The experiment

Yes, Im still here. Man I have been busy the last month. So many thing happening at work (mostly bad), then there was Thanksgiving, now there's xmas coming up which means parties and gifts and gift wrapping etc. I feel like I never have time to just write. Part of it is that I feel like I am the same old thing to write - weights the same, exercising my butt off, nothings changing, blah blah blah. After a while, I know that there is nothing anyone can really say about that.

I have reached a point though where I need to figure out why Im not losing any more weight. Hence the title of this post - I have started to do an experiment this week. Since I do not count calories, rather eat x amount of protein, startch, veggies, etc., I was curious as to whether or not I was eating too much, or too little. Obviously either can affect weight loss, so I decided to find out exactly what I have been eating. So starting yesterday, I began tracking my food in sparkpeople, which is a site I used in the past when I was doing WW. I set a goal weight of 150 which is a 9 pound loss, and a target date of June 16th. The site indicated I should be eating 1460-1810 calories a day. I am not sure if this is pretty typical for someone of my height and weight, as well as activity level, to be eating to lose weight, but I trust the site, so Im going with it. I will report back at the end of the week to see if I am eating too much or too little a day. For this first "phase", I am not going to do anything differently than I have been, because I really want to see where I am at. Then next week (or likely the following week since next week is xmas), I will make adjustments based upon what I find out. If I am eating too much, I will cut back. If I am eating too little, I will eat more and eat more of the right kinds of food.

So far, I have found that I am eating slightly less or right at that 1460 calorie level. Interesting results so far, but it feels good to start to have some insight into this. The fact is, I work hard at this. I do eat right, and my exercise level has been great. I have been doing circuit training 5 days a week and while I feel great and my endurance has drastically increased, I dont notice any difference in my body and my weight hasnt changed. Something has to give. I know Im not a freak of nature, that there has to be a reason why nothing is changing. Its horribly frustrating, especially with my wedding 10 months away and I havent dropped a single pound or noticed any differences in my body. I need to know what is going on, and I guess this is a step in the right direction.

But Im here, Im still trying to post and I definitely am still reading. I hope everyone out there has a wonderful holiday next week for those who celebrate, and I hope the new year will be kind to everyone!