Day 30 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330
Day 20 Weight – 319

Current Weight – 319
Period Weight Loss – 0 Pounds

Overall Weight Loss – 11 Pounds

Clearly 0 pounds was not what I was hoping for to end my first 30 days. Obviously I didn’t meet the 4 pound short term goal I mentioned in my Day-20 Weigh-in Post, but I did meet my monthly goal of 10 pounds in the first thirty days. I’m posting my results and I’ll discuss what went well and what didn’t go so well, but you can expect to see more details in my next post when I perform a failure analysis on this last week.

What Went Well

1. I stuck to the morning routine (for the most part)
2. Almost everyday I hit my water target
3. I maintained a positive attitude (even with a tough week)

Areas to Improve

1. I didn't get any exercise at all
2. I Stopped tracking my daily progress about 5 days in
3. I had several high calorie meals and snacks starting on Thursday last week and moving right through the weekend

Moving Forward

Part of my original plan included “being prepared for failure”. As this week unfolded, I knew that it wasn’t going to end well. I started to put together an analysis of where I went wrong along with some changes that I can try to make. I’ll post that analysis in the days to come but for now, here’s my path forward:

• Short Term Goal – 5 pounds in the next 10 days (this is a big stretch, but I feel like I need a strong follow-up to a poor performance)
• Mid Term Goal – 10 pounds in the next 30 days
• Calorie and Water Targets to stay the same (2500 calories, and 100 oz water)
• Begin new exercise plan and evaluate after 30 days
• Update tracking information and develop plan for reviewing results (more on this when I post my failure analysis)

You might expect me to be bummed out right now, but actually it’s quite the opposite. 60 Days ago I decided I was going to change my life. The first thing I did was quit smoking and drinking alcohol in excess. As of today, I have managed to keep to those changes for 60 days. 30 Days ago I decided to change my eating habits and lose weight. In 30 days I’ve lost 11 pounds by eating right and I haven’t even incorporated exercise into my life yet (the next 30 days). What in the world should I have to be unhappy about?

Don't get me wrong, I know I stumbled a little, but the important thing was that I was ready for it. Yes the weekend was not good for me, but I could have just as easily decided to continue my slide and stay unhealthy right up until the Wednesday morning weigh-in. Instead I did what I said I would do, I analyzed the failure and most importantly, got right back on track as quickly as possible. If you can’t pick yourself up when you stumble, then you will never be able to lose weight over the long term because it is almost a certainty that you will stumble from time to time.