My Journey to Lose 20 Pounds – Week 3

Week 2 of my weight loss journey – primarily using calorie counting… trying to drop 20 pounds in around 4 months time.

So this week was a FAIL! UGH. Starting weight 206.2… last week was 203.2 with a nice 3 pounds gone in 2 weeks, and then this weigh in:

And this is where I typically lose all hope. Back up 1.2lb from the previous week. In fairness, I failed miserably at hitting under 1500 calories per day… but also in fairness, I still consumed fewer calories than I should have burned each day.

My son came home for a week… we are celebrating his birthday and eating out A LOT. He will be heading home by next Wednesday, which is also when my little ones start school again, so I am confident that after that I should be able to get back to a reasonable diet and hopefully keep it up until the holidays.

My goal is to drop the 20 pounds by December 2, 2023, as that is when I will be traveling to a large family gathering and hoping to not be the “fat one” among many very fit family members. At 186.2, I guarantee I will still be one of the biggest, but I will at least feel pretty good about myself.

As you can see from some of the highlights of my meals the last seven days, I could definitely have done better. Thursday we stopped at a diner we visit 2 times a year, normally on my sons visits… they have the BEST homeade pies imaginable. If you are ever in or around Central Illinois, check out Busy Corner in Goodfield, IL and plan on enjoying some desserts after your meal. The last 2-3 times I was there, they were out of the strawberry rhubarb pie, which is my all time favorite… so while, I tried to be relatively good the rest of the day and enjoyed a low cal small dinner before my decadence, I could not resist… Strawberry Rhubarb Pie A La Mode and I was in heaven, but well over my limit.

That’s not all though, twice throughout the week I gave in to late night munchies and Oreo Cookies… 10 on one of those nights… I couldn’t stop. But at least I counted each one as it went in my mouth and diligently updated my Fitbit app with my indulgence.

Without the Oreos dipped in milk and the pie, I would have saved myself at least 2k calories.

Still – I didn’t like the gain nor did I feel it was deserved, so I cheated and weighed in again this morning (Saturday), and was right back at 203.2… so I will say the weight above was a bit of a fluke, probably some extra water weight from my indulgence the night before, but still… no loss this week, at least no gain.

My kids went out to eat for lunch with my mother, and we are all going out to eat tonight. I am trying to save up most of my calories today for our dinner out, as it’s hard to eat out and stay under 400-800 calories… so far today I’ve had 80… gonna have a light lunch and then enjoy dinner. Tomorrow night my MIL is treating us all to dinner, so I will try for the same plan. Monday we will at least be eating at home all day – much easier for me to stay in control, but both Tuesday and Wednesday involve some final family and friend gatherings and by Thursday I should be back to normal. Just in time for my next weigh in.

I don’t want to be disappointed again.

If anyone else is on a weight loss journey, or wants to be, and would like a friend to do it with, shoot me some comments or reach out. I would love a partner in this quest for a better self.

If anyone wants to contribute to the elliptical machine I desperately want, but cannot afford, feel free to send donations to [email protected] on Paypal or Venmo – @Caroline-Miller-12296 (Can’t blame me for trying, right????)

Stay tuned for week 3 results and onward!