I would say that the first week of 2012 was a good one. Shall I count the ways?

1.  I exercised 4 times, for a total of 128 minutes.

2.  I logged my food 4 of 7 days. Yes, that’s not really a great number, but it’s better than the big fat ZERO days I was logging previously.

3.  I stayed in my calorie range for each day that I tracked my calories. Coincidence? I think not.

4.  I woke up in the 5:00 hour every morning during the work week, except for Thursday morning.

5.  And oh yeah, I lost THREE pounds!

Weight on Jan. 1:  184.2
Weight on Jan. 8:  181.2 (This weight makes 80 pounds lost from my highest weight of 261.)
Pounds left to lose:  26

If you remember, I took some before pics back in June, when I first started actively trying to lose weight after I had Charlotte (although I’m not sure it can be considered an “active” attempt at weight loss since it’s been so slow, but anyway…). Here’s one to refresh your memory:

Since I’ve lost 15 pounds since that picture was taken, I decided to take an updated one Sunday.

I’ll be honest and say that I was disappointed when I saw the more recent picture. It doesn’t look very different to me. I still have a good deal of weight to lose, and I know that more than losing weight I also need to gain muscle, as I am REALLY flabby all over. I think if I can develop a consistent strength training routine, that will help tremendously. I much prefer cardio because I feel like I’ve actually DONE something when it’s over.  I know that strength training is often much more beneficial, so I’m going to try and do it two times a week for the rest of the month. I will probably do 30 Day Shred since it’s relatively quick and also makes me want to die.  I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’ve also come a long way! Here are pictures of me from December 2007, right before I decided it was time to lose weight. I was probably around 260 pounds.

One day at a time, one pound at a time, I will get there.