40!

Well folks, another milestone has been reached. I'VE LOST 40 POUNDS!! It's hard to believe myself. I've been working pretty hard toward my goal weight. I have a ways to go yet, but there is a (faint) light at the end of the tunnel!

I work out every day (except weekends - but lately I've been doing more active things on the weekends like bike riding, yard work, etc.). Usually Sunday is my day off of everything physical, and that's nice. It's recommended you have at least one to two days off a week, as your muscles need time to "heal" (for lack of a better word) from the work outs - then the next work out day is kind of a shock to the system and you start the cycle all over again.

The key I've learned with work outs is to switch them up and change them. Your body gets "used" to doing the same ol' thing, so if you do one kind of work out every single day, you won't lose weight as fast because the muscles become in tune with the work out and thus, burn less. So I have these DVD's I'm following, Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home, and they're wonderful. I have the 1, 2, 3, & 4 mile walks on DVD, as well as a Fast Firming DVD with a resistance band and a You Can Do DVD with a stability ball. I do the walking almost every day, depending on what else I want to do that day. I try to do the strength training (the band and the ball - with weights) twice a week, and then I'll do a shorter walk if I do the strength training. On a day I don't do the strength, I do a longer walk, thus mixing it up for my muscles, as they don't know what they're going to get day by day. :P

I've started drinking my allotted 8 cups of water a day. It was hard at first, but once you get used to it, it's not so bad. One water bottle is 16 oz. Since a "cup" is 8 oz., drinking one full bottle is 2 of your cups of water. Therefore, I drink four of these water bottles a day. Here's how I do it.

I have breakfast every morning - no exceptions! It's not that hard to pour a bowl of cereal or scramble some eggs with toast. After I eat, I drink a full bottle of water before I exercise. I don't chug, although I have had to make myself chug on occasion to get it done. But I sip off it until I'm done, which isn't that long, because I don't procrastinate about drinking it. Once that's gone, I'll do my exercises and immediately afterward, I'll drink another water. Two down before lunch!

Throughout the afternoon, I'll have another bottle I sip from, and then my final bottle comes with dinner. I do still have one soda a day, usually with lunch. I truly believe upping my water has helped me lose weight. Not because I feel more full (well, there is that) but because keeping my kidneys hydrated allows my liver to do *its* job of metabolizing fat. Not only that, but the combination of exercise plus increased water consummation has sped up my metabolism.

Not to mention the breakfast. I also believe breakfast plays a pivotal role in keeping my metabolism going.

Anyhow, 40 pounds is just about the equivalent of a 5 gallon jug of water you have for your water cooler at work. Those actually weigh about 41.something pounds, but you have an idea of about how much weight that actually is. WOW! That's a lot! My youngest daughter weighs around 43 pounds. I've just about lost HER from my body! Amazing stuff.

My goal was to get to a 50lb loss before our camping trip at the end of May. Not sure I'll get there, since I just cracked the 40lb mark today, but all in all, I'm able to put my wedding ring back on without forcing it, so it's a happy day!

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com