Losing the Weight, Finding Myself: Week 28

Starting Weight: 266
Current Weight: 242.8
Weekly Change: -3.8
Total Change: -23.2
Goal Weight: 135
Pounds to lose until goal: 107.8

Another week of success, yay!  I don't want to get too cocky about it, lest I get too relaxed, but it's just so much easier to lose weight here! It really is a lifestyle change, and for me, changing location made it a lot easier to change lifestyle. I've also found my attitude about my weight shifting. I've always 'wanted' to change it, but not really enough to actually make the changes and sacrifices needed. Now I can tell I really do want this. I am sad that I let myself be so unhealthy for so long (over a decade) but I am committed to changing that, and I never want to let myself get this way again.  

The Healthy Wage goal coming up on August 27th really adds an extra layer of challenge to where I am right now.  Without that I would be perfectly content to keep losing at a rate of about three pounds a week.  However, if I meet my goal, I win almost $500! ($497 to be exact) And considering right now we are living off our savings and a few investments (until this blog starts making us some money, fingers crossed), an extra five hundred bucks would go a long way. In order to win my Healthy Wage bet I have to be at 215 by August 27th. 

That means I am currently 27.8 pounds away from that goal, and only 22 days away from that date. If we count that as three weeks, I will need to lose 9.2 pounds a week to hit that goal.  Now I realize that sounds a bit crazy and impossible. Likely it is, but I am sure as heck going to try. At my current weight losing 9 pounds a week is actually possible, and it's not even really that unhealthy. 

So what am I going to do extra to try and reach this goal? I'm glad you asked! The simple answer is the answer to all weight loss - eat less, move more. Here is how I plan to put that into action:
       Eat Less: I'm going to eat less sweets and less carbs. I am actually going to eat more fruits and vegetables. Considering produce is some of the cheapest food around here this just makes sense in terms of my waistline and my wallet. 
       Move More: I've already incorporated more movement into my life here than I ever did at home, but I am going to step it up a notch. I will go on every walk with the dog, which means twice a day. (Last week I let myself skip a few if I was tired or feeling lazy). We swim twice a day, but sometimes I just kinda lounge about in the water. Now I will commit to doing at least 10 full laps every time we go to the pool. I will also get back to doing one 1-minute plank a day and 100 wall push-ups.  

There will be a few times I still treat myself when it comes to food - we are going into Paphos tomorrow and plan to eat at some restaurants. I'm not going to miss out on any local delicacies, that would defeat part of the purpose of being here! Though I do think it will be helpful that local fare tends to be on the healthy side, so even then it shouldn't set me back much if at all. 

I am looking forward to the week again, and seeing if I can hit next week's 9 pound goal - wish me luck!

XOXO, Bethany