I made it! :)

I managed to have a calorie deficit of 5000 cals, in fact I did even better - I ate 5630 calories less than I needed!

AND the weight went down, - 0,9 kg! NOT BAD! :)

Yet, when I see the stats on my Tanita scale, things don't look quite as good:

Weight: 77,1 kg - down 0,9 :)

Body fat percentage: 38,9% up 0.9% :(

Body fat in kg: 29,9919 kg up 0.2 :(

Muscle mass in kg: 11,2615 down 0,27 :(

Water weight in kg: 33,5385 down almost 1 kg :(

Seems like all I've lost is muscle and water, and gained fat. :( That seems kind of strange, though, when I've been so good. 

I guess I can't really trust Tanita blindly, either. It changes too much from day to day, and these last results sound impossible considering that I have such a high calorie deficit. Oh, well, I'll just have to look at the results in the long run instead. I have been working out, both running and shredding. I am getting fitter and I am losing weight. Hopefully the fat percentage and the muscle percentage will reflect that soon enough. Patience, my dear, patience. (this is quote from one of my favorite shows when I was a child - the musical Rock 'n' roll wolf - I still love it to this day! :) Just too bad I'm not the most patient type. ;)

I made it! :)

I did it! I managed to run the three minutes straight that week 3 of the couch 2 5K requires! I am SO proud of myself! :)

Before I started the session, I was convinced I wouldn't make it. I had almost worked myself up to a minor panic attack thinking how hard this was going to be. So I went pretty slow, I might not have been going much faster than a speed walker. But that's perfectly okay, I can build up the speed later. Right now I'm just focusing on my endurance, and I DID IT!

It just goes to show that you can do more than you think you can. It wasn't even as excruciating as I imagined. Don't let your fears hold you back! Pain is fear leaving the body, as Jillian would say.  And I did keep her in mind. I decided beforehand to make Jillian proud, and I think she would have been, but the most important thing is that I am proud!

As I've complained about earlier, the scales haven't been moving much lately. I finally got around to weigh in on my Tanita scale, and it confirmed what my body has been telling me - I was really bloated. I have in fact lost fat, but retained extra water. I found some herbs that help, and finally the weight is going down, and I can wear my rings again. My body also feels much better when it is not bloated. Hopefully this has moved me past my plateau and will make the weight loss journey a little bit easier. At least it is more motivating when you see the numbers move.

Good news, bad news and motivation?

Well, I've changed my mind about Tanita. I now officially HATE it! (split personality? me? No, I'm sure you're thinking about one of the other me's :P). I had my weekly weigh-in today. The scale showed 0.4 kg down and I was feeling pleased with myself. That is, right up until the point where I started punching in all those other numbers, and found out that I had GAINED 0.25 kg of pure fat since last week! :(


Now I'm in a bad mood. So much for motivation! I have to say I doubt it, though. When I sneak weighed-in a couple of days ago, Tanita said I had lost 0.3 kg of fat. So that would have to mean that I have gained 0.5 kg of fat in a couple of days, while eating much less calories than I should. Sounds unlikely.

I guess Tanita isn't as trustworthy as I thought. And that I'll have to look at the longer trends, and not from week to week. I know, I know, it's what everyone says you should do. It's pretty annoying, though, as I bought this thing specifically to be motivated on a weekly basis. I bought it so that when my weight wasn't moving, I could still see a difference. And here my weight IS going down, and Tanita makes me lose my motivation. Oh, the irony!

Here are my stats this week:

Weight: 80.7 kg (down 0.4)
Fat percentage: 40.5% (up .5)
Fat in kg: 32,562 (up .25)
Muscle mass in kg: 11,3104 (down .1)
Muscle fitness level: 3 (no change) (higher is better, my goal is 8)
Visceral fit:7 (no change) (lower is better)
Base metabolism in kcal: 1490 (down 16)

I can see that this obsession with those numbers isn't very good. I went from being happy to miserable in no time. Now, I'm thinking "what's the point" and "I'm never gonna make it so I might just as well pig out". I'll really have to work on my motivation today!

Well, at least there is a good lesson in there somewhere: Don't use external factors that you can't control as motivation. But it is SO hard! How much I weight is a very tangible goal. And the fact that I've done really good this week, made mostly healthy choices, it's all a means to reach my weight goal. I know I'll get a healthier body in the end, but I also want assurance that I'll reach a healthy weight! Is there anyone out there who's cracked this and found good ways of motivating? In that case, please share the secret!