I’m very happy to be bringing you my update today because I’m making solid progress now. You might recall that on January 1 I gave you my goals that I set for myself – not so much resolutions but changes that I wanted to make. One of those changes was to get back on the healthy track with my clean eating and exercise after having been wallowing around in sugar addiction during the holidays.

On January 1, I weighed in at 163 pounds and my inches totaled 294.25. Today I’m weighing in at 150.5 pounds with total inches of 282.375. That’s a total loss since January 1 of:

• 12.5 pounds
• 11.875 inches

My stats today also give me a loss in just the last 7 days of:

• 3.5 pounds
• 2.125 inches

Needless to say, I’m quite pleased with my progress, and this progress includes the past 3 weeks that I’ve been seriously applying myself to my healthy eating and exercise regime. The previous 3 weeks (starting on Jan. 1) I was doing much better than I had been during the holidays, however I wasn’t following my plan as well as I am now. It’s when I buckle down and apply myself that I reap the rewards.

I also had a better weekend than I did last weekend. I do still have the thoughts of eating sugar-filled stuff, however just like when I did my Ban The Refined Sugar Experiment, I’m not having physical cravings for it. I have desires to emotionally eat, which 90% of the time occur at night, but they aren’t physical cravings.

It’s been over 3 weeks now since I haven’t had any refined sugar (which includes white flour), and one of the main things that keeps me off of it is knowing that I’ll get back into those cravings again, besides the fact that I’ll stop losing weight and more than likely gain weight. When I eat that stuff I always want more and more.

Here’s exactly what I did last week to get me where I am today:

• Completed 2 body sculpting sessions using my resistance bands (they come with the 6-Week Body Makeover kit)
• Completed 4 sessions of cardio, 30 minutes each, and 1 session of cardio of 45 minutes.
• I ate whole, healthy foods like the Thai spiced turkey breast strips, egg whites (I eat them either as omelettes or hard boiled), bananas, apples, oatmeal (plain, regular cooking, not the quick oats), salad, soup, and brown rice. I actually eat a lot of food, these are only a few of the items I regularly eat.
• I ate every 2.5 – 3 hours and used portion control (this is all outlined for you in the 6-Week Body Makeover, dependent on your body type).
• I don’t add any salt to my food and if I do buy anything that is pre-packaged (i.e.: canned, diced tomatoes, the only ingredient is tomatoes) I check the ingredients to make sure that they don’t contain added sodium (or anything else like sugar, of course 😉 ).
• I drank at least 100 oz of plain, clean water each day, and on the weekend I drank a little bit more.
• I worked on keeping my thoughts positive and if I really wanted to emotionally eat at night, I’d tell myself that maybe tomorrow I’d have what I was thinking about, or I’d just go to bed.

This week I have a goal of completing 5 cardio sessions of 45 minutes each while still doing 2 body sculpting sessions. I feel so much better when I exercise, it’s just a lifesaver.

Something I could improve on is journaling. I used to do this much more than I am currently and it really helped me. Instead of emotionally eating I journal about what is bothering me, which is the thing that is causing me to want to emotionally eat. Sometimes I don’t even realize what exactly is bothering me until I journal it out.

I’ll be back with another update for you next week. I’ll be taking some progress photos soon and will post those for you, too.

If you have a goal to lose weight, get fit, and feel awesome, I highly recommend The 6-Week Body Makeover, the same program that I am following. You can find it in the eMiniMall below or read more about it here.