Downward Slide

Even though the holidays are on their way -- the hardest part of the year for a dieter to make it through unscathed -- I decided to get serious about weight loss this week. And, let me tell you, it was worth it!

In the past I have had success with the 3-Hour Diet plan. Basically, you eat small meals or a snack every three hours. The purpose being that each time you eat your kick your metabolism up. And since you are eating small meals, your metabolism can burn what you have eaten without leaving some to turn into fat. I lost 30 pounds on this plan pretty easily last year. Then life happened (a couple of deaths in my family, a huge career shift and a major move across country) and I got away from good eating habits. During the past year my weight has fluxuated, but I never gained back more than 15 of the 30 pounds I lost. This is the first time I haven't gained back more than what I've lost.

With that kind of success and being able to keep the weight off for the most part, I decided to go back to the 3-Hour way of eating. To help me track calories, I have been using a food diary on Weight Loss Buddies.com. They have a great tool that even lets you look up foods from popular restaurants. And with their support community, it's a great help.

I am proud to say that, in the past 7 days, I've lost 5 pounds. Now, I do know that the first week of eating differently you tend to lose a lot. I am sure that I won't continue to lose 5 pounds every week. The last time I ate the 3-Hour way, I did lose 1-3 pounds each week, unless I really didn't stick to it.

I am walking about 30 minutes every day to and from the train station, but I know I'll need to increase that exercise time. I just learned about Red Exerciser and may give that a shot. It looks fun! I need something no/low impact since my walking (running, if I am late) to the train is such an impact on my joints. The Red Exerciser may just be what I need to do more toning around my abdomen without additional impact.

My goal is to lose 100 pounds by the end of next year. It's amazing to me to think that I could lose 1/3 of this body I carry around. But I know it is possible and do-able, as long as I stick to eating small meals every 3 hours and keep up the exercise.