfast-
1 whole egg
2 egg whites (I use the carton of egg whites so I don't waste yolks)
1/4 C shredded cheddar cheese (low fat)
Packet of maple and brown sugar (low sodium) instant oatmeal
Coffee
2 Tbs. fat free/low fat creamer

Morning Snack-
Chobani Greek yogurt. 

Lunch-
Packet of tuna in water
Sandwich thin
pickles
Salad
2 Tbs. fat free ranch dressing

Afternoon Snack-
Coffee
1-2 Tbs. low fat half and half
1 wedge laughing cow cheese
1 bagel thin

Dinner-
Lean Cuisine meal containing a meat and less than 300 calories.
Salad
2 Tbs. fat free ranch dressing

The microwave meals were just for a short time to get things in check.  Slowly I will try to introduce low calorie meals back into my diet that I cook at home.  Portion control is a huge challenge for me.  When I thought I was eating one serving of something I made for dinner,  I was actually eating two.  Even healthy foods are bad for you if you eat too much of them.  

I stuck to the meal plan above almost exclusively for one week before my next weigh in.  At weigh in the following week, I was down 3.5 lbs!  In the three months I have been working with my trainer, I have lost a total of 16.5 inches.  In one week, I lost more weight than I have in the last year. Why? Because of my diet.  Because I wasn't being honest with myself about what I was eating.  There were a couple times during the last couple of weeks that I have gone out to eat.  The first time I was faced with making a healthy choice was over a lunch meeting at Jimmy Johns.  Rather than having my sandwich on delicious bread, I opted for an unwich.  While not as delicious as the bread, it seriously wasn't that bad and knocked about 500 calories off the sandwich. 

Another time I went out with Andrew for dinner to a local pizza place.  I had a couple of small slices of pizza.  The pizza is homemade with fresh ingredients and doesn't come out dripping with grease like most delivery pizzas do.  I just finished up week two of my new meal plan and will be weighing in again tomorrow.  I have made a few splurges this week, but I hope to continue seeing downward results on the scale.  

Let my trials be a lesson to anyone attempting to lose weight and not seeing the results you think you should.  Double check your diet.  Use the MyFitnessPal ap and track everything, and I mean everything, that goes in your mouth for a week.  You will be surprised at where the calories are hiding.  The thing I need to work on now is really getting my water intake up; that is a work in progress.