Week One: Progress Report

I think I did pretty well for my first week. I had a lot to keep track of, so I kept notes each night about what I was eating and how I was exercising. I want to be a bit more detailed in terms of focusing on and tracking my goals, but for now, what I’m doing is fine. My body reacted nicely to the shock, and I lost 6 pounds! Yay.   

So in reference to my bulleted health goals for this challenge …

• Maintain a low-carb, no-sugar, no-sweetener, low-caffeine, no-alcohol diet: On a scale of 1-10, I’d say I earned an 8 or a 9 this week. I chose mostly foods and drinks that fit those parameters, and I’m pretty sure I kept my daily carbs to about the 50-100 I was shooting for. I know one day I went over the 200 mg of caffeine I’m trying to stay under – it was more like 350 that day. No artificial sweeteners, no granulated sugar, no alcohol. The only other cheats I can think of was about half a cup of mashed potatoes at a St. Patrick’s Day party Saturday, 2 bites of an amazing Bailey’s cheesecake at the same party, 5 small tater tots at a restaurant Sunday, and 3 bites of carrot cake with thick icing at the same restaurant. So, not perfect, but not bad at all.       
• Keep a food diary: I just wrote down everything I ate in a notebook. Didn’t tally carbs, caffeine, sugar, etc. I’ll add in more detailed elements as I get more focused each week.  
• Be able to jog ¼ mile at a time without a walk break: Practiced doing 1/10-mile intervals this week at 4.5 mph (2 miles total), 4.8 mph (2.5 miles total), and 5 mph (3 miles total).
• Get to a healthier BMI – between 26 and 27: Down from 31.2 to 30.2! Great start!  
• Increase my physical strength: Went to CrossFit twice this week and also did a half-hour heavy-lifting workout DVD.
• Get up between 6:30 and 7:30 every weekday: Only managed this 2 days this week; on Tuesday, allergies had their way with me, which continued for most of the week. I had a hard time falling and staying asleep, so I let myself sleep in to catch up.
• Get to bed by 11:00 every weeknight: Only managed this 1 night this week.  
• Get an average of 7 hours of sleep every night: I got 9, 6, 8, 4, 8, 8, and 8.5. Not bad, but need to improve those crappy two nights. My allergies are much better, so that should help.

Ugh. Typing this all out was tedious. Hopefully I'll come up with a better system of posting my progress by my next update.