August 17, 2012! Friday: 179.5 (Period Day 3)
Net Loss: 8.5 Pounds

Next Goal: 175 by September 9, 2012 (-4.5 in 23 Days)

Daily Calorie Total: 2720
Daily Exercise: Barn Chores

I’m happy that I lost another half pound of that menstral bloat. It’s always tough when you’ve struggled to lose every single half pound and suddenly pounds magically reappear. I am starting to notice some of my more obvious fat dissappearing though, which is keeping me going.

I think I will take some before pictures so that I can track my progress visually. It’s always hard to look at for me to look at my body’s imperfections, much less make a permanent record of them to share with the world. It amazes me how many women seem pretty comfortable posting their underwear clad before pictures on line. I might take one in my dressage show whites as that’s quite revealing enough.

What I really want is the increase of energy that so many people mention having when they lose a lot of weight. I suspect that will be another one of those gradual things that occur incrementally after months of successful dieting and exercising. Even with just 8.5 pounds gone, I seem to have enough energy to start practicing dressage on my own. Plus, I’m actively trying to learn and use techniques to cut my stress levels, which is a much bigger problem for me than I’d realized.

I’ve got so many unfinished projects looming over my head that I could really use some more productive hours in the day. I lose a lot of time due to coming home and crashing after my four times weekly double dressage training sessions. I try and do a little more each time and soon I’ll be riding two horses per day, rather than simply lunging one and riding the other. Plus, I need to keep up my posting exercises every night. Maybe I already have more energy and it’s just not been enough for me to notice?

Ultimate Goal Weight: 145-150 (-29.5 to -34.5)
Starting weight on October 1, 2008: 216 pounds
Total Lost: 36.5 pounds
Still to lose to 145: 34.5 pounds

Over have way there: 51.5% of ultimate weight loss goal done, 48.5% to go! At 1.5 pounds lost per week, that’s almost six more months of dieting. That sounds like a lot, until I realize my start date was almost four year ago. I guess that’s why successful dieters often recommend short term interim goals. 4.5 to lose by September 9th is a much easier goal to wrap my head around, even without accounting for the dreaded plateaus we all inevitably hit.