Week 1 - Making a plan

Hello again! Week 1 of Kerri's Weight Loss Challenge is now over.

Last week I posted about why I started the blog and discussed how to properly set a goal based on what you really want to achieve. If you missed it, I would highly recommend going back and reading about the important difference between body fat percentage and BMI (weight).

This week I want to talk specifically about making your plan:

1) Start with an attainable timeline: If you have never used body fat percentage as your goal it is important to know that I usually expect to see .5 - 1% body fat loss per week. I would recommend starting there to set your timely goal. I am hoping to lose closer to 1% body fat per week to reach my goal by January 12th.

It is VERY important to get real body fat measurements periodically to know where you are in your progress. I will be posting later how to estimate body fat loss on your own but I would still recommend going in for measurements at least every 3-4 weeks. I am choosing to see my trainer for measurements every three weeks.

2) Reward yourself for hitting certain milestones. I will talk more in depth about rewards next time. In the meantime just be sure to set rewards that you actually want to work for.

3) Know what you need to prioritize in order to reach your goal. Again, I will talk much more in depth about this later but I want you to ask yourself these questions before you begin your plan:

• Do I know how many calories I burn in a given day? How many do I need to burn to reach my goal? When will this change?
• Do I know how many calories I ate yesterday? How many calories do I need to eat to reach my goal? When will this change?
• Do I know how to use macronutrients to my advantage to build muscle and burn fat? Do I know what a macronutrient is (careful, googling this may lead you to misinformation)? When will my ratio change?
• Do I know how many sets and reps I need to do to gain or maintain muscle? Do I know what weight to use? When will this change?
• What am I using as motivation?
• What am I using to keep myself accountable?

If you don't know the answer to these questions, don't worry. I will discuss all of them in their own posts. It is just something to think about. Remember, if you are beginning your own journey while reading this, I would recommend talking to a trainer about these questions rather than googling them yourself. There is a lot of misinformation out there about every single one of these topics. 

4) START NOW!!! I know that many of you may be like me. You may plan and plan and plan to start your goal. You may plan so much that you push it off for weeks. You may be waiting for the right time. Maybe when summer ends, the holidays are over, Monday, Next Monday, or New Years... 

There is no magical land where it is the perfect time to start your goal. Things are always going to come up. The best time to start working on your goal is a year ago. The next best time is this very second. What is that you tell me? You are eating a Big Mac as you read this? Fine! Start eating better at your next meal! You don't have every piece of information to make a foolproof plan? Fine! There is no such thing as a foolproof plan and I guarantee you have enough information to start doing a little bit better today than you did yesterday. So get to it! Feel free to email me or make comments if you have any specific questions to get started and let's do this!

My Progress: 

Weight: 191.7 lbs (yes, that is 6.3 lbs less than last week. I used to get really excited about that but I have been tracking my calorie deficit and I have really only lost about half a pound of body fat. The other 5.8 lbs came from weighing in on an empty stomach and water weight loss)

Successes: I thought it might be fun to put Lizzie in her car seat when she falls asleep and going on walks in her stroller. One day I tracked 1 hour 25 minutes of physical activity.

Confession: It was honestly a pretty rough start. I had a maintain week. I had friends in town over the weekend and woke up on Monday with a fever. I didn't have much opportunity for physical activity and my antibiotics have to be taken an hour before a meal but also two to three hours after a meal making my eating plan VERY difficult to stick to.

I have to admit that this blog is keeping me pretty motivated despite some setbacks. Thank you everyone who posted comments and letting me know that you are watching my progress! I won't let you down!