Mid-April 2021 Weight Loss Update

Progress! These past few weeks, I’ve stayed committed to trying new changes and reassessing myself each Shabbat. I ran into some struggles, but I think I’m really making progress on a path that is right for me. I’ve lost 4.4 lbs from my highest known weight this past month.

Struggles:

Regular womanly issues
Snacking and sugar temptation
Body aches (overweight, past injuries, soreness from exercise)

What helped:

Staying in my workout-fit until I did my exercises
More exercise (see explanation below)
Looking forward to a nice shower, getting dressed, looking nice after exercising
Drinking tea
Making better eating choices.
Looking at little non-scale victories – slight changes in my body shape

This next month/four weeks, I plan to:

Cut down on snacking, especially sugar; make better eating choices.
Replace hunger and idle moments with: work, crafting, reading, other things I want to do.
Really work on my evening routine. When I’m drifting with an overwhelming amount of things undone, along with a sad feeling of the things I WANT to do, I get tempted to “pause”, waste my time, and make less-than-ideal choices.

Notes:

So, what happened this past 4 weeks? Starting out being depressed about my weight, I tried fasting a few days, then not eating until I was done exercising each day. I really tried to control my intake, which was made a little easier because of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At the end of two weeks of struggle and exercising at or slightly above my 150 minute goal per week, I remained the same weight or slightly above. I reassessed my efforts, thinking over the articles I’ve read about exercising for 150 minutes per week to stay healthy.

At the same time, other articles “just happened” to come to my notice (was that God working? I’m not sure.). These other articles spoke about people walking 10,000 steps to get fit. The article went into detail about how they really lost weight, 10 lbs per month or 2 per week. I had only been giving the article a cursory glance, when I suddenly paused, “Wait, what?”. So I reread the article. It was 10,000 steps PER DAY, which is about 5 miles.

Now wait, don’t start telling yourself that’s just impossible. Think about it. The steps are counting every single step you take, including to the mailbox, putting away laundry, putting things away, anything and everything. See?

I realized as I read that I’m not really getting that basic movement where and how I live. The original articles were right about 150 minutes of exercise per week being ideal for people who 1) have a basic level of moving around per day, and 2) just want to maintain their fitness level. I want to become fit (for the first time in my life). There’s not much I can do to change my lifestyle (it’s complicated), but I can insert 5 Leslie Sansone/Walk At Home workout miles or the equivalent (1 hr 15 minutes at 15 minutes per mile) in exercise in my day. (Not all together of course. I’m not fit enough for that.) During my reassessment, I read other articles that spoke about the same thing. People are seeing great results if they move around at 10,000 steps per day.

Armed with new knowledge and determination, I spent the last two weeks trying to do more aerobic walking (the Walk at Home videos are more than just stepping in place). Although I’ve only lost 4.4 lbs (the same lbs I’ve lost and gained before), I’m noticing some changes in my body shape that are really encouraging.

I think of this journey as a sort of secret agent mission / discovery. Have you seen those before and after photos where you don’t believe it’s the same person? (It usually is, by the way). I’m going to be one of those. It will be like this shared secret that only God and Himmit will know. And while I’m working on my identity as a healthy person on the outside, I’m working on that gentle and quiet spirit on the inside, which is very precious in the sight of God. My hope is to be half the woman on the outside that I used to be, while being twice the woman (of God) on the inside that I used to be.

1 Peter 3.3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the [a]incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.