14 pounds in 14 days

A couple days ago, a friend said he was going to lose 14 pounds in 14 days. I told him I was having some difficulty staying motivated to get healthy and lose a few pounds. I am much better at things when there's a challenge involved, so I asked him if I could consider that a challenge for me to lose 14 in 14 too. He said sure.

At the beginning of day 1, I weighed in at 174.0 lbs. Today is day 4 and I weighed in at 170.2. Yes, I'm a little shocked at myself for posting my actual weight, but I'm happy about the progress.

How am I doing it? Well, I'll admit that part of it is part of my natural weight loss/gain based on my "cycle". I'm due to lose a few pounds anyway.

I'm exercising (not walking everyday yet). I walked for about 1/2 mile on days 1 & 2.

Day 3, I played with my nephew and did his Winnie the Pooh and friends exercise CD twice. It's about a 15 minute recording that follows along with actions in 6 little books... running, skipping, marching, stretching, dancing and hopping. It's kinda silly, but I put some extra effort into it and made it kinda intense. My calves burn today from all the hopping.

Day 4 is today and still forming. After a severe lack of sleep over the last 2 nights (prior to last night), I caught up on sleep last night... about 13 hours. It was wonderful, but I woke up with a headache, so I've been slow to get started today. As long as the rain holds off, I'm going for a walk when I'm done posting this.

What have I been eating? Very simply, but I try to make sure I get 3 meals a day. I don't always succeed because I don't like to cook for just myself.

Recent breakfasts include:

2 Eggo waffles with a little Mrs Butterworth's lite syrup, fresh pineapple (maybe about 1/2 - 3/4 cup), 4 slices of bacon

2 egg scramble with onions sauteed in olive oil and wilted spinach all over a whole "thin" bagel with 2 slices of some kind of smoked white cheese (My nephew said I was the best chef ever after this meal, even though it wasn't one of his favorites -- mine neither, but it was something different. I think the cheese was the problem. Should have used American or cheddar.)

Lunches and dinners have been similar, rotate and sometimes vary slightly:

Giant salad (whole stalk of Romaine lettuce - chopped, whole avocado - diced, 1 or 2 Roma tomatoes - chopped, a handful of sunflower seeds - unsalted, a handful of almond slivers, about 3 Tbls salad dressing - Sweet Vidalia Onion Viniagrette(sp?) from Sam's Club)

Turkey sandwich (2 slices of whole wheat breat, 2 slices turkey, 1 slice American cheese, 1 avocado mashed - only 1/2 makes it onto the sandwich - the other 1/2 gets eaten with a spoon, 1 Roma tomato sliced)

Turkey wrap (1 flour tortilla, 1 slice turkey, 2 slices American cheese, 1 avocado mashed - half and half like above, 1 Roma tomato sliced)

I still snack. I won't go without snacking.  Instead of eating 6 2-bite brownies, I cut back to 2 or 3 and make sure to have a big glass of milk with them. A few bite-sized chocolate chip cookies do the trick too. I do like healthier things like oranges or a handful of mixed nuts too.

That's about it though. I'm not doing a whole lot out of the ordinary, just moving a little more and eating a little less.

What have you started doing or quit doing that would help you lose 14 in 14?