Photos... and trying something new with food...

Nutrition... calorie intake... exercise... there really is a lot to consider when trying to eat right and lose weight.  Although I have lost 50 pounds, I have also been on a pretty significant plateau for the past several months.  Three weeks ago, I went back to basics... making sure I was drinking a MINIMUM of 8 glasses of WATER a day... watching my caloric intake with the Weight Watchers Points program... and training a minimum of 5 times a week... and I only lost 2.8 pounds in the first 3 weeks.  SHOOT!  I was being very careful to eat my 1,200 calories a day and thought I should have lost more like 2 pounds a week. 

Then I repeated that last sentence out loud... "I was eating 1,200 calories a day..." AND training at a very intense level more than 5 times per week...

I spoke to friend and YMCA trainer, Paula, and she told me about the "BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) Calculator."  Your BMR takes several things into account such as your age, weight, height, gender... AND your exercise level.  You will NEVER believe what it said... I should be eating a MINIMUM of 2,870 calories A DAY to keep my system from shutting down!

HOLY COW!  Over the past 3 weeks, I had put my system into starvation mode.  So, in the past 3 days, I tried something new. I stopped counting my points, and started counting calories.  I couldn't get much above 2,000 calories a day (I am really struggling with eating MORE to LOSE weight), BUT I LOST 2.2 POUNDS... IN 3 DAYS... BY EATING MORE!  CRAZINESS... PURE CRAZINESS!

200.2 pounds

198.0 pounds


























You would think I would have caught something as significant as this with all of the different diets I have done over the years!  It just goes to show you that you have to keep an eye not just on your calories, or on your water, or your exercise or the scale, but the whole picture.  I'm going to try counting calories again all this week... and I can't wait to see what happens!